Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/270

 252 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jvdjea, there are, as stated, scores of monuments which it is exceedingly difficult to localize ; either because the place of their birth is more or less doubtful, or because characteristics recalling our rock- cut sculptures bear a very small proportion to the large number of those that are evident reminiscences of Assyria, Chaldaea, or Phoenicia. Hence a new departure is beset with almost insuper- able difficulties, albeit useful in that it yields ample scope for discussion and the free exchange of ideas. And as each fresh discovery increases the points of comparison, we may confidently expect to reap a rich harvest. The number of the monuments we have selected in order to subject them to analysis is of necessity very small ; but it will suffice to give an idea of the method we propose to adopt with regard to a future work bearing on the same subject. As in this instance, we shall first present all the known intaglios, with or without figures, having upon them Hittite characters. These we will take as subject-types of Syro-Cappadocian art ; carefully tabulating their peculiarities of make, inasmuch as they are the sign-manual of the nation that executed them. We will compare them with seals of doubtful origin, notably those unaccompanied by signs, and where forms and style harmonize with signed intaglios, we shall not deem the absence of written characters as a disquali- fication to their being classed among Hittite art-productions. In all instances where faint resemblances alone exist, rejection will be the rule ; and w^hen differences preponderate over points of touch, comparisons will be instituted with local workshops scattered up and down Asia Minor, in which for centuries the art of the engraver was sedulously carried on. Adopting prudence as our motto, we hope to add, in a near future a fresh chapter to the history of glyptic art ; which will form a fit pendant to a volume on statuary, towards which abundant materials have already been amassed. fied with the utmost certainty Hittite symbols in a copy made by Father Ryllo, of the Society of the Jesuits, of a monument which he discovered in Mesopotamia, and which is preserved in the Vatican. The present pope has ordered all the Hittite documents in the library of the Vatican to be published. — Editor. 1