Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/270

 A HISTORY OF ART i CHALD.KA AND ASSYRIA. architecture was generally and permanently ielt, and in those Parthian and Sassanide periods in which, as we have said, the traditions of the old Chalclaean school were continued, we find the panel replaced by wall arcades in which the arches are divided from each other by tall pilasters. In general principle and intention the two methods of decoration are identical. The Egyptian architect had recourse to the same motive, first, in the tombs of the Ancient Empire for the decoration of the chamber walls in the mastabas ; secondly, for the relief of oreat brick surfaces. The resemblance to the Mesopotamian work is sometimes very great. 1 We have explained this form by one of the transpositions so frequent in the history ot architecture, namely, a conveyance of motives from carpentry to brickwork and masonry.- In the former the openings left in the skeleton are gradually filled in, and these additions, by the very nature of their materials, most frequently take the form of panels. The grooves that define the panels in brick or stone buildings represent the intervals left by the carpenter between his planks and beams. They could also be obtained very easily upon the smooth face of beams brought into close contact, either by means of the gouge or some other instrument capable of cutting into the wood. We may safely assert that in Chaldsea and Assyria, as in Egypt, it was with carpentry that the motive in question originated. On the other hand, if there be a form that results directly from the system of construction on which it is used, that form is the crenelation with which, apparently, every building in Mesopotamia was crowned. 3 The Assyrian brickwork in which so many vast undertakings were carried out consists of units all of one dimension, and bonded by the simple alternation of their joints. Supposing a lower course to consist of two entire bricks, the one above it would be one whole brick flanked on either side by a half brick. An Assyrian wall or building consists of the infinite repetition of this single figure. Each whole brick lies upon the joint between 1 See, for instance, in Art in Ancient Egypt, vol. i. tigs. 123, 124, 201, and in vol. ii. pp. 55-64, and figs. 35-37 and 139. 2 Art in Ancient Egypt, vol. i. p. 117. 3 We here give a resume of M. PLACE'S observations on this point. He made a careful study of these crenelations. Ninirc, vol. ii. pp. 53-57.
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