Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c12.5

c12.5

"I shall first say something of the art of writing, as it is the most important of the two arts. His Majesty pays much attention to both, and is an excellent judge of form and thought. And, indeed, in the eyes of the friends of true beauty, a letter is the source from which the light confined within it beams forth; and, in the opinion of the far-sighted, it is the world-reflecting cup in the abstract.¹ The letter, a magical power, is spiritual geometry, emanating from the pen of invention; a heavenly writ from the hand of fate, it contains the secret of the word, and is the tongue of the hand. . . . A letter is the portrait-painter of wisdom; a rough sketch from the realm of ideas; a dark night ushering in the day; a black cloud pregnant with knowledge; the wand for the treasures of insight; speaking, yet dumb; stationary, yet travelling; stretched on the sheet, and yet soaring upwards" (vol. i., p. 97, Blochman's translation).