Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/396

 ;66 A History of Art in Sardinia and Judaea. might with equal propriety be assigned to Phoenicia as to the incipient efforts of these two nations, whose happy admixture of blood combined sturdy good sense with a peculiar facility in elabo- rating beaut', whether of proportion, colour, or form. This does not apply to countries such as Sardinia and Judaea, where the softening influence of civil life was entirely due to their point of touch with Phoenicia, she awakening in them those gentle instincts and tastes which are inherent to man, but which had lain dormant hitherto. It follows therefore that the whole range of art products and industries ever possessed by the twin kingdoms of Israel, were either executed by Phoenicians or under Phoenician influence, and were they all set out before us, we should find in them precisely the same characteristics that we delineated in our chapter on Punic industries. If this be granted, then some idea may be formed of the important gains that have accrued to archaeology by the Pales- tine excavations. A single example will show that not all were biblical gains, but that the antiquarian came in for his share ; for these excavations have elucidated the vexed question of Phoenician pottery, which had been shrouded in thick mist. Historians had indeed told us that extensive ceramic factories existed in all the towns of the coast, whose trade was not confined to the Mediter- ranean, but had extended beyond the Pillars of Heracles. Never- theless, no earthen vessel had been found in old tombs of Phoenicia proper, by which a true estimate of their peculiar characteristics could be formed. The ceramic examples exhumed in the nécropoles of Cyprus were ascribed to Phoenicia, consequently the forms and whole scheme of ornament which distinguish them were carefully tabulated so as to interpenetrate the methods of the Punic potter. It was at best only conjecture, for the island had been inhabited by people of different blood, which at a remote period had come from north Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece, so that we could never be quite sure that the objects we had before us were not to be set to the account of one or other of these races rather than to influx from without. No such doubt exists with regard to the coloured vessels dug up at Jerusalem ; those that were found in the lower strata may safely be pronounced as contemporary with the kings of Judah, when everything partook of a Phoenician character, save the fervid spirit of the prophets, which was gradually but surely elaborating its sublime ideal of justice and purity of life.