86 JOURNAL, R.A.S. ( CEYLON). [VOL. XIX. 



Figure 17 already referred to has a very Greek aspect ; 

 figure 16 shows the ornament of a Greek lekythos (from 

 Professor Percy Gardner's "Grammar of Greek Art," 1905), 

 for comparison with it. Of the pattern of figure 18 Professor- 

 Gardner tells me that it " is very different in character 

 from Greek work, far less simple and logical." It is in 

 more than one respect reminiscent of Assyria. Another pat- 

 tern I have not yet referred to is that shown in figure 19 (p. 80) 

 which represents the simplest form (taken from a piece of 

 Kandyan painted pottery) of the common " pineapple " pattern 



18 



ORNAMENT FROM A KANDYAN LAC-PAINTED STICK. 



with acanthiform foliage, recalling the forms of late Italian 

 and early Renaissance brocades, which Sir George Birdwood 

 (loc. cit.) thinks are of Assyrian origin. It should be hardly 

 necessary to mention that to suppose that any of these forms, 

 such as this pineapple, the Greek honeysuckle, or palmette, 

 or even the well-known acanthus, represent deliberate pictures 

 of the plants whose names they bear, would be a great mistake. 

 To take for example even the acanthus, which used to be 

 universally regarded as a representation of the acanthus plant: 

 the Vitruvius anecdote which claims for it this origin is now 

 regarded as mythical, for the evolution of the " acanthus " from 

 certain types of the " palmette " has been clearly traced (see 

 " Stilfragen," by Alois Riegl, Berlin, 1905, p. XV., and p. 248 

 seq.). Still less are the acanthus or pineapple forms in 



