A HISTORY

OF

ART IN ANCIENT EGYPT,

50228 "

A H ISTO R IflLEGISLATIVi-
LIBRARY

:t in Ancient
ry

FROM THE FRENCH

OF

GEORGES PERROT,
PROFESSOR IN THE FACULTY OF LETTERS, PARIS ; MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE

AND

CHARLES CHIPIEZ.

ILLUSTRATED WITH FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT,

AND FOURTEEN STEEL AND COLOURED PLATES.

IX TWO VOLUMES.~VOL. II.

TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY

WALTER ARMSTRONG, B.A., Oxon.

AUTHOR OF "ALFRED STEVENS," ETC.

^4441^^'

XonbOn: chapman and hall. Limited.

^flD fork: A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SOX.

188:;.
 //

S3 so

2
V'

Honlron
:

M. Clay, Sons, Tavloi;,

and

BUEAD STIIEKT HIM,.

 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

CIVIL AND MILITARY ARCHITECTURE.

PAGE

" I. The Graphic Processes employed by the Egyptians in their

representations of Buildings i "

8

/^" 2. The Palace 8 "

26

" The Egyptian House 26 38

3. "

/^ " 4. Military Architecture 38 "

50

CHAPTER H.

METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION, THE ORDERS, SECONDARY FORMS.

/ " I. An Analysis of Architectural Forms necessary 51 "

52

" 2. Materials 52"55

" 3. Construction 55 " 76

" 4. The Arch 77"84

" 5. The Pier and Column. "

The Egyptian Orders 85 "

133

Their Origin 85 "

91

General Types of Supports 91 "

133

" 6. The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnades

133 "

147

" 7. Monumental Details 147 "

155

" 8. Doors and Windows 156 "

162

Doors 156 "

161

Windows 162

" 9. The Illumination of the Temples 162 " 169

" 10. The Obelisks 169 " 176

" II. The Profession of Architect 176 "

179
vi Contents.

CHAPTER III.

SCULPTURE.

PAGE

" I. The Origin of Statue-making i8o "

184

" 2. Sculpture under the Ancient Empire 184 "

225

" 3. Sculpture under the First Theban Empire 226 "

238
" 4. Sculptureunder the Second Theban Empire 239 "

265
" 5. The Art of the Saite Period 265 "

274

" 6. The PrincipalThemes of Egyptian Sculpture 275 "

284
" 7. The Technique of the Bas-reliefs 284 " 288

" 8. Gems 288"291

" -9. The PrincipalConventions in Egyptian Sculpture 291 "
326
" 10. The General Cnaracteristics of the Egyptian Style 326 "

^330

CHAPTER IV.

PAINTING.

" I. Technical Processes 331 "

341

" 2. The Figure "

341"351

" 3. Caricature 35 1 "

355

" 4. Ornament . 355 "

3^3

CHAPTER V.

THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

" I. Definition and Characteristics of Industrial Art 364 "

367
" 2. Glass and Pottery T'T^T'^ 367"377
" 3. Metal-work and Jewelry 377 "

39"

" 4. Woodwork 39"" 39^

" 5. The Commerce of Egypt 399 "

4""

CHAPTER VI.

THE GENER.^L CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN ART, AND THE PLACE

OF EGYPT IN ART HISTORY 4"! 4"^

APPENDIX .
409"416
i . . . .

INDEX 417"434
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

COLOURED PLATES.

Thebes, the PaviHon of Medinet-Abou, restored To face page 24

Portico in the temple of Medinet-Abou, restored

144
,.

Rahotep and Xefert, Boulak Museum 186

.,

The Scribe, Louvre 192

"

The Queen Taia, Boulak Museum

"
240

Funerary offerings, fragment of a painting upon plaster, Louvre

334
.,

Tomb of Ptah-hotep, fragment of Western Wall 356

"

Tomb of Ptah-hotep, ceiling and upper part of Western Wall

.
360
,,

FIG. PAGE

1. House
3

2. The adoration of the solar disk by Amenophis IV 6

Egyptian plan of villa

3. a
7

4. Part of the plan of a house and its offices

9

5. Partial restoration of a palace at Tell-el-Amarna

17

6. Ground plan of the "Royal Pavilion"

19

7. Plan of the first floor of the "

Royal Pavilion "

19

8. Longitudinal section of the pavilion 19

9. Transverse section of the pavilion 20

10. Brackets in the courtyard of the Royal Pavilion

23

11. Plan of a part of the city at Tell-el-Amarna

29

12. Bird's-eye view of a villa

31

13. Model of an Egyptian house

34

14 "

17. Plans of houses

34

18. Piece of furniture in the form of a house

35

19. House from a Theban wall painting 35

20. House with a tower

35

21. Battlemented house

36
22. Decorated porch 36

23. House with inscription 36

viii List of Illustrations.

FIG. PAGE

24. House, Storehouse,and garden 36

25. Brewing 37
26. Granaries
37
27. Granaries 38
28. Militarypost at Abydos 42

29. Militarypost 42

30. Bird's-eyeview of the fortress of Semneh 43

31. A besiegedfort 46
32. Siege of a fortress 47

;^;^. Brick stamped with the royal ovals 54

34. The Sarcophagus of Mycerinus 57
35. Door of a tomb at Sakkarah 60

36. Stele from the fourth dynasty 61

37. Stele from the fourth dynasty 62

38. Flattened form of lotus-leaf ornament, seen in front and in section ... 63
39. Lotus-leaf ornament in its elongated form 63
40. Wooden pavilion 64
41. Horizontal section,in perspective,of the first pylon at Karnak 67
42. Workmen polishinga monolithic column 69
43. Transport of a colossus . 73

44. Arch in the necropoHs of Abydos 78

45. Arch in El-Assassif 79

46. Arch in El-Assassif 80

47. Vaults in the Ramesseum 81

48. Vault in the Ramesseum 81

vault
Elliptical 82
49.
50. Foundations with inverted segmental arches 82

51. Transverse section of a corridor at Dayr-el-Bahari 83

Section in perspective through the same corridor 83
52.

53. Vaulted chapel at Abydos 84

54. Bas-relief from the fifth dynasty 86

55. Detail of capital 86

56. Bas-relief from the fifth dynasty 87

Details of columns in Fig. 56 87
57.
58. Pavilion from Sakkarah 87
Details of columns in Fig. 58 87
59.
60. Bas-relief from the fifth dynasty 88

61. Details of the columns 88

62 "
65. Columns from bas-reliefs 89
66. Quadrangular pier 92

67. Tapering quadrangular pier 92

68. Pier with capital 92

69. Hathoric pier 92

70. Osiride pillar 93

71. Ornamented pier 94

72. Octagonal pillar 96

 List of Illustrations. ix

FIG. PAGE

73. Sixteen-sided pillar 96

74. Polygonal column with a flat vertical band 98
75. Polygonal pierwith mask of Hathor 98
76. Column from Beni-Hassan 99

77. Column at Luxor 10 1

78. Column at Medinet-Abou 10 1

79. Column at Medinet-Abou 102

80. Column from the Great Hall at Karnak 103

81. Column from the Hypostyle Hall of the Ramesseum 103
82. Column of Soleb 104

83. Column of Thothmes at Kamak 104

84. Comer pierfrom the temple at Elephantine' 106

85. Pier with capital 107

86. Osiride pier 109

87. Hathoric pierfrom Eilithya in

88. Hathoric pier from a tomb in

89. Column at Kalabche' 112

90. Column of Thothmes HI 113

91. Base of a column 115

92. Bell-shapedcapital 117

93. Capitalat Sesebi 119

94. Capitalfrom the temple of Xectanebo. at Philae 119

95. Capitalfrom the work of Thothmes, at Karnak 120

96. Arrangement of architraves upon a capital 120

97. The Nymphaea Xelumbo 123

98. Pap}Tus plant 127

99. Small chamber at Karnak 134

100. Apartment in the temple at Luxor 134
loi. Hall of the temple at Abydos 134
102. Plan of part of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak 134

103. Tomb at Sakkarah 135

104. Hall in the inner portionof the Great Temple at Karnak 135
105. Portico of the first court at Medinet-Abou 135
106. Portico of the first court at Luxor 135
107. The porticoof the pronaos, Luxor 136
108. Part plan of the temple at Elephantine' 136
109. Luxor, plan of the second court 136
no. Portico in the Temple of Khons 137
111. Luxor, porticoof the first court 137
112. Part of the porticoof the first court, Luxor 138
113. Portico in ft-ont of the facade of the temple of Goumah 13S
114. Part of the Hypostyle Hall in the Great Temple at Karnak 13S
115. Second Hypostyle Hall in the temple of Abydos 139
116. Hall in the speos of Gherf-Hossein 139
117. Medinet-Abou: first court 139
118. Medinet-Abou; second court 139

VOL. II. b
 List of Illustrations.

