[PLATE LXXXI., Fig.

1.] The design has a good deal of the usual stiffness, though even here something may be said for the ibex or wild-goat which stands upon the lotus flower to the left: but the special excellence of the gem is in the fineness and minuteness of its execution.

The intaglio is not very deep but all the details are beautifully sharp and distinct, while they are on so small a scale that it requires a magnifying glass to distinguish them.

The material of the cylinder is translucent green felspar, or amazon-stone, one of the hardest substances known to the lapidary.
[Illustration: PLATE 81] The fictile art of the Assyrians in its higher branches, as employed for directly artistic purposes, has been already considered; but a few pages may be now devoted to the humbler divisions of the subject, where the useful preponderates over the ornamental.

The pottery of Assyria bears a general resemblance in shape, form, and use to that of Egypt; but still it has certain specific differences.