Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/365

 Sculpture. 335 had their teraphim, "domestic gods," the pénates of the Semitic races ; which, in the black tent or the structural dwelling, were always found suspended against the wall. In the latter, a niche or small temple commensurate with the importance or taste of the owner, was doubtless provided. Jewish antiquities, for obvious reasons, have so completely disappeared, that we cannot hope to come some day upon monu- ments in which teraphim sculptured, painted, or carved have been preserved. Nevertheless some faint idea may be formed of them, from passages scattered up and down the Old Testament. We in- cidentally gather in Genesis (xxxi. 20-35) and 1 Samuel (xix. 1 1— 1 7) that not all were on the same pattern or of the same dimensions. Nowhere is their material specified ; but the weight of stone makes it improbable that it was selected to sculpture teraphim, notably in those early days of semi-nomadic life. 1 Small figures, such as Rachel concealed from her father, may have been of clay ; but those of natural size, such as that used by Michal to represent David, imply a degree of skill in the potter, which no data justify us to ascribe to the Hebrews of that epoch. It is probable that teraphim, albeit of more archaic make, were mostly of sycamore wood, like the statues of a similar nature found in Egyptian tombs. This would coincide with the texts having reference to Canaanite images, which are stated to have been cut to pieces and burnt {Deut. vii. 5 ; xii. 3). Here and there the parts exposed, as the hands and face, were tinted or picked out with gold, and the body arrayed more or less sumptuously, some- thing after the fashion of Greek eikons in the present day. 2 Idols were sometimes of gold, silver, or bronze, of Punic fabrica- tion, sold by hawkers, who penetrated everywhere, offering their services to those who were willing to pay for them. From them the Israelites learnt something of their craft, and though unable to produce art-objects, they could doubtless manufacture inferior pieces for the ordinary purposes of their simple needs. Then, too, mention should be made of molten images, such as Micah placed in his house {Judg. xviii. 1-5 ; Exod. xx. 23 ; xxxiii. 4 ; Numb. xxxiii. 52). But not every one was able to spare 200 shekels of 1 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. pp. 516, 517 ; Ibid., torn. i. pp. 640-644. 2 The rich dress of the idols is specified in Isaiah (xxx. 22), where also occur the terms suppiu,appùddàh, "applied," " covered." Such figures were of the nature of Greek nepixP^a-a, Trepîapyvpa (see Stade, Geschichte, torn. i. p. 467).