SCULPTURE AND 'Al INDIC ARTS. The anthropoid sarcophagi. of which the possesses a mun ber, while others, found at Sidon, are now in the Museum of Constantinople, show the influence of Egypt on monumental Pluenician sculpture. But. the sarcophagi and statues found by Cesnola and others in Cyprus are by far the part of the Phomician plastic patrimony. Here, even more than in Persian sculpture. we find that the Hellenic idea of letting the form of the body pierce through the drapery was adopted. and that the attempt at expressiveness took the form of the grimace or smile. There is a curious amalga !nation in this school of such Hellenic elements with others from Egypt and Assyria, with the composition varying according to political pre dominance. Statues of gods and goddesses as well as of priests, sometimes colossal, show' fa eility of execution. The sarcophagi, especially that from Amatlins, are of equal importance, and are in high relief, in contrast to the Assyrian low relief technique.
In the field of metal work the most extraordi nary objects that have been preserved are the great bronze votive shields from the care of Zeus on Mount Ida, in Crete, with their Egyptian sphinxes, Assyrian lions. and tigureg,of Merodaeh and zones of animals like those on the early Greek vases (especially Corinthian). Equally important on a smaller scale are the silver dishes or Patera: found in Assyrian palaces (.Nim rud), in Cyprus, and in some Italian tombs, with their exquisite scenes engraved or in relief, from mythology, or daily life. The Dali cup in the Louvre, Palestrina patera, and those from Curium in the Metropolitan Museum, are the finest pieces of work preserved from Oriental an tiquity. The mixture of subjects shows that the Plicenician artist cared less for the significance than for the artistic quality of the design. and
often made mistakes in copying scenes originally conceived by .Assyrian or Egyptian artists.
The gold and silver ware on the tables of Orien tal monarchs, their bronze serving-vessels, were usually the work of these Pluenician artists, who were everywhere, even in Nineveh. it was not quite the same with ivories, only some of which are Phomician. But, on the other hand, the Pheenicians absorbed nearly all the trade in glass vessels, after learning the art from Egypt, and the glass factories of Tyre and Sidon and Berytus remained. famous even through the Middle Ages. The collection in the Metropolitan Museum, most ly from the Charvet collection, one of the finest in existence, contains many Plaenieian pieces, and the tombs that are continually being opened in Plicenieia furnish more glass than any other class of objects.
It would seem as if in jewelry the Phcenicians played the important role of models to Greek and Etruscan artists learning from Egyptian and Asiatic artists. Lotus flowers and anNemions, heads of Isis, of Hathor, and other gods and genii, animals and birds in relief or as pendants, rosettes and groups of balls hanging from chains, formed most elaborate designs in earrings, necklaces, tiaras, etc. In the field of engraved stones, precious or rare, the Phoenicians imitated as usual; the Egyptian scarab and the Assyro-Babylonian cylinder and seal were equally popular, with borrowed mythological scenes, un til, in the fourth eentury B.C., the fashion turned exclusively to Greek models.