Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/312

 296 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. similar to those that have been collected in Assyria and Asia Minor. It is made of the same material as these, and certain details are amazingly alike. If the execution betrays a lighter hand than appears in the Louvre specimen, there is no doubt as to the treatment of the dress having been copied on the same models, instanced in the horizontal bands which make up the flounced skirt, and the markings of the same in imitation of crimped work. Broadly speaking, the details that distinguish the female figure under consideration from that of the Lydian mould are but trifling ; if she is partly dressed, if her gesture is somewhat modified, the divine type and characteristic attitude are exactly alike. As to the male figure, his head-covering is the pointed cap so often seen on the rock-cut bas-reliefs of Asia Minor, and the seals of her primitive inhabitants. 1 The two horn-like appendages flanking the helmet resemble the urseus-shaped ornament about the cap of the chief personage in the bas-relief at Ghiaour-Kalessi. 2 Finally, at the sides, on a line with the brow, there seems to be a holed (two ?) salience, akin to that which appears in the same situation about a bronze figurine from Central Anatolia. 3 The instances that have been adduced render it highly prob- able that both the smaller and the larger slab are from Asia Minor. In the former exemplar, the figures are less removed from reality ; there is more precision and sureness of hand than can be claimed for the Louvre mould, but it exhibits a certain degree of dryness, which, it has been justly observed, seems to indicate that its fabricator was accustomed to metal engraving. Taken altogether, it looks less ancient than the Thyatira intaglio, but this notable difference may be due to another cause ; it is just possible that the monument originated from a more important centre, whose crafts- men had better patterns to work from and better training. If there are reasonable grounds for believing that the use of high-class jewellery was in great favour in that Lydia so rich in precious metals, it is likely that the demand for luxurious art furni- ture and fine apparel, soft tissues for furnishing the palaces of princes and the houses of people of distinction, was fully as great. Thus the stone-beds of the Lydian tombs are more ornate than those of the Phrygian necropoles. Observe how much simpler in composition is the specimen we descried in one of the vaults at 1 Hist, of Art, torn. iv. pp. 546, 562, 692, 722, 744, 760. 2 Ibid., Fig. 352. 8 Ibid., Fig. 367.