The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.129

v1.c9.129

**Group :** There is also a propriety in the proportion of the different figures of a group in Orissa which we look for in vain in Egypt. Except under peculiar circumstances, such as that of fitting in a narrow tall niche a group which requires more breadth than height, or in representations of attendants on gods where the attention of the beholder has to be concentrated exclusively on the principal figure, the enormity is never committed, as in the land of the Pharaohs of making the king many times larger than his attendants. The relation to each other of the different individuals of a group in close union, or in a long procession, or in a narrative scene,—i.e., of the individual to the community,—has been to a great extent borne in mind, and perspective is everywhere attempted to be preserved, though not always successfully. Of four-footed furniture the hind legs are always shown, and receding lines and angles follow to a certain though small, extent the laws of perspective.