Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/225

 Chaldean Sculpture. 195 that can be compared to the statues of Gudea in the Louvre. During all this period the volcanic rocks appear to have been extensively employed ; we still think they were obtained either from the borders of the Arabian desert, or by way of the two rivers from the mountains at the head of the double valley. ' To the same school we may attribute a bronze from Hillah, now in the Louvre (Fig. 106). It represents a priest robed in a long tunic with five flounces of crimped work. His hair is brought together at the back of his head, and he wears a low tiara with the usual horns folded about it. His beard is short and broad. With his two hands — which are broken — he holds a Fig. 106. — Statuette of a priest. Height 55 inches. Louvre. Fro. 107. — Statuette of a woman. Terra- cotta. Louvre. Height 5| inches. small ibex against his chest. We have already encountered this motive in Assyria (see Vol. I. Fig. 114). It is chiefly, however, among the terra-cotta statuettes that we find good examples of that more elegant and refined form of art of which we catch certain glimpses in some of the Tello fragments. The figure of a priest happily draped in a mantle that covers his head and shoulders from behind, has already been given (Fig. 50). We may here add two more specimens of the same kind. Their merits, however, can only be fairly appreciated in the originals, on account of their small size. One of the very best things produced by Chaldaean art is the statuette of a nude woman,