Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/139

 Materials. 121 has as yet been encountered on any other monument, but it may very well have been that of one of those petty monarchs who swarmed in the Delta towards the time of the Ethiopian conquest. Most of them left very slight traces ; not a few are known only by a single text. This tablet may have been carved, then, either in Egypt, or in Phoenicia after an Egyptian model. In any case, it seems clear to us that it is not the work of an Assyrian or Chaldsean. Other objects in the same material do not, like this, bear an irrefutable mark of their origin, but they are so like it in treatment that we are tempted to say they must have been pro- duced under the same influence. Look at this fragment of a winged sphinx (Fig. 58). Its general physiognomy, the head- FiG. 58. — Ivory fragment in the British Museum. Actual size. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier. dress, the peculiar rendering of the wing-feathers, are none of them Chaldaean, but we often find them in Phoenicia and Cyprus. We may say the same of the fine piece in which two fantastic animals standing upon a peculiar and elaborate capital are sur- rounded by gracefully designed flowers and leafage (Fig. 59). In attempting to give a clear idea of Chaldseo- Assyrian sculpture we must, therefore, put aside the more artistic among the numerous ivory carvings found in the ruins at Nimroud, and stolen from the British Museum. It was offered by the thief, in the first place, to M. de Longperier, who thought it a forgery, and afterwards to the keeper of the Hague Museum, who, put on his guard by the publicity which by that time had been given to the theft, detained the piece and restored it to its legitimate owners. VOL. 11. R