t
entirely to clay, the artist of Chaldaea must have turned his attention to
colour as a decoration much more exclusively than his Assyrian rival.

His preoccupation with this one idea is betrayed very curiously in the
facade of one of those ruined buildings at Warka which Loftus has studied
and described.[349] We borrow his plan and elevation of the detail to which
we refer (Fig. 119).

[Illustration: FIG. 119.--Plan and elevation of part of a facade at Warka;
from Loftus.]

In the first place the reader will recognize those semicircular pilasters
or gigantic reeds to which we have already alluded as strongly
characteristic of Chaldaean architecture, and one of the most certain signs
of its origin. The chevrons, the spiral lines and lozenges of the coloured
decoration with which the semi-columns, and the salient buttress by which
they are divided into two groups, are covered, should be curiously noticed.
The ornament varies with each structural division. Loftus, however, was
chiefly struck by the process used to build up the design. The whole face
of the wall is composed of terra-cotta cones (Fig. 120) engaged in a mortar
composed of mud mixed with chopped straw. The bases of these cones are
turned outwards and form the surface of the wall. Some preserve the natural
colour of the terra-cotta, a dark yellow, others have been dipped--before
fixing no doubt--in baths of red and black colouring matter. By the aid of
these three tints an effect has been obtained that, according to Loftus, is
far from being disagreeable. The process may be compared to that of mosaic,
cones of terra-cotta being substituted for little cubes of coloured stone
or glass.[350]

[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Cone with coloured base; from Loftus.]

Upon the same site M. Loftus found traces of a still more singular
decoration. A mass of crude brick had its horizontal courses divided from
each other by earthenware vases laid so that their open mouths were flush
with the face of the wall. Three courses of these vases were placed one
upon another, and the curious ornament thus made was repeated three times
in the piece of wall left standing. The vases were from ten to fifteen
inches long externally, but inside they were never more than ten inches
deep, so that their conical bases were solid.[351] The dark shadows of
their open mouths afforded a strong contrast with the white plaster which
covered the brickwork about them. The consequent play of light an