Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/198

 [68 A History of Art in Chaldjsa and Assyria. all of those found in the doorways, is winged. Another example o( the same type is to be found in a bas-relief of Assurbanipal ; it is, however, simplified, and it looks, on the whole, more pro- bable (Fig. 88). The wings have disappeared ; there are but two natures to be joined, and the junction seems to be made without effort ; the lion furnishes strength and rapidity, the man the various powers of the arm and hand, and the beauty of the thinking and speaking head. The divine character of the per- sonage thus figured is indicated by the three pairs of horns bent Fig. 87. — Fantastic animal. National Library, Paris. Height 5 J inches. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier. round the dome-like tiara, and also by the place he occupies in the inferior compartment of a relief on which, at the top, appear those lion-headed genii we have already figured (Vol. I, Fig. 6). In this last composition we have a foretaste of the centaur. Replace the lion by a horse and the likeness is complete. Even now it is very great. At the first moment, before we have time to notice the claws and divided toes, we seem to recognize the fabulous animal of the Greeks upon the walls of an Assyrian palace.