Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/433

 JEWELRY. 393 this little jewel here (Fig. 334) because it comes from excavations which yielded many other things of Phoenician origin. Whether it belonged to a necklace, a bracelet, or some other jewel, we cannot decide ; obviously, however, it was a pendant. The things we have been describing bear witness to a very high degree of technical skill. One or two among them could only have been made by workmen endowed with a really astonishing fineness of eye and dexterity of hand. They must have under- stood how to solder gold to gold and to other metals ; without FIG. 331. Buttons. From Cameiros. British Museum. that knowledge they could never have produced their more complex pieces. The secret must have been learnt from Egypt, for it was known to the jewellers in the Nile valley at least as early as the times of the great Theban dynasties. The Phoenicians, however, appear to have greatly perfected and developed the process, and to have arrived at effects unknown to their masters of Memphis and Thebes. Egyptian jewelry has much nobility ; we admire it for the richness of its materials, for the skill with which those materials are used, and for its fine proportions ; but even FIG. 332. Fragment of a jewel FIG. 333- Golden hawk, in gold. British Museum. British Museum. the best of its productions have a certain heaviness, as if the jeweller had got his designs from an architect. Assyrian jewelry is still heavier, it has much largeness of design and great brilliancy of colour ; in some of its details we find power not unlike that which distinguishes Ninevite sculpture, but only in a very few instances does it show any of that elegance which should, after all, be the chief characteristic of such things. The Phoenicians had the goldsmith's work of both these countries before their eyes ; they could choose from its creations such examples as suited their VOL. II. 3 E