DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0130
98
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
of the subordination of every thing else to ornament. The garments are richly
embroidered; and over the king is thrown a costly spread, from which dangle
heavy tassels. The laden table, or altar, and the cone-shaped object, are those
occurring in scenes of a religious character, and seem to indicate that the
sculptor tried to represent some solemn ceremony. The rich ornamental de-
tails seen on the figures extend to the lounge and other objects. The legs of
the couch rest on crouching lions, facing outwards ; lions in pairs leap at each
other along the whole front of the lower support of the lounge; above, strange
half-figures, separated by a cone, are apparently inlaid into the upper part, all
doubtless imitations of ivory and metal incrustations in use in the furniture of
Assyrian palaces.
And yet, with all this enthusiasm for ornament, there is little progress in
Fig. 49. Head of an Assyrian Chariot-horse, from Assur-bani-pal's Palace. Koyunjih. British Museum.
the human forms. The braceleted hand is no more correctly drawn than in
older sculptures. The lying figure is drowned in the flood of meaningless
stuffs. The draped forms of the attendants, who hold over the feasters the
usual fan, are expressed with no truer rendering of nature than in older carv-
But these later sculptures are unsurpassed in their representations of the
brute creation, as may be seen in the slabs in the British Museum. The angry
steeds attached to Assur-bani-pal's chariot, with ears laid back, distended jaws,
and protruding eye-sockets, are given in admirable profile, and show us the
horse to have been a familiar and favorite object in Assyrian art, in that re-
spect strongly contrasted to the art of Egypt (Fig. 49). A group from Assur-
bani-pal's hunting series shows with what power the sculptor gave the canine
form (Fig. 50). The keeper can hardly hold these fierce brutes, whose well-
shaped heads and strong forms are strained in the effort to make a vehement
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
of the subordination of every thing else to ornament. The garments are richly
embroidered; and over the king is thrown a costly spread, from which dangle
heavy tassels. The laden table, or altar, and the cone-shaped object, are those
occurring in scenes of a religious character, and seem to indicate that the
sculptor tried to represent some solemn ceremony. The rich ornamental de-
tails seen on the figures extend to the lounge and other objects. The legs of
the couch rest on crouching lions, facing outwards ; lions in pairs leap at each
other along the whole front of the lower support of the lounge; above, strange
half-figures, separated by a cone, are apparently inlaid into the upper part, all
doubtless imitations of ivory and metal incrustations in use in the furniture of
Assyrian palaces.
And yet, with all this enthusiasm for ornament, there is little progress in
Fig. 49. Head of an Assyrian Chariot-horse, from Assur-bani-pal's Palace. Koyunjih. British Museum.
the human forms. The braceleted hand is no more correctly drawn than in
older sculptures. The lying figure is drowned in the flood of meaningless
stuffs. The draped forms of the attendants, who hold over the feasters the
usual fan, are expressed with no truer rendering of nature than in older carv-
But these later sculptures are unsurpassed in their representations of the
brute creation, as may be seen in the slabs in the British Museum. The angry
steeds attached to Assur-bani-pal's chariot, with ears laid back, distended jaws,
and protruding eye-sockets, are given in admirable profile, and show us the
horse to have been a familiar and favorite object in Assyrian art, in that re-
spect strongly contrasted to the art of Egypt (Fig. 49). A group from Assur-
bani-pal's hunting series shows with what power the sculptor gave the canine
form (Fig. 50). The keeper can hardly hold these fierce brutes, whose well-
shaped heads and strong forms are strained in the effort to make a vehement