Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/173

On the Representations of Animals. M5 the artist has not been content to give them merely in outline. At the croup and under the belly an effort has been made to model the figure and to mark its thickness. Judging from their style and inscriptions, several more of these engraved stones may be ascribed to the oldest Chaldaean schools of art, but we are satisfied with again reminding our readers that it was in Lower Mesopotamia that everything had its beginning. We shall take our remaining examples from the richer deposits of Assyria. Among all those animals that attracted the attention of man either by their size or strength, either by the services they ren- dered or the terror they caused, there were none that the chisel of the Assyrian sculptor did not treat and treat with taste and skill. With their passion for the chase the kings and nobles Fig. 70. — Cylinder of black marble. National Library, Paris, of Assyria were sure to love dogs and to train them with scrupulous care. They did more. They employed sculptors in making portraits of them. In the palace of Assurbanipal terra- cotta statuettes of his best dogs have been found (Fig. 71). They belong to the same race as the Chaldaean mastiff above mentioned, but their strength, their fire, I might almost say their ferocity, is better shown in those pictures where they are no longer in a state of repose, but in movement and action. Look at the series of slabs representing the departure for the chase. The hounds are held in the leash by attendants who carry bags on their shoulders for the smaller game (see Fig. 72). Mark the tightened 1 Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies, vol. i. p. 234. Upon each of these figures appears the dog's name, which always bears some relation to the qualities he displayed in the performance of his duties. VOL. II. II