FIG. PAGE

119. Portico of the Temple of Khons 140

120. Portico of first court at Luxor 140
121. Anta, Luxor 141

122. Anta, Gournah 141

123. Anta, Medinet-Abou 141

124. Anta in the Great Hall of Karnak 141

125. Antae, Temple of Khons 142

126. Anta and base of pylon, Temple of Khons "... 142

127. Antae, Medinet-Abou 143

128. Antae, Medinet-Abou 143

129. Anta and column at Medinet-Abou 145

130. Column in the court of the Bubastides 146

131. Stereobate 148
132. Stereobate with double plinth 148
133. Pluteus in the intercolumniations of the portico in the second court of

the Ramesseum 150

134. Doorway 151

135. Cornice of the Ramesseum 152

136. Cornice of a wooden pavilion 152

137. Pedestal of a Sphinx 153

138. Cornice under the portico ". 153

139. Fragment of a sarcophagus 154

140. Fragment of decoration from a royal tomb at Thebes 154
141. Plan of doorway, Temple of Elephantine' 157

142. Plan of doorway. Temple of Khons 157

143. Plan of door^vay in the pylon, Temple of Khons 157

144. 145. The pylon and propylon of the hieroglyphs 157

146. Gateway to the court-yardof the small Temple at Medinet-Abou . . . 158
147. A propylon with its masts 158
148. A propylon 159

149. Gateway in the wall

inclosing of a Temple 159

150. Doorway of the Temple of Khons 160

151. Doorway of the Temple of Gournah 160

152. Doorway of the Temple of Seti 161

153. 154. Windows in the Royal Pavilion at Medinet-Abou 162

155. Attic of the Great Hall at Karnak 163

156. Claustra of the Hypostyle Hall, Karnak 165
157. Claustra in the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Khons 166

158. Method lighting

of in one of the inner halls of Karnak .......
167
159. Auxiliarylight-holes the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak
in 167
160. Method of lightingone of the rooms in the Temple of Khons ....
167
161. Light openingsin a lateral aisle of the Hypostyle Hall in the Ramesseum 168

162. The Temple of Amada 168

163. Claustra .
168

164. Window of a house in the form of (T/rtw^/rrt' 169

165. Window closed by a mat 169
 List of Illustrations. xi

FIG. PAGE

1 66. Funerary obelisk 171

167. The obelisk of Ousourtesen 173

168. The obelisk in the Place de la Concorde 173
169. The obehsk of Beggig 175
170. Upper part of the obelisk at Beggig 175

171. Limestone statue of the architect Xefer 177

172. Sepa and Nesa 186

173. Ra-hotep 188

174 "

176. Wooden panels from the tomb of Hosi 191, 193, 195
177. Limestone head 196
178. Wooden statue 198
179. Bronze statuette 199
180. Bronze statuette 201

181. Ra-nefer 204

182. Statue in the Boulak Museum 205
183. Statue of Ti 205
184. Wooden statue 206

185. Statue in limestone 206

186. Limestone group 207

187. Wooden statuette 208

188. Nefer-hotep and Tenteta 208

189. Limestone statue 209

190. Limestone statue 209

191. Limestone statue 210

192. Limestone statue 210

193. Woman kneading dough 211

194. Woman making bread 212

195. Bread maker 213

196. 197. Details of head-dresses 213

198, 199. Nem-hotep 214

200. Funerary bas-relief
215
201. Bas-relief from the tomb of Ti 217
202. Bas-rehef from the tomb of Ti 218

203. Sepulchralbas-relief 219

204. Bas-relief from the tomb of Ra-ka-pou 219

205. Statue of Chephren 222

206. Wooden statue 227

207. Sebek-hotep III 229

208. Sphinx in black granite 231

209. Head and shoulders of a Tanite Sphinx in black granite 2^^

210. Group from Tanis 234

211. Side view of the same group 235
212. Upper part of a royalstatue 236
213. Fragmentary statuette of a king 237

214. Thothmes III 241

215. Thothmes III

243
xii List of Illustrations.

FIG. PAGE

2 1 6. Statuette of Amenophis IV 245

217. Funeral Dance 251

218. Bas-relief from the tomb of Chamhati 253
Portrait of Rameses II. while a child 255
219.
220. Statue of Rameses II 256
221. Prisoners of war 257
222. Statue of Rameses II. in the Turin Museum 259

223. Head of Menephtah 260

224. Seti II 261

225. The Goddess Kadesh 263

226. Statue of Ameneritis 264
227. Bronze Sphinx 267
228. Statue of Nekht-har-heb 268

229. Statue of Horus 269

230. 231. Bas-relief from Memphis 270, 271

232. Horus enthroned 273

233. Roman head 274

234. Wooden statuette 279

235. Bronze cat 280

236. Lion 281

237. Bronze lion 282

238. Sphinx with human hands 283

239. Quadruped with the head of a bird 284
240. Portrait of Rameses II 286

241. Intaglio
upon sardonyx, obverse 289
242. Reverse of the same intaglio 289
243. Intaglioupon jasper 290

244. Reverse of the same intaglio 290

245. Seal of Armais 290

246. Bas-relief from Sakkarah 295

247. The Queen waiting on Amenophis IV 296

248. Bas-relief from the eighteenthdynasty 297

249. Horus as a child 299

250. Bas-relief from the tomb of Ti 306

251. Bas-relief at Thebes 307

252. From paintingat

a Thebes 308
253. Paintingat Thebes 309

254. Paintingat Thebes 310

255. Painting at Thebes 311

256. Bronze statuette .." 312

257. Spoon for perfumes 313

258. Design transferred by scjuaring 320

259. Design transferred by sciuaring 321

260. Head of a Cynocephalus 323
261. Head of a Lion 323
262. Head of a Lioness 323
 List of Illustrations. xiii

FIG. PAGE

263. Outline for a portraitof Amenophis III 333

264. Portrait of Queen Taia 339

265. Paintingat Beni-Hassan 341

266. Paintingat Beni-Hassan 342

267. Paintingat Beni-Hassan 342

268. Painting at Beni-Hassan 343

269. Painting at Thebes 343

270. Paintingat Thebes 344

271. Harpist 345

272. European prisoner 347

273. Head of prisoner

the same 347

274. Ethiopianprisoner 348

275. Head of the same prisoner 348
276. Winged figiu-e 349

277. Winged figure 350

278. Batde of the Cats and Rats 352

279. The soles of a pairof sandals 354

280. 281. The God Bes 354
282. Vultures on a ceiling 356
283, 284. Details from the tomb of Ptah-hotep 357
285. Carpet hung across pa\-ilion
a 35S
286. Specimens of ceilingecorations
d 359
287. Paintingon a mununy case 361
288. Winged globe 361
289. 290. Tables for offerings 363
291. Pitcher of red earth 368
292. Red earthenware 369
293. Gray earthenware 370

294. The God Bes 370

295. Pendant for necklace 371

296. 297. Enamelled earthenware 371

298. Enamelled faience

372
299. Doorway in the Stepped P}Tamid at Sakkarah 372
300 302. Enamelled plaque from the Stepped P\Tamid 373
"

303 "

305. Enamelled earthenware plaques 374

306, 307 Glass statuettes 376
308. Mirror-handle 379
309. Bronze hair-pin 379
310. Bronze dagger 379
311. Pectoral 381
312. 313. Golden Hawks 3S2
314. .-Egis 3S3
315. Necklace 3S5
316. Osiris,Isis,and Horus 387
317. 318. Rings 3S7
319. 320. Ear-rings 3S7
xiv List of Illustrations.

FIG. PAGE

321. Ivory Plaque 388

Ivory Castanet 389

322.

Fragment of an Ivory Castanet

323. 391

324.
Workman splitting a piece of wood
392

325. Joiner making a

bed
392

326. Coffer for sepulchral statuettes

393

328. Chairs
327. 394

Perfume 395)396
329"331- spoons

332 "
334. Walking-stick handles
397

335. Wooden pin or peg 398

336. Hathoric capital 398

 A HISTORY

OF

ART IN ANCIENT EGYPT,

 A HISTORY OF

ART IN ANCIENT EGYPT

CHAPTER I.

CIVIL AND MILITARY ARCHITECTURE.

" I. "
The Graphic Processes eynployed by the Egyptians i?i their

of Buildings.
7'ep7'ese7ttatio)is

We have seen that sepulchral and religious architecture are

represented in Egy'pt by numerous and well preserved monuments.

It is not so in the case of civil and military architecture. Of

these, time has spared but few remains and all that the
very

ancient historians tell us on the subject amounts to very

little.

Our best aids in the endeavour to fill this lacuna are the
up

pictures and bas-reliefs of the tombs, in which store-houses,

granaries, houses and villas of the Pharaonic period are often

figured.
It is not always however, to trace the actual conformation
easy,

and arrangement of those buildings throus^h the conventionali-

ties employed by the artists, and we must therefore begin

by attempting to understand the ideas with which the Egyptians
made the representations in question. Their idea was to show

all at a single glance to combine in one view matters which

;

could only be in reality from successive points, such

seen many

as all the facades of a building, with its external aspect and

internal This notion be compared to that

arrangements. may

which recommends itself to a

child when, in drawing a profile^
young
u
VOL. II. p
 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

he insists upon giving it two ears, because when he looks at a

front face he sees two ears standingout beyond either cheek.

