Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/453

 FURNITURE AND OBJECTS OF THE TOILET. 413 very well be Phoenician also (Fig. 355). l Chevrons like those we see here occur on many Phoenician objects. Finally, the well- designed leg of a horse (or ox) in bronze was found in the same hiding place (Fig. 356). It is, no doubt, the fragment of some throne like those encountered in Assyria. General di Cesnola believes that he found all the principal pieces, but he has made no attempt to restore the object as a whole. He only speaks of bulls' heads with eyes of enamel, of large lions' heads, of ante- lopes and lions' paws, &c. 2 During her long prosperity Phoenicia made use of most metals. We have seen what she did with gold and silver ; she also under- stood the various uses of lead ; 3 iron is alluded to twice over by Ezekiel as among the merchandise she dealt in, 4 while an iron- founder is mentioned in a Phoenician inscription in Cyprus. 5 But, FIG. 355. Tripod. New York Museum. after all, bronze was the chief metal on which her skill and industry were lavished. The Phoenicians were not the first to discover the virtues of the precious alloy of tin and copper. Egypt and Chaldsea understood the making and the use of bronze long before Tyre and Sidon had risen into importance. It was not by the Phoenicians that the first supplies, of tin were brought, perhaps from the centre of Asia, to the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates ; caravans travelled over that route from a very 1 In GRIFI'S Monumenti di Cere aniica, plates v. and vi., articles of furniture in bronze, such as cauldrons and tripods, are figured, which, in style, greatly resemble the things we are describing. One of the most remarkable things among them is a cauldron with two handles, in the shape of griffins' heads, of very good style. 2 CESNOLA, Cyprus, p. 3 35- 8 EZEKIEL ' xxvii - " 4 Ibid, xxvii. 12 and 19. :> Corpus Inscriptionum Stmititarum, pars.