Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/262

 240 A HISTORY OF ART IN CIIALD/EA AND ASSYRIA. arrangement was in better taste than the mosaic thresholds of the o Romans where men were shown in pictures destined to be trodden under foot. The Assyrian carver doubtless took his designs from the carpets in the adjoining chambers. A good idea of these designs may be formed from the slab figured below. The centre is occupied by a number of inter- lacing circles, betraying no little skill on the part of the ornamentist. The " knop and [lower " border of alternately closed and shut lotus flowers is separated from the centre by a band of rosettes. The whole is distinguished by thought and a severe taste. The FIG. 96. Sill of a door, from Khorsabacl. Louvre. Length 40 inches. Drawn by Bourgoin. 1 indented corners, where the pivots of the doors were placed, and the slot for the lower bolt of the door near the centre, should be noticed. These details prove that in this instance the door was a double one. In other cases the absence of the slot and the presence of only one pivot hole show that single doors were also used. 2 The doors always opened inwards, being folded back either against the sides of the entry itself or against the walls of the chamber. Many of these sills or thresholds show no sign of a pivot at 1 Two much better examples of this same work may be seen in the Assyrian basement-room of the British Museum.- En. 2 PLACE, Nim'-i'e, vol. i. p. 314.