Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/91

 Sculpture. 75 to this piece. It may with equal propriety have been due to Lower Chaldaea, Phcenicia, or a native craftsman. As the goddess was an importation, the artist would naturally figure her with the attributes by which she was universally known, albeit foreign to Hittite methods and traditions. However mediocre — even taken at its best — this art may have been, it had none the less two distinct periods : the first decidedly original, but rude and barbarous in the extreme ; and the second when contact with neighbours in the enjoyment of a higher civili- zation induced greater freedom and grace in its designs. In the first era should be classed the bas-reliefs from Sinjirli, more especially the stelas from Merash and Roum-Kale, where the figures, hard and crude, are absolutely undiversified in dress or general outline ; and where all are seen in profile with round protruding eye. This poverty of invention is extended to symbols ; for, with the single exception of the winged lion on the Sinjirli frieze, they are conspicuous by their absence ; clearly demonstrating that when these sculptures were elaborated, the native engraver was as yet uninspired by alien sources. On the other hand, subjects and symbols conventionally treated, bearing witness to their dependence on Chaldsean and Assyrian art, are plentiful in royal stelas and in sundry fragments from Carchemish (Figs. 276, 277, 278, 279). To this category belong the winged discs figured over the heads of kings ; ^ deities standing on lions, like those at Bavian and Malthai, in the Tigris Valley ; ^ outstretched wings seen on Assyrian and Chaldaean cylinders ; ^ and sacred bronzes generally carried in the hand.* The influence of Assyria is most striking in the lion-hunting scene ; where we might almost fancy that it had been bodily taken from one of the palaces at Khorsabad or Kujunjik, so faithfully has the Hittite craftsman reproduced every detail about the dress of the personages, even to the discard- ing of the national boot for the Assyrian sandal ; whilst the harnessing of horses, the shape of the chariot, the plaiting and roundels round the border, are copied with no less exactness. Nevertheless, we have felt no hesitation in assigning this sculpture to a Hittite artist, familiar with Chaldaean models, who tried to imitate them as closely as possible. But it was easier for him ' Hist of Arty torn. ii. p. 88, Figs. i8, 19, and 343 ; torn. ill. Figs. 283 and 305. ' Ibid., pp. 636-647, Figs. 310, 314. " Ibid,, Figs. 314, 315.
 * Ibid., pp. 4, 8, etc.