Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/199

 ORNAMENT AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS. 18 (Fig. 126) or curtains to doorways, to exclude sun and dust and allow free access within as well. Native imagination supposed the decoration of these frontispieces, whether funereal or com- memorative, to be one of those richly tinted veils hung up in front of the door an hypothesis which provided the ornamentist with a theme which he could easily work out as fancy prompted him. It is even possible that the imitation of tapestry was carried further than might be surmised from the present state of the monuments ; and that, to bring out the geometric shapes composing the decora- tion, recourse was had to tinted grounds, red and blue. Ves- tiges of polychrome ornamen- tation have not, it is true, been observed about these vast sur- faces, but this may be due to the flat relief of the forms, which offered but little protec- tion against the weather. The observations of myself and M. Guillaume respecting Delikli Tach and Kumbet, the only tombs that have been traced by an architect, would tend to confirm the above conjecture. At Delikli Tach (Fig. 56) l the whole front was covered with a coat of stucco, where, in the most sheltered parts, painting was still visible. At Kumbet there were no remains of plaster ; nevertheless distinct traces of red are distinguishable in certain hollows, especially about the palmettes at the angles. Within the vault, over the second doorway, there appears a kind of Egyptian gorge, ornamented with red vertical stripes, as part of the cornice (Fig. 89). 2 Again, in other tombs of the same village (7 in map), we noticed stripes of the same tint which served to divide the wall of the chamber into compartments or panels. The Phrygian ornamentist knew, then, how to use the brush in order to complete or supplement work done by the chisel, and heighten the effect of certain mouldings or paint them on a flat surface. This being granted, is it not at least probable that the stone-cutter, in order to impart more cha- 1 Hist, of Art, torn. v. p. 97. a PERROT et GUILI.AUME, Exf>lor. Arche., p. 168. FKJ. 126. Tomb near lasili Kai'a. Perspective view of main chamber. HEUZEV, " Recherches sur les lits antiques consideres particulierement com me forme de la sepulture " (Gazette dcs Beaux-Arts, 1873).