Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.17

c19.17

*Methods of wall painting* Vihāra walls were made sometimes of stone or brick, more often of mud mixed with sand, laid on a wooden framework as in ordinary domestic work; the wooden framework was filled with a mixture of puddled earth and sand, covered with a layer of finely ground clay and sand, mixed with rice water. The surface was then covered with a layer of *kirimeṭiya* (‘milk clay,’ viz. kaolin) made very smooth, and then a coat of Maturaṭa *makul* (magnesite). The surface was thus made pure white. The *sapu* or bamboo wooden framework of such walls lasts well; but some are riddled with white ants. In the case of the roof of a rock temple, the plaster of clay, sand and rice water was applied direct with a coconut-fibre brush, and then the *kirimeṭiya* and *makul* were laid over. The proportion of clay to sand is one part to two. When there have been many successive redecorations the thickness of plaster becomes considerable, and is sometimes heavy enough to fall away by its own weight. According to the statement of good modern craftsmen, lime plaster was not used as a basis for painting upon, but only for external surfaces not intended to be painted. But a verse from the Gaṇa Devi Hella, quoted on p. 89, indicates that lime plaster was sometimes painted on, as one would naturally have expected.