DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0134
102
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
absence of individuality in the faces, especially when compared with the mas-
tery of the animal form. The king is distinguished only by richer robes and
head-dress, the god by his symbolical wings or other emblems, foreigners by
different attire from that of native Assyrians.
The chief distinction, however, between Egyptian and Assyrian art, lies in
their style ; that is, their interpretation of natural objects according to gener-
alized ideal form, which in Egypt is of nobler quality. With all their natural
gifts, and admirable skill in the representation of animals, the chief productions
of the Assyrians are the expressions of a style which required incongruous
combinations of the most foreign elements, awakening a smile of pity for men
Fig. 63. Assur-bani-pal pouring out a Libation on Slain Lions. Kogunjih. British Museum.
who could create such puerilities. In the Nile valley, the animals in connec-
tion with the architecture never bear any thing, but, like the grand sphinxes
or lions, recline in dignified repose before the pylons, or, like the sacred
apes, sit around the base of the obelisk, or on the top of the cornice. In As-
syria, on the other hand, the winged bull and yawning lion appear to be carry-
ing a massive arch, even though represented as at the same time walking out
vigorously from under it. Even the sacred sphinx, when transplanted to the
Tigris, is burdened with a pillar. In Egyptian statuary, the lion, like the
famous beasts of the British Museum, from Gebel Barkal (Fig. 26), is nobly
conventionalized in all the dignity of the Egyptian style. Bold, strong sur-
faces at once emphasize the grand repose of the king of beasts, and express
all the terrible possibilities slumbering in his majestic form ; thus impressing
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
absence of individuality in the faces, especially when compared with the mas-
tery of the animal form. The king is distinguished only by richer robes and
head-dress, the god by his symbolical wings or other emblems, foreigners by
different attire from that of native Assyrians.
The chief distinction, however, between Egyptian and Assyrian art, lies in
their style ; that is, their interpretation of natural objects according to gener-
alized ideal form, which in Egypt is of nobler quality. With all their natural
gifts, and admirable skill in the representation of animals, the chief productions
of the Assyrians are the expressions of a style which required incongruous
combinations of the most foreign elements, awakening a smile of pity for men
Fig. 63. Assur-bani-pal pouring out a Libation on Slain Lions. Kogunjih. British Museum.
who could create such puerilities. In the Nile valley, the animals in connec-
tion with the architecture never bear any thing, but, like the grand sphinxes
or lions, recline in dignified repose before the pylons, or, like the sacred
apes, sit around the base of the obelisk, or on the top of the cornice. In As-
syria, on the other hand, the winged bull and yawning lion appear to be carry-
ing a massive arch, even though represented as at the same time walking out
vigorously from under it. Even the sacred sphinx, when transplanted to the
Tigris, is burdened with a pillar. In Egyptian statuary, the lion, like the
famous beasts of the British Museum, from Gebel Barkal (Fig. 26), is nobly
conventionalized in all the dignity of the Egyptian style. Bold, strong sur-
faces at once emphasize the grand repose of the king of beasts, and express
all the terrible possibilities slumbering in his majestic form ; thus impressing