50 FLORA OF THE 



If you take up any bunch of grapes by the stalk, you 

 will find that it is rare for one shoulder not to bulge 

 out, and for the tip not to be turned either one way or 

 the other, as shown in fig. 27 a. 



Fig. 22. — Embroidered pectoral from Layard. Perrot and 

 Chipiez, vol. ii, fig. 255. 



It is curious to note that little differences such as 

 these did not escape the eye of those primitive artists, 

 brought up in continual contact with nature. When, 

 however, they attempted anything that required per- 

 spective or foreshortening, they delineated things as 

 children do, and so all their figures are in profile, as 

 if they thought that doing them otherwise would result 

 in monstrosities. 



In my opinion, the cones in fig. 20 were meant for 

 conventional bunches of grapes, combined with the con- 

 ventional date tree into one sacred tree. Whether the 

 twists were meant for twists in the vine stems, or for 

 curls in a series of horns from which the cones issue, 

 is impossible to say. 



