Jain Miniature Paintings from Western India c9.s8.2

c9.s8.2

In the present state of our knowledge it cannot be said when gold came into use in gilding images and painting, but there is little doubt that in the early centuries of the Christian era gold leaves were used for decorating the stucco images and stūpas in Gandhāra. In the wall-paintings of Ajaṇṭā and Ellura, the use of gold is unknown, though the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa⁴⁷ mentions gold as a colouring material, and in the Mānasollāsa and the Śilparatna elaborate processes for preparing the gold-powder are given. In the illustrated Jain manuscripts from Western India, the use of gold is only seen at the end of the palm-leaf period. In the illustrated palm-leaf manuscript of the Kalpasūtra, owned by the Sheth Ānandjī Maṅgaljīnī Pedhīnā Jñāna Bhaṇḍār at Īdar, use of gold seems to have been made for the first time. As this manuscript has been assigned to the end of the 14th century on good grounds by Dr. Norman Brown, it is not unreasonable to assume that the Indians learned the use of gold in painting from Central Asia⁴⁸. That the mid-fourteenth century saw the introduction of gold in Western Indian painting is further supported by certain 14th century cloth-paintings described elsewhere.