[Illustration: Fig. 147.—Chair or Throne. (P. & C.)] [Illustration: Fig. 148.—The Carpenters Making Chairs. (M.)] [Illustration: Fig. 149.—Coffer in Wood. (P. & C.)] Judging from the small remains left to us, the furniture and woodwork of the Egyptians must have been of an excellent description. We have evidence also of this in the wall paintings and bas-reliefs that give representations of tables, chairs, and couches. Some of the chairs or thrones are of special beauty (Figs. 146 and 147). A carpenter’s shop showing the workmen making chairs is seen at Fig. 148, and a coffer (Fig. 149). The feet of chairs and thrones were usually imitated from those of animals. [Illustration: Figs. 150-51.—Perfume Spoons, Louvre. (P. & C.)] In wood-carving nothing could be daintier than the perfume spoons with figures and water plants decoratively treated (Figs. 150, 151). [Illustration: Fig. 152.—An Egyptian Ship, Sailing and Rowing. (M.)] The Egyptian ships were singularly beautiful in their outlines, with their prows and sterns ending usually in a metal stalk and carved lotus flower or ram’s head (Figs. 152, 153). The “bari,” or sacred boat which transported the dead, decorated at each end with the carved metal lotus, and pavilion or chapel in the centre, with its freight of the mummy and the mourners (Fig. 152), is represented as it sails off towards Abydos, the city of the dead, to the west of Thebes, and the crowds of friends on the banks of the river will salute the dead, saying: “In peace, in peace towards Abydos! Descend in peace towards Abydos, towards the Western Sea!” [Illustration: Fig. 153.—The River Transport of a Mummy from Maspero.] CHAPTER VIII. CHALDEAN AND ASSYRIAN ART. The Chaldeans or Babylonians and the Assyrians came from one great stock, the Assyrians being mostly colonists from Babylonia. The original inhabitants of Chaldea spoke a Semitic dialect. At an early date Eastern Chaldea was invaded by the Sumerians or Accadians, a Turanian race which is supposed to have come from the plateau of Central Asia. The two languages were used side by side, the Semitic as the common tongue, and the Accadian as a literary language. The earliest known king of Chaldea was named Eannadu (B.C. 4500). The Chaldeans advanced slowly along the Tigris and pushed their kingdom towards Assyria in the north, where they built the cities of Ashur (Kal’at Sherkât), Calah (Nimroud), and Ninua (Nineveh). The northern portion of the Chaldeo-Assyrian empire asserted its independence about 1700 B.C., and Assyria became a separate kingdom. From B.C. 1275, when Tukulti-Adar I., the Assyrian king, conquered Babylonia, down to the destruction of Nineveh, B.C. 609, the Chaldean kingdom took a place of secondary importance, while Assyria became the greatest power of Western Asia.