Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/350

 322 HISTORY OF ART IN PHOENICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. this motive used with more discretion at Hissarlik than at Cyprus, while in Peru it is pushed to more extravagant lengths than in either. In the latter country the hands, for instance, are some- times modelled in relief, and either hang down at the sides, separated from the vase altogether, or lie crossed upon its body. Both in Peru and Mexico bird and quadruped-shaped vessels are very common. As for those common vessels which are found pretty well every- where, if you review their shapes you will no doubt see many strange forms, of which, so far as we know, the Cypriot potters were completely ignorant ; but by their sides you will discover nearly every fantastic shape by which you have been struck in your examination of the Cypriot collections. We cannot go through the list again, but we may take one example, almost by chance. Nothing is more common in Peruvian and Mexican pottery and in that of the Kabyles, than those vessels with several spouts to one body, or several bodies to one spout, which remind us of what physiologists call monsters. Such things are hardly more fitted for use than a man with two heads or a sheep with five legs is fitted for the work of life, but they at least bear witness to the mental alertness, to the virtuosity of their maker. We can here do no more than point out these analogies ; to become better acquainted with them the student must visit one of the several ethnographic museums now open ; but it was well that they should be mentioned, because they help us to understand the real character of Cypriot pottery. In many respects the latter was no more than the industry of a half civilized race ; the work was pushed far enough as a trade, but the sentiment of art was greatly wanting. Among the almost countless works it has left us, however, we find a few that betray a higher ambition. In these the decorator has not confined himself to linear nor to floral decora- tion ; he has not even been content with reproducing the more conspicuous forms of animal life ; he has tried for something more ; he has endeavoured to trace on the surface provided by the ample sides of a vase some of the more familiar scenes of the life about him. Here we find a scene of worship (Fig. 247), or a battle scene (Fig. 252) ; there a promenade (Fig. 249), a procession (Fig. 250), or a return from hunting (Fig. 254). The former, no doubt, are of singular awkwardness, but the idea is none the less original, and its method none the less interesting. Nothing of the