Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c31.27

c31.27

We may gather, however, that in the fifth century, as well as at other times, a school of highly skilled craftsmen existed in Ceylon, and if of Indian origin, at least were much at home in Ceylon. We have the Sigiri paintings; and with respect to figure sculpture Tennent states that the “early historians of China speak in raptures of work of this kind, obtained from Singhalese sculptors in the fourth and fifth centuries.”† It is possible that the very beautiful small bronzes of somewhere about this date which are sometimes met with in Ceylon, may have been the work of Sinhalese sculptors. This was a period of culmination of Indian culture, both in the mainland and in Ceylon (see above, p. 162) and the province was more intimately related to the mainland than is now the case. Perhaps it would be correct to say of such a period, not so much that its productions in Ceylon were the work of Indian craftsmen, as that in India at that time, of which Ceylon was a part, there existed a common school of craftsmen great in artistic achievement; but that these in Ceylon were unable to maintain a continuous tradition, owing to the disturbed state of the country and other causes.