12 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



dependent upon the gradual development of active commer- 

 cial intercourse with the latter country, and even the oldest 

 ivories of Sumerian origin belong to a later period than 

 that to which the earliest Egyptian works have been 

 assigned. The style of art in the Assyrian ivories 

 clearly shows that its inspiration came from Egypt, as 

 is apparent to any one who views the exceptionally fine 

 collection of them in the British Museum; quite possibly 

 Phoenician artists served as intermediaries in this branch of 

 art as in so many others. One of the most carefully executed 

 is a small panel, on which is carved the representation of an 

 Egyptian king holding in one hand a lotus. Another is 

 very finely carved with sphinxes in relief. Then we have, 

 on still others, the face of a woman looking out of a window, 

 the representation of a sacred tree, etc. Some of these 

 works may have been done by Assyrian artists, and others 

 by Egyptians or Phoenicians. 



These Assyrian ivories were found by Layard in 1845, in 

 what he conjectured to be the treasury of the North West 

 Palace at Nimroud.* The thirty-three objects figured are 

 now in the British Museum. f All of them were in poor 

 condition when found, owing to the drying out of the gelati- 

 nous part of the ivory in the lapse of twenty -eight centuries. 

 They were also so firmly embedded in the earth that great 

 precautions had to be taken in detaching them. However, 

 on their removal to the British Museum their oily content 

 was so skilfully restored by means of an ingenious process 

 that they are now in quite satisfactory condition. Layard 

 was uncertain whether the objects originally formed the 

 decorations of a chest, a throne, or of the walls of the cham- 



*Sir Austen Henry Layard, "Nineveh and Its Remains," 2d. ed, London, 1849, Vol. I, p. 

 29; Vol. II, pp. 9 sqq. 



fLayard, "The Monuments of Nineveh," London, 1849 (1st Series), pp. 19, 20, and 

 Plates 88-90. 



