Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/144

 128 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. III. The Demeterand Persephone are, except for their heads, almost complete. They were in much the same state as at present when Carrey drew them. A learned German has claimed that they sit on closed boxes. But on comparing their seats with that on which the Demeter of Cnidus rests, and with others, represented on reliefs, it seems possible that these seats were meant for stools framed with uprights and rails of wood. The moulding at the back, C, might not be a hinge, but, as the top of the stool was not allowed to project at the back, a bead covering the flush joint was attached. (Figs. 125 and 126 ; A is from the marble, B is a suggested interpretation.) I do not feel certain of this, however, as it must be allowed the seats are very like the chests which appear on vases. In any case, the)- would have been commonly used as seats, and need have no special significance.* IV. The figure usually called Iris (Ili- thyia?) may be completely restored as to its general lines. As it stands, it at first seems the least interesting figure of the pediment, but close study reveals extraordinary beauties in the design and adjustments of the figure. Against the back is a slab-like area of what 1^ was clearly a mantle flying free from the figure. It is very skilfully supported by a fig. 127. — Section a'^^^ . ^- r ^, . ■ u- u of Drapery over Auttermg portion of the upper tunic, which Letr of Demeter. projects between the body and the mantle. The extremities were obviously supported by the extended arms. What makes this certain is the similar design of several figures from the Nereid monument from Xanthus, where the fundamental idea is the same, and which must derive, directly or indirectly, from the " Iris," of which they are but copies with differences. (Figs. 120, 128.) V. The Fates, when Carrey's drawing was made, had heads on the first and third figures.^ The first looked back toward the t These had probably disappeared by 1750, as Pococke speaks of the right-hand group as " only three broken figures."
 * Cf. the tomb furniture, Ephemeris, 1899, plate n.