Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/399

 SCULPTURE. 383 Benndorf inclines to consider the bas-reliefs (unfortunately much injured) which he discovered at Trysa, near Ghieul Bashi, as the most antique instances of the plastic art of Lycia (Figs. 273-275). * They decorated the external sides of a funereal square tower now fallen on the ground and lying on one of its faces, so that only three sides are visible. It is very similar, although not so lofty as the Xanthus specimen (Fig. 268). The top part of the plaques is broken away, and the figures seen on the remain- ing surface are below natural size. This, coupled with their very Hat appearance and in- distinct outline, may likewise have been brought about by the weather. They most probably formed part of one of those funerary processions exhibited around the body of those antique vases called dipylon? The least damaged slab (Fig. 273) shows the lower extremities of five men walking one after another, their faces set to the left. On the arms are carried round shields. On the next appear the busts and legs of an equal number of figures ; FIG. 273. Bas-relief on tomb, Trysa. BENNDORF, Jfeisen, torn. ii. Fig. 9. FIG. 274. Bas-relief on tomb, Trysa. Ibid, FIG. 275. Bas-relief on tomb, Trysa. Jbid. their hands stretched in front as if they held something, perhaps an object about to be offered (Fig. 274). Of the relief on the third slab nothing is left but the hind part of a horse and the heel of a rider (Fig. 275). These files recall many a figured decoration, Oriental and archaic in style ; for example, the pro- cessions seen about Cypriote sarcophagi ; 3 those on the engraved bowls of Phoenicia, 4 and the profusely ornamented ostrich eggs 1 PETERSEN, Reisen, torn. ii. p. 13. 2 RAYET and COLIGNON, Hist, de la ceram. grecque, pp. 23-30, Fig. 19, Plate I. 8 Hist, of Art, torn. Hi. Figs. 415, 416. 4 Jbid., Fig*. 548, 549.