Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c3.30

c3.30

The illustrations are for the most part drawings or photographs of objects in the Colombo and Kandy Museum; belonging to the Daḷadā Māligāva and Mahā Dēvāle, Kandy; and in my own collection. A majority of the objects illustrated are of eighteenth century date. I am indebted to many friends for assistance and advice. First and foremost to my wife for taking over a thousand photographs in Ceylon; most of those reproduced in the Plates are her work, and they are but a selection of those taken. Those who have photographed in a tropical climate will appreciate the labour involved. I am also indebted to her for working out with me the subject of Sinhalese embroidery, and for her assistance in recording many other observations made jointly. Secondly I have to thank Don M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, of the Indian Institute, Oxford, for reading the proofs. Many errors have been thus avoided; but he is not to be held responsible for those that remain. I am indebted to Miss A. G. Daniels, B.A., for very kindly undertaking the heavy labour of making an adequate index. To Mr. C. R. Ashbee I am greatly indebted for assistance and advice in matters connected with the Press, and for the pressmark which he has specially drawn for this book. It represents, in a design based on a Sinhalese painting, the gathering of flowers from the tree of Eastern art, and records the history of the Press on which the book has been printed. In Ceylon I have to thank Dr. Willey, Director of the Colombo Museum, for the facilities which he kindly gave for the examination and photography of any and every object in the Museum, and Mr. G. A. Joseph, the Librarian, for his continual assistance in the same work. I have also to thank Mr. H. W. Codrington, C.C.S., for assistance and information; the Hon. J. P. Lewis, Government Agent of the Central Province; Mr. C. B. Nugavela, Diva Nilame, Daḷadā Māligāva; Mr. A. Ratvatte, Basnāyaka Nilame, Mahā Dēvāle; Mr. T. B. Keppiṭipola, Basnāyaka Nilame, Embekke Dēvāle; Mr. W. Dunuville, J.P.; Mr. S. D. Mahavalatenna, H. E. Dambevinne, A. Maduvanvela, and other Kandyan chiefs; Mr. P. E. Pieris, C.C.S.; Mudaliyār E. R. Gooneratne, for his invaluable assistance in translating for me the Rūpāvaliya and Sāriputra; the late Silānanda Thēra, Librarian of the Oriental Library; many jewellers of Kandy and Colombo, and particularly Mr. A. B. Casse Lebbe, for permission to borrow and photograph at any time any of the specimens of Sinhalese work in their possession. Amongst Kandyan craftsmen I am chiefly indebted to Dēvasurēndra Muhandirama, of Embekke, for abundant information, of which I was able to tap the surface only in the course of, for a time, almost daily conversation and observation of methods. I am indebted also to the invariable courtesy of Buddhist Priests, both at Malvatte and in the country districts. For the use of photographs reproduced on Pls. II., III., IV. (1), VIII. and VIIIA I have to thank Messrs. Skeen & Co. and the Colombo Apothecaries Company.