Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/29

 MATERIALS AND PROCESSES. to have given her attention to those amulets, necklaces, and other personal ornaments which have been found in every country to which her traders penetrated (Vol. I. Figs. 178, 182, and Fig. 4). The Phoenicians were fond of carving ivory. We have already had occasion to ask whether many of the ivories found in the Assyrian palaces may not have been of Phoenician origin, and to acknowledge that in not a few instances the answer would have to be Yes. 1 The Phoenician tombs of Syria, Cyprus, and Sardinia, have yielded numerous fragments of ivory, and farther on we shall describe the pieces of a perfume-box found in a tomb at Sidon ; but of all ivories found in Phoenicia, the finest is the small statuette of a woman, without a head, which is now in the Louvre (Fig. 5). 2 The hands support the two breasts, a gesture which is repeated in so many Phoenician and Cypriot figures. As a rule the goddess thus represented is entirely nude, while here she is draped in a robe falling to the ground in symmetrical folds. She Jj FIG. 4. Amulet in glazed faience. Sardinia. From Crespi.

wears double sleeves, a tight pair coming down to the wrists, and a wider pair belonging to the outer robe. The two ends of a kind of rope girdle hang down in front. Few figures show so com- pletely the details of at least one variety of Phoenician costume. The general shape of the statuette should also be noticed. It is that of a column, or, as the Greeks would call it, a xoanon. Such figures may have given them a model for their first attempts to provide their deities with bodies. From the enumeration we have now brought to an end, our readers will understand what materials were at the command of the Phoenician sculptor. By depriving him of marble, nature did him an evil turn to begin with ; but he soon learnt where to find it, and if he had been fired by noble desires he would not have 1 Art in Chaldcea and Assyria, Vol. It. pp. 119-125, Figs. 57-59. 2 Some small fragments of the head may be seen in the same case as the statuette.