A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.s2.19

c14.s2.19

‘The Indian practice of wall-painting at Ajaṇṭā, as elsewhere,’ Mr. Griffiths observes, ‘is in fact a combination of tempera with fresco. The hydraulic nature of Indian lime, or *chunam*, makes it possible to keep a surface moist for a longer time than in Europe, and the Indian practice of trowelling the work—unknown in Europe—produced a closer and more intimate *liaison* between the colour and the lime, and a more durable and damp-resisting face than the open texture of European fresco. The art has been practised all over India since the time of the Ajaṇṭā frescoes, and to this day houses, mosques, and temples are thus decorated. The modern method is first to spread a ground of coarse mortar (*chunam*) of the thickness of from half to one inch on the wall. This is allowed to stand for a day. If on the next day the ground is too dry, it is moistened, and then tapped all over with the edge of a small piece of wood of triangular section, to roughen it and give it a tooth. Then, with a coarse brush a thin coating of fine white plaster (*chunam*) is applied, and the work is allowed to stand till the next day, being moistened all the time. If the painting is to be highly finished, the ground is carefully smoothed with a small flat iron trowel about the size of a dessert spoon, which produces a surface on which the design is first sketched, or transferred by pouncing from a perforated drawing on paper, and then painted.