Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c22.76

c22.76

Brass wares fall into two groups, the wrought and the cast. In a general way, the hammered and chased work is done by silversmiths, the cast work by the *lokaruvō* or founders, who belong to the lower group of the craftsmen. The wrought work includes, as has already been partly indicated, hinges, key-plates, boxes, trays, lanterns, lime-boxes, arecanut slicers, and mountings of all kinds, as well as some of the cheaper kinds of jewellery. Brass hinges are characteristic and beautiful; they show, however, as above suggested, traces of European influence. Fig. 122 shows several hinges and a catch, from various *vevel-peṭṭi* or cane baskets, and Pl. XLIIIA, 8, shows one of these baskets with the hinge and handle *in situ*. Another brass hinge appears on the wooden *abharaṇa-peṭṭiya*, Pl. XIII., 3. Brass key-plates (*muna-tahaḍu*) are common; many show in their design strong European influence, others are partly or wholly of Sinhalese design. The appearance of these key-plates will be better understood from the accompanying figures (Figs. 118, 119, 120, 121) than from any description. They are generally both pierced and chased. The pierced key-plates are sometimes mounted over red cloth to show up the pattern the better. Brass boxes are found in great variety, and here again there is strong evidence of European influence. The flat oval Dutch tobacco boxes (heppu) are still quite commonly distributed in the Kandyan provinces; and still more common are the locally made betel boxes of the same form but engraved with purely Sinhalese designs. Examples of these have been given in Figs. 11, 28, and 68; another is here illustrated in Fig. 123.