Page 130 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

THE LATE ASSYRIAN PERIOD
entirely unconnected subject, drawn on a scale which dwarfs the gazelles, and of so
dramatic a nature as to distract attention from the lower strip altogether. Assurbanipal
is shown on horseback spearing a lion while another lion attacks his spare mount from
the rear, and two grooms hasten forward, but arc too far away to assist the king. Above
this, in the uppermost of the three strips, an even more breath-taking encounter — re­
sembling plate 109 - is shown. The hunt of the wild asses also appears in a bottom register,
widi the gathering of dead lions before Assurbanipal above it, and, in the topmost strip,
the release of a lion from its cage. The hunting of timid game was perhaps considered of
secondary importance, and therefore depicted where one had to stoop to study it. But
the quality of the reliefs docs not show a gradation of this type, and it is not true that the
bottom strip is subordinated to that in die middle. In fact, the wall as a whole was never
considered at all, and there is nowhere a unified mural decoration in relief. An individual
scene might be given epic breadth, either by formal means such as those which unify the
three strips depicting the Arab war (p. 95 above) or by a suppression of the tripartite
division of the slabs, as in plates 104 and 105. But the beholder was evidently supposed to
concentrate upon episode after episode, and the impression which the wall made as a
whole was never considered.
The extreme sensitivity which the Assyrian artists displayed when depicting animals
found little scope among other subjects. In plate 114 Assurbanipal is seen taking refresh­
ment in a garden, shaded by a vine trained overhead. Bow, sword, and quiver are placed
on a table near at hand, and the king reclines on a bed with a blanket thrown over his
legs. He does not wear his usual dress, but a soft, closely fitting pullover decorated with
narrow patterned bands. He holds a flower in his left hand and a drinking-cup in the
other. His heavy necklace hangs from the head of the bed.
The queen sits stiffly on a chair. Both king and queen arc protected by attendants from
the ubiquitous flies and servants bringing trays from the left are likewise handling fly-
whisks. A harpist and drummer make music at a little distance, and one imagines that
the song and twitter of the birds shown in the trees mingle with the heavier sounds. It is
with a shock that one observes, amid all this quiet pleasure, the severed head of Teum-
man, king of Susa, dangling from the tree near the harpist.52

Applied Arts

The wealth of details of the Assyrian reliefs makes them a source of knowledge of furni­
ture, a subject on which we have little information during other periods of Mesopotam­
ian history. The furniture used by Assurbanipal (Plate 114) is heavy and ornate. Bronze
castings serve for the feet, and as connecting-rods; these can be seen in the centre of
Assurbanipal’s table and at the side of his queen’s chair. Behind tills chair appears a leg
of the king’s bed, which ends below in a cast figure of a couchant lion; the upper end
of the leg shows a panel which is probably inlaid with ivory, for it resembles such inlays
found at Khorsabad (see below Plate 170B). These are of Syrian or Phoenician manu­
facture, in contrast with engraved ivories like figure 39, which seem to be native Assy­
rian.53 The square box standing on the table on the right has a close parallel at Mcgiddo

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