A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c15.s3.t2.11

c15.s3.t2.11

The technique is simple. The outlines were drawn in red ink and filled in with colour washes, only the five canonical colours being used—white, blue, red, yellow, and green. The designs evidently transmit an ancient tradition, and are the production of an art long stereotyped; but, notwithstanding the mechanical monotony of treatment, M. Foucher holds that these little paintings, although not masterpieces, cannot be regarded as merely vulgar daubs. They have been drawn and coloured by illuminators 'très suffisamment maîtres de leurs moyens'. If they date from the eleventh century, they may represent the 'Eastern' school of Dhīmān, which according to Tāranāth was favoured in Nepāl at about that time.