Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/313

DECORATION. 291 a prayer, a promise, a benediction. On each side of the arch, at its springing, there is one of greater stature than his companions (Fig. 123). His face is turned towards the vaulted passage. Upon the curve of the archivolt smaller figures face one another in couples ; each couple is divided from its neighbours by rosettes (Fig. 124). FIG. 123. Detail of enamelled arcliivolt. Khorsabarl. From Place. The other composition is to be found on a plinth in the doorway of the harem at Khorsabad. This plinth was about twenty-three feet long, and rather more than three feet high. Its ornament was repeated on both sides of the doorway. 1 It con- sisted of a lion, an eagle, a bull, and>a plough (Plate XV). Upon the returning angles the king appears, standing, on the one side with his head bare, on the other covered with a tiara. The back- 1 PLACE, Niirive, vol. Hi. plates 23-31