Fig. 87.—Painting on plaster, Nimroud (after Layard).
The application of stucco of different colours is particularly conspicuous in the construction of the staged towers, the terraces of which are, beginning from the lowest, white, black, red, yellow, vermilion, silver and gold. In the interior of the chambers, to avoid the disagreeable contrast between the uniform whiteness of the stone bas-reliefs and the brilliancy of the many-coloured paintings, the fashion was to colour the figures in the bas-reliefs themselves. Some traces of colouring may still be recognised in the sculptures preserved in our museums, and though it is true that they are being gradually effaced, they were quite evident when the slabs were disinterred. The beard, hair, weapons, and even the face and costume of the figures were coloured in a similar manner to the paintings on plaster, so that this painted stucco seemed to be the continuation of the bas-reliefs. There are, for instance, evident traces of vermilion paint[42] on the figures of demons in the Assyrian basement of the British Museum. The Assyrians obeyed the same laws of æsthetics as the mediæval artists, who applied polychrome colouring to their marble or stone statues, to bring them into perfect harmony with the rich decoration which filled their cathedrals from the floor to the keystone of the vault.
Fig. 88.—Portion of an enamelled archivolt at Khorsabad (after V. Place).
Enamelled brick played the same part as painting in fresco, only it was more solid and was better able to resist the action of damp. In Chaldæa, where it rains oftener than in Assyria, greater use has been made of enamelled brick than in the latter country. The Ninevite artists scarcely ever employed this method of decoration, except round the principal doorways and to make an elegant border for the archivolt. The bricks of brilliant colours, which are conspicuous from a distance, are ornamented with floral designs and rosettes in exquisite taste. In Sargon’s palace