ClJAP. VII.] 



THE FIXE ARTS. 



477 



eyes, and the draperies enriched with jewels. 1 FA HIAX 

 in the fourth century, speaks of a figure of Buddha 

 upwards of twenty-three feet in height, formed out of 

 blue jasper, and set with precious stones, that sparkled 

 with singular splendour, and which bore in its right 

 hand a pearl of priceless value. 2 This may possibly 

 have been the statue of which the Mahawanso speaks 

 in like terms of admiration : " the eye formed by a 

 jewel from the royal head-dress, each curl of the hair by 

 a sapphire, and the lock in the centre of the forehead by 

 threads of gold." 3 



Ivory also and sandal- wood 4 , as well as copper and 

 bronze, served as materials for statues ; but granite 

 was the substance most generally selected, except in 

 the rare instances where the temple and the statue 

 were hewn together out of the living rock, on which 

 occasions gneiss was most generally selected. Such are 

 the statues at Pollanarrua, at Mihintala, and at the 

 Aukana Wihara, near Vijittapoora. A still more 

 common expedient, which is employed to the present 

 time, was to form the figures of Buddha with pieces of 

 burnt clay joined together by cement ; and coated with 

 highly polished chunam, in order to prepare the surface 

 for the painter. In this manner were most probably 

 produced the " seventy-two thousand statues " ascribed to 

 Mihindo V. 



Figures of elephants were similarly formed at an early 

 period. 5 An image of Buddha so composed in the 12th 

 century, is still standing at Pollanarrua 6 , and eveiy 



1 Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 258. 



3 "Parmi toutes les choses pre"ci- 

 euses qu'on y voit, il y a une image 

 de jaspe bleu haute de deux tchang: 

 tout son corps est forme" des sept 

 choses pre"eieuses ; elle est e"tincel- 

 lante de splendeuretplusmajestueuse 

 qu'on ne saurait 1'exprimer. Dans 

 la main droite elle tient une perle 

 d'un prix inestimable." Foe-koue-ki, 

 ch. xxxviii. p. 333. 



3 A.D. 459. Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. 

 p. 258. Another statue of gold, with 

 the features and members appropri- 

 ately coloured hi gems, is spoken of in 

 the second century B.C. (Mahawanso, 

 ch. xxx. p. 180.) 



4 Rajaratnacari, p. 72. 



5 A.D. 432. Rajaratnacari, p. 74. 



6 Possibly the "standing figure 

 of Buddha " mentioned in the Raja- 

 vail, p. 253. 