In days when
these we wish to represent an architectural

building exhaustively,we do it in geometrical fashion, giving

plans,elevations^ and sections. To get a plan we make a horizontal
section at any determined height, which gives us the thickness
of the walls and the area of the spaces which they inclose. An
elevation shows us one of the faces of the building in all its

details, while the transverse or longitudinalsection allows us

to lay the whole of the structural arrangements open to the

spectator. Plan, elevation, and section,are three different things

by the comparison of which a justidea of the whole buildingand
of the connection of its various parts may be formed.
The Egyptians seem to have had
perceptionof thesea dim

three separate processes, but they failed to distinguishclearly

between them, and in their paintingsthey employed them in the

most naive fashion, combining all three into one figurewithout

any clear indication of the pointsof junction.
Let us take as an example a representation of a house from a

Theban tomb (Fig. i),and attempt to discover what the artist

meant to show us. In the left-hand part of the picturethere is

no difficulty. In the lower stage we see the external door by

which the inclosure surroundingthe house is entered ; in the two

upper divisions there are the trees and climbing plants of the
garden. It is when we turn to the house, which occupies two-
thirds of the field,that our embarrassments begin. The following
explanationis perhaps the best that,with an artistic license which
"

is not rare in such works, the painterhas shown us all the four

sides of the buildingat once. He has spread them out, one after

the other, on the wall which he had to decorate. This process

may be compared to our method of flatteningupon a plane

surface the figureswhich surround a Greek vase, but in modern

works of archaeologyit is to give sketch of the

customary a

real form beside the flat help is given by

projection. No such

the Egyptian painterand we are forced to conjecturethe shapes

of his buildingsas best we can. In this case he was attempting
to represent an oblong building. The door by which the

processiondefilingacross the garden is about to enter, is in one

of the narrow sides. It is inclosed by the two high shafts

between which a woman seems to be awaitinor on the threshold
 Egyptian Perspective.

the arrival of the guests. rightwe have one of the lateral

On the
faces ; it is piercedat one angle by a low door, above which are
two windows and above them again an open story or terrace
with slender columns supporting the roof. Still further to the
right,at the extremityof the picture,the second narrow facade
is slighdy indicated by its angle column and a portal,which
appears to be sketched in profile.Want of space alone seems to

have prevented the artist from giving as much detail to this

portionof his work as to the rest. The left wing, that which is

contiguous to the garden,remains to be considered. Those who

agree with our interpretation of the artist's aims, will look upon
this as the second lateral facade. It presents some difficulty,
however, because it shows none of the plain walls which inclose
the rest of the buildingand exclude the eye of the spectator ;
its walls are left out and leave the interior of the house completely

open.
It may be said that part of the
this picturerepresents an

awning or veranda in front of the house. But, in that case, how

are we to explain the objectswhich are arranged at the top of
it "

jars,loaves of bread, and other house-keeping necessaries ?

It cannot be a veranda with agranary^ on the top of it. Such
a store-room would have to be carefully closed if its contents were

to be safe-guardedfrom the eftects of heat, light,and insects.

It would therefore be to that the Egyptian
necessary suppose
painter made use of an artistic license not unknown in our

own days,and suppressedthe wall of the store-room in order to

display the wealth of the establishment. By this means he
has given us a longitudinal
section of the buildingver"^ near the
external wall. There is of
no trace an open story above. The
latter seems to have existedonly on that side of the- house
which was in shade during the day and exposed after nightfall
to the
refreshingbreezes from the north.
This picturepresents us, then, with a peculiar kind of elevation ;
an elevation which, by projection, shows three sides of the house
and hints at a fourth. Representations which are still more
conventionalized than this are to be found in many places. The
most curious of these are to be found in the ruins of the capital
of Amenophis IV., near the village of Tell-el-Amarna. It was in
that city that the heretical prince in question inaugurated the

worship of the solar disc, which was representedas dartingrays

 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

terminatino;in hand
(see Fig. 2). Among these ruins
an open
we find, upon the sculpturedwalls of subterranean chambers,
representations of royal and princely villas,where elegant
pavilionsare surrounded by vast offices and dependencies,by
gardens and pieces of ornamental water, the whole being inclosed
by a crenellated wall. These representations were called by Prisse
plans cavaliers,a vague term which hardly gives a fair idea of
the process, v/hich deserves to be analysedand explained.

They are, as a fact,plans,but plans made upon a very different

principlefrom those of our day. Certain elements, such as walls,
are indicated by simple lines varying in tliickness, just as they

fc AC/LOU/^0 ^

1-IG. 2. " The adoration of the solar disk by Amenophis IV. ; from Prisse.

might be in a modern plan, giving such a result as would be

obtained by a horizontal section. But this is the exception. The
houses, the everythingwith any
trees, and considerable height,are

shown in projection, as they might appear to the eye of a bird

flyingover them if they had been overthrown by some considerate

earthquake,which had laid them flat without doing them any other
injury. As a rule all objectsso treated are projectedin one and
the same direction,but here and there exceptionsto this are found.
In a country villa figured upon one of the tombs at Thebes

(Fig.3),one row of trees, that upon the right, is projectedat right

anglesto all the others. The reason for this change in the artist's
 Egvftiax Plans.

is Unless he had placed his trees in the

system easilyseen.
fashion shown in the cut, he would not have been able give a
to

true idea of their number and of the shade which they were
calculated to afford.

The which just described is the

we have dominant
process
Egyptian figuration.Here and there, as in Fig.
process in i,

it is combined with the vertical section. This combination is

conspicuousin plan found at Tell-el-Amarna, from which we

the
have restored the larger of the two villas which we illustrate

farther on. In this plan, as in the case of the Theban house

artist has been careful to shovv that

figured on page 3. the

Ml**^

Fig. Egyptiau plan of villa ; from Wilkinion, vol. i. p. 377.

3."
a

there was no want of provision in the house ; the wall of the

store-room is omitted, and with
the interior, its rows of amphorae,
is thrown open to our inspection.
No scale is given in any these
plans,so that we are unable
of

to determine either the extent of ground occupied by the build-

ings
and their annexes, or their absolute height. But spaces and

heightsseem to have been kept in justproportion. The Egyptian

draughtsman was prepared for the execution of such a task by
education and the traditions of his art, and his eye seems to have
been trustworthy.
Accustomed as we are to accuracy and exactitude in such

matters, these Egvptian plans disconcert us at first by their

 8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

mixture of conscience and carelessness,artlessness and skill,by

their simultaneous employment of methods which are contradictory
in principle.In the end, however, we arrive at a complete under-
standing
with the Egyptian draughtsman,and we are enabled to

transcribe into our own language that which he has painfully

written with the limited means at his command. In the two

restorations of an Egyptian house which we have attempted,there

is no arrangement of any importancethat is not to be found in the

original
plan.

" 2. The Palace.

Their temples give us a great idea of the taste and

tombs and
wealth of the Egyptian monarchs. We are tempted to believe
that their palaces, by their extent and the luxury of their decora-
tion,
must have been worthy of the tombs which they preparedfor
their own occupation, and the temples which they erected in honour
of the gods to whom, as they believed, they owed their gloryand
prosperity. The imaginationplaces the great sovereignswho
constructed the pyramids,the rock tombs of Thebes, the temples
of Luxor and Karnak, in splendidpalacesconstructed of the finest
materials which their country afforded.

Impelled by this idea, the earlier visitors to Egypt saw palaces

everywhere. They called everythingwhich was imposing in size
a palace,except the pyramids and the subterranean excavations.

The authors of the Description de f E^^ypte thought that Karnak

and Luxor, Medinet-Abou, and Gournah, were royaldwellings.
Such titles as the Palace of Menephtah, applied to the temple of
Seti,at Gournah, have been handed down to our day, and are to
be found in works of quite recent date, such as Fergusson's
^
History of A rch itecttire.
Since the time of Champollion,a more attentive study of the

existingremains, and especiallyof the inscriptions which they

bear, has dissipatedthat error ; egyptologists are now in accord

as to the religious character

o
of the (jreat Theban
o
building^s on
o

either bank of the river. But while admitting this, there are

some who
archaeologists have not been able to clear their minds

^
Fkrgusson (invol. i. p. ii8, of his History of ArcJiitedure in all Countries,
etc.)proposes that Karnak should be called ?. Palace-Temple,or Teniple-Paiace.
Fig. 4. " Part of the plan of a house and its offices,figured in a tomb at Tell-el-Amarna ;
from Prisse.

VOL. II.
 The Pal AC k. 1 1

entirely of an idea which was so long dominant. They contend

that the royal habitation must have been an annexe to the temple,
and both at Karnak and Luxor they seek to find it in those ill-

preservedchambers which may be traced behind the sanctuaries.

