Their bas-reliefs are not so good as those of Naramsin;
the execution of them is not so refined, the drawing less delicate, and
the modelling of the parts not so well thought out. A good illustration
of their work is the fragment of a square stele which represents a scene
of offering or sacrifice. We see in the lower part of the picture a
female singer, who is accompanied by a musician, playing on a lyre
ornamented with the head of an ox, and a bull in the act of walking.
In the upper part an individual advances, clad in a fringed mantle, and
bearing in his right hand a kind of round paten, and in his left a short
staff. An acolyte follows him, his arms brought up to his breast, while
another individual marks, by clapping his hands, the rhythm of the ode
which a singer like the one below is reciting. The fragment is much
abraded, and its details, not being clearly exhibited, have rather to
be guessed at; but the defaced aspect which time has produced is of some
service to it, since it conceals in some respect the rudeness of
its workmanship. The statues, on the other hand, bear evidence of a
precision of chiselling and a skill beyond question. Not that there are
no faults to be found in the work. They are squat, thick, and heavy
in form, and seem oppressed by the weight of the woollen covering with
which the Chaldeans enveloped themselves; when viewed closely, they
excite at once the wonder and repulsion of an eye accustomed to the
delicate grace, and at times somewhat slender form, which usually
characterized the good statues of the ancient and middle empire of
Egypt. But when we have got over the effect of first impressions, we can
but admire the audacity with which the artists attacked their material.
This is of hard dolerite, offering great resistance to the tool--harder,
perhaps, than the diorite out of which the Memphite sculptor had to
cut his Khephren: they succeeded in mastering it, and in handling it as
freely as if it were a block of limestone or marble.

[Illustration: 111.jpg Plan of the Ruins of Mughier]

The surface of the breast and back, the muscular development of the
shoulders and arms, the details of the hands and feet, all the nude
portions, are treated at once with a boldness and attention to minutiae
rarely met with in similar works. The pose is lacking in variety; the
individual, whether male or female, is sometimes represented standing
and sometimes sitting on a low seat, the legs brought togeth