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



[Vol. XIX. 



2. Read and confirmed Minutes of last General Meeting held 

 on August 6, 1906. 



3. Announced the election of the following Members since the 

 last General Meeting : — 



Life Member. 

 Matha varayan Suppramaniy an . 



Ordinary Members. 



D. F. Nbyes. 



The Hon. Mr. A. Wood Ronton. 



M. C. F. Perera Wijesiriwardana Kaviratna. 



4. Dr. A. K. Coomaeaswamy delivered a lecture s Oh a 

 Sinhalese Painted Box : a Study of Kandyan Art and Artists." 



The lecture lasted about an hour, and was brought to a close 

 by a series of lantern pictures. Dr. Coomaraswamy also showed 

 a number of actual examples of Sinhalese art, including a large 

 box, beautifully decorated, which served as " the text " of the 

 lecture. 



Mr. Harward asked whether at any stage of the course gone 

 through by the pupils of the old draughtsmen actual drawings 

 from Nature were made ? 



Dr. Coomaraswamy : I think not. 



Votes of Thanks. 



His Excellency said the subject chosen by Dr. Coomaraswamy 

 was most interesting and instructive. Dr. Coomaraswamy was 

 the only person who had plumbed the mysteries of Kandyan 

 art from the bottom. They had all learned something, and 

 he hoped the lecturer had awakened that which would be of 

 lasting interest. He agreed that the cultivation of indigenous 

 art should not be allowed to perish. They ought to be able 

 to elaborate some scheme, with the assistance also of the 

 Agricultural Society, which should have for its object the 

 affording to these people, who had preserved up to the present 

 moment the art of their forefathers, a market for the goods they 

 made , in order to induce them to hand on to their sons the art 

 which had been carried down for', so many centuries. It was 

 necessary they should enter .into the question — the prosaic 

 question — as to how the artistic' productions which they hoped 

 to induce these people to continue to produce might be disposed 

 of, because without a market for a man's wares even the art of 

 the most enthusiastic artist could not live on for ever. He hoped 

 they would be able to make such arrangements as should make it 

 possible for these arts to be preserved. 



The love of symmetry in Kandyan art — the fact that when a 

 certain figure was produced on one side a similar figure was 

 produced on the other — was most interesting. They found that 

 exactly the same thing existed in Chinese art. The Chinese, 



