Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/264

 246 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. obliterated ; on the other is the figure of a man with the national curv^ed shoes, surrounded by characters. A bull's horns are about his head, and he carries a bow like the Karabel (Fig. 362). Fig. 376 is another seal (in the Bibliotheque Nationale) of certain Hittite origin. One face shows a winged disc, with a deity in the centre, which, as in cognate monuments of Assyria, is only indi- cated by the headdress seen above it.^ Observation should be drawn to the characters, which are remarkably well defined and executed. The barred oval, lozenge, and bird in its abridged form, are duplicates of those which occur on the stone documents of Northern Syria. On the reverse is a winged steed, the prototype of the Greek Pegasus. The Luynes Collection possesses a hematite cylinder, which may (>^^^ confidently be referred to a Hittite origin ; for it bears the emblem de- noting a " king." The composition represents a chariot drawn by two lions, in which is seated a beardless personage, perhaps a king. Behind are two figures of singular aspect. A simple band is around their loins ; their headdress is most strange, and simulates a bull's head ; the folds of skin which fall on the neck are quite distinct, and look as if taken from the living animaL The general character and attitude of these figures recall the Boghaz-Keui demons (Figs. 315, 316), save that here the human features are preserved. As will have been noticed, the glyptic monuments which we have called Hittite were all distinguished by figures of well-known rupesque types, and characters having the value of trades' marks. This test — not to be contested by the most captious — is absent from a series of hematite cylinders which will next engage our attention, and which are of a nature to tax critical acumen to the utmost They are found, it is true, in public and notable collec- tions ; but, respecting a certain number, nobody knows whence or how they came there ; whilst the well-authenticated fact that not a few were recovered in Asia Minor, is no sure indication of their having been executed in that part of the globe. If ^ Hist, of Art, torn. ii. Fig. 19. Fig. 376. — Two-sided Intaglio in Agate. Lajard, Culte de Mithra. Plate XLlV. 3, 3 A.