ceptions, such as the head and hands, are also executed in the same way, but the body and lower portions of seated figures are constructed by being beaten up into the desired form with the hammer. The various portions on being completed in one or other of these processes are joined together by rivets, and the figure built up and finished in this manner. The accessories have been manufactured separately—the head-dress and ornaments, the symbols and insignia—and these are added subsequently. It is customary for many of the statues to be encrusted with jewels and gems, and special places are reserved for their introduction. These finishing touches of real rubies, turquoises, amethysts, and other precious stones, add considerably to the richness of the general effect, and although suggesting the barbaric, the tout ensemble does not suffer, for they fall into place, and do not detract from the work of art as a whole.
The foregoing refers to the more realistic work of the old Nepali artist, but for his ideal conceptions one must turn to the statues of his deities placed in the niches of his temples.
