Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c16.67

c16.67

In distant Deccan for the first time do we find clay-figurines cultivated as fine art, as seen in the Sātavāhana specimens (first-second century A. D.) unearthed at Kondāpur, a village of Kalabgur Teḥsil in Medak district (Hyderabad, Dn). The figurines are made of kaolin, a soft grained clay of white colour. They are usually made hollow pressed out of two or more moulds, subsequently joined and fired. Some of them were painted. The human figures show a large variety, mostly comprising beautiful heads with curly hair or wearing elaborate turban with foliated knots on one side as seen in the Amarāvatī and Nāgārjunikonda sculptures. The female heads are still more charming and varied, revealing a high degree of skill in the making of moulds, a keen sense of realism and artistic effect. Besides human figures, there was also found a considerable group of animal figurines, including lion, bull, horse, ram, dog, parrot, etc.² [Figs. 247-8].