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90 THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

the Phoenician monuments of early date, are only to
be found at present in the brief notices of antient
writers. What were the characteristics of their art it
is impossible for us now to judge*. We are uncer-
tain even about early Persian sculpture. The bas-
reliefs from Persepolis bear so strong a resemblance
to Egyptian art, that they have been thought to be
the performances of artists carried into Persia by
Cambyses, after he bad subjugated Egypt. Susa,
his capital, also contained a Memnonium with
the same name as the great building at Thebes.
With the general outline and extent of the Per-
sepolitan sculptures the reader may become ac-
quainted, by consulting the engravings of them in
Le Brun-j-; of the character of the bas-reliefs them-
selves, he may judge from the portions, fragments,
and casts, which have been deposited at different
times within these few years in the British Museum J.
The figures are uniform in style, closely draped, stiff,
and awkward. Some approach what is called the

* The only monuments known to be of Phoenician or Punic
art, now extant, are coins.

f Voyages de CorneiHe le Brun, 4to. Paris, 1725, torn. iv«
p. 331, et seq.

X See the Persepolitan sculptures presented by Sir Gore
Ouseley, in room 1 of the Gallery of Antiquities, No. 84 to 88;
-with four bas-reliefs, No. S9 to 92, also from Persepolis, pre-
sented in 1818 by the Earl of Aberdeen. One or two of the
bas-reliefs which the Earl of Aberdeen presented represent the
close-draped figure, with his large quiver and shield, guiding a
chariot. It strougly reminds the spectator of the words of
Isaiah, chap. sxii. ver. 6, which follow the prophecy of the destruc-
tion of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, " And Elam bare the
quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered
the shield." The Casts alluded to, which are very numerous,
and of great variety as to character, were presented to the
Museum in 1827 by the Hon. Mount Stuart Elphinstone, Governor
of Bombay. ...
 
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