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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XIX. 



suggestions as a layman, not having made the matter a subject of 

 particular study. 



H. E. the Governor : — To what do you allude particularly — the 

 embroidery patterns ? 



Mr. Anthonisz : — I am speaking generally. Proceeding, he pointed 

 to one of the illustrations in the Paper which contained a lion which 

 it seemed to him was a characteristic of heraldic lions. The fieur- 

 de-lys was, he thought, another instance. He thought the Portuguese 

 and Dutch had brought a good deal of influence of the 15th and 16th 

 centuries to bear upon some of these designs. He mentioned that 

 the other day a fine discovery had been made at the Chartered Bank 

 premises when some stones were dug up. One of them was a pillar 

 beautifully carved with scalloped shells and other designs. They very 

 closely resembled some of the stone pillars they saw represented in 

 the Museum as Sinhalese art. Now they knew that the Sinhalese did 

 not occupy Colombo as a station. There was no fort at Colombo until 

 the Portuguese came there and built a stockade and then a fort in the 

 16th century ; so that some of the stone pillars which were pointed out 

 to them as works of Sinhalese art might possibly be traced to the 

 Portuguese.* 



Mr. C. M. Fernando congratulated Dr. Coomaraswamy on the 

 discovery, which he had established, of the connection between 18th 

 century Kandyan art and the Indian Bharhut art. It was certainly 

 a very great discovery, and students of Sinhalese art in the future 

 would always claim him as the first gentleman to point out the connec- 

 tion between the two. 



When he had read Dr. Coomaraswamy's Paper carefully, as he 

 did, the first question he asked himself was : Where does Sigiri come 

 in ? The " Sigiri frescoes " was a question raised in that Society about 

 ten years previously, and on which the Archaeological Commissioner 

 and he had " agreed to differ." Mr. Bell, in the course of a very able 

 Paper delivered during the regime of His Excellency's predecessor, 

 mentioned that the Sigiri frescoes were the work of Indian 

 artists, and not the work of Sinhalese artists. He quite agreed with 

 Dr. Coomaraswamy that it was very difficult to draw the line between 

 Indian and Sinhalese art. Dr. Coomaraswamy had pointed out the 

 great alliance which arose between Southern India and Ceylon by its 

 proximity 1 ,000 years ago, but he had always maintained there was a 

 similar ailiance between Northern India and Ceylon in and before the 

 time of Wijayo, and, therefore, he ventured to differ from Mr. Bell 

 that the Sigiri frescoes should be attributed to Indian and not to 

 Sinhalese. The Sigiri paintings being in Ceylon, he would, as a 

 lawyer, claim that possession was nine points of the law ; and until it 

 was definitely established that they were not painted by Sinhalese 

 artists, he would not concede the proposition that tbey were painted 

 by Sinhalese artists. He alluded to the Malichvama which stated that 

 stonemasons were at one time brought from India. Other craftsmen 

 were not mentioned — and he maintained the inference was that the 

 other artists were had locally. He pointed out the close resemblance 

 between the Sinhalese frescoes and those at Ajanta- The Ajanta 



* [The short pillar unearthed at the Chartered Bank premises is, clearly 

 of Oriental workmanship. — B., Hon. Sec."] 



