istic which most strongly recommends them, is their careful preservation of the outline and form of the article decorated, notwithstanding the richness and profusion of the ornaments applied. The subjects engraved are selected with so much judgment, that whilst elaborately covering the surface, they in no degree mar the configuration. Even in later times this principle has been preserved, and the chasings in silver and tortoise shell on the scabbards of the swords of state, worn by the Kandyan kings and their attendants, are not surpassed by any specimens of similar workmanship in India. Temples. The temples of Buddha were at first as unpretending as the residences of the priesthood. Νο mention is made of them during the infancy of Buddhism in Ceylon; at which period caves and natural grottoes were the only places of devotion. In the sacred books these are spoken of as "stone houses" 1 to distinguish them from the "houses of earth" 2 and other materials used in the construction of the first buildings for the worship of Buddha; such temples having been originally confined to a single chamber of the humblest dimensions, within which it became the custom at a later period to place a statue of the divine teacher reclining in dim seclusion, the gloom being increased to heighten the scenic effect of the ever-burning lamps by which the chambers are imperfectly lighted. The construction of both these descriptions of temples was improved in later times, but no examples remain of the ancient chaityas or built temples in Ceylon, and those of the rock temples still existing, 1 The King, Walagambahu, who in his exile had been living amongst the rocks in the wilderness, ascended the throne after defeating the Malabars (B.C. 104), and "caused the houses of stone or caves of the rocks in which exhibit a very slight advance beyond the rudest attempts at excavation. On examining the cave temples of continental India, they appear to exhibit three stages of progress, — first mere unadorned cells, like those formed by Dasartha, the grandson of Asoca, in the granite rocks of Behar, about B.C. 200; next oblong apartments with a verandah in front, like that of Ganesa, at Cuttack; and lastly, ample halls with colonnades separating the nave from the aisles, and embellished externally with façades and agricultural decorations; such are the caves of Karli, Ajunta, and Ellora. But in Ceylon, the earliest rock temples were merely hollows beneath overhanging rocks, like those still existing at Dambool, and the Aluwihara at Matelle, in both of which advantage has been taken of the accidental shelter of rounded boulders, and an entrance constructed by applying a façade of masonry, devoid of all pretensions to ornament. The utmost effort at excavation never appears to have advanced beyond the second stage attained in Bengal, a small cell with a few columns to support a verandah in front; and even of this but very few examples now exist in Ceylon, the most favourable being the Gal-wihara at Pollanarrua, which, according to the Rajavali, was executed by Prakrama I., in the 12th century.2 Taking into consideration the enthusiasm exhibited by the kings of Ceylon, and the munificence displayed by them in the exaltation and extension of Buddhism, their failure to emulate the labours of its patrons in India, must be accounted for by the intractable nature of the rocks with which they had to contend, the 1 See FERGUSSON's Illustrations of | 1845, and Handbook of Architecture, the Rock-cut Temples of India, Lond. ch. ii. p. 23. 2 Mahawanso, ch. lxxvii. gneiss and quartz of Ceylon being less favourable to such works than the sandstone of Cuttack, or the trap formations of the western ghauts. re Oil-painting. -In decorative art, carving and moulding in chunam were the principal expedients resorted to. Of this substance were also formed the "beads resplendent like gems;" the "flower-ornaments" sembling gold; and the "festoons of pearls," that are more than once mentioned in describing the interiors of the palaces.1 Externally, painting was applied to the dagobas alone, as in the climate of Ceylon, exposure to the rains would have been fatal to the duration of the colours, if only mixed in tempera; but the Singhalese, at a very early period, were aware of the higher qualities possessed by some of the vegetable oils. The claim of Van Eyck to the invention of oil-painting in the 15th century, has been shown to be untenable. Sir Charles L. Eastlake 2 has adduced the evidence of Etius of Diarbekir, to prove that the use of oil in connection with art 3 was known before the 6th century; and Dioscorides, who wrote in the age of Augustus, has been hitherto regarded as the most ancient authority on the drying properties of walnut, sesamum, and poppy. But the Mahawanso affords evidence of an earlier knowledge, and records that in the 2nd century before Christ, "vermilion paint mixed with tila oil," was em ployed in the building of the Ruanwellé dagoba. This is, therefore, the earliest testimony extant of the use of oil 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 163. 2 EASTLAKE'S Materials for a History of Oil Painting, ch. i. p. 18. * Atius Βιβλίον ιατρικόν. of the term," but in this passage of the Mahawanso, it is mentioned as being used as a cement. A question has been raised in favour of the claim of the Egyptians to the use of oil in the decoration of their mummy cases, but the probability is that they were coloured in tempera and their permanency afterwards secured by a 4 Tila or tala is the Singhalese name for sesamum from which the natives express the gingeli oil. SIR CHARLES L. EASTLAKE is of opinion that "sesamum cannot be called a drying oil in the ordinary acceptation | varnish. as a medium for painting, and till a higher claimant appears, the distinction of the discovery may be permitted to rest with the Singhalese. " 1 Style of Ornament. In decorating the temporary tee, which was placed in the same dagoba, prior to its ¿completion, the square base was painted with a design representing vases of flowers in the four panels, surrounded by "ornaments radiating like the five fingers.' This description points to the "honeysuckle border," which, according to Fergusson, was adopted and carried westward by the Greeks, and eastward by the Buddhist architects. It appears upon the lat column at Allahabad, which is inscribed with one of the edicts of Asoca, issued in the 3rd century before Christ. The spire itself was "painted with red stick-lac," probably the same prepara tion of vermilion as is used at the present day on the lacquered ware of Burmah, Siam, and China.3 Gaudy colours appear at all times to have been popular; yellow, from its religious associations, pre-eminently so; and red lead was applied to the exterior of dagobas. Bujas Raja, in the FROM THE CAPITAL OF A LAT. 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxxii. p. 193; ch. xxxviii. p. 258. 2 FERGUSSON'S Handbook of Architecture, vol. i. ch. ii. p. 7. 3 A species of lacquer painting is practised with great success at the present day in the Kandyan provinces, and especially at Matelle, the colours being mixed with a resinous exudation collected from a shrub called by the Singhalese Wal-koeppetya (croton lacciferum). The coloured varnish thus prepared is formed into films and threads chiefly by aid of the thumb-nail of the left hand, which is kept long and uncut for the purpose. It is then applied by heat and polished. It is chiefly employed in ornamenting the covers of books, walking-sticks, the shafts of spears, and the handles of fans for the priesthood. The Burmese artists who make the japanned ware of Ava, use the hand in laying on the lacquerwhich there, too, as well as in China, is the produce of a tree, the melanorhea glabra of Wallich. Rajaratnacari, p. 184. 5 Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 212. 4th century, painted the walls and roof of the Brazen Palace blue, and built a sacred edifice at Anarajapoora, which from the variety and brilliancy of the colours with which he ornamented the exterior, was known as the Monara Paw Periwena or Temple of the Peacock.2 1 Rajavali, p. 291. The blue used for this purpose was probably a preparation of indigo; the red, vermilion ; the yellow, orpiment; and green was obtained by combining the first and last. 2 Rajavali, p. 73. |