A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.s2.36

c14.s2.36

The high achievement of the Ajaṇṭā artists in decorative design executed with masterly skill is most freely exhibited in the ceiling panels of Cave I, painted in the first half of the seventh century (Fig. 202). Mr. Griffiths, who took so much pleasure in copying the designs, describes their variety as infinite, carried into the smallest details, so that repetition is very rare; fancy is given full play, and the simplest objects of nature, being pressed into the artist's service, are converted into pleasing and effective ornament.