Chap. VII.] 



THE FIXE ARTS. 



491 



ing, and till a higher claimant appears, 'the distinction 

 of the discovery may be permitted to rest with the 

 Singhalese. 



Style of Ornament. — In decorating the temporary tee, 

 Avhicli was placed on the Euanwelle dagoba, prior to its 

 completion, the square base w^as painted wdth a design 

 representing vases of flowers in the four panels, sur- 

 rounded by " ornaments radiating hke the five fingers." ^ 

 This description ])oints to the " honeysuckle border," 

 Avhic^h, according to Fergusson, was adopted and carried 

 westward by the Greeks, and eastward by the Buddhist 

 architects.^ It appears upon the lat column at Allaha- 

 bad, 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 vermihon as is 

 used at the present day on 

 the lacquered ware of Bur- 

 mah, Siam, and China.^ 

 Gaudy colours appear at all 

 times to have been popular ; yellow, from its rehgious 

 associations, pre-eminently so"^ ; and red lead was applied 

 to the exterior of dagobas.^ Bujas Eaja, in the 4th cen- 

 tury, painted the walls and roof of the Brazen Palace 



?ROM THE CAPITAL OF A LAT 



^ Maliawanso, cli. xxxii. p. 193 ; 

 cli. xxxviii. p. 258. 



^ Fergusson's IlancViook of Archi- 

 tecture, vol. i. ch. ii. p. 7. 



^ A species of lacquer painting is 

 practised "with great success at the 

 present day in the Kandyan pro- 

 vinces, and especially at Matelle, the 

 coloxirs being mixed with a resinous 

 exudation collected from a shrub 

 called by the Singhalese Wfel-kcep- 

 petya (Croton laccifcruni). The 

 coloured varnish tlius prepared is 

 formed into films and threads chiefly 

 bv aid of tlie thumb-nail of the left 



hand, which is kept long and uncut 

 for the pur]^)ose. 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 fous for the 

 priesthood. The Burmese artists who 

 make the japanned ware of Ava, use 

 the hand in laying on the lacquer — 

 wliich there, too, as well as in China, 

 is the produce of a tree, the Melano- 

 rhccct (/luhra of Wallich. 



* Ixdjarafnncari, p. 184. 



^ Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 212. 



