A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c12.s2.21

c12.s2.21

A rich collection of Buddhist bronze statuettes, each from 1 foot to 2 feet in height, standing on pedestals, was found during excavations for a canal at Buddhavāni in the Kistna (Krishnā) District, Madras, prior to 1870. Owing to scandalous neglect the statuettes were treated as old metal and allowed to go to ruin. Some years later, when Mr. R. Sewell saw them, he found none perfect, but did all that was possible to save what was left, and published a good account of them, sending the objects to the Secretary of State for India, by whom they were made over in 1905 to the British Museum, where they are now exhibited. Mr. Sewell regards as 'the gem of the collection' the forearm illustrated in Fig. 126, and claims that 'it is hardly too much to say that the modelling of this little right hand is almost perfect, and for grace and delicacy can hardly be surpassed'. The praise is, I think, deserved. We