Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c28: Appendix to Chapter XV. Revival of Sinhalese Embroidery
Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c28
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Appendix to Chapter XV. Revival of Sinhalese Embroidery
c28.1
Through the efforts of Mrs. Coomaraswamy, there has taken place of late some revival of interest in Sinhalese embroidery. Mrs. Coomaraswamy has taught a class of Kandyan girls at the Clarence Memorial School in Kandy, and a class of Sinhalese ladies in Colombo. Great interest was shown, and some very excellent work resulted. Prizes were offered through the Ceylon Society of Arts, and a good display of work was shown at the annual exhibitions in 1905 and 1906. But the best evidence of the value of such work, was the interest awakened in old traditions and designs, as, for example, in the case of the daughter of a Kandyan chief, who brought to the class a highly valued memorial of the past, the jacket referred to above (p. 239), and made the very excellent copy of part of the sleeve, reproduced on Pl. XXX., 2.
c28.2
At the same time, the Department of Public Instruction, through Mrs. Evans, the newly-appointed Inspectress of Needlework, has abolished some of the worst abuses in connection with the teaching of embroidery in schools. It may perhaps be hoped that the day of gaudy Berlin woolwork, and gold-embroidered mottoes to be framed under glass and hung on the wall, is now passing away, even in Ceylon, where all things Early Victorian linger still.