Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/83

 Sculpture. 67 granate. The space above and between the heads is covered with characters.^ The thin narrow base of the next stela (Fig. 281), meant to enter the ground, is gone. But this in no way interferes with the general shape and nature of the figures, save that a child is in- troduced, who sits on a kind of tall stand, his feet rest- ing on the knees of the adult female,evi- dently his mother. In her right hand is held a pome- granate, and in the left a four-stringed lyre, upon which a bird is perched. Chair, table, plates, vase, and so forth are preciselysimilar to those already seen, and are re- peated on sundry other tablets of the same series, but much more worn ; the only variant is the bird, perhaps a dove, held up by the feet, forming a pendant to the patera of the opposite figure.^ We will terminate the enumeration of this class of monuments — which, owing to their archaic clumsy aspect may seem too long ^ An isolated block which, from its shape and character, was designed for mural decoration, comes from Sinjirli. It consists of two figures, male and female, sitting one on either side of a table with platters, as in the above woodcut With one hand they carry a cup to their lips, and with the other, one holds a sceptre and the second ai)parently a flower. Casts of all these stelas are in Berlin. See Reism^ etc., Heumann and Puchstein. "^ The whole series, to the smallest fragment, will be found in Mr. TT( utnann and Puchstein's work. Fig. 280.— Votive Stela. Height, 44 c. Basalt. Drawn by St. Elme Gautier. Merash.