Abstract
There is evidence in the literature that in India wood was used for making sculptures from very early times. Owing to the destructive climate, however, only wooden objects dating from the 7th century are available today, while polychromed wooden sculptures of the period before the 16th century are unobtainable. Sculptures were produced either by carving from one solid block or by building it up from small pieces. The main types of decorating were painting, inlay work or lac work. Painting was done sometimes without, but mostly with surface preparation. For this a thin layer of a ground was used. Sometimes a layer of cloth and then paper was used before applying the gesso. Pigments in common use were malachite, terre-verte, red ochre, red lead, lac dye, yellow ochre, chrome yellow, ultramarine, kaolin, and chalk. A gold effect was often produced by applying shellac varnish over shining silvery tin paint or foil. Lac work was produced by painting with lac solution or by turnery.
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