Comb with dancing woman

This and other scenes of a dancer in motion may offer a glimpse of eighteenth-century Sri Lankan dance performance. The costume, with lower garment and scarves of pleated fabric and elaborate jewelry, can be compared to contemporaneous painting and decorative objects as well as to the costumes of today’s classical dancers. The wide-legged stance, tilted torso, and stylized hand gestures are also familiar. Dancing was part of the ritual service at temples and shrines of the Sri Lankan kingdom. However, through repetition, the depiction of a dancer may have become a conventionalized emblem of such dance— reminiscent of movement, but not capturing performance.

Sri Lankan ivory combs were made to ornament the hairdos of upper-class women. They show a wide variety of designs in addition to dancers, such as foliage, mythical animals, and deities. The depiction of a dancer was certainly an appealing motif; it may have also held auspicious meaning.