Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/265

 SECONDARY FORMS. 2 43 at once more durable and less holding. Sockets of flint, basalt, trachyte, and other volcanic rocks have been found in great numbers both in Assyria and Chaldsea, 1 Instances of the use of brick in this situation are not wanting, 2 however, and now and then the greenish marks left by the prolonged contact of metal have been discovered in the hollows of these sockets. 3 More than one method was in use for fixing the pivots of the doors and enabling them to turn easily. Sir Henry Layard FIG. 97. Bronze foot from the Balawat gates and its socket. 4 Brituh Museum. brought from Nimroud four heavy bronze rings which must have been used to supplement these hollow sockets. 5 In one 1 A number of sockets found by M. de Sarzec in the ruins of Tello are now deposited in the Louvre. M. PLACE found some at Khorsabad (Ninive, vol. i. p. 314), and Sir Henry LAYARD on the sites of the towns in Upper Mesopotamia (Discoveries, p. 242). The British Museum has a considerable number found in various places. 2 In the same case as the Balawat gates there is a brick, which has obviously been used for this purpose. 3 PLACE, Ninive, vol. i. p. 314. 4 In the British Museum there are some smaller bronze objects of the same kind from the palace of Sennacherib. Others were found by M. PLACE in the palace of Sargon (Ninive, plate 70, fig. 6), so that they must have been in frequent use. 5 LAYARD {Discoveries, p. 163) gives a sketch of one of these objects. Its internal diameter is about five inches, and its weight 6 Ibs. 3f oz. These rings arc now in the British Museum.