Eastern Wall Paintings
IN his foreword Mr. Andrews pays a whole-hearted tribute, in which readers of his book will fully concur, to the memory of Sir Aurel Stein and to the arduous archaeological work which he carried out for the Government of India, to whom credit is due for having sponsored this book. The account given of exploratory journeys in search of material, of dangers and obstacles encountered and overcome, and of difficulties surmounted, particularly in the removal of wall-paintings from ruined shrines where they were exposed to danger of damage and defaCement, is in itself of great interest. Carefully packed, the sections of painted plaster " were then conveyed by camel, yak, buffalo, bullock-cart, railway . . . to their destination." As they are reproduced in this volume, the paintings may be appreciated as most interesting examples of Eastern art ; and it must be said that the best of them exhibit to the full the qualities of rich design, colour and pattern usually associated with that art. The plates, both in monochrome and in colour, are excellent, and the latter appear convincing, despite the difficulties under which they were produced, in the absence of the originals preserved at New Delhi.
In his detailed descriptions of individual works, Mr. Andrews relates many of the legends depicted ; but a brief general account of Buddhist philosophy and iconography would have been welcome to the majority of readers, who are almost entirely ignorant of both ; for, as Ananda Coomaraswamy remarked, " one might as well attempt the study of Christian or Buddhist art without a know- ledge of the corresponding philosophies as attempt the study of a mathematical papyrus without the knowledge of mathematics." Mr. Andrews refers to " the occurrence in the late mediaeval art of Europe of motives and forms found in Buddhist paintings in Central Asia," saying truly that it " presents a field of research of considerable interest." The. student of English mediaeval wall- painting will notice resemblances such as the use of double out- lining, and the custom of filling the lower part of the wall-space with an ornamental dado, which in this country, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, usually took the form of a painted drapery. What appear to be resemblances in technique are also observable • but since no full account is given of the technical methods employed in these Eastern works, which are referred to 'somewhat vaguely as being "in tempera." it is not possible to make technical comparisons.
The comments on the preservation of wall-paintings are sound in so far as they relate to the application of varnishes, which darken and obscure the work in course of time ; but there are other protective methods free from this disadvantage. The assertion that no preservative treatment whatever is necessary indicates an ex- perience which, though happy, has been somewhat limited ; for works with the pigments themselves in sound condition, even if they are on broken sections of plaster, present but comparatively slight difficulties in the way of preservation. It remains a question what Mr. Andrews would do if confronted by paintings from which the binding medium has perished, leaving the pigment in the form of loose dust upon the wall ; or else in flakes, partially detached and ready to fall ; or in brittle scales, curled away from the surface, which therefore have to be pressed into position and secured - or even what action he would feel obliged to take if he knew ihat a painting in a sound state was to remain exposed to all the hazards inseparable from its position in a building in ordinary use, instead of being removed to the comparative safety of a museum.
E. W. TRISTRAM-
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