A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c16.s2.11
A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c16.s2.11
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c16.s2.11
The unsurpassed skill of the Hindu lapidaries in working the most refractory stones is best exemplified by the great jade (or ? jadeite) tortoise, found many years ago in the bank of the Jumna near Allahabad, and now exhibited in the British Museum, Room IV. It is 17½ inches long, and must be one of the largest known works of art in jade (Plate LXXIV, Fig. A). Mr. King observes that 'for fidelity to nature and exquisite finish' it is 'worthy of the ancient Greeks'. The tortoise plays a prominent part in Hindu mythology, and we shall presently notice an exquisite example of the treatment of the subject in ivory.