CHAP. VII.] 



THE FIXE ARTS. 



475 



Buddha so exquisitely that he seemed to have been 

 inspired; and for it he made an altar, and gilt an 

 edifice inlaid with ivory." 1 Among the presents sent 

 by the King of Ceylon (A.D. 459) to the Emperor of 

 China, the Tsih foo yuen kwei, a chronicle compiled by 

 imperial command, particularises a picture of Buddha. 2 

 The colours employed in decorating their temples are 

 mixed in tempera, as were those used in the ancient 

 paintings in Egypt ; the claim of the Singhalese to the 

 priority of invention in the mixture of colours with oil, 

 is adverted to elsewhere. 3 



Sculpture. In style Singhalese sculpture was even 

 more conventional and less imaginative than their paint- 

 ing ; since the subjects to which it was confined were 

 almost exclusively statues of Buddha 4 , and its efforts 

 were mere repetitions of the three orthodox attitudes 

 of the great archetype sitting, as when in deep medi- 

 tation, under the sacred Bo-tree ; standing, as when 

 exhorting his multitudinous disciples ; and reclining, in 

 the enjoyment of the everlasting repose of " nirwana." 

 In the contemplative calmness of the latter one is re- 

 minded of that sublime composure which characterises the 

 sculpture of the Egyptians ; a feeling so associated with 

 dignity that in later times it may possibly have suggested 

 the epithet of " Serene" as an honorific title of majesty. 

 In each and ah 1 of these the details are identical ; the 

 length of the ears, the proportions of the arms, fingers, 

 and toes ; the colour of the eyes, and the curls of the 

 hair 5 being repeated with wearisome iteration. To such 



1 Mahawanso. ch. xxxvii. p. 242. 

 B. li. p. 7. 



3 See p. 490. 



4 Mention is made of a figure of 

 an elephant (Rnjavali, p. 242), and 

 of a horse (Mahaivanso, ch. xxxix. 

 TuKsrotrR's manuscript translation), 

 and a carved bull as amongst the 

 ruins of Anarajapoora. 



5 M. ABEL KEMUSAT has devoted 

 a section of his Melanges Asiatiques, 

 1825, vol. i. p. 100, to combating 



the conjecture of Sir W. JOKES in 

 his third Dissertation on the Hindus, 

 drawn from the curled or rather the 

 woolly hair represented in his sta- 

 tues, that Buddha drew his descent 

 from an African origin. ( Works, vol. 

 i. p. 12.) Another ground for Sir. W. 

 JONES'S conjecture was the large 

 ears which are usually characteristic 

 of the statues of Buddha. But it is 

 curious that one of the peculiar fea- 

 tures ascribed to the Singhalese by 



