Fig. 190.—Dog used for Lion Hunting. (M.)
Fig. 191.—Chariot Horses; from Layard. (P. & C.)
Fig. 192.—Fantastic Animal, drawn by Gautier. (P. & C.)[(P. & C.)]
There is an Assyrian ornament called the “knop and flower” ornament, which occurs in various forms and in endless profusion in Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, and Greek, and even is copied down to Indian and Roman ornament. It may be native, or some forms of it at least, to Assyrian ornament, but is undoubtedly Egyptian in its earliest source; we have spoken of it before in our notice of Egyptian ornament as being derived from the lotus (page [90]). It appears on the rich border of the carved threshold (Fig. [167]); the flower there is undoubtedly a lotus, and the bud or “knop” may be a representation of a “fir-cone,” or may be meant for the closed lotus-bud. Another form of the same elements occurs at Fig. 195, in a beautiful design enclosed in a square, forming one of the central patterns of a similar sill or threshold, and this form of it would doubtless also be used for a ceiling decoration of the palaces. A bouquet of similar flowers is seen at Fig. 196 of the date of Assurbanipal (885-860 B.C.). It is very difficult to say whether this bouquet represents the lotus or not, as, according to the testimony of Layard, the lotus flower is only to be found on the most recent of Assyrian monuments dating from the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., at the time when Assyria had invaded and occupied the Delta of Egypt. If not the lotus flower, something very like has been found on monuments in Assyria much older than these dates.
Fig. 193.—Andro-Sphinx, Robe of Assurbanipal; from Layard. (P. & C.)
Fig. 194.—Detail from the Enamelled Archivolt, Khorsabad; from Place. (P. & C.)