Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/202

 184 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. in fine weather, along the roadside near the village. The export is in the hand of the Greeks, whose commercial instinct is, as of yore, very remarkable indeed. The character of their defensive arms was in harmony with their other industrial productions; these were broadswords with crescent- shaped hilts, double-headed axes (Fig. 313), clubs ending in a huge knob (Plate VIII. E), or scimitars (Fig. 319). It is possible, though not certain, that a shield was intended in Fig. 338. Bronze coats of mail, and helmets, of frequent occurrence in late Assyrian monuments, were unknown to the Pterians, nor were they familiar with leggings. If we have no shield in Fig. 319, this may have arisen from the ignorance of the artist, whose resources were not equal to' placing it among the serrated figures. On the other hand, to judge from the rest of the equipment, if a shield was used, it was no more than a wooden board covered with a bull's hide. The presence of crooked staffs (Figs. 314 and 328), necklaces, earrings, wind and string instruments (Figs. 331, 332), no less than the art of putting together pieces of wood for making ladders, chairs, tables, of quaint but agreeable aspect (Figs. 332 and 2)2>7)y elaborate oedicula (Figs. 311 and 314), testify that the old native artificer had learnt the chief secrets of his handicraft ; that he no longer confined himself to hammered work and simple forms, but knew how to cut, pierce, chisel, rivet, and solder metals together into complicated designs, etc. Certain elements about these oedicula — the pointed cap, and peculiar ornament on the dress (Fig. 314), but in a special degree the phallic emblem (Fig. 331) — seem to indicate indigenous inven- tion, for it is quite certain that they did not originate in Mesopo- tamia or Phoenicia. Granted our premiss in respect to these details, the conclusion cannot be doubtful or its importance con- tested. As often observed before, the metal-worker draws his inspiration from architecture, and his forms are frequently repro- duced or suggested by the monumental buildings he sees around him. The peculiar column, too, may be called composite ; some of its features, the absence of base and its convex outline, for example, recall early Doric, whilst the double spiral or volute about the capital is decidedly primitive Ionic in character. But it lacks the refinement, the beauty of detail, the taste and feeling evidenced in the Erechtheium, on the Acropolis at Athens, where the ele- gance of the volute, the Assyrian honeysuckle below it, the Qgg-