There the kinor must have had his dwellino-,and his life must have
^
been passed in the courts and hypostylehalls.
Among all the inscriptions which have been discovered in the
chambers in question there is not one which supports such an

hypothesis. Neither in the remains of Egyptian literature, nor in

the works of the Greek historians,is there a passage to be found

which tends to show that the king lived in the temple or its

dependencies,or that his palace was within the sacred inclosure

at all.
There is another argument which is, perhaps,even more clusive
con-

than that from the silence of the texts. How can we

believe that the kings of such a pleasure-loving and light-hearted

race as the ancient Egyptians took up their residence in quarters
so dark and so rigidly inclosed. Their dispositions cannot have
differed very greatlyfrom those of their subjects, and no phrase
is more often repeatedin the texts than this : to lii'ea Jiappyday.
The palacemust have been a pleasant dwelling,a placeof repose ;
and nothing could be better fitted for such a purpose than the
lightand spaciousedifices which lay outside the city,in the midst
of largeand shady gardens,upon the banks of the Xile itself, or

of one of those canals which carried its waters to the borders

of the desert. From their high balconies, galleries, or covered

terraces, the eye could roam freelyover the neighbouring planta-

tions,
over the course of the river and the fields which it irrigated,
and out to the mountains which shut in the horizon. The windows
were large,and movable blinds, which may be distinguishedin
some of the paintings, allowed the chambers to be either thrown

open to the breeze or darkened from the noonday sun, as occasion

arose. That shelter which is so gratefulin all hot climates was
also to be found outside,in the broad shadows cast by the sycamores
and planeswhich grew around artificial basins garnishedwith the
brilliant flowers of the lotus,in the shadows of the spring foliage
hanging upon the trellised fruit-trees,or in the open kiosques
which were reared here and there the banks of the lakes.
upon
There, behind the shelter of walls and hedges,and among his
^ Du ""\^'^\ v"v."Sl'^^\\^^.Etudes sin- lArcJiihrture E^yptietine
{i"^-]^),^.
271.
12 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

wives and children, the king could taste some of the joys of

domesticity. In such a retreat a Thothmes or a Rameses could

abandon himself the
simplejoy of living,
to and might forgetfor
a time both the fatigues of yesterdayand the cares of to-morrow ;

as the modern Egyptians would say, he could enjoy his kief.

In such architecture as this,in which everythingwas designed
to serve the pleasures of the moment, there was no necessityfor
stone. The solidity and durability of limestone, sandstone, and

granite, were requiredin the tomb, the eternal dwelling, or for the

temples,the homes of the gods. But the palace was no more

than a pleasuremarquee, it required no material more durable

than wood or brick. Painters and sculptorswere charged to
cover its walls with livelycolours and smilingimages ; it was
their business to decorate the stucco of the walls, the planks of

acacia, and the slender columns of cedar and palmwood with

the most brilliant hues on their palettesand with gold. The
ornamentation was as lavish as in the tombs, although in the
latter case it had a much better chance of duration. The palaces
of Egyptian sovereigns were
the worthy of their wealth and
but the comparative slightness of their materials led to
power,
their earlydisappearance, and no trace of them is left upon the

soil of Egypt.

During the whole periodof which we have any record, the East
in spiteof the apparent diversity
has changed but little, between the
successive races, empires,and religions which have prevailedin it.
We know how vast an array of servants and followers Oriental

royaltyor grandeeshipinvolves. The konak of the most nificant

insig-
bey or pacha shelters a whole army of servants, each one
of whom does as littlework as possible. The domestics of the
Sultan at Constantinople, or of the Shah at Teheran, are to be
counted by thousands. No one knows the exact number of

eunuchs, cooks, grooms, and sweepers, of atechdjis,cafedjis, and

which their seraglioscontain. Such domestic

tchiboukdjis, a

establishment impliesan extraordinaryprovisionof lodgings of

some sort, as well as an extensive accumulation of stores. Great

storehouses were requiredwhere the more or of

less voluntarygifts

thepeople,the tributes in kind of conquered nations,and the crops

produced by the huge estates attached to the Crown, could be ware-

housed.

In the vast inclosures whose arrangements are preserved

for us at Tell-el-Amarna
by the paintings there was room for all these
 The Palace. 13

offices and granaries.They courtyardswhichwere built round

were arrancred in long succession on all four sides of the principal

buildino- in which the sovereignand his familydwelt. When, in

the course of a long reign,the familyof the king became very

numerous (Rameses II. had a hundred and seventy children,fifty-

nine of whom were sons),and it became necessary to provide
accommodation for them in the royal dwelling, it was easy to

encroach the surrounding country, and to extend both

upon
buildings and trardens at will.

Although the great inclosure at Karnak was spaciousenough

for its purpose, the families of the Pharaohs would hardly have
had elbow They would soon
room in it.have felt the restraint

of the high and impassable barriers insupportable, and the space

within them too narrow for their pursuits. The palacesof the
East have always requiredwider and more flexible limits than

these. If we examine their general aspect we shall find it the

same from the banks of the Ganges to those of the Bosphorus.

The climate, the harem, and the extreme subdivision of labour,

gave, and stillgives,a multiplexand difiuse character royaland

to

dwellings;
princely memories of Susa and of Babylon
Persepolis,
and Nineveh, agree in this with the actual condition of the old

palacesat Agra, Delhi, and Constantinople. They were not posed,

com-

like the modern palacesof the West, of a singlehomo- geneous

edifice which can be embraced at a glance; they in no way
resembled the Tuileries or Versailles.^ They consisted of many
structures of unequal importance,built at different times and by
difterent princes; their pavilions were separatedby gardens and
courts ; they formed a kind of royal villageor town, surrounded
and guarded by a high wall. In that part of the interior nearest

the entrance there were richly-decoratedhalls, in which the

sovereign condescended to sit enthroned at stated times, to
receive the homage of his subjectsand of foreignambassadors.
Around these chambers, which were open to a certain number
of privilegedindividuals,swarmed a whole populationof officers,
soldiers,and servants of all kinds. This part of the palacewas

*
The contrast between the palaces of the East and Versailles is hardlyso strong
as M. Perrot seems to suggest. The curious assemblage of buildingsof different
ages styleswhich
and forms the eastern facade of the dwellingof Louis XIV.
does greatlydiffer
not in essentials from the confused piles of Delhi or the old
Seraglio. Ed. "
T4 A History of Art ix Anxtent Ec;vpt

a repetition on a far largerscale of the sdlamlik of an Oriental

dwelling. The harem lay farther on, behind gates which were

jealouslyguarded. In it the king passed his time when he was

not occupiedwith war, with the chase, or with the affairs of state.
Between the buildingsthere was air enough to allow of
space and
the king'sremaining for months, or years if he chose, within the

boundary walls of his palace; he could review his troops in the

vast courtyards; he could ride,drive, or walk on foot in the shady
gardens ; he could bathe in the artificial lakes and bath-houses.
Sometimxes even huntincr-crrounds were included within the outer

walls.
These facilitiesand
pleasureshave always been a dangerous
easy
temptationfor Oriental princes, A long list might be formed of
those dynastieswhich, after beginning by a displayof singular
energy and resource, were at last enfeebled and overwhelmed in

the pleasuresof the palace. By those pleasures they became

so completely enervated that at last a time came when the long
descended heir of a line of conquerors was hurled from his throne

by theslightestshock. The
tragichistoryof Sardanapalus,which
has inspiredso many poets and historians, is a case in point.

Modern criticism has attacked it ruthlessly

; names, dates, and
facts have all been placed in doubt ; but even if the falsehood

of every detail could be demonstrated, it would yet njtain that

superiorkind of truth which springsfrom

generalapplicability its "

a truth in w^iich the real value of the legend consists. Almost

all the royaldynastiesof the East ended in a vSardanapalus,
for he

was nothing more than the victim of the sedentaryand luxurious

existence passed in an Oriental palace.
If we knew more about the internal history of Egypt, we

should doubtless find that such phenomena were not singularin

that country. The Rammesides must have owed their fall and

disappearanceto it. The Egyptian palace cannot have differed

very greatlyfrom the type we have described, all the istic

character-

features of which are to be recognised in those edifices

which have hitherto been called villas.' There was the same

'
Nkstor L'Hotf, "
a fine connoisseur, wlio often divined foc\s wliich were not

finallydemonstrated until after his visit to Egypt "

also received this impression
from his examination of the remains at Tell-el-Amarna :
"
Details no less interesting
make us with
accjuainted the
generalarrangement ....
of the king'sj^alaces,
the

l)ortiros
and propyhxa by which they were approached, the inner chambers, the
 The Palace. 15

amplitudeof development. We have not space to give a

lateral
restoration of the most importantof the villas" figuredat Tell- "

el-Amarna in its entirety ; but we give enough (Fig. 4) to

suggest the great assemblage of buildings, which, when complete,
must have covered a vast space of ground (Fig. 5). By its
variety,by its alternation of courts and gardens with buildings
surrounded here by stone colonnades, there by lighterwooden
verandahs, this palace evidentlybelongs to the same family as
other Oriental palacesof later times. Within its wide ciicioite the

sovereigncould enjoy all the pleasuresof the open country while

livingeither in his capitalor in its immediate neighbourhood ; he
could satisfyall his wishes and desires without moving from
the spot.
We have chosen for restoration that part of the royaldwelling
which correspondsto what is called,in the East, the selamlik. and
in the West, the reception-rooms.A structure stands before the
entrance the purpose of which cannot readilybe decided. It

might be a reservoir for the use of the palaceinmates, or it might

be a guard-house; the question must be left open. Behind this
structure there is a door between two towers with inclined walls,

forming a kind of pylon. There is a narrower doorway near each

angle. All three of these entrances open upon a vast rectangular
court, which is inclosed laterally by two rows of chambers and at
the back by a repetition of the front wall and three doorways

alreadydescribed. This courtyard incloses a smaller one, which

is prefaced by a deep colonnaded portico,and incloses an open
hall raised considerably above the level of the two courts. The

steps by which this hall is reached are clearly shown upon the plan.

