A. Stand Inlaid. B. Ebony seat inlaid with ivory. C. Folding stool. D. Ebony box inlaid with porcelain and ivory. ]
Illustrations taken from bas reliefs and wall painting give a good idea of the furniture, which is often depicted as gilded.
The Egyptian couch was straight like an ottoman. Sometimes the couch took the form of an animal with the head and tail at either end, and the legs and feet carved to complete the effect.
Chaldean art in character had much in common with that of Egypt, the difference being more that of expression than in idea, probably due to intercourse and mutual influence. The buildings, which were mostly in brick, often faced with a form of terra-cotta, stamped with relief or ornament, were pyramidal in general form, raised on terraces forming a succession of platforms, approached by steps or inclined planes. Columns were employed, but the capitals were distinctive in the use of volutes culminating in the Persian renderings at Persepolis.
A. Wall painting in British Museum, B.C. 1500-1400. B. at Thebes. ]
Compound animal and human forms, analagous to the Egyptian sphinx, were employed, such as the winged lion and bull with human heads, generally to flank the gateways. Wall pictures in low relief formed part of the interior decoration, these being arranged in successive rows and representing historic episodes were, like the Egyptian decoration, probably coloured. A prominent detail in the decoration is that of the date palm which, symbolical in meaning, was the prototype of the Greek anthemion; the volute also occurs in much of the decoration in the form of the evolute scroll.
Our conclusions regarding Assyrian woodwork are drawn from the sculptured bas-reliefs of stone or alabaster with which the Assyrians faced their brick structures internally and externally. The examples in the British Museum are about 888 B.C.
Furniture, such as tables, thrones and couches, was evidently made of wood, and was probably inlaid with ivory and other precious materials.
On the monuments of Khorsabad representations have been discovered of chairs, supported by animals and human figures. The intention in the use of figures was probably to depict prisoners taken in war.