EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE
The surviving examples of Egyptian sculpture consist of bas-reliefs and figures in the round, carved from limestone and granite or cast in bronze. Many of the statues appear to our eyes very stiff and ungraceful. The sculptor never learned how to pose his figures easily or how to arrange them in an artistic group. In spite of these defects some Egyptian statues are wonderfully lifelike. [18]
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN PALACE (RESTORED) The royal residence of Sargon II near Nineveh was placed upon a high platform of brick masonry the top of which was gained by stairs and an inclined roadway. The palace consisted of a series of one storied rectangular halls and long corridors surrounding inner courts. They were provided with imposing entrances flanked by colossal human headed bulls representing guardian spirits. The entire building covered more than twenty three acres and contained two hundred apartments. In the rear is seen a temple tower.]
SCULPTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
Few examples have reached us of Babylonian and Assyrian sculpture in the round. As in Egypt, the figures seem rigid and out of proportion. The Assyrian bas-reliefs show a higher development of the artistic sense, especially in the rendering of animals. The sculptures that deal with the exploits of the kings in war and hunting often tell their story in so graphic a way as to make up for the absence of written records.
ORIENTAL PAINTING
Painting in the ancient East did not reach the dignity of an independent art. It was employed solely for decorative purposes. Bas-reliefs and wall surfaces were often brightly colored, The artist had no knowledge of perspective and drew all his figures in profile, without any distinction of light and shade. Indeed, Oriental painting, as well as Oriental sculpture, made small pretense to the beautiful. Beauty was born into the world with the art of the Greeks.
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN WINGED HUMAN HEADED BULL]
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN HUNTING SCENE (British Museum, London)
A bas relief from a slab found at Nineveh.]