In trying to distinguish something distinct about Hebrew art and visual expression, one notes quickly the use of the square panels with (in some sense) independent motifs. Clearly there is a coherent composition to these panels nevertheless.
See here:
and here:
It may not, in essence, be a
unique visual expression or format, but it is nevertheless a
distinct one. Somehow, I intimate that it ties into an aesthetic, which when applied to clothing, might be called the "coat of many colors"-aesthetic. We know that the Levites wore unicolor white clothes with unicolor sashes (of such colors as red, blue, purple, I've been told) but other Israelites may, as Joseph, have worn colorful / multicolored clothing (though each individual garment would be of a single fabric). In my mind, this "multicoloredness" easily translates into visual art, or can be said to find its equivalent in a certain kind of visual art, which may contain what we might call collages, panels and so on as seen above.
(One interesting additional note about clothing in the ancient Hebrew world is that it appears the wedding dress of the female, and to a lesser extent the wedding attire of the male, would have been among the most multicolored of all clothing, in contrast to our tradition.)
We note that the smaller panels may contain as little as one or two colors, and as simple motifs as a human head or an animal within a circle (within the panel), whereas the larger panels may contain many colors and motifs. Though there is spatial depth, it is certainly not a big concern, and it generally clashes with the "panel format" itself, thus realistic depth is not always (even) attempted (things may be placed above each other to indicate space).
Symbolism (Scripturally but also culturally derivate) seems to be the predominant factor in choice of motifs. This of course doesn't preclude religious symbols being used simply "because they're religious", instead of for their specific or original meaning, as is often the case in religious-symbolic art.
