The Phoenicians, though they did not, so far as we know, attempt with any frequency the production, in bronze or other metal, of the full-sized human form,[760] were fond of fabricating, especially in bronze, the smaller kinds of figures which are known as "figurines" or "statuettes." They also had a special talent for producing embossed metal-work of a highly artistic character in the shape of cups, bowls, and dishes or _paterae_, whereon scenes of various kinds were represented with a vigour and precision that are quite admirable.

Some account of these two classes of works must here be given.
The statuettes commence with work of the rudest kind.

The Phoenician sites in Sardinia have yielded in abundance grotesque figures of gods and men,[761] from three or four to six or eight inches high, which must be viewed as Phoenician productions, though perhaps they were not the best works which Phoenician artists could produce, but such as were best suited to the demands of the Sardinian market.

The savage Sards would not have appreciated beauty or grace; but to the savage mind there is something congenial in grotesqueness.

Hence gods with four arms and four eyes,[762] warriors with huge horns projecting from their helmets,[763] tall forms of extraordinary leanness,[764] figures with abnormally large heads and hands,[765] huge noses, projecting eyes, and various other deformities.