Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/389

 Industrial Arts. 359 characteristic ornament, however, is essentially Jewish, enabling us, if not to fix a certain date, at least to place it long after the exile, made too by an Israelite for an Israelite. Needless to observe that the knop and flower pattern surrounding the flask is decidedly Oriental ; being seen on the bronze cups recovered at Nineveh, and on many a small enamelled clay object, which we assigned to Phoenicia ; 1 whilst the motives are of the type described in another place as within the range of the Hebrew ornamentist, to which we refer our reader (Figs. 157, 159). Costly artistic furniture did not take real footing in Judaea, among princes and persons of great wealth, till after Solomon. Large pieces, as chests, tables, chairs, and so forth, were made of cedar, cypress, oak, and olive, some- times inlaid with small cubes of different colour and shape, or with ivory set out in pleasing, simple patterns. In the figurative language of the Canticles, the bed of Solomon is decorated by threescore valiant men, i.e. figures in high relief ; and his chariot is of cedar from Lebanon, the pillars of silver, the bottom of gold (iii. 7-9) ; whilst the splendour displayed about the temple has already been noticed. The canopy, the curtains, the coverlets, the cushions about the beds or couches on which they reclined were of the richest materials, supplied by neighbouring nations. The looms of Damascus were kept employed by the ruling classes of the northern kingdom {Amos iii. 12); and Tyre despatched carpets or tapestries enlivened by broidered kerûbs for the tabernacle {Exod. xxvi. 1). The ivory which she wrought into small slabs or plaques, for exportation to the Continent and the Mediterranean islands, was obtained from 1 Layard, A Second Series of Monuments of Nineveh, Plate LVII. E. fig. 59 B. and C. ; Hist, of Art, torn. iii. Plate V. figs, r, 4. Fig. 252. — Glass Flagon, Size of the original. Louvre. Drawn by St, Elme Gautier,