Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/407

 METALLURGY. 569 another. But, as we have already pointed out, separate details often resemble each other so strongly as to seem traced from one and the same original. From an industry carried on in this fashion it would be absurd to expect the careful and loving workmanship we get from an original and creative art. Many cups bear unequivocal signs of haste. Here an arm is wanting, there a leg. Mistakes of this kind FIG. 287. Sceptre-head in agate. From Cesnola. 1

FIG. 288. Sceptre-head in bronze. From Cesnola.* are to be found in nearly every specimen. And they are only to be explained by the moments of lassitude and distraction inevitable in work that is no more than copying. For the artist knew his business ; his hand was free and sure ; the contours it traced were easy and natural. With very few exceptions all his figures are in profile, as in those Egyptian and Assyrian reliefs from which his 1 Cyprus, p. 309. - Mid. p. 310. VOL. II. 3 H