Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c24.1

c24.1

THE rather simple types of earthenware made and used by Sinhalese for ceremonial, architectural, and domestic purposes are more varied than might at first sight be supposed, and, apart from any question of painted pottery, will be found to possess much excellence in respect of beauty of form and adaptation to the end in view. This last consideration it is which determines the primary form of the vessels. Hardly any work of a merely ornamental character falls to be considered in the present paper. It is, however, this primarily utilitarian character and aim which give so much charm to the elegance of form and very simple decoration which accompany it; it has been said, indeed, that ugly pottery can only be made by an exertion of the cultivated intellect, and has only been so made in comparatively modern times. Much the same is true of India, where unglazed pottery is everywhere made for domestic and other purposes. Says Sir George Birdwood: "Truest to nature in the directness and simplicity of its forms, and their adaptation to use, and purest in art, of all its homely and sumptuary handicrafts, is the pottery of India, and the forms of it shown on ancient Buddhist and Hindu sculptures, and the ancient Buddhist paintings of Ajaṇṭa, are identical with those still everywhere thrown from the village hand-wheels." We do not, however, find in Ceylon the more elaborate types of glazed pottery made in some parts of India; but it will be found that Sinhalese pottery fulfils the requirements of good workmanship in earthenware: viz., first, the vessel must be of a shape convenient for its purpose; secondly, that shape must be one that arises naturally from the mode of manufacture and exhibits to advantage the plastic properties of clay, without becoming weak or fanciful; thirdly, ornament should not interfere with usefulness and should be appropriate in amount and character in relation to the purpose of the vessel and the material it is made of; fourthly, smoothness of surface and elaborate refinements (however good in their right place) are not to be thought of as ends in themselves, and may appear unsuitable if striven for in vessels meant for ordinary daily use and made of a material not over fine. Nevertheless, the application of some simple glaze would not be out of place, and it is perhaps rather strange that it is never met with in Ceylon.*