Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/135

 194 History ok Art in Antiquity. out in Persia as in Greece and Lyda, without any of those peoples having required to borrow so natural an idea. Nor is this all The character of these dentels is very distinct from the Grecian form. At the Gabre» they appear in the lower band of the cornice, something after the fashion of a meander; but the intervening space is not hollowed up to the upper moulding ; each does not con- stitute an independent piece. A great call is made on our good- will when we are required to see a perfect resemblance between such timid and clumsy cuttings as these, and the shapely form J F IG. 5 J.— Elevatioa of fngment of corake fioB Um Gftbre. Dibvlafoy, torn. i. Fig. 33. about the doorway of the theatre at Selinunte, where — to use a familiar expression — they appear like neatly arranged dominoes before the platband to which their base adheres. Nor do we find here aught to remind us of the characteristic and high relief of the drip seen in every Greek cornice, the absence of which imparts to the Persian member so peculiar an aspect In our opinion there is just as little truth in the assertion put forth, that the doorway of the Gabre (Fig. 54) is " sui exact copy of the portals of edifices in the Ionic style, erected in Greece towards the end of the seventh century B.C." ' The only detail which is common to the twin portals thus juxtaposed, is that both have preserved the disposition of the timber frame which obtained in lignite con- ' DiEULAFOV, CArt antique, toni. i. pp. 42, 43. Digitized by Google