Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/395

 Instruments of the Toilet and Jewelry. 357 gutter exists, the design must have been stamped, the leaves of metal being placed over the hollow and beaten into it with a mallet. 1 It was by this latter process, no doubt, that those buttons which have been found in such quantities by every one who has explored the Assyrian palaces, were made. They are sometimes small disks ornamented with concentric bands (Fig. 248), sometimes lozenges with beaded edges (Fig. 249). These buttons have sometimes staples for attachment like ours, but more often they are pierced with a small hole for the passage of a metal thread. They were thus fixed on the Fig. 240.— Bracelet. Diameter 5 inches. Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier. king's robes and the harness of his horses. Our Fig. 250, which is copied from a bas-relief at Kouyundjik, shows how the leather bands that encircled the necks of the chariot-horses and supported bells, metal rosettes and coloured tassels, were decorated. 2 The habits and tastes of the Oriental saddler have not changed since the days of antiquity. We cannot get a better idea of Assyrian harness than by examining the sets exposed for sale 1 The Arab jewellers still make use of similar moulds (Layard, Discoveries, P- 595)- 2 Layard, Discoveries, pp. 177-178.