Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/204

 1 88 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. by a double volute, which imparts greater amplitude to the orna- ment. It has already something 1 of the character of those spiral devices so largely introduced on vase-painting by the Greek artist. Was the form we reproduce in the annexed illustration (Fig. 128) derived from an Oriental model ? Perhaps so, up to a certain point, and having regard to the very peculiar way narrow shapes are opposed to large ones, as well as to the mode of attachment ; but the resemblance to Asiatic art is more intelligible on the hypothesis of imitation than of native ingenuity. Moreover, the rosette, thrice repeated within the field and above the tympanum (Fig. 59), belongs to the "properties" of the Mesopotamian artist. A piece of stuff of Chaldsean manufacture, doubtless, suggested the notion of putting there scroll and rosette. But that which would seem to belong to the Phrygian artisan is his having discarded the flower of the tepid waters of the Nile for the fruit and leafage of the oak and pine, of abundant growth in his native valleys, and a familiar object to his countrymen. As to the spirals curling round the base of the leaf, it may have been induced by direct observation of nature, the tendrils of creepers, which in many a northern district of Asia Minor climb the boles and branches of trees. Such a locality, on the middle course of the Sangarius, is present to me now, which I visited in early spring, when my olfactory nerves were gratified by the delicate sweet perfume which the bloom of the wild vine spread abroad. To sum up : the chief characteristics of Phrygian decoration would seem to reside in the development of the device under notice, the substitution of the oak for the lotus, as well as the blending of wooden types and tapestry patterns ; so that it may justly put forth claims to its share of invention and originality. These merits would certainly be more patent, had any remains of Phrygian industry come down to us armour, furniture, jewellery, and woven fabrics. Unfortunately the sculpture of the Phrygian race was not sufficiently advanced to trace, as in Egypt and Assyria, the faithful and lasting image of tools, utensils, ornaments, and so forth that served them in their daily life. The only local industry of which, by the aid of the form seen on the stone facades of the necropolis, some notion may be gained is that of tapestry. But if we are to accept the decoration of the Midas rock as a copy of carpets worked at that time in the villages of Phrygia, we are bound to admit that they were much simpler than