24 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
HISTORIC ORNAMENT 
ASSYRIAN 
EXT in order after the Egyptian comes the As- 
syrian Art, a combination of the Egyptian and 
Persian; essentially a borrowed art, of the 
secondary or traditionary period. It shows 
also, later, the influence of the Romans and 
Greeks. The forms lack the simplicity and strength of the 
Egyptian, and the designs are not in so just proportions. If 
we confine ourselves however to the forms that are essentially 
Assyrian, we can make designs with a characteristic and 
artistic feeling. The Assyrians took few natural objects as 
models: — the man, the horse, the lion, a flower similar to the 
lotus of Egypt, and the pineapple (their sacred tree of life) 
are the only living things utilized. The other forms are 
purely geometrical. The colors are a dark blue, red, green, 
orange, buff, white, black and gold ; a dull pink is sometimes 
used for outlining. 
ground, the faces dull pink and the bands on caps green. 
The sacred tree is in red brown with white between the 
double lines, the alternate spaces between the stripes are 
pale green, the pineapple cones in orange marked with red 
brown. The pineapple and lotus design is in orange, pale 
green and red brown. The other designs are made in dif- 
ferent arrangements of the colors given in the beginning of 
the article. 
In the stein design, the upper band is of buff, the tree 
of life ornament in the colors already given, the treatment 
of the second band with lion the same as above. In the 
lower band, the pineapple cones are in orange, the flower 
in pale green, the double lines white and the outlining in 
red brown. The shingle effect has the double lines in white, 
the upper half of shingle pale green, the lower half buff. The 
handle is in red brown or dark blue. All lines not otherwise 
described are in black. 
You will notice that we have not made a single change in 
any. one motif. We have simply taken what we wanted and 
The only motif for designing that the Assyrians seem to 
have originated is the lozenge shape diaper, the original of 
the intricate Arabian and Moorish designs, and the shingle 
effect. 
We have for motifs this time the Assyrian lion, the em- 
blem of the Sun with a figure on either side (presumably the 
souls of men), the sacred pineapple tree, a pineapple and 
lotus design, and some notes of diaper and band designs. 
In the originals, the lion is in orange on a dark blue 
ground, the outlining in dark blue. The bands above and 
below are also in dark blue, the small discs in buff with orange 
centers and the narrow bands on either side in orange. The 
emblem of the Sun has the center of the disc buff, the next 
circle pale green and the outer circle red brown, the double 
lines a dull pink. There should be buff rays from center to 
outside rim, The figures are in orange on a dark blue 
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