Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/27

 MATERIALS AND PROCESSES. partial use of the mould ; and the castings are hollow, showing that the technics of the matter were sufficiently advanced." x Some of these objects are of no slight complexity, such as the groups representing war and travelling chariots (Vol. I. Fig. 145). Parts of these are modelled and mounted by hand, the voids being taken out with a cutting instrument ; but the small human figures introduced are squeezed in a mould. 2 Like Assyria before her and Greece in after times, Phoenicia painted her terra-cottas ; the colours, which were brilliant at the moment of discovery, are still visible in many cases. Sometimes the whole figure is covered with a tint like that used by the Egyptians to express a manly complexion, the hair and eyebrows being black. 3 Details of costume are sometimes indicated in pink, green and blue ; these colours are generally laid upon a yellowish under-painting. 4 And as Phoenicia took the notion of these painted terra-cotta figures from Mesopotamia, so she borrowed from Egypt the secret of another manufacture ; she made great numbers of statuettes of the material called Egyptian faience, a sandy frit covered with a white, blue, or green enamel. 5 It is sometimes far from easy to discriminate between Phoenician objects of this kind and those of Egyptian manufacture ; but the distinction can generally be made if we look carefully into certain details, and consider the provenance of any object that comes under notice. The Phoenicians certainly imported many things from the Nile valley, partly for their own use, partly for re-exportation. But it is clear that it paid them better to use or export their own productions ; the latter were cheaper, at least by the cost of carriage from- Egypt, and they were more roughly made. In such objects of glazed earthenware as we have good reason to ascribe to the Phoenicians, the enamel is far less brilliant and solid than on similar things found in Egyptian tombs ; it is also thinner, and, on the whole, Phoenician statuettes of this glazed faience have a look of being got up to sell ; very few are made with thorough care. There is another characteristic by which they can be recognized : their types are nearly always composite. They show elements borrowed from Egypt side by side with those taken from other sources ; the 1 HEUZEY, Catalogue, p. 64. 2 Ibid. p. 65. 3 Ibid. p. 59. 4 Ibid. pp. 71, 79, 88. 5 Art in Ancient Egypt, Vol. II. pp. 369-375.