Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/303

Gems. 2ji the other features of both sexes united in their single bodies ; men with the legs and horns of a goat and the feet of a horse ; others with the hind quarters of a horse and the upper part of a man. like the hippocentaurs. There were also bulls with human heads, dogs with four bodies and fishes' tails, and other quadrupeds in which various animal forms were blended, fishes, reptiles, serpents, and all kinds of monsters with the greatest variety in their forms, monsters whose images we see in the paintings of the temple of Bel at Babylon." 1 Of all these fantastic creatures there are hardly any but may be found on some cylinder, and if there be one or two still missing, it is very probable that future discoveries will fill up the gap. Fig. 149. — Chaldœan cylinder of veined agate. Louvre. Before quitting these remains from the earliest school of gem engraving, we must draw attention for a moment to the way in which it treats costume. In most cases the folds of the stuff are imitated by very fine parallel strokes. Sometimes, as, for instance, in the figure on the right of Ourkam's seal (Vol. I., Fig. 3), these close and slightly sinuous lines extend without interruption from the top to the bottom of the dress, but in most cases they are crossed by several transverse bands, probably coloured, either woven into the material or sewn upon it (see Vol. I., Figs. 3, 17, and 20, and above, Figs. 39 and 41). We have already encountered this method of treating drapery in certain statuettes from the same place and time (Figs. 99 and 100), but we never find it in Assyria or in Chaldaea after the fall of Nineveh, either in statues or on engraved stones. There is another characteristic detail that should not be forgotten, namely, the caps turned up at the side in the shape of horns (Vol. I., Fig. 17 and above, Fig. 143). By this head-dress 1 Berosus, fragment 1, § 4, in vol. ii. of the Fragmenta historicorum Grœcorum of Ch. Millier.