Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c11.72

c11.72

The attention which Akbar is said to have devoted to the preparation of pigments is far from showing good results in these paintings, which in many cases exhibit a crudeness and disharmony of colour very unusual in pure oriental art. The modern legend that the Mogul painters used pounded precious stones for their colours perhaps originated from a literal interpretation of an ordinary figure of speech: the only colour-materials used by them which approach to a "precious" stone are the blue of lapis lazuli, and a red made from coral.