A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s6.40

c13.s6.40

Some good bronzes, believed to date from about the tenth century, have been obtained from various localities within the area of the ancient capital, Anurādhapura. They include a pair of miniature feet apparently belonging to a lost statuette, and only three inches in length, which are described as ‘excellently modelled’.² Like the great Buddha in the Birmingham Museum, they were cast on a core, in this case of iron. The best pieces, from the aesthetic point of view, are a large bronze panel (Fig. 186), and a statuette supposed to be that of a Bodhisattva (Fig. 187). The panel, which is thick and heavy, measures 20 inches in length by 7 in breadth, and shows traces of gilding. The design is a boldly executed scroll. The statuette, 20¼ inches high, was found to the south of the Thūpārāma. The person represented stands in the pose with a double bend, known technically as *tivanka*. The drapery is gracefully treated, the modelling, especially of the hands, is truthful, and the serene expression of the face is pleasing.¹ The style closely resembles that of some of the Polonnāruwa bronzes, which are ascribed to the twelfth century, and the Anurādhapura statuette may be as late.