British Museum

Musicians parade around an eighth-century B.C. ivory pyxis. Carved in the North Syrian style, this round container found at Nimrud reflects a Canaanite-Mycenaean artistic tradition. Compared to the Phoenician style, the North Syrian style is distinguished by a greater sense of action and by squatter, more compact proportions. The first and second figures from the right are playing a double pipe and a frame-drum, respectively; the next two figures are fingering an unidentified instrument.