Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/46

24 in the round, is itself represented in relief on the surface of a stelé. The handles of the vases are sometimes rich in ornament, as if the design had been copied from a work in bronze. Among these vases I noticed one, remarkable for its great size, the beauty of the design, and the fact that it had been painted.

The scene represented on it is in very low relief. On one side is a youthful figure on horseback, very similar in type and attitude to many on the frieze of the Parthenon.

Behind him are two females, one seated, the other leaning in an affectionate attitude on her companion's shoulder, pointing with her right hand to a group of two youthful warriors in front. This pair are joining hands, as if taking leave of each other.

This design is very slightly and sketchily treated, but exceedingly graceful as a composition. The figures are loosely and freely drawn: the style, if we make due allowance for the essential difference between painting and sculpture, presents many analogies with that of the finest Athenian vase-pictures. The female figures are evidently meant to be in a more distant plane than the rest. The relief, therefore, of these figures sinks below the plane, instead of rising out of it, approximating to intaglio rilecato. To atone for the want of projection of the outline of the body, a channel is made all round them to strengthen their effect. The left hand of the seated female figure rests on the rail of a seat which is very slightly indicated. In front of this rail projects part of the hind-quarter of a horse, the tail