Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/179

141 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

141 Jews was another

species of metal-work

— overlay-

ing with metal plate. The very ancient Ephod received its name no doubt from the fact that it consisted of a figure of wood or other material, overlaid with gold or silver foil. The " calves of gold " at Dan and Beth-el were probably only idols thus overlaid, and not entirely composed of solid metal Later accounts of the building of (I Kings xii. 28). the Temple specify that the walls and doors, and

even the

The

floor,

were overlaid with gold-leaf. was the one that had the

plastic art

Art

those found'in Jerusalem exhibit them executed in a more careful and finished manner. The question, of course,

remains whether these products or imported articles. In either case the painting amounts to but a simple form of ornamenta-

Painting,

still

latter objects are native

by means of colored lines, in which geometrical figures predominate, with parallel lines and lines at tion

least

opportunity for development. Sculpture in stone hardly existed at all among the Jews: they pos-

— —

sessed neither clay idols the "mazebah" was always a plain stone pillar nor sarcophagi, which latter, in Phenicia and Egypt, af-

opportunity for art-display; nor are any sculptured decorations of They evidently lacked their stone houses known. during all this period the ability to execute artistic

Sculpture. forded

work

in stone.

Ivory- and wood-carving, on the other hand, were practised by the Jews from ancient times. The above-mentioned overlaying with metal involved, as a necessary condition, that the underlying wood had been wrought into proper shape. The old teraphim seem to have been of human form, or at least to have possessed a human head (I Sam. xix. 13). The cherubim for the Holy of Holies were carved out of olive-wood. The wood-work of the walls and doors of the Temple was ornamented with carvings (I Kings vi. 18, 29, 35). Solomon's throne of state is mentioned as an important product of the carver's art (in ivory) (I Kings x. 18-20); but unfortunately it is not stated whether it was made by

Jewish or by Phenician It

was the

artificers.

religion of the

Jews that precluded the

development of the art of sculpture, and so confined it within the above-mentioned narrow limits. In the most ancient times, when images were not full

proscribed, the technical ability to make them artiswas lacking and when in later periods this

tically

Robinson's Area, Jerusalem.



artistic skill

might have been acquired from

images were forbidden. The persistent fight of the Prophets against images was waged Religion with such success that in the end not as an only was any representation of the Opponent Deity forbidden, but even the porof the traiture of living beings in general, Plastic man or beast. Such a command as Art. that of the Decalogue (Ex. xx. 4; Deut. v. 8) would have been impossible to a nation possessed of such artistic gifts as the Greeks, and was carried to its ultimate consequences as to-day in Islam only because the people lacked artistic inclination, with its creative power and formative imagination. The same reason, to which is to be added a defective sense of color (see Delitzsch, "Iris, Farbenstudien und Blumenstiicke," pp. 43 et seg. Benzinger, "Hebi Archaologie, " pp. 268 et seg.), prevented any development of painting. Attempts in this direction are found in the earliest times in the custom of decorating with colors jars, vases, and articles of similar character. Objects found at Tell el-Hesy show such attempts of a somewhat rude fashion;

—

—

(From a photograph by

others,

BoDfihj.)

right angles, zigzag and waving lines, all forming a sort of band around the neck or body of the vessel. In the Old Testament, painting is not mentioned: when Ezekiel (xxiii. 14) speaks of " men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion," it is not painting that is referred to, but probably outline drawings with a colored pencil, the contours being then filled in with

See Cherub, House, Sanctuary, Synagogues, Temple, Pottery, Seals.

color.

Herzfeld, Zwei Yortrllge Uber die Kunstleistungen der Hebrtier und Alien Jurten, 1864 Bliss, Tell

Bibliography





el-Hesy,

a Mmnd

of

Many

Cities, 1894; Perrot et Chipiez,

History of Ancient Art, vol. iv.; Flinders-Petrie, Tell elHesy, 1891 ; Benzinger, HebrMsche ArehOologie, 1894, pp. 249 et seg.; Nowaok, Lehrbuch der Hebrtlischen Archiiologie, 1894, pp. 259 et seq. J. jr.

I.

Be.



ATTITUDE

ART,

WARD



Art, the

OF JTJDAISiVC TOworking out of the laws of beauty

in the construction of things, is regarded in the Bible

wisdom resulting from divine inspiration (Ex. xxxi. 1-6, xxxv. 30-35, xxxvi.-4), and is called in the Talmud " hokmah " (wisdom), in distinction from

as