[Illustration:  PLATE 80]

The size of the designs varies considerably.  Ordinarily the figures are small, each brick containing several; but sometimes a scale has been adopted of such a size that portions of the same figure must have been on different bricks.  A foot and leg brought by Mr. Layard from Nimrud must have belonged to a man a foot high; while part of a human face discovered in the same locality is said to indicate the form to which it belonged, a height of three feet.  Such a size as this is, however, very unusual.

It is scarcely necessary to state that the designs on the bricks are entirely destitute of chiaroscuro.  The browns and blacks, like the blues, yellows, and reds, are simply used to express local color.  They are employed for hair, eyes, eye-brows, and sometimes for bows and sandals.  The other colors are applied as follows:  yellow is used for flesh, for shafts of weapons, for horse trappings, sometimes for horses, for chariots, cups, earrings bracelets, fringes, for wing-feathers, occasionally for helmets, and almost always for the hoofs of horses; blue is used for shields, for horses, for some parts of horse-trappings, armor, and dresses, for fish, and for feathers; white is employed for the inner part of the eye, for the linen shirts worn by men, for the marking on fish and feathers, for horses, for buildings, for patterns on dresses, for rams’ heads, and for portions of the tiara of the king.  Olive-green seems to occur only as a ground; red only in some parts of the royal tiara, orange and lilac only in the wings of winged monsters.  It is doubtful how far we may trust the colors on the bricks as accurately or approximately resembling the real local hues.  In some cases the intention evidently is to be true to nature, as in the eyes and hair of men, in the representations of flesh, fish, shields, bows, buildings, etc.  The yellow of horses may represent cream-color, and the blue may stand for gray, as distinct from white, which seems to have been correctly rendered.  The scarlet and white of the king’s tiara is likely to be true.  When, however, we find eyeballs and eyebrows white, while the inner part of the eye is yellow, the blade of swords yellow, and horses’ hoofs blue we seem to have proof that, sometimes at any rate, local color was intentionally neglected, the artist limiting himself to certain hues, and being therefore obliged to render some objects untruly.  Thus we must not conclude front the colors of dresses and horse trappings on the bricks which are three only, yellow, blue and white—­that the Assyrians used no other hues than those, even for the robes of their kings.  It is far more probable that they employed a variety of tints in their apparel, but did not attempt to render that variety on the ordinary painted bricks.