A bronze bowl, discovered at Idalium (Dali) in Cyprus,[770] is, like
these specimens, Egyptian in its motive, but is more ambitious in that
it introduces the human form. On a throne of state sits a goddess,
draped in a long striped robe which reaches to the feet, and holding
a lotus flower in her right hand and a ball or apple in her left.
Bracelets adorn her wrists and anklets her feet. Behind her stands a
band of three instrumental performers, all of them women, and somewhat
variously costumed: the first plays the double pipe, the second performs
on a lyre or harp, the third beats the tambourine. In front of the
goddess is a table or altar, to which a votary approaches bringing
offerings. Then follows another table whereon two vases are set; finally
comes a procession of six females, holding hands, who are perhaps
performing a solemn dance. Behind them are a row of lotus pillars, the
supports probably of a temple, wherein the scene takes place. The human
forms in this design are ill-proportioned, and very rudely traced. The
heads and hands are too large, the faces are grotesque, and the figures
wholly devoid of grace. Mimetic art is seen clearly in its first stage,
and the Phoenician artist who has designed the bowl has probably fallen
short of his Egyptian models.
Animal and human forms intermixed occur on a silver _patera_ found
at Athiénau, which is more complicated and elaborate than the objects
hitherto described, but which is, like them, strikingly Egyptian.[771]
A small rosette occupies the centre; round it is, apparently, a pond
or lake, in which fish are disporting themselves; but the fish are
intermixed with animal and human forms--a naked female stretches out
her arms after a cow; a man clothed in a _shenti_ endeavours to seize
a horse. The pond is edged by papyrus plants, which are alternately
in blossom and in bud. A zigzag barrier separates this central
ornamentation from that of the outer part of the dish. Here a marsh is
represented in which are growing papyrus and other water-plants. Aquatic
birds swim on the surface or fly through the tall reeds. Four boats form
the chief objects in this part of the field. In one, which is fashioned
like a bird, there sits under a canopy a grandee, with an attendant in
front and a rower or steersman at the stern. Behind him, in a second
boat, is a band consisting of three undraped females, one of whom plays
a harp and another a tambourine, while the third keeps time with her
hands. A man with a punt-pole directs the vessel from the stern. In the
third boat, which has a freight of wine-jars, a cook is preparing a bird
for the grandee’s supper. The fourth boat contains three rowers, who
possibly have the vessel of the grandee in tow. The first and second
boats are separated by two prancing steeds, the second and third by two
cows, the third and fourth by a chariot and pair. It is difficult to
explain the mixture of the aquatic with the terrestrial in this piece;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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