Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/311

Gems. 279 We need not hesitate to ascribe to the second Chalclœan monarchy a cone with a bearded individual standing before an altar on which lies a fantastic animal (Fig. 160); above his head appear the sun, the moon, and a star. We have already- mentioned two examples of this theme, which begins to appear in the time of Nebuchadnezzar and remains in fashion until the Macedonian conquest. 1 Among the themes in most frequent use under the Sargonids we might have quoted the single combat of the king with a lion, the god standing upon a lion s back, the king over whose head a servant holds an umbrella> the heads and bodies of different animals, and others. 2 We cannot pretend, however, to enumerate- them all. It is sufficient to show, as we have done, that after the ninth century at latest both cylinders and cones were produced Fig. 159. — Amethyst cone. National Library, Paris. 3 Fig. 160. — Agate cone. National Library, Paris. 4 in the same workshops, and that the differences in their figuration are to be explained by the dimensions and form of the new surface. Those who have supposed that the use of flat seals only commenced under the Achaemenids are mistaken. All that we can say with truth is that intaglios cut upon sections of cones, spheres and pyramids are less ancient than the cylinders of Ur, Erech, Accad and Sippara. This is proved by the dated contracts to which we have already so often had to refer ; but supposing no such contracts to have been in existence we could have arrived at the same conclusion by another path. Cones in calcareous stone, in marble, or even in pietra dura are either wanting altogether, or very few and far between ; they are almost all in precious stones, most of them in 1 Menant, Empreinte de Cachets, &c. fig. 65. 2 Ibid. figs. 20-24, 27, 30, 31, 41-44. 3 De Luynes collection, No. 188. Diameter 1 inch. 4 No. 986.