DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4377#0222
552 EXPEDITION TO BRANCH ID Mi
Such are the Mseander, lotos, and other orna-
ments on the chairs and the borders of the gar-
ments, the patterns of which may be at once
identified as those which constantly occur on vases
and other examples of archaic Greek art, and which
doubtless were originally derived from Assyria.
Again, in the varied compositions of the dra-
peries, and in the mode of representing hair, we
recognize peculiarities of treatment characteristic
generally of early Greek sculpture;" but these pecu-
liarities are subordinate to the main effect. The
predominant impression which these figures pro-
duce on the mind at the first sight, is their
resemblance to Egyptian sculptures; and it is
not till after contemplating them for some time,
that this first impression loses its force, and
that we are able to detect certain essential qua-
lities, which prove them to be the work of Hellenic
artists.
These remarks may be best understood by com-
paring the Brahchidse statues with a seated figure
of Athene in white marble, preserved in the
Acropolis at Athens/ This latter is strikingly
archaic, but not at all Egyptian in character, and
is evidently the work of a school very distinct from
that of the sculptures at Branchidse.
With regard to the question to what school
u The female figure described ante, p. 535, as No. 9, perhaps pre-
sents more of the characteristics of early Greek and less of Egyp-
tian art than the rest, and may therefore be a later work.
v See the engraving and description of this statue by Mr. G.
Schnrf, Museum of Classical Antiquities, i. pp. 190-2.
Such are the Mseander, lotos, and other orna-
ments on the chairs and the borders of the gar-
ments, the patterns of which may be at once
identified as those which constantly occur on vases
and other examples of archaic Greek art, and which
doubtless were originally derived from Assyria.
Again, in the varied compositions of the dra-
peries, and in the mode of representing hair, we
recognize peculiarities of treatment characteristic
generally of early Greek sculpture;" but these pecu-
liarities are subordinate to the main effect. The
predominant impression which these figures pro-
duce on the mind at the first sight, is their
resemblance to Egyptian sculptures; and it is
not till after contemplating them for some time,
that this first impression loses its force, and
that we are able to detect certain essential qua-
lities, which prove them to be the work of Hellenic
artists.
These remarks may be best understood by com-
paring the Brahchidse statues with a seated figure
of Athene in white marble, preserved in the
Acropolis at Athens/ This latter is strikingly
archaic, but not at all Egyptian in character, and
is evidently the work of a school very distinct from
that of the sculptures at Branchidse.
With regard to the question to what school
u The female figure described ante, p. 535, as No. 9, perhaps pre-
sents more of the characteristics of early Greek and less of Egyp-
tian art than the rest, and may therefore be a later work.
v See the engraving and description of this statue by Mr. G.
Schnrf, Museum of Classical Antiquities, i. pp. 190-2.