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THE ARTS OF THE NEWARS

in the breeze; or it may have a canopy of Naga snakes or huge cobras, whose expanded hoods form an ideal background to the whole. Here and there to give lightness to the conception a metal bird or reptile is poised, standing out from the remainder of the design, a little touch of delicate art-feeling which indicates that the maker of these statues was an artist to his finger-tips. The Newar metalworker played with his stubborn material as a modeller manipulates clay with his fingers, and the ease with which he twisted and turned his copper or brass, and chased the little figure on its surface or applied the flower-bud there and the lizard here, indicates the thought of the master-mind and the touch of the master-hand. Much of the distinctive character in this work lies in the freedom in which the metal is handled, and the combination of the two different processes of hammering and casting in the same artistic composition. The Newar craftsman conceived his design, and proceeded in the most workmanlike manner to materialize it in the metals at his command, melting, embossing, and riveting the various