ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 49 



shown in its winter aspect, without leaves or fruit. But 

 the Assyrians had another form of sacred tree, in which 

 bunches of grapes are made to decorate its contour, as 

 shown in fig. 20. It is true that they are only outlines 

 of cones, and might, therefore, be pine cones. But in 

 studying the ways of Assyrian artists we often find 

 that they had a careless way of finishing off a rough 

 surface by means of a diamond pattern, made by crossed 

 lines. This is sometimes seen in the way they indicate 

 the hair of a goat, the feathers of a pigeon, etc. And 

 on the monuments themselves we find unmistakable 

 vines with bunches of fruit, the berries of which are 

 simply indicated by these crossed lines. 



Anyhow there cannot be much doubt that the ornament 

 taken from an ivory fragment, 

 fig. 21, with bunches of grapes 

 between the date leaves, and 

 that of fig. 22 from an em- 

 broidered pectoral, were meant 

 for the same thing. In the one fig. 2i.-From some ivo.y 



, ..... , fragments, British Museum. 



case the mdlVldual grapes are Rawlinson's • Monarchies.' 



vol. i, p. 573. 



indicated, and in the other only 



a rough surface is indicated by the usual crossed lines. 



Moreover the cones in the latter case have their tips 



turned to the one or the other side. This is exactly what 



the bunch of grapes would often look like, while the tip 



of a fir-cone is straight, 



4 



