Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.1

v4.c16.1

As regards colours it has been observed above that down to the third century A.D. there is a complete absence of the blue tint, but in later work ultramarine is to be noticed freely, and it has admirably withstood the effects of time; colours of this shade of blue look as fresh today as when they were laid on fifteen or sixteen hundred years ago. Some expert chemists have suggested that the Ajanta artists made their blue pigment from *lapis-lazuli*, beads of which are to be seen in great abundance on the ornaments shown in the paintings of Ajanta.¹ Apart from blue there is a rich variety of other colours, notably the various shades of vermilion and terra-verde, which were doubtless produced by mixing with other colours. In regard to the ‘binding medium’ the chemical analysis of fragments of the painted surface has revealed that instead of any vegetable gum some kind of animal-skin glue was used, although in the *Vishnudharmottara* tree-resins and the pulp of the bel fruit (*Aegle marmelos*) as well as glue made from buffalo skin are included in the list of the binding media in vogue in India at some time or other.² Animal-skin glue is still used in Japan, where it is called *nikava*.