Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/145

 VARIATIONS OF STYLE AND COSTUME. 123 elbows (Fig. 79). From what we know of the softness of Cypriot manners, we may conclude that gymnastic exercises held a less important place in the life and education of the young than they did in Greece ; as a consequence they had far less effect upon the plastic arts, and we know from many things that the nearness of Cyprus to the East led her to take up Oriental rather than Greek ideas upon such a matter as absolute nudity in a statue. In the few instances in which we find a nude torso it is a mere conven- tion, an attempt to flatter a Cypriot prince by giving him the look of an Egyptian Pharaoh. The same analogies are to be found in other details of costume. Look for instance at the head-dresses. No more frizzled curls as in Assyria, but the hair drawn into smooth heavy masses, which hang down on each cheek and enframe the visage much in the same way as the Egyptian klaft (Fig. 79). Sometimes the resemblance is still more complete, and it would appear that the head was enveloped in a piece of cloth which entirely covered it from the forehead to the nape of the neck (Fig. 80), as the mode was in Egypt ; here there is nothing wanting but the lappets which prolonged the klaft in front and hung down upon the chest ; the cloth, however, is smooth instead of being plaited. 1 In other figures, the coif in question is replaced by a high cap not greatly differing in shape from the pschent^ or rather from the white crown of Upper Egypt. 2 This head-dress is sometimes quite plain and smooth, sometimes it seems to have been decorated, like that of a Pharaoh,' with the urseus, the symbol of royalty (Fig. 75) ; but in the stone statues this little ornament has always been broken off, leaving nothing visible but its point of attach- ment (Fig. 82). Some of these Cypriot statues, like the one just quoted, seem to be the result of a compromise between Egyptian and Assyrian forms. In most of the statues belonging to this group the face is beardless, but here it is adorned with a curled fringe of hair like that of a Ninevite bull ; but in spite of this the general Egyptian character of the figure is strongly marked and has more to say to the final impression than the Assyrian look 1 The Cypriot collection in the British Museum contains many stone statuettes in which the imitation of the klaft may be clearly traced ; our attention is drawn to this by the labels placed upon those objects by the officers of the Museum. 2 Art in Ancient Egvpt, Vol. I. p. 16.