Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c3.4

c3.4

It was the art of a poor people, the annual income of whose kings did not in the eighteenth century exceed £2000 in money, beside revenue in kind. It was very different from the sumptuary art of the great courts and wealthy cities of India, of which we trace but a faint reflection here and there in the use of Indian materials, and the importation of Indian craftsmen. But it is the only true art discoverable in Ceylon to-day. In a few years it may be gone for ever, I have tried to make a picture of it, before it was too late.