Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/93

 Sculpture. n and archaic, softened and developed apace, without reaching the level of Its model or being confused with It. Sometimes, Indeed, they are very near the mean of Assyrian virtuosity ; notably In the flute player from Merash (Fig. 290). Notwithstanding rigidity of outline, due to the hardness of the material, the head Is not wanting In dignity, and there Is a certain elegance in the arrange- ment of the beard and hair symmetrically dis- posed, falling In graceful curls on either side of the face and on the shoulders. The custom of cover- ing animals with in- scriptions, the Merash statuette and lion for instance (Fig. 275), calls to mind the cuneiform texts of the Assyrian bulls ; with this differ- ence, that the finely sunk characters of the latter never interfere or break the lines of the figure in which they occur In minute sections, destroy- ing the general effect, as do the raised Hittlte hieroglyphs, with their diversified outline. These constitute a clumsy overloading of sculpture upon sculpture, resulting in confused, blurred aspect, even where the inscription is strictly confined to the field (Fig. 277).^ Like the Assyrians, and all the nations whose sculptors did not work from the nude, the HIttltes excelled in rendering animal forms, evidenced in the heads of bulls, wild goats, horses, asses, etc. No observer can fail being struck with the surety of hand shown in these abridged heads, which denote long practice. No- where, perhaps, is this merit more apparent than in the twin rabbits of the Merash lion (Figs. 254, 255). The latter animal holds a prominent place in Hittite art. At the present day, the Fig. 290. — Fragment of bas-relief. Height,'32 c. Basalt. After Puchstein. Berlin Museum.
 * See Wright, The Empire, Plate IX.