LTFE-FOKM IN ART. 



811 



and bud, is here engrafted upon a purely Eastern stock, and yet preserving a curious 

 mimetic relationship with the florid leaf and vine design so common in our own 

 decorations, and which, as is well known, is almost exclusively of acanthian origin. 



The remaining ultimates, fifth and sixth, find their i-espective models as por- 

 tions only of the conventionalized palm. Thus the objects of Fig. 65 are derivative 

 of the foliage of the Assyrian palm, while those from 65 to 73 inclusive are obtained 

 from the so-called " ram's horn " of the Assyrian Sacred Tree. 



(E.) The "Honeysuckle." 

 Fig. CO. 



a, transverse bands ; b, b, "rani's horn ;" c, rays ; d, base of rays. 



The first four of these outlines are examples of the honeysuckle ornament which 

 is so largely represented upon articles of Greek workmanship, and from these copied 

 into later European art. IS^o one design is more frequently seen. Under many 

 graceful modifications we meet with it over our door-ways and upon the cornices of 

 our dwellings and public buildings. It enters into our patterns of woven stuffs and 

 wall papers. It is well nigh the universal basis for symmetrical design. One of the 

 most striking of its modifications is the shell and acorn ornament abundantly used by 

 Michel Angelo, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at Rome. 



We are indebted to Layard** for our knowledge of the influence exerted upon 

 Greek design by the Assyrian monuments. According to this writer, the " similarity 

 between the Assyrian and Greek ornament is not accidental. * * * It seems to be 

 proved beyond a question, by the alternation of the lotus or tulip, ff whatever this 

 flower may be, with the honeysuckle. * * * The same ornament occurs in India on 

 a lath erected by Asoka, at Allahabad (about B. C. 250) ; but whether introduced 

 by the Greeks — which, from the date of the erection of the monument, shortly after 

 the Macedonian invasion, is not improbable — or whether derived from another source, 

 I cannot venture to decide." 



* Ornament on cuirass, Hope's Anc. Cost., I, pi. 72. || Layard, from Allahabad. 1. c, 332 



i-Ibid., I, pi. 75. TfRawlinson, I. c. 



if Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, II, 231. ** Layard, I. c, II, 233. 



§ Ibid., II, 331. ff We have ventured to call this caliciform. 



