* Mons. de Sarzec expressly states that he was unable to find anywhere in the palace of Gudea “the slightest trace of any coating on the walls, either of colour or glazed brick.  The walls appear to have been left bare, without any decoration except the regular joining of the courses of brickwork.”  The wood panelling was usually reserved for the temples or sacred edifices:  Mons. de Sarzec found the remains of carbonized cedar panels in the ruins of a sanctuary dedicated to Ningirsu.  According to Mons. Heuzey, the wall-hangings were probably covered with geometrical designs, similar to tho"e formed by the terra-cotta cones on the walls of the palace at Uruk; the inscriptions, however, which are full of minute details with regard to the construction and ornamentation of the temples and palaces, have hitherto contained nothing which would lead us to infer that hangings were used for mural decoration in Chaldoa or Assyria.

The walls had to remain bare for the sake of coolness:  at the most they were only covered with a coat of white plaster, on which were painted, in one or two colours, some scene of civil or religious life, or troops of fantastic monsters struggling with one another, or men each with a bird seated on his Wrist.  The furniture was not less scanty than the decoration; there were mats on the ground, coffers in which were kept the linen and wearing apparel, low beds inlaid with ivory and metal and provided with coverings and a thin mattress, copper or wooden stands to support lamps or vases, square stools on four legs united by crossbars, armchairs with lions’ claw feet, resembling the Egyptian armchairs in outline, and making us ask if they were brought into Chaldaea by caravans, or made from models which had come from some other country.  A few rare objects of artistic character might be found, which bore witness to a certain taste for elegance and refinement; as, for instance, a kind of circular trough of black stone, probably used to support a vase.  Three rows of imbricated scales surrounded the base of this, while seven small sitting figures lean back against the upper part with an air of satisfaction which is most cleverly rendered.  The decoration of the larger chambers used for public receptions and official ceremonies, while never assuming the monumental character which we observe in contemporary Egyptian buildings, afforded more scope for richness and variety than was offered by the living-rooms.

[Illustration:  258.jpg STAND OF BLACK STONE FROM THE PALACE OF TELLOH.]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Heuzey-Sarzec.