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Matériau i'7 use was well understood ; but we do not possess any important examples of repoussé work dating from the early days of Chaldaea. It is otherwise with Assyria. The exploration of her palaces has brought to light numerous fragments of ornamental sheathing in bronze ; plaques and bands, sometimes curved, sometimes straight, Fig. 53. — Canephoros. Louvre. Height o inches. according to the surface to which they were applied, were covered in some cases with mere ornamental designs, in others with numerous figures. Only within the last few years have we learnt to how high a pitch the sculptors of Mesopotamia had carried this art, and how well they understood that the rough form
