Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/281

 GEMS. 257 Our readers will notice how regular the Sardinian scarabs are in shape. In the great majority of cases they have a cable or denti- culated border. There are no inscriptions, but the same types occur again and again ; their execution is fair, and so firm as to suggest the work of a machine. There can be no doubt as to their being a staple manufacture, making use of patterns handed down from generation to generation. Under such conditions the fidelity of the copy was slightly modified as the ages passed on. FIG. 198. Sardinian scarab. ' FIG. 199. Sardinian scarab. 2 The fewest changes occur in the Egyptian series. Their design is very simple, and we must remember that Egypt was the first country to influence Phoenicia ; the Phoenician workman was saturated with ideas and forms from the Nile valley ; he could reproduce them, as it were, with his eyes shut. When he turned to Assyria and, in later years, to Persia, he had to make a conscious effort ; he found some difficulty in entering fully into the new style and contented himself with an approximate fidelity, and with a FIG. 200. Sardinian scarab." FIG. 20 1. Sardinian scarab. 4 conventional treatment by which the qualities and defects of his original were recalled in rather uncertain fashion. This difference in the success and sincerity of the imitation must have been still more perceptible among the western Phoenicians 1 Bullettino, 6, vol. iv. plate ii. 2 Carnelion. From CRESPI (Catalogo, plate A). 3 Bullettino, vol. ix. plate ii. 4 Ibid. VOL. jr. I. L