Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/208

 184 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. The votive intention may be easily divined in a small well- executed group which shows three persons reclining at table (Fig. 121) ; two of the three are men, dressed in long robes and pointed coifs. The third is apparently a woman. Her head is covered with a mitra, or scarf, the ends being drawn over the cheeks and tied under the chin. The curious thing about this group is the introduction of two children, who sit upon the haunches of their elders. The sex of these little figures is uncertain ; they are draped in long robes falling to their feet, but the better preserved of the two its companion lacks a head gives one the impression rather of a girl than a boy. It is likely that the scene here figured is religious in its intention ; it is a banquet in honour either of the defunct or of his patron deity. FIG. 121. Limestone group in the Xcv York Museum. In this group the table and couches hide all the lower parts of the figures ; this is not the case, however, with the statuette re- produced in Fig. 122. The pose is the same, so are the tunic and bonnet ; but the cushion on which the left elbow rests is more carefully shown, and the head, no doubt that of a young man, is without a beard. It is possible that this figure, although carried out separately, was intended to form part of a group, which could afterwards be properly arranged in the tomb or temple for which it was designed. 1 1 Several little terra-cotta groups of more or less summary execution have been found which deal with what we should call subjects of genre. The subject of one