A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c17.54

c17.54

The introduction of the vine into Indian bas-reliefs used to be considered as in itself evidence of copying from Hellenistic models. But that view is not tenable. The vine is still largely grown in Chinese Turkistan, and until the recent Afghan conquest was freely cultivated in Kāfiristan. Sir George Watt believes that the plant is indigenous on the lower Himalayan ranges, and is even inclined to think that its cultivation may have been diffused into Europe from that region. However that may be, it is certain that Indian artists had ample opportunities of studying the forms of vine-growth at first hand, and were under no necessity to seek foreign models.