Examples are also to be found of objects in earthenware or terra-cotta coated with a vitreous glaze, like those that the Egyptians manufactured in such enormous quantities.[133] In these cases the figure is cast in a mould, and the enamel is either blue or green, as in Egypt (Fig. 52).[134]
Fig. 50.—Statuette of a priest. Louvre; from Heuzey.
Fig. 51.—Dagon. British Museum. Actual size.
Clay was used for other things besides these small statuettes; it seems to have been employed in the first sketches from which the sculptor chiselled the alabaster slabs, at least when he attacked the more important and complex groups. We can hardly refuse to recognize such a purpose in a fine fragment brought from the palace of Assurbanipal to the British Museum. It is all that is left of a relief in terra-cotta. The grain is much finer and the colour far redder than in statuettes from the same place. In its present state this slab is about a foot high, and mutilated as it is, its subject may be recognized as an incident in the royal hunt, the rest of which helps to fill the Assyrian basement room. The larger part of the principal figure is wanting, but enough of him remains to leave no doubt as to the character of the scene; it represents a king attacked on two sides by lions, and defending himself with his lance. The firm and precise execution of the lions’ paws and of the king’s body should be noticed. According to the scale obtaining in the sculptures preserved this model was carried out on a half scale. So little of the group is left that we cannot make sure whether the reliefs now in London contain the episode of which this is the original sketch or not.[135] So far as we can tell, however, the exact passage executed after this model is not in the museum, but we must not forget that a large number of the sculptures were left in the palace where they were found; Mr. Rassam only removed the finest and those in the best condition.
Fig. 52.—Head of a lioness. Louvre. Actual size.
The small winged bull carved in the finest limestone, which Mr. George Smith brought from Nimroud, was, no doubt, a model of the same sort (see Vol. I. Figs. 83 and 84). Its execution is of the most careful description, and yet it can hardly have had any other use. We may say the same of the square slab of terra-cotta just mentioned; its figures are too small for the decoration of palace saloons, and the material is too common to have formed a part of those rich schemes of ornament whose existence is attested by the texts as well as by the remains. We can suggest no more plausible explanation of these little monuments, or one in more complete accord with the necessities of rapid production. We have already shown that a vast number of hands were required for the prompt execution of these great sculptural works, and the provision of such models, whether in stone or terra-cotta, would do much towards preventing the evil consequences of employing so many different and variously gifted journeymen. The master produced the model, and nothing was required from the carvers who copied it but skill in enlarging and in the handling of their tools.