Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/212

 182 Chinese and Japanese Sculpture. — but it was principally in engraving and cutting gems and precious metals that the chosen people excelled. The golden Calf, the brazen serpent, the plate of gold for the high-priest's mitre, the engraved stones of the breastplate, etc., the cherubim and ornaments for the tabernacle, were works of this class. The Phoenicians appear to have excelled in all the mechanical arts. Homer alludes to a chased silver goblet of exquisite workmanship, made by a native of Sidon ; and Solomon invited workmen from Tyre when engaged upon the temple of Jerusalem. We read that the king of Tyre sent him a workman " skilful to work in gold, silver, brass, etc. . . also to grave any manner of graving" (2 Chron. ii. 14), "who made an altar of brass, and a molten sea supported by twelve cast oxen," etc. (2 Chron. iv. 1-22.) In the ruins of Carthage, which was a colony of Phoenicia, Phoenician coins and medals have been frequently found. China and Japan. We cannot leave the East without a few words on the art of the Chinese and Japanese, although they never produced either statues or groups in stone or marble of any important size. There are many colossal bronzes of Buddha in Japan. There is one now at the South Kensing- ton Museum, where may also be seen a fine Eagle with outspread wings, of Japanese workmanship, in hammered iron. Both nations have always been proficient in carv- ing wood, ivory, tortoiseshell, etc. : they are wanting in imagination, but their power of imitation and proficiency in colouring are alike marvellous.