Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.77

c19.77

It will be worth while to give a brief account of them. They are executed on the plastered surface of the Sigiriya rock, those remaining being only found in an almost inaccessible cave; probably the whole rock surface over the gallery was once plastered and painted. The plaster consists of a groundwork of earth (white ants' nest?) and kaolin, half an inch in thickness, strengthened with an admixture of paddy husk, and perhaps coconut fibre, and covered with white chunam (lime) smoothed with a trowel. Only three pigments are used, yellow, red, and green, but these are varied by shading and mixture, unlike their use in modern work; blue is absent. Mr. Bell* thinks that the paintings are portraits of Court ladies proceeding to the vihāra with flower offerings. To me the fact that the figures are cut off at half-length by conventional clouds suggests that they represent divine beings; who are always so represented in modern work.