None of the vases in gold, silver, or wrought-iron, which he dedicated and placed among the treasures of the Greek temples, has come down to us, but at rare intervals ornaments of admirable workmanship are found in the Lydian tombs. Those now in the Louvre exhibit, in addition to human figures somewhat awkwardly treated, heads of rams, bulls, and griffins of a singular delicacy and faithfulness to nature. These examples reveal a blending of Grecian types and methods of production with those of Egypt or Chaldæa, the Hellenic being predominant,* and the same combination of heterogeneous elements must have existed in the other domains of industrial art—-in the dyed and embroidered stuffs,** the vases,*** and the furniture.****
* The ornaments, of which we have now no specimens, but only
the original moulds cut in serpentine, betray imitation of
Assyria and Chaldæa.
** The custom of clothing themselves in dyed and embroidered
stuffs was one of the effeminate habits with which the poet
Xenophanes reproached the Ionians as having been learned
from their Lydian neighbours.
*** M. Perrot points out that one of the vases discovered by
G. Dennis at Bintépé is an evident imitation of the Egyptian
and Phoenician chevroned glasses. The shape of the vase is
one of those found represented, with the same decoration, on
Egyptian monuments subsequent to the Middle Empire, where
the chevroned lines seem to be derived from the undulations
of ribbon-alabaster.
**** The stone funerary couches which have been discovered
in Lydian tombs are evidently copied from pieces of wooden
furniture similarly arranged and decorated.
Drawn by
Faucher-
Gudin.
Drawn by
Faucher-
Gudin.
[These illustrations are larger than the original pieces.—Tr.]