[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911) › c19.s3.8 # A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c19.s3.8 A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c19.s3.8 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c19.s3.8) The validity of the concluding proposition may be doubted, and it seems to me by no means certain that the teaching of Musalman art to European craftsmen would produce satisfactory results. But, however that may be, M. Migeon’s enthusiastic praise of the decorative quality of Muslim art generally may be accepted. The best Indian specimens, with which alone we are concerned at present, could not be surpassed as pure decoration. The general absence of all human interest and expression in the infinitely varied patterns is, of course, a great drawback, but if we are content to regard the works simply as surface decoration intended to please the eye they cannot be beaten. Among all the many varieties of Muhammadan decorative designs none are more agreeable than the best of those carved in relief on the Mughal buildings, from the time of Akbar to that of Shahjahān. The work of Akbar’s time being more naturalistic, is more interesting than that of the later period, which is formally conventional, with a tendency to monotony. - [Previous: c19.s3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c19.s3.7) - [Next: c19.s3.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c19.s3.9) - [Up: c19.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c19.s3) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c19.s3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c19.s3.8) · Pramāṇa