Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/316

 290 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. upon the shoulders. The forehead is crowned with a diadem surmounted by open flowers. The neck is encircled by a necklace with a pendant, and lower down two slight protuberances suggest the female breasts. The modelling of the face is summary and rude, but the work as a whole is not without distinction. The con- ventional flower which hangs down from the throat between the breasts is elegant and the whole decoration of the upper part of the vase both happily conceived and executed with considerable care. The vase has a lateral spout which helps to mark its real use. The vessel we have just described belongs, apparently, to an early period in the development of this industry, but the type never seems to have lost its vogue. We find it repeated in an example where FIG. 223. Composite vessel. Side view. 1 the style of the head is thoroughly .imbued with Greek taste (Fig. 228). The breasts are no longer suggested ; the spout is placed beneath the head in a line with the face ; it is very large and un- graceful. The older of the two workmen was the better inspired, his deficient power of design notwithstanding. In both these jugs the human head is no more than an accessory, an adventitious ornament. On the other hand, there are many small aryballoi in which the head is almost the whole thing, making them works of sculpture rather than of pottery (Fig. 208). The potter, indeed, has done nothing but fix the neck, which is restored in our Fig. 229 from the analogy of specimens in which it is intact. This little head of Herakles is the work of no unskilful 1 From the Catalogue Barre, p. 4. Height 5| inches ; length 8^ inches.