Assyrian statues are comparatively rare, and, when they occur, are among the least satisfactory of this people’s productions.  They are coarse, clumsy, purely formal in their design, and generally characterized by an undue flatness, or want of breadth in the side view, as if they were only intended to be seen directly in front.  Sometimes, however, this defect is not apparent.  A sitting statue in black basalt, of the size of life, representing an early king, which Mr. Layard discovered at Kileh-Sherghat [PLATE LXIII, Fig. 1], and which is now in the British Museum, may be instanced as quite free from this disproportion.  It is very observable, however, in another of the royal statues recently recovered [PLATE LXIII, Fig. 2], as it is also in the monolith bulls and lions universally.  Otherwise, the proportions of the figures are commonly correct.  They bear a resemblance to the archaic Greek, especially to that form of it which we find in the sculptures from Branchidae.  They have just the same rudeness, heaviness, and stiff formality.  It is difficult to judge of their execution, as they have mostly suffered great injury from the hand of man, or from the weather; but the royal statue here represented, which is in better preservation than any other Assyrian work “in the round” that has come down to us, exhibits a rather high finish.  It is smaller than life, being about three and a half feet high:  the features are majestic, and well marked; the hair and beard are elaborately curled; the arms and hands are well shaped, and finished with care.  The dress is fringed elaborately, and descends to the ground, concealing all the lower part of the figure.  The only statues recovered besides these are two of the god Nebo, brought from Nimrud, a mutilated one of Ishtar, or Astarte, found at Koyunjik [PLATE LXIII., Fig. 3], and a tolerably perfect one of Sargon, which was discovered at Idalium, in the island of Cyprus.

The clay statuettes of the Assyrians possess even less artistic merit than their statues.  They are chiefly images of gods or genii, and have most commonly something grotesque in their appearance.  Among the most usual are figures which represent either Mylitta (Bettis), or Ishtar.  They are made in a fine terra cotta, which has turned of a pale red in baking, and are colored with a cretaceous coating, so as greatly to resemble Greek pottery.  Another type is that of an old man, bearded, and with hands clasped, which we may perhaps identify with Nebo, the Assyrian Mercury, since his statues in the British Museum have a somewhat similar character.  Other forms are the fish-god Nin, or Nin-ip [PLATE LXIV., Fig. 1]; and the deities, not yet identified, which were found by M. Botta under the pavement-bricks at Khorsahad. [PLATE LXIV., Fig. 2.] These specimens have the formal character of the statues, and are even more rudely shaped.  Other examples, which carry the grotesque to an excess, appear to have been designed with greater spirit and freedom.  Animal and human forms are sometimes intermixed in them; and while it cannot be denied that they are rude and coarse, it must be allowed, on the other hand, that they possess plenty of vigor.  M. Botta has engraved several specimens, including two which have the hind legs and tail of a bull, with a human neck and arms, the head bearing the usual horned cap.