Fig. 80.—Wounded lioness. Height of slab about 15 inches. British Museum. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
Fig. 81.—Niche decorated with two lions. Height 6½ inches. British Museum.
Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.
Seeing how familiar they were with this animal, the artists of Mesopotamia could hardly have failed to employ him as a motive in ornament. In such a case, of course, they did not insist so strongly upon fidelity to fact as in the historical bas-reliefs, but whether they made use of his figure as a whole or confined themselves to the head or paws, they always preserved the true character and originality of the forms. This may be clearly seen in an object belonging to the British Museum (Fig. 81). We do not exactly know where it was found and we cannot say what may have been its use. It is a kind of shallow niche cut from a fossiliferous rock.[193] It is hardly deep enough to have sheltered an idol or statuette of any kind. But whatever it may have been nothing could be more natural than the action of the two lions that show themselves at the two upper angles. They hang tightly to the edge of the stone with their extended claws, giving rise to a happy, piquant, and unstudied effect. The scabbard in our next illustration is no less happily conceived; the lions at its foot who seem about to climb up the sheath with the playfulness of kittens, should be noticed (Fig. 82). Again, we find the lion introduced into those embroideries on the royal robes of which we have already had occasion to speak. In the example figured here (Fig. 83) he is fighting an animal whose feet and legs are those of a bull, although its stature is greater and its form more slender than those of the antelope. It appears to be a unicorn, a fantastic animal that has always played a great part in oriental fables.
Fig. 82.—Sword and scabbard. From a Khorsabad bas-relief. Louvre.
The lion’s head with its powerful muscular development, its fine mouth, and picturesque masses of floating hair, has often furnished ceramists, gold and silversmiths, and art workmen of every kind with motives for use upon their creations. A fine example of this is reproduced on the title-pages of these volumes. It belongs to the Luynes collection in the French National Library. The material is gold, and a small staple attached to the neck shows that it once belonged to some object now lost. Our reproduction is of the same size as the original. In spite of its small dimensions its workmanship is no less remarkable for freedom and nobility of style than the colossal head from Nimroud. Something of the same qualities but with more finish in the details is to be found in a terra-cotta fragment covered with a green glaze which now belongs to the collection in the Louvre. These objects, which have come down to us in considerable numbers, must have been used as applied work, in the decoration of vases, utensils, and other small pieces of furniture (Fig. 84). The object figured at the end of the last chapter belongs to the same class. There is a hollow or mortice in its base by which it was attached to some knife or poignard to form its handle.
The lion’s paw was used in the same fashion and no less often. Its expressive form and the elegant curves of its claws are found on numerous altars, tables, and thrones (Vol. I., Fig. 168; and above, Fig. 47).[194]