Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/156

 140 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. ling, at once bolder, rounder, and smoother ; but its commonplace facility does not compensate for the loss the work has sustained in dignity and vigour. As was observed a few pages back, the shape of the double-handled vase, which occupies the centre of the field, is both simple and elegant, and its contour may be seen in count- less Italo-Greek specimens deposited in our museums. Hellenic influence is, perhaps, even more apparent in the architectural domain. False openings, as at Delikli Tach, with cumbrous jambs in retreat one upon the other, and no less massive lintels, have disappeared ; in their stead are real doors, with frames less refined, but which none the less recall those of Hellenic portals. True, this likewise occurs in the Ayazeen necropolis ; but the bay of these fa9ades (Figs. 64-67) tends to narrow above and widen below, and by inference this is at least a sign, a presumption, of relative antiquity. The fact that the jarnbs at Kumbet are straight leads one to believe that the models from which Phrygian art drew its inspirations had stepped beyond the archaic period. The same impression is left by observation of the entablature. Not only is it quite distinct from that of the oldest fa9ades those bear- ing Phrygian inscriptions it is also more complex, and shows greater skill and technique in its elaboration, than in those tombs wherein trapezoidal doors obtain. Over the entablature in ques- tion was a real cornice, the deep salience of which is cause of its almost complete destruction, making it a matter of conjecture as to the nature of the profile and the moulding composing it. Had it been preserved we should, in all likelihood, find in it all the essentials of a Greek cornice, with something of the light and shade which are never absent from Hellenic compositions. What confirms our conjecture is the arrangement of the sides of the pediment. They consist of members largely introduced in classical architecture, and appear in the same situation, the same order, and almost the same proportions. Thus dentels and modillions are figured under and above the corona respectively. Over it again stands out a cyma, and terminal palmettes, corre- sponding to the antefixes of Greek frontals, unfold at the angles and the apex of the pediment. In Greek taste, too, averse to monotony, are those small heads between modillions, sculptured on the soffits, which appear to have yielded great variety of types. Despite these and other resemblances, the Kumbet tomb is not yet a thorough-going Hellenic work ; the proportions of its