[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) › c9.s2.55 # A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2.55 A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2.55 - **Language:** English ### [c9.s2.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.55) All critics are agreed that the southern gateway is the earliest of the four. One of its pillars is shown in Plate XVII, Fig. B. The capitals of its gate-posts are formed by four lions seated back to back, ‘indifferently carved,’ and evidently intended as imitations of those on Asoka's inscribed pillar already noticed (\*ante\*, p. 60). The marked decline in skill demonstrated by the contrast between the lions on the gate-post and those on the inscribed pillar is surprising considering the shortness of the interval of time, about a century, between the two compositions. The decadence is most easily verified by comparing the treatment of the lions' paws on the gate-post capital (Maisey, PLATE XVII. Sāñchī sculptures. (Photos. supplied by Prof. Macdonell.) - [Previous: c9.s2.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.54) - [Next: c9.s2.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.56) - [Up: c9.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2) ## Linked texts (1) - [Sārnāth](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.sarnath) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.55) · Pramāṇa