DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4921#0023
INTRODUCTION.
xxiii
placing the design wherever and however it may tell best on the surface of the vase. In a
number of instances, as on Plates CXXVIII.-CXXX., the design is simply placed on the natural
front of the vase, as if no purpose but its conspicuousness had been thought of. On the other
hand, it is obvious that we have no corresponding freedom in the drawing of the birds or other
objects. The idea of flight is well suggested by placing a bird vaguely on the surface of the
vase, but the bird itself is no nearer the truth of nature. Its wings are still rendered with the
utmost conventionalism even in those exceptional instances where some dawning of their true
form seems to have been in the mind of the painter. Fig. 948 (Plate CXXVI.) is perhaps the
best example of this. Here both wings are raised a little, revealing the body of the bird, the
structure of which is indicated by a pear-shaped outline, within which are accumulated a guil-
loche, semi-circles, and a series of parallel lines, all which have no relation to the body of a bird,
except, perhaps, the semi-circles, which may not unfairly represent the shoulder of the creature.
In no case do we see the near wing springing from the shoulder as it ought to spring. Both
wings invariably rise from the farther side of the bird. Very often one outline serves to indicate
them both. Where greater skill is employed, one wing is turned upwards, the other downwards,
and always so as to form a decorative feature.
If we ask, why this prevalence of winged creatures ? the answer must again be, Assyrian
influence. Assyrian art is unique in its abundance of winged beings, whether deities, daemons,
winged bulls, winged horses, or birds which naturally possessed wings. We cannot doubt that
the impulse had come thence. On the other hand, it was not much more than the impulse that
came. Assyrian art, so far as we know its remains, and certainly as it existed at the time when
these vases were produced, had long outstripped the simple conventionalisms which characterize
them. These we must ascribe to the Cypro-Phcenician potter and to the technical traditions in
which he had been trained. Accustomed to conventional patterns, he would naturally enough
give his preference to birds, seeing that they of all animal forms lent themselves best to his
traditions. If this is correct, the result we arrive at may be thus stated : first, an Assyrian
impulse, which guided the choice of subjects for decoration along with a certain amount of details;
and secondly, a native Cypro-Phcenician talent, which, while still subject to its own narrow
xxiii
placing the design wherever and however it may tell best on the surface of the vase. In a
number of instances, as on Plates CXXVIII.-CXXX., the design is simply placed on the natural
front of the vase, as if no purpose but its conspicuousness had been thought of. On the other
hand, it is obvious that we have no corresponding freedom in the drawing of the birds or other
objects. The idea of flight is well suggested by placing a bird vaguely on the surface of the
vase, but the bird itself is no nearer the truth of nature. Its wings are still rendered with the
utmost conventionalism even in those exceptional instances where some dawning of their true
form seems to have been in the mind of the painter. Fig. 948 (Plate CXXVI.) is perhaps the
best example of this. Here both wings are raised a little, revealing the body of the bird, the
structure of which is indicated by a pear-shaped outline, within which are accumulated a guil-
loche, semi-circles, and a series of parallel lines, all which have no relation to the body of a bird,
except, perhaps, the semi-circles, which may not unfairly represent the shoulder of the creature.
In no case do we see the near wing springing from the shoulder as it ought to spring. Both
wings invariably rise from the farther side of the bird. Very often one outline serves to indicate
them both. Where greater skill is employed, one wing is turned upwards, the other downwards,
and always so as to form a decorative feature.
If we ask, why this prevalence of winged creatures ? the answer must again be, Assyrian
influence. Assyrian art is unique in its abundance of winged beings, whether deities, daemons,
winged bulls, winged horses, or birds which naturally possessed wings. We cannot doubt that
the impulse had come thence. On the other hand, it was not much more than the impulse that
came. Assyrian art, so far as we know its remains, and certainly as it existed at the time when
these vases were produced, had long outstripped the simple conventionalisms which characterize
them. These we must ascribe to the Cypro-Phcenician potter and to the technical traditions in
which he had been trained. Accustomed to conventional patterns, he would naturally enough
give his preference to birds, seeing that they of all animal forms lent themselves best to his
traditions. If this is correct, the result we arrive at may be thus stated : first, an Assyrian
impulse, which guided the choice of subjects for decoration along with a certain amount of details;
and secondly, a native Cypro-Phcenician talent, which, while still subject to its own narrow