Needlework as art . rgeous ; and one feelsthat creatures inferior to monarchs or satraps couldnever have aspired to such splendours. Probably theembroidery on their corselets was executed in gold wire,treated as thread, and taken through the material; and thesame system was carried out in adorning the trappingsof the horses and the chariots. The solid masses of em-broidery may have been afterwards subjected to the actionof the hammer, which would account for their appearinglike jewellers work in the bas-reliefs (PI. i and 2). The style of the Babylonian embroideries appears tohave been natural
Needlework as art . rgeous ; and one feelsthat creatures inferior to monarchs or satraps couldnever have aspired to such splendours. Probably theembroidery on their corselets was executed in gold wire,treated as thread, and taken through the material; and thesame system was carried out in adorning the trappingsof the horses and the chariots. The solid masses of em-broidery may have been afterwards subjected to the actionof the hammer, which would account for their appearinglike jewellers work in the bas-reliefs (PI. i and 2). The style of the Babylonian embroideries appears tohave been naturalistic though conventionalized. Wemay judge of their styles for different purposes by thereliefs in the British Museum. From their veils and1 The restless activity of the Phoenicians has often helped to confuseour aesthetic knowledge, and has caused the waste of much speculationin ascertaining how certain objects of luxury, belonging to distantcivilizations, can possibly have arrived at the places where we find AssLirbanipal fi8hlin6 lionsLish Museum Style. 23 curtains at a later date, when they had crossed their artwith that of India, we may imagine the mystical designof the Temple curtain as described by Josephus; infact, as much as possible embracing all things on theearth and above it, excepting the images of the Small carpets from Persia of the Middle Ages, as wellas those woven and embroidered even to the presentday, are echoes of the ancient Babylonian style, and mostinteresting as historical records of the traditions of humantaste. Our artistic interests are stirred when we read inEzekiel lists of the fabrics and materials of which Tyrehad become the central depot, and we enjoy tracing themto the various looms, named in verse and history, wherethey were adorned with embroidery, and then eitherbecame articles of commerce, or were stored away to bekept religiously as heirlooms, or presented as gifts tothe temples or to honoured guests. Mr. G. Smith,
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