In the middle of it there is a small structure, which may be one

of those tribune-like altars which are representedupon some of

the bas-reliefs. Nestor L'Hote grives a sketch of one of these
reliefs. It shows a man standing upon a dais with a pile of
betore
offerinsi^s him. The same writer describes some existinof
remains of a similar structure at Karnak : it is quadrilateral
a

block, to which access was obtained by an inclined plane.^

store-houses and the
offices, courts, gardens,and artificiallakes ; in fact,
ever)thing.
which went to make up the royal dwelling-place.''
Ltttres ccrites d' Ei^pie (in
1838-9; 8vo, 1S40) : pp. 64-65.
^
Lettres krites d Egypte, p. 62. In some other plans from Tell-el-Amarna, given
by Prisse,several of these altars are given upon a largerscale, showing the offerings
with which they are heaped. One of them has a of steps leadingup to it.
flight
 1 6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Perhaps the king accomplished some of the

rehgious ceremonies
which were among his duties at this point. In order to arrive
at the altar from without, three successive gates and boundary
walls had to be passed,so that the safetyof the sovereignwas
well guarded.
Upon the Egyptian plan,which forms a basis for these remarks,
there is,on the rightof the nest of buildings justdescribed, another
of more simple arrangement but of still largerextent. There is

no apparent communication between the two ; they are, indeed,

separatedby a grove of trees. In front of this second assemblage

of buildingsthere is the same rectangularstructure of doubtful

purpose, and the same quasi-pylonthat we find before the first.

Behind the pylon there is a court surrounded on three sides by a
double row of apartments, some of which communicate directly
with the court, others through an intervening portico. Doubtless,
this court was the harem in which the king lived with his wives
and children. Ranged round courts in its rear are storehouses,
stables,cattle-stables, and other offices, with gardens againbeyond
them. The finest garden lies immediately behind the block of

buildingsfirst described, and is shown in our restoration (Fig.5).

Here and there rise lightpavilions, whose wooden structure may
be divined from the details given by the draughtsman. Colon- nades,
under which the crowds of servants and underlingscould
find shelter at night,pervade the whole building. The domestic
offices are partlyshown in our figure.As to the receptionhalls (the
part of the buildingwhich would now be called the divan), we find

nothingthat can be identified with them in any of the plans which

we have inspected. But it must be remembered that the repre- sentations
in questionare greatlymutilated, and that hitherto they
have only been reproduced and published fragmentaryfashion.
in

We have now sketched the Egyptian palace as it must have

been according to all historic probability, and according to the
graphic representationsleft to us by the people themselves.
Those of our readers who have followed our arguments tively,
atten-

will readilyunderstand that we altogetherrefuse to see the

remains of a palace,properlyspeaking,in the ruin which has been
so often drawn and photographed as the Royal Pavilion of Mccii-
net-Aboic, or the Pavilion of Rameses HI.' It would be difficult
^
In this we are supported by the opinionsot Mariette {Itincraire,
p. 213) and
Erkrs {L I''.i;ypf(\
dii Cairc a Phihr. p. 317).
 Fig. 5." Partial restoration of a palace at Tell-el-Amama ; by Charles Chipiez.

VOL. II.
jy
 The Palace. 19

to by words alone
convey a true idea of this elegantand singular
building. We therefore give two plans (Figs. 6 and 7),
a and
longitudinal a transverse section (Figs. 8 and 9), and

"3

3rir_r

Fig. 6. " Ground plan of the "

Royal Fig. 7 " Plan of the firstfloor of the
"
Pavilion "
; frcn Lepsius.
"
Koyal Pavilion ; from Lepsius.

a restoration in perspective(PlateVII.). To coming from

those
the plain the first thing encountered was a pair of lodges for
guards,with battlements round their summits like the pavilionitself

/^

c^

'n i. 2 3 4- 5

Fig. 8. "
Longitudinalsection of the pavilion; restored.

and its surroundinof walls. The barrier which is shown in our

plate between the two lodges is restored from a painting at

Thebes, but the two half piers which support its extremities
20 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

are still in pavilion itself consists of a main

existence. The
block with two loftywings standing out perpendicularly to its

front. The walls of these wings are inclined, and there is a

passage through the centre of the block. There are three stories
in all,which communicate with one another by a staircase.
This pavilionis entirelycovered with bas-reliefs and hiero- glyphic

texts. The best way to solve the problem which it offers is

to accept the teaching of history,and of all that we know cerning

con-

the persistent characteristics of royal life in the East.

Even in our own day there are few eastern potentates who do not
think it necessary to lay down, on the day after their accession,
the foundations of a new palace. The Syrian Emir Beschir did
so at Beit-el-din in the Lebanon, and

Djezzar-Pacha another at St. Jean

d'Acre ; so too, in Egypt, Mehemet
Ali and his successors builtpalaces
at Choubra and other places in the
neighbourhood of Cairo and andria.
Alex-
At Constantinople recent
Sultans have spent upon building
the last resources of their empire. In

these matters the East is the home of

change. The son seldom inhabits the

dwellingof his father. The Pharaohs
and the kingsof Nineveh and Babylon
must have been touched to some
Fig. 9, " Transverse secti )n of ihe
pavilion; restored. extent with the same mania and eager
to enjoy the results of their labour at

the earliest moment. The

sovereignsof Egypt must have chosen
the sites for their palaceswithin the zone covered by the annual
inundations. In any part of Egypt forced labour would rapidly
build up the artificial banks to raise the intended ings
build-
necessary
above the reach of the highestfloods,while in such a situation
trees and shrubs would grow almost as fast the
palace walls.
as

In a few years the royaldwellingwould be complete,and with its

completionwould find itself surrounded by smiling parterres and

shadowy groves.
When the whole of the fertile plainwas at their
disposal,why
should they have chosen a site where no vegetationcould be
reared without the help of the sakych and the shadouf? Why
 The Palace. 2 1

should they,of their dwellingsclose

own free will,have built their

to those cliffsin the Libyan chain which give off at night the heat
they have absorbed from the sun during the day ? The buildings
of Medinet-Abou are immediatelyat the foot of the hill Goiirnet-
el-Mourra'i, which detaches itself from the chain near the southern

extremityof the Theban and

necropolis, thrusts itselfforward, like a

into the sea, towards the outer limits of the cultivated ground.
cape
We should not have looked forpalace in such a situation.
a

We may add that the site of the pavilionis not largeenough to

accommodate the household of a king. It is closelycircumscribed
by the temple of Thothmes and its propyl^a on the right, and by

that of Rameses at the back, so that its dimensions would have

seemed even more than

insignificant they are incomparison with
those giganticfabrics. The greatest width of the pavilionis not

more than about depth than 72, and the small

80 feet and its greatest

court which almost cuts the buildinginto two parts (see Fig. 6)
occupiesa good third of the surface inclosed by these measure-
ments.

Taken altogether,the three stories could not have

contained more than about ten chambers, some of which were

rather anything more

closets thanambitious. In spite of the

comparativesimplicity of modern domestic arrangements a middle-

class family of our day would be cramped in such a dwelling.

How then could a Pharaoh, with the swarm of idlers who
surrounded him, attempt to take up his residence in it ?

What, then, are we to call the little edifice which stands in

front of the temple of Rameses II. ? Is it a temple raised by the

conqueror in his own honour } If we examine the bas-reliefs

which decorate it both within and without, we shall see that it

deserves
thoroughly the name of Pavilion Royal which the French

savants gave to it. The of

personality Rameses fillsit from roof
to basement. In the interior we find him at home, in his harem,
amongr his wives and children. Here one of his daughters brines
him flowers of which he tastes the scent ; there we see him playing
draughtswith another
daughter,or hands receivingfruit from the
of a third,whose chin he playfully caresses. Upon the external
walls there are battle scenes. Aided by his father,Amen, Rameses
overthrows his enemies. With wonderful technical precisionthe

sculptorhas given to each figure its distinguishing costume,

weapons, and features. The triumph of the king is complete ;

none of his adversaries can stand before him.
 2 2 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

May we not seekexplanationwhich the arrangements of the

the

buildingfail to suggest, in this perpetualrecurrence of the royal

image,figuredin all the publicand privateoccupationsin which

the life of the monarch was passed ? The way in which it per- vades
the whole structure ought to be enough to convince us that

the pavilion, like the adjoiningtemple,is nothing but a monument

to his prowess. It is an ingenious and brilliant addition to the public

part of the tomb, to the cenotaph. In other buildingsof the same

kind the temple,with its courts and pylons, is everything; but here,

as if to distinguish his cenotaph from those of his predecessors

and to impress posterity with a higher notion of his power and

magnificence, Rameses has chosen to add a building which groups

happily with it and serves as a kind of vestibule. It is difficult
to say whence he borrowed the form of this unique edifice.

