Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/479

 Glyptic Art. 455 Fio. 219. — Scam- baeoidcoae. Sq>> gitiae Chalce* and that his workmanship is fairly firm and better than that of the signet of Darius. I am indined to think it older; perhaps coeval with the BehistQn bas-relief, which it recalls in many respects. The archer with the fluted tiara reappears on a scarabeeoid that belongs to the Cabinet de Paris (Fig. 219).* Persian seals date from a period when cones and the many varieties of the scarabseus were beginning to supersede cylinders. About this time the theme seemingly most in favour in the workshops where gem-engraving was carried on, is that of the king struggling with the lion or cognate monsters whom he slays at Persepolis. Thus, the monarch is seen fighting the king of beasts upon a cone of white chalcedony picked up at Persepolis by Flandin and Coste (tail-piece, chap. ii.). An irregular cone from Pharsalia represents the combat of the prince with a gpriffin (Fig. 220).* Elsewhere, he is depicted between two animals whom he keeps at a distance with his arms ; a * subject borrowed from the Assyrian omamentist.* Again, winged monsters, with the horns of the wild goat, occur upon a cylinder which belongs to the museum at the Hague (Fig. 221). A scarabaeoid cone in the Cabinet de France repro- duces nearly the same theme; with this difference, that the king is supported by the symbolic ship of the sun, in his capacity as offspring of the solar god (Fig. 222). Here, then, we have another instance of the mingling of several styles, so curiously exemplified in the figure of Cyrus at Pasargadac The form of Ahurft-Mazda, introduced in the field, stamps as Persian work a fine cone of sapphirine chalcedony which Dieulafoy brought from Susa (Fig. 223). Below the divine emblem is a circular frame with the bust of the king ; the winged sphinxes on either side, with the pskmU on their heads, betray Egyptian influence ; whilst a cylinder in the possession of ' Chabouillbt, Catalogue gjtiUral^ 1858, No. 1049, ' An impre55sion of the cnj^ravcd stone under notice was fonvarded to me by M. Sulomon Reinach. It belongs to M. Robert, French consul at Voto, who bought it of a peasant near PliaTnlii. uiyiii<-uu Ly Google
 * Hi$t ofArt^ torn, ii Figs. 443, 4441 449*