Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/182

 164 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. instrument not unlike a mandoline in shape, with ribbons fastened about the top (Fig. 331) ; his companion, as far as can be judged from the worn state of the stone, holds a small animal —hare or kid, for the sacrifice. The next stone has three figures in pretty good preservation, which allows the details about their heads to be seen. The tallest seems to blow a trumpet ; he wears a low, rounded helmet, with raised border, which forms a rosette on the forehead. Large rings depend from his ears, and a long pigtail falls behind his back. The other two seem to have been bufToons, whose part was to amuse the crowd and keep it in good humour. A huge block from the second course has fallen right in front of the figure stand- ing at the foot of the ladder in a pos- ture of expectancy, so that his feet cannot be seen. The next is half- way up the ladder, or rather the up- rights, a clumsy con- trivance resorted to by the artist to show the steps rendering doubt in respect to the object portrayed impossible. The arrangement about the head of this figure should be compared with that of Fig. 336, which it closely resembles. The head is shaved, all but a top piece, twisted into a pigtail, which falls behind. The next stone is occupied by priests, whose costume and attitude are pre- cisely alike, so far as may be judged from their worn condition, the heads having suffered most. The dexter hand of the first and last figures are raised, as though in the act of blessing. The latter is