The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.42.5

v1.c9.42.5

but as it is, were one to put it in a portfolio of Gustave Doré, or in Griset's " Grotesques, " it would, I fancy, be easily mistaken for the handiwork of one of those humorous artists. No. 25, from Paraśurāmeśvara, drops the twining vine altogether, and is formed of a series of lozenges tied to each other by ribbons, and enclosing curly petalled flowers, apparently a kind of *passiflora*; the spaces above and below the knots are filled up with curled petals or stamens of the same species of plant. On the lower side it has a row of pellets, and below it a string of lotus petals supported on a hatched zigzag moulding. It is neither very rich, nor common. It is used only for horizontal fascias. No. 31, from the same place, discards the festoons of creepers altogether, and takes a line of pitchers, bearing unknown or fanciful tendrils, leaves and flowers. The lower half of the pitcher is ribbed, and a garland of beads or flower-buds encircles its neck. This fascia has a fillet for its lower, and a corbel table for the upper, edge. The corbels are formed of three square tiles each, the smallest occupying the lowermost place; no parapet or continuous covering is placed over them. A very florid example of the pitcher band occurs in No. 32, from the same locality. No. 26 is entirely different from the last. It has a corbel table of carved ornaments, supporting a deep continuous projection above. The projection has a cable moulding enclosed in a winding band of ornamented lace.