Fig. 151.—Fragments of sculpture from Carchemish (from the Graphic, Dec. 1880).
Sculptures in debased imitation of the Ninevite reliefs were ranged on a series of slabs in the Hittite palaces, as at Khorsabad or Kouyunjik. At Sinjerli, M. O. Puchstein found still in place, that is to say, lining the lower portion of the wall of an edifice, a complete set of bas-reliefs representing a deer hunt, a man struggling with a fantastic genius, and a train of prisoners of war.[69] In another tell in the same region, three slabs placed end to end contain a scene from a lion hunt; the king is in his chariot with his charioteer, and draws his bow. Everything here—the form of the chariot, the harness of the horses, the costume of the prince covered with his coat of mail—betrays a copy of Ninevite sculpture. Even the lion, the anatomical forms of which are learnedly reproduced, brings to our memory the hunting expeditions of Assurbanipal. But at the same time the inferiority of the imitator is conspicuous in the arrangement of the scene, which lacks life and movement: the lion allows the javelins to be thrust into his eye and haunches in the most benevolent manner. What a difference from the vigour and litheness of the terrible beasts which bound roaring around the hunters, true sons of Nimrod!
Fig. 152.—Bas-relief at Rum-Qalah (Gazette archéol. 1883.)
When we leave the regions which lie near the Euphrates, the imitation of Assyria, though equally perceptible, is, perhaps, less servile and more free; a larger number of original elements enter into the composition of the scenes. At Rum-Qalah a bas-relief represents a bearded personage, wearing a cap, and dressed in a long tunic, drawn apart as if in imitation of the form of the drooping wings of Assyrian genii. At his girdle he carries a dagger; in his left hand is a sort of lyre, in his right a palm-branch; the handle of a leathern bag is passed over his arm. The coarseness of the workmanship makes the imitation itself almost unrecognisable. On a basalt stela at Marash ([fig. 153]) two women, sitting on chairs with backs, are separated by a table similar to those that we have seen in Assyria; the costume of these women has also much analogy to the Ninevite garments; however, their high tiara, under their long veil, seems to be indigenous. The same characteristics of imperfect and coarse imitation are to be observed in other pieces of sculpture from the same place; the only features which are particularly original are the expression of the faces, the diadem, and the arrangement of the hair: the spectator feels that he is on the confines of a territory which is already coming under the direct influence of the Hellenic art of Asia Minor.[70]