Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/388

 ;o A History of Art in Chald/ea and Assyria. rows of teeth, one coarse, the other fine, and each is ornamented in the middle with a figure in open-work (Figs. 228 — 229) or raised in relief on a flat bed (Fig. 227). Only a part of the latter comb is preserved. The frame round the figures is cut into the shape of a cable above and below, and into rosettes at the ends. On one side of the comb there is a walking lion, on the other the winged sphinx shown in our engraving. Its body is that of a lion, it is mitred and wears a pointed beard. In the second example we have a lion with lowered head within a frame with a kind of &gg Fig. 227. — Comb. Actual size. Louvre. moulding. The forms are so heavy that at first we have some difficulty in recognizing the species. In our last specimen both design and execution are much better. A lion is carved in the round within a frame ornamented with a double row of zig-zag lines. The modelling has been carried out by a skilful artist and is not unworthy of a place beside the Ninevite reliefs. Syrian origin. De Longpérier did not hesitate, on the evidence of their style, to class these objects as Assyrian, and any one who examines the motives of their decoration will be of his opinion. See his Œuvres, vol. i. p. 166.