Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/140

 1 22 History of Art in Ciiald.ea and Assyria. especially in the palace of Assurbanipal. It would seem that such things were imported from abroad when something better than the ivory knobs and handles made in the country was required. When we come to speak of metal cups we shall have to repeat this remark. It may be said that we should have postponed our notice of these objects, and, if they had all borne as incontestable a mark FlG. 59. — Ivory tablet in the British Museum. Actual size. Drawn by Saint-EIme Gaulitr. of their origin as the tablet with the royal oval, we should have done so, we should have reserved both the carved ivories and the engraved cups of metal until we reached those pages of our history in which the arts of Phoenicia will be treated. But, unfortunately, when we come to details it is not always easy to establish the distinction between objects of foreign manufacture