Perhaps from one of the numerous pavilions which went to make

up a pharaonic palace. Such, however, was not the opinion of

Mariette, who discusses the question more than once. His final

opinion was as follows : The general architectural lines of this

"

pavilionof Rameses, especially when seen from some distance,

agree with those of the triumphal towers {^nigdol) which are

representedin the bas-reliefs of Karnak, Luxor, the Ramesseum,

and Medinet-i\bou. These towers were erected on the frontiers
of the country by the Egyptian mionarchs,where they served both

as defensive works and as memorials of the national victories.

The royalpavilionof Medinet-Abou was, therefore, a work of

militaryrather than of civil architecture." ^ The warrior-king

par excellence could not have preserved his memory green in the

minds of his subjects by any more characteristic monument.^

But whether it is to be considered a palace or a fortress, this
is the proper place to study the details of this curious edifice.
It forms, indeed, part of an assemblage of funerarybuildings, and

its situation is immediatelyin front of a temple,facts which might

suggest that its arrangements ought to have been discussed in

an earlier chapter. But these arrangements are in fact imitated

from those of the ordinarydwellingsof the living. Its economy

is not that of either tomb or temple. The superposition of one

story upon another is found in neither of those classes of buildings

'
Itinera hr, p. 213.
2
See tlie curious extracts from the Papyrus Anastasi JIL, givenby Maspero,
Histoire Aficie?ine,
pp. 267-269.
 The Palace. 23

but it is found both

militaryand domestic architecture.
in So. too,
with the mode the various apartments.
of h'ghting The darkness
of the tomb is complete,the illumination of the temple is far from
in its more
brilliant, sacred parts it is almost as dark as the tomb.

Prayers could be said to Osiris without inconvenience by the

scanty daylightwhich found its way through the narrow doorway
of the sepulchral chapel, but the active pleasures of life required
a broader day. We find,therefore,that the pavilionwas lighted
by windows, real windows, and some of them very large. Nothing
is more rare, in the buildingswhich have come down to us from

Fig. 10. "

Brackets in the courtyardof the Royal Pa\-ilion.

the pharaonicepochs,than such windows : but then most of those

buildingsare either tombs
temples. Civil architecture in
or

Egypt had to fulfil

pretty much the same requirementsas in other
countries. It was, therefore, obligedto employ the means which
have been found in every other and
necessary countr\- at every
other period.
The employment of the window is the
not only structural
peculiarity
in the pavilionof Medinet-Abou : upon the walls which
surround the small court, and between the firstand second stories,
there carved brackets
are stone or consoles,supportingflat slabs of
stone. It has sometimes been asserted that these brackets formed
 24 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

supports for masts upon which a velarium was stretched across

the court. But neither in engravings nor in photographs have

we been able to discover the slightesttrace of the holes which
would be necessary for the insertion of such masts.

But, leavingtheir purpose on one side,we must call attention to

the curious sculptureswhich

interposedbetween the upper are

and lower slabs of these brackets. They are in the shape of

grotesque busts, restingupon the lower slab and supportingthe
upper one with their heads. In the wall above a kind of framed
tablet is inserted.^ In these which
figures, are now very much
worn and corroded by of those
repetition exposure, we have a

prisonersof war which occur frequentlyupon the neighbouring

bas-reliefs in similar uncomfortable positions.Such a motive is
entirely in placein a buildingwhich, by the generalfeatures of Its

architecture,seems a combination of fortress and triumphalarch.

It is difficult to admit that such a buildingas this was never

utilized. We may well believe that it was never built for permanent

occupation,but we must not therefore conclude that chambers

so well lightedand so richlydecorated were without their proper
and well-defined uses. The floors of the firstand second stories
have but
disappeared, they once that
existed is proved by the stair-
case,

part of which is stillin place. The floors were of wood ; the

stairs of stone. The generaleconomy of the buildingshows that
it was intended that every room, from the ground-floor to the top-
most
story, should be used when occasion arose. It is possiblethat
they were employed as receptionrooms for the princesand vassal
chiefs who came togetherseveral times a year for the celebration
of funeraryrites. In chambers richlydecorated like these, and,
doubtless,richlyfurnished also,people of rank could meet together
and await at their ease their turn to take part in the ceremonies.^

Although the pavilionof Medinet-Abou may, then, have no

right to the name of palace,the foregoing observations have
their position
justified in this chapterby helping us to understand

1
A careful examination of these tablets has yet to be made ; at present we are

without any information as to their probable uses. The authors of the Description
thought it likely
that they were meant trophiesof some
to kind. They
receive metal
might have been covered with a painted decoration,or they might have been
intended to be cut into barred windows and left unfinished. In the photographs the

stone of which they are made seems to be different in grain from the rest of
the walls.
^
Ebers, L Egypte, du Caire a Pliilce,
pp. 317-318.
 The Palace -D

some of the conditions imposed upon the Egyptian architect

when he had to meet civil wants. Some of our readers may have

expectedto find,in this of a more

chapter,a description famous

monument, of that Labyrinth of which Herodotus, Diodorus,

and Strabo wrote in such enthusiastic terms.^
But we are bv no means sure that the ruins in the Fayoum are

those of the Labyrinth. These ruins,which were first discovered

and described by Jomard and and

Caristie,- afterwards in greater
detail by Lepsius,^ are upon the western slope of the Libyan
chain, about four miles and a half from
east-by-south Medinet-el-

Fayoum, pointwhich must at a have been on the borders of Lake

Moeris, if the positionof that lake as defined by Linant de Belle-
fonds be accepted. Mariette "*
did not admit that the ruins in

question were those of the vast buildingwhich was counted

among the seven wonders of the world, "

I know," he once

said to us,
"
where theLabyrinth is : it is under the crops of
the Fayoum. I shall dig it up some day if Heaven gives me a

lonof enouofh life."

this may
However be, the ruins are at present In such a state

of confusion that every traveller who visits the place comes away
disappointed. **
pyramid of
If," says Ebers, "
we climb the

powdery grey bricks once however coated with polishedgranite

"

"
which, as Strabo tells us, stood at one extremity of the
Labyrinth,we shall see that the immense palace in which the
chiefs of the Egyptian nomes assembled at certain dates to meet the

king was shaped like a horse shoe. But that is all that can be
seen. The middle of the buildinofand the whole of the left wine
are entirelydestroyed,while the confused mass of ruined halls
and chambers on the right which " the natives of El-Howara think
to be the bazaar of some vanished city are composed of wretched
"

blocks of dry grey mud. The granitewalls of a few chambers and

the fragments of a few Inscribed columns form the only remains
of any Importance. From these we learn that the structure '

dates from the reignof Amenemhat III.,of the twelfth dynasty."^

The plan and description of the buildingdiscovered by Lepslus

'
Herodotus, ii.148; Diodorus Siculus, i. 64; Strabo, xvii. 37.
-

Description VAgypte,
d e vol. iv. p. 478.
^
Denkmceler,vol. i. plates46-48. Briefe aus ^Egypten,pp. 65-74.
^
See a remarkable paper on this questioncontributed by Mr. F. Cope Whitehouse
to the Rei'tie Arckeologique(ox June, 1882. Ed. ^
Ebers, .E.gypten,
p. 174. "

VOL. IL E
26 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

hardlycorrespondwith the account of Strabo and with what we

learn from other antique sources as to the magnificenceof the

Labyrinth and the vast bulk of the materials of which it was

composed. We shall,therefore, reproduce neither the plan of
Lepsius nor the text of the Greek geographer. The latter gives
no measurements either of height or length,and under such
circumstances any attempt to restore the building,from an
architectural point of view would be futile.

" 3. " The Egyptian House.

The palacein Egypt was but a house largerand richer in its

decorations than the others. The observations which we have
made upon applied to the dwelling-places
it may be of private

individuals,who enjoyed,In proportionto their resources, the same

comforts and conveniences as the sovereignor the hereditary

princes of the nomes. The house was a palace in small. Its

arrangements and construction w^ere Inspiredby the same wants,

by the same national habits,by the same climatic and other natural
conditions.
Diodorus and Josephus tell us that the populationof Egypt
proper, from Alexandria to Philae,was 7,000,000 at the time of the
Roman Empire, and there is reason to believe that it was still

largerat the time of the nation's greatest prosperityunder the

princesof the eighteenthand nineteenth A largepro-
dynasties.-^ portion
of the Egyptian people lived In small towns and open
besides
villages, which there were a few very large towns. That

Sals, Memphis, and Thebes were great cities we know from the

words of the ancient historians,from the vast spaces covered by

their ruins,and from the extent of their cemeteries.

