The Colas c30.3

c30.3

The metal industries and the jewellers' art had reached a high state of perfection. Household utensils made of metal were apparently confined to the rich, earthenware being often mentioned in connection with cooking and eating in *śālas*, charitable feeding halls. The detailed descriptions of the images and utensils of the Tanjore temple recorded in the inscriptions, and the bronzes of the period that have survived to this day give proof of the mastery attained by the braziers of the time in the art of manipulating alloys of metals and casting them into the most elaborate and graceful forms. Copper, bronze and brass were employed in such work, besides gold and silver.