Historic Ornament. James M Ward
engraved inscription occurs in Phœnician characters, giving the name of the first owner, Esmunjair-ben-Asto. The Phœnician inscriptions, and above all, the want of method or arrangement of themes or motives on the articles, stamp them to be of Phœnician origin. The silver platter has more meaning in the use of the Egyptian motives than some others, but the hieroglyphics are not to be relied on as correctly Egyptian.
Fig. 225.—Capital from Golgos (Ceccaldi). (P. & C.)
Fig. 226.—Phœnician Platter, Silver, diameter 7 ins. Drawn by Wallet. (P. & C.)
The silver-gilt cup or patera from Curium (Fig. 227) is a fair illustration of this mixture of Egyptian and Assyrian ideas put together from a multitude of stock-in-trade subjects or patterns. The centre piece is Assyrian, and also the cable ornament. The inner row of animals are Assyrian in feeling, but an Egyptian sphinx is introduced amongst them; but the outer border is the most curious of all, as it contains six or seven distinct Egyptian scenes, each divided by the tree of life or palmates, taken at haphazard from designs of bas-reliefs. The Phœnician goldsmith, evidently not understanding the story of these Egyptian mysteries, used them merely as decorative units. The workmanship is admirable; first the work is beaten up in repoussé and then chased afterwards, and may be described as a mixture of the two methods.
Fig. 227.—Patera from Curium, diameter 8 ins. (P. & C.)
A beautiful Egyptian design of a cow and calf in a papyrus brake forms the centre medallion of a Phœnician cup found at Caere (Fig. 228).
Fig. 228.—Centre Medallion; from a Cup from Griffi. (P. & C.)
The Egyptian vessels figured in the tomb of Rekhmara (Fig. 229) are mostly made in metal and are of Phœnician design. They would be sold to the Egyptians, as the former supplied the latter in most articles of metal workmanship; many rims and handles of elaborate workmanship have been found, but scarcely any whole forms of these vases, though we have many of their forms preserved in Greek and Etruscan work.
Fig. 229.—Vessels figured in the Tomb of Rekhmara; from Wilkman.
In articles of personal jewellery the Phœnicians were as skilful as the Greeks and Etruscans; it was only in the matter of higher motives in design that the Greeks excelled the Phœnicians. We give one or two specimens of their jewellery at Figs. 230 to 233.
Fig. 230.—Gold Bracelet; from Tharros. (B.M.) (P. & C.)
Cyprus was inhabited from the earliest time with a mixture of races in which the Greek or Hellenic element was represented, and though nominally a Phœnician dependency, the Greek superiority of artistic genius asserted itself at a very early date in the art of the country. Some of the architectural features already noticed, notably the Ionic capitals, may be given as examples of this; and another very important branch, the minor art of pottery, may furnish further examples of the Greek art tendency, though infused with a mixture of Phœnician influences.
Fig. 231. Silver Pin, Cesnola.
Fig. 232.—Pendant, Wild Goat, Gold. (B.M.)
Fig. 233. Earring, Gold, from Cesnola.
Cyprus has always been particularly noted for its ceramic products. The island is rich in potter’s clay of two kinds—a black earth, and a red kind. The oldest kind of Cyprian known is of a good shape, and is generally furnished with handles according to the uses of the vase. The making and fitting on of handles is only achieved when the art of the potter has been well advanced.
Fig. 234.—Bottle with Incised Ornament, from Cesnola. (P. & C.)
Fig. 235.—Bottle with Geometric Decoration. (P. & C.)
The two vases (Figs. 234, 235) are of the oldest dates, and are decorated purely in the oldest form of geometric ornament. The one with the handle is particularly good in form, and has the decoration incised like sgraffito work. Fantastic shapes of animals made as vases and drinking vessels were very common in Cyprus. Although not many of them can be called beautiful, still it required considerable skill and knowledge to model them (Fig. 236). The goat-shaped vessel is very lifelike. The bowl or crater (Fig. 237) has the lotus flower and geometric bands and divisions for its decoration; it is painted with light brown and red on a cream-coloured ground. The decoration from a cup is more elaborate, it has a new element in the shape of some kind of water bird arranged Assyrian-like on each side of the sacred tree, and has a sun sign filling up a space close to one of the bird’s legs (Fig. 238). Another very interesting and beautiful vase is the Œnochoé (Fig. 239). Another bird is painted on this, and at the same time the geometric checkers and lines still cling to it as part of the decoration. On this vase, also, may be seen two moon signs, and the sacred sun sign, the fylfot, or swastika, repeated four times. These sacred signs are often found on Cyprian pottery. The latter vase in shape and decoration is more Greek in feeling than most Cyprian vases. The larger Œnochoé (Fig. 240) has the human figure with some kind of water fowls; it has a sacred sign on its lips. Though the subject recalls Egypt, the design and execution might have been done by a clever Greek artist. The style of execution and drawing on these vases may be a little archaic, but the design and bold manner of execution is eminently correct and could not be better for the decoration of pottery.
Fig. 236.—Vessel in the Shape of a Goat. (P. & C.)
Fig. 237.—Bowl in the Piot Collection, height 6¾ ins. (P. & C.)
The discovery of glass making has been attributed to the Phœnicians, but this is not correct; the Egyptians made glass articles, and used glass in their vitreous enamelled tiles and bricks long before the Phœnicians had any connection with Egypt. It was most likely because the Phœnicians traded so much in glass, and for the reasons also that they had large glass manufactories at Tyre and other places, that they have received the credit from early times of being the inventors of glass. The oldest dated glass bottle or vase in the world is one from Egypt, and now in the British Museum. It bears the name of Thothmes III. (B.C. 1600). The body is turquoise blue with yellow details of decoration and hieroglyphics; the handle is dark blue with yellow and white markings.
The Phœnicians at a later period were extensive makers of glass articles, and made glass of three kinds, the clear and transparent, but always with a slight greenish hue, the coloured and transparent, and the opaque.
Fig. 238.—Detail of the Decoration of a Cup. (P. & C.)
A great quantity of glass bottles, statuettes, vases, plaques, and beads have been found in Cyprus. The bottles and vases that were prized most highly were decorated chiefly in alternating lines of bright colours, such as blues, greens, yellows, white, and purple. Beads,