All colossal works in Egypt are of basalt, porphyry, granite, or sandstone, though lierodotua (ii. 143) tells us that at Sala and at Thebes there were statues, of large dimensions, of wood. We are not aware that any large statuea have been found made of metal. The British Museum possesses three bronze figures which merit attention, ar they exceed the usual dimensions of such Egyptian works, being about three feet high, and gilt. The substance or thickness of the metal is not great, and the interior is filled up with stucco or plaster. The gilding, some of which is well preserved, both in surface and colour, seems to have been applied as a wash, the bronze having first been entirely covered with a coat of plaster about as thick as a card.
The clean execution and exceedingly fine aurface observable in the sculptures of Egypt have attracted the attention of practical judges, and led to the conviction that the Egyptians must have had great know ledge in the arts of hardening or tempering metal, to enable them to execute such highly-finished works in the most obstinate and brittle materials. It is a remarkable fact that when the colossal head before alluded to as the Young .Memnon was placed in the British 3Iuseum, and it was necessary to cut some holes in it for the insertion of iron cramps to unite some of the broken fragments, the hardness of the granite was so great that six or eight blows rendered the mason's tools (which were tempered more highly than usual) totally useless.
The facilities that are now afforded the student and public for examining authentic monuments of Egyptian art in the extensive and valuable collection in the British Museum, render it unnecessary to dwell at greater length upon the peculiarities of that school of design. 'flint their works are wanting in the grace, the flow of lines, and the beauty united with repose, that constitute the charm of the beat Grecian sculpture, must et once be admitted; but the simplicity and clearness of intention in their more extensive compositions, and the sublime grandeur, repose, and dignity of their colossal statues, so appropriate to their mystic and religious purposes, will always ensure their being considered amongst the most interesting monuments of ages.
Assyrian Sculpturc.—Until so recently as 1843, nothing was known of the arts of the ancient Assyrians beyond the references to the splen did palaces filled with statues and painted bassi-rilievi on the walla, of vast oize and admirable workmanship, in the Old Testament and in ancient Greek authors. But in that and following years a surprising number of the monuments themselves were brought to light by the fortunate researches of MM. Botta and Layard, and their successors, and transferred to the British Museum and the Louvre. The build ings in the buried ruins of which the Assyrian sculptures were found have been described, and the sculptures themselves noticed, under NINEVEH, Artclincc-runz OF; here, therefore, it will only be necessary to indicate briefly their character. All the sculpture yet found, with
the exception of a few bronzes, consists of slabs, often of colossal dimensions, on which are carved figures in relief, and with which the walls of the palaces were faced both inside and out. In date they are believed to range from the reign of Sardallapa1118, D.C. 930, to the destruction of Nineveh, B.C. 625. As Nineveh was founded 1200 years earlier, they do not therefore represent the archaic period of Assyrian art. The existing examples appear to belong to three distinct periods. The earliest aro those brought by 3Ir. Layard from the great palace and adjoining buildings in the north-west quarter of Nimroud, and now in the British Museum ; they belong to the age of Sardanapalus, or about 930-902 B.C. They consist of colossal human-headed winged lions and bulls, personages from the Assyrian mythology, and other single figures ; of representations of battles, sieges, the passage of rivers, the chase, the great king sacrificing, &c., cuneiform inscriptions being often carved quite, across the slabs, without any regard to the figures. As works of art, they do not take a very high rank : tho drawing of the human form is inaccurate, the muscles are exaggerated ; there is utter ignorance of perspective ; and the artists were evidently bound, like the Egyptian sculptors, to certain strict conventional rules. Yet it is impossible not to be struck in these older works with a certain Largeness and severe grandeur of style and power of imitation. Here, as indeed throughout, Assyrian art seems to hold a sort of middle place between Egyptian and Grecian art. The slabs found at Khorsabad by M. Botta, and deposited in the Louvre, belong to a middle period, that of the 8th century n.c. Less severe and perhaps inferior in grandeur to the older works, they exhibit more refinement of execution. The Kouyunjik monuments in the British Museum are of the third period, or between B.C. 721 and 625. The slabs contain historical records, hunting scenes, ac., similar to those of earlier date, with some rather different in character, representing Sennacherib superintending the construction of some great architectural works, and directing the removal of colossal human-headed bulls. The scenes represented in the Blabs of this third period are more varied in character, the execution is more careful, the figures are more minute and more accurate in the details,—in the animals, especially, the minute accuracy and know ledge of animal nature are quite remarkable,—but the largeness and grandeur of the older works are wanting. The slabs of each period are chiefly of alabaster, but some of the latest date are of the harder native limestone. All of them appear to have been painted with the most brilliant colours they were tho figures pourtrayed with ver milion, exceeding in dyed attire, all of them princes to look at, described in the sacred scriptures.