Neither the Greek nor the Egyptian texts give us any mation
infor-
as to the appearance of an Egyptian town, the way in
which its buildingswere arranged, or their average size and

height. The Greek travellers do not seem to have been

Impressed by anything of
sufficiently the kind to think It worthy
of record. The sites of these ancient cities have hardlyever been
examined from this point of view, and perhaps little would be
discovered If such an examination were to take place. In every
^
Diodorus, i. 31, 6." Josephus {The Jauish IVar, ii. 16, 4) speaks of a

populationof seven millions and a half,exclusive of the inhabitants of Alexandria.

 The Egyptian House. 27

the ordinary dwelling-house is constructed of small

country
materials,and the day arrives, sooner or later,when it succumbs

to the action of the weather.

It is circumstances
only under exceptional privatehouse that the
leaves ruins behind it from which much can be learnt. Pompeii,
under its shroud of ashes and fine dust, is a case in point. Some-
times,
also, when the house has entirelydisappeared, interesting
facts may be gleanedas to its extent and arrangement. Instances
of this are to be seen at Athens, where, upon several of the hills

which were formerly included within its walls,may be traced the

foundations of privatedwellingscutlivingrock. Neither in the

of these favourable conditions existed in the valleyof the Nile.

The sands of the deserts would, no doubt, have guarded the
houses of Memphis and Thebes as effectually as the cinders of
Vesuvius did those of the little Roman town, if they had had but
the same chance. We know how thoroughly they protectedthe
dwellingsof the dead upon the plateauof Gizeh, but the homes of
the livingwere built close to the river and not upon the borders
of the desert, and we can neither hope to find dead cities under
the Egyptian sands, nor such indications of their domestic tecture
archi-
as those which may sometimes be gleanedin mountainous
countries.
Their situation upon the banks of the river,or not far from it,
made it necessary for Egyptian cities to be placed upon artificial
mounds or embankments, which should raise them above the
inundation. Those modern which
villages are not built upon the

slopesof the mountain, are protectedin the same fashion.

The tradition has survived of the great works undertaken

during the period of national prosperityin order to provide this

elevated bed for the chief cities of the country. According to
Herodotus and Diodorus, Sesostris and Sabaco. that is to say the

great Theban princesand theEthiopian conquerors, were both

occupiedwith this work of raisingthe level of the towns.^ Some

idea of the way in which these works were carried out has been

gained by excavations upon the sites of a few cities. When a

new district was to be added to a citythe ground was prepared

by buildingwith crude brick a number of long and thick walls

parallel
to one another ; then cross walls at rightangleswith the
first,
chessboard fashion. The square pits thus constructed were
^
Herodotus, ii. 137 ; Diodorl's. i. 57.
 2 8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

filled with earth, broken stone, or anything else within reach.

The foundations of the
cityor district were future
laid upon the
mass thus obtained, and profitedby the operationboth in health
and amenity. The cities of Memphis and Thebes both seem to

have been built in this manner.'

As a rule this is all that we learn by excavating on these
ancient sites. The materials of the houses themselves have either
fallen into dust, or, in a country which has thicklypopulated
been
since long before the commencement of history,
have been used
over and over again in other works. The inevitable destruction
has been rendered more rapid and complete by the fellah's habit
of opening up any mounds which he has reason to believe ancient,
for the sake of the
fertilizingpropertiesthey possess.
The only pointin the Nile valleywhere the arrangements of an

ancient city are still to be traced is upon the site of the new

of
capital Amenophis by when IV., built
deserted Thebes him he
and its god Amen.^ This city,which owed its existence to royal

caprice,seems to have been very soon abandoned. We do not

even know the name it bore during its short prosperity, and since
its fall the site has never been occupiedby a populationsufficiently

great to necessitate the destruction of its remains. The soil is

still covered by the ruins of its buildings. These are always of
brick. The plansof a few houses have been roughly ascertained,
and the direction of the streets can now be laid down with some

accuracy. There is a street parallel

to the river,and nearly loo
feet wide ; from this,narrower streets branch off at rightangles,
some of them being hardlybroad enough to allow of two chariots

passing each other between the houses. The important

most

quarter of the
citywas to that the north, in the neighbourhood of
the vast quadrangularinclosure which contained the temple of the

^
Edouard Mariette, 7 raite pratique et raisonne de la Ccnistrudmi en Egypte,
P- 139-
^
The first elements for the Restoration ofEgyptian House which Mariette
an

exhibited in the Universal Exhibition of 1878, were furnished,however, by some

remains at Abydos. These consisted of the bases, to the height of about four feet,
of the walls of a house. The generalplan and arrangement of rooms was founded

upon the indications thus obtained ; the remainder of the restoration was founded

upon bas-reliefs and paintings. The whole was reproduced in the Gazette des
Beaux-Arts of November ist, 1878, to which M. A. Rhone {L'EgypteAntique)
contributed an analysis
of the elements made use of by Mariette in his attempt to

reconstruct an Egyptiandwelling.
 The Egyptian House. 29

Solar Disc. In this part of the citythe ruins of largehouses with

spacious courts are to be found. There is, moreover, on the

western side of the buildingwhich Prisse calls the

main street a

palace,in which a forest of brick piers,set closelytogether,may,

perhaps,have been constructed in order to raise the higher floors
above the damp soil. This question cannot, however, be decided
in the present state of our information. The southern quarter of
the citywas inhabited by the poor. It contains only small houses,
crowded together,of which nothing but the outer walls and a

few heaps of rubbish remain.

In the case of Thebes we cannot point out, even to this

slightextent, the arrangement of the city. We cannot tell where

the palaces of the king and the dwellings of the great were

Fig. II. "

Plan of a part of the cityat Tell-el-Amarna ; from Prisse.

situated. All that we know is that the cityproperlyspeaking,the

Diospolisof the Greeks, so called on account of the great temple

of Amen which formed its centre, was on the right bank of the
river ; that its houses were massed round those two great sacred
inclosures which we now call Karnak and Luxor ; that it was

intersected by wide streets, those which united Karnak and Luxor

to each other and to the river being bordered with sphinxes.
These great streets were the Spofioi
of the Greek writers ; others

they called ^aai\i/n] pvfii], king'sstreet.^ The blocks of houses

which bordered these great causeways were intersected by narrow

lanes.^ The quarter on the left bank of the river was a sort of

^ in the
See Brugsch-Bey's topographical sketch of a part of ancient Thebes
Rrciie archeologiqueof M. E. Revillout, 1880 (plates12 and 13).
See, in the Rciiie arc/uologique,the Donnces geographiqueset topographiques
 30 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

suburb inhabited
chiefly embalmers,
by priests, and others practising
those lugubriousbranches of industrywhich are connected with
the burial of the dead.^ The whole of this western citywas known
in the time of the Ptolemies and the Romans as the Memnonia?'
We shall not attempt to discuss
given by the the few hints
Greek writers as to the extent of Thebes. Even if they were

less vague and contradictorythan they are, they would tell

us little as to the density of the population.^ Diodorus says
that there were once houses of four and five stories high at
Thebes, but he did not see them himself, and it is to the time of
the fabulous monarch Busiris that he attributes them.^ In painted
representations
we never find a house of more than three stories,
and they are very rare. As rule
ground-floor,
a we
one find a

floor above that,and a covered flat roof on the top.^

It does not seem likelythat,even in the important streets, the

houses of the rich made much architectural show on the outside,

Thebes and Memphis probably resembled those modern Oriental
towns in which the streets are bordered with massive structures

in which hardly any openings beside the doors are to be seen.

The houses figuredin the bas-reliefs are often surrounded by a

crenellated wall, and stand in the middle of a court or garden.^

sur Thebes extra ties par MM. Brugsdi et Revilloid des Contrats danotiqites
et des Pieces

correlatives^
p. 177.
^
E. Revillout, Tariclieiites et Choachytes (in the Zeitschrift
filr ALgyptische
Sprache und Alterthumshinde, 1879 and
1880).
^
In the Egyptianlanguage,buildingslike the Ramesseum and Medinct-x'Vbou were

called Mennou, or buildingsdesignedto preserve some name from oblivion. This

word the Greeks turned into fxefj-vovLa,because they thought that the term mennou was

identical with the Homeric hero Memnon, to whom they also attributed the two

famous colossi in the plainof Thebes. p. 280.

