Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.11

c19.11

A characteristic feature is the outlining of all forms with a clear black line: this outlining, and the occasional use of small quantities of green or white in the detail of ornament, Painting gives just the necessary softening required to harmonize the strong reds and yellows, and reduce their extreme brilliancy. The whole range of colours may seem very limited, Technique but it will be found that a varied use can be made of them, and the very limitation was a safeguard and a stimulus to the inventiveness of the painter. Regarding the exact meaning of the names for colours, it may be noted that *kalu* means ‘black,’ but also ‘dark blue’ when applied to cloth; *nila* means either blue or green, properly the former, it is applied in poetry to the colour of parrot wings and compared with that of young rice. The use of few colours in Sinhalese art is a point of importance, as also the fact that the same word is sometimes used in different senses, as *kalu*, black or indigo; *nila*, blue or green. The appreciation of shades of colour is even in Europe a comparatively modern matter, and has gone to great extremes. The old appreciation of pure bright colour is almost lost, a fact not generally realised by persons who regard pure colour as barbaric.