Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/163

 VARIATIONS OF STYLE AND COSTUME. 141 (Fig. 93). The head as a whole recalls that of some Jew painted by Rubens or Rembrandt. 1 In some cases we find such queer head-dresses that it is not easy to guess what the sculptor may have meant by them. What, for instance, are we to say to this fragment from the Louvre (Fig. 94) ? Above the head of a man with the mere suggestion of a beard, appears a pair of hands, joined at the finger-tips, and surmounted by a lion's head. This singular ornament is broadly modelled with the chisel and occupies the same place as the crest of a helmet. What does it mean ? Does the statue of which it FIG. 94. Fragment of a limestone statue. Height 18 inches. Louvre. forms a part represent a man or a god ? In default of a body, the pose and dress of which might have helped to clear up the mystery, we can hardly answer this question. On the whole, however, we may perhaps guess that the fragment is part of a divine image into which the lion was introduced as a symbol of superhuman force and strength. 1 In the Louvre this head-dress is only to be found on a single head ; but in London I encountered it twice; but in the latter examples the edge is hardly turned over with so much freedom and grace as in the one figured ; they look as they were the works of artists who were not familiar with the right way of arranging the article of dress in question.