Ebers, Ai.gypten,
3 with-
out
Diodorus (i.45, 4) talks of a circumference of 140 stades (28,315yards),
telling us whether applies
his measurement or only to the
to the whole of Thebes,

cityon the rightbank. Strabo (xvii. 46) says that an idea of the size of the "

ancient citymay be formed from the fact that its existing monuments cover a space
which is not less than 80 stades (16,180yards)in length (to/x^kos)." This latter
statement indicates a circumference much greater than that given by Diodorus.
Diodorus (i.50, 4) givesto Memphis a circumference of 15c stades (30.337 yards,
^
or 17^ miles). Diodorus, i. 45, 5.
^ In a tale translated by M. Maspero {EtudesEgyptie?ines, 1879, p. 10),a princess
is shut up in a house of which the windows are 70 cubits (about105 feet) above the

ground. She is to be given to him who is bold and skilful enough to scale her
windows. Such a heightmust therefore have seemed quitefabulous to the Egyptians,
as did that of the tower which is so connnon in our popular fairystories.
'^
In M. jVIaspicro's translated Roman de Satni {Annuaire de PAssociation four
 -
-v^.,
.

l"iG, 12. Lird"a-eye view of villa, restored Ch.

"
a by Chipiez.
 The Egyptian House.

When a man was at all easy in his circumstances he chose for his
dwelline a house in which all eles^anceand artisticelaboration was

reserved for himself "

a bare wall was turned to the noise of the

street. Houses upon such a principle

covered, of course,
constructed
a large space of ground. The walls of Babylon
proportionally
inclosed fields,gardens,and vineyards; ^ and probable that
it is
much of the land embraced by those of Thebes was occupied in
similar fashion by those inclosures round the dwellingsof the
rich,which might be compared to an Anglo-Indian"compound."
The house, of which a restoration appears on page 31 (Fig.
12), a restoration plan found by
which is based upon the
Rosellini in a Theban tomb (Fig.3), is generallyconsidered to
have been a country villa belonging to the king. We do not

concur in that opinion,however. It appears to us quitepossible

that in the fashionable quarters if we may use such a phrase " "

of ^Memphis and Thebes, the houses of the great may have shewn
such combinations of architecture and orarden as this. There are

trees and creepingplantsin front of the house shown in Fig, i

also. Both are inclosed within a wall piercedby one largedoor.

Even the houses of the poor seem generallyto have had their
courtyards,at the back of which a structure was raised consisting
of a singlestory surmounted by a flat roof,to which access was

given by an external staircase. This arrangement, which is to

be seen in a small model of a house which belongs to the

Egyptian collection in the Louvre (Fig. 13), does not differ
from that which is stillin force in the of Egypt.-
villages
In the largerhouses the chambers were distributed around two

or three sides of a court;. The which

building, has been alluded
to as the Palace at Tell-el-Amarna, with many others in the same

city(Figs.14, 15, 16),affords an example of their arrangement.

Sometimes, as in another and neighbouringhouse, the chambers

opened upon a long corridor. The offices were upon the ground
floor,while the familyinhabited the stories above it. The flat top
of the house had a parapet round it,and sometimes a lightouter
r Encouragement c'es Etudes grecques, 187S),the house in Bubastis inhabited by the

daughterof a priest
of high rank is thus described : "
Satni proceeded to^vards the
west of the town until he came a very high house.
to It had a wall round it :
a garden on the north side ; a flight steps
o f before the door."
^
QUIXTUS CURTRS. V. I. 1 27.
"

Wilkinson', The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.\o\. i.

P- 377-
VOL. ir. F
 ;4 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

roof supported by slender columns of brilliantly

painted wood.
This open story is well shown in Fig. i and in a box for
holding funerarystatuettes, which is in the Louvre. It is repro-
duced
in Fig. 1 8. Upon that part of the roof which was not

covered a kind of screen of planks was fixed, which served to

Fig. 13. " Model of an Egyptian house ; Louvre.

establish a current of air, and to ventilate the house (Fig. 19).

Sometimes one part of house
higher than the rest, forming
a was

a kind of tower (Fig. 20). Finally,some houses were crowned

with a parapet finishing
at the top in a row of rounded battlements

anil
uui

rnim
0^
til mm J "

"
"

"
"

*
"

Figs. 14" 17." Flans of houses; from Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 345.

(Fig. 21). In very large houses the entrance to the courtyard

was ornamented with porch supported by
a two pillars,
with lotus
flower capitals,to which banners tied upon
were /eU^ days
(Fig. 22). Sometimes the name of the proprietor, sometimes
a hospitable
sentiment, was Inscribed upon the lintel (Fig.23).
 The Egyptian House. 15

built of crude bricks made of loam

Eo-yptianhouses
'"
were

mixed with chopped straw. These bricks were usuallya foot long
and six inches wide. The ceilingsof the largerrooms were of

indigenousor foreignwood ; the smaller rooms were often vaulted.

Fig. i8. " Piece of furniture in the form of a house ; Lou\Te.

"
Doors and windows opened generallyin the middle. They
opened inwards, and were fastened by means of bolts and latches.
Some of them had wooden locks like those which are still in use

Fig. 19. " House from a Theban wall Fig. 20. " House with a tower, from
painting; from Wilkinson, i. p. 361. a painting; Wilkinson, i. p. 361.

in Egypt. Most of the inner doors were closed merely by

hangings of some light material. For the decoration we must

turn to the picturesin the rock-cut tombs. The walls of the

houses were coated with stucco, and painted with religious and
36 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

domestic scenes. The and

galleries columns of the porch were
coloured in imitation of stone granite. The
or ceilingswere
covered with what we call arabesques and interlacing
ornaments

of all kinds, while the floors were strewn with mats woven of
^
many-colouredreeds."

Fig. 21. "

Battlemented Fig. 22. " Decorated porch; Fig. 23. " House with scription";
in-

house ; from Wilkinson, from Wilkinson, i. p. 346. from Wilkinson,

i. p. 362. i. 32.

We shall describe the tasteful and convenient furniture which

these rooms contained in our chapter upon the industrial arts.

The flat roof seems to have been universal in Egypt. It added

to the accommodation of the house, It afforded a pleasantrendezvous
for the familyIn the evening,where they could enjoy the view and

Fig. 24. "

House, storehouse, and garden ; from Prisse,p. 2i8.

the fresh breezes which spring up at sunset. At certain seasons

they must have sleptthere. ^ On the other hand the granaries,

^
We have borrowed this short description
from a Review of M. Gailhabaud's
Momune7its anciens et inodernes, Style Egyptien. Maisons. Those who require
further details may consult Chapter V. of Sir Gardner Wilkinson's Manners and
Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.
'
Herodotus (ii.95) says that they did so in the marshy parts of Lower

Egypt.
 The Egyptian House. Z1

barns, and storehouses were almost alwaysdome-shaped (Fig.24).

Those which had flat roofs seem to have been very few indeed.
This we see In a paintingwhich seems to represent the process of

brewing. The Egyptians were great beer drinkers (Fig. 25).

Fig. 25. "

Brewing, Beni-Hassan ; from Champollion, pi. 398.

These brick vaults must have been very thick,and they were well
fitted to preserve that equable and comparativelylow temperature
which is
requiredfor the keeping of provisions. The bas-reliefs
often show long rows of storehouses one after the other. Their
number was no doubt intended to give an idea of their proprietor's

!a;i;i!l;^ilii:i;i^!li:i!J:;.i!iti]iii
;;rO!ri""X

'
M;;^ ^

Fig. 26. "

Granaries,Beni-Hassan ; from Wilkinson.

wealth. Some of them seem to have had their only opening half-
way

up their sides and to have been reached by an external incline

or of steps (Fig. 26).
flight A sketch made by M. Bourgoin in a
tomb at Sakkarah shows us another form of It (Fig.27)
granary.
38 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

is shaped like a stone bottle,it has a door at the ground level and

a littlewindow higherup.^
The Egyptians had country houses as well as those in town, but
the structural arrangements were the same in both. The dwelling
of the peasant did not differ very greatlyfrom that of the town-
bred artisan, while the villas of the wealthy w^ere only distin-
guished
from their houses in the richer quarters of Thebes and

Fig. 27. "

Granaries ; Sakkarah.

Memphis by their provisionof shady groves, parks,

more abundant
and artificiallakes. Their paintingsprove conclusively that the

Egyptians had carried horticulture to a very high pitch; they even

put their more precious trees in pots like those in which we
placeorange-trees.^

" 4. Military Architectttre.

The Ancient Egyptians have left us very few works of military

architecture,and yet, under their great Theban princes,
more than
one fortress must have been built outside their own country to
preserve their supremacy- over neighbourijig.peoples. In the
later periodsof the empire fortresses were erected in the Delta
^
It is difficultto say what the artistmeant by the httle oblong mark under these
windows. Perhaps it represents an outside balcony by which the window could be
reached either for the purposes of inspectionor in order to add to the store within.
-
These trees must have been planted in large terra-cotta pots, such as are still
used in many ])laccsfor the same purpose.
 Military Architecture. 39

such works
and in the upper gorges of the Nile, but, unfortunately
were always carried out in brick and generallyin crude brick.

The Eo-yptianarchitect had at hand in great abundance the finest

materials in the world, except marble, and they were used by yet
him exclusivelyfor the tomb and the temple. When it was a

questionof providingan indestructible dwellingfor the dead, and

so of perpetuating the efficacy of the funeral prayers and offerings,

spared ; but when less importantpurposes

"
"
eternal stone was not

hacTto-be-fiilfilled they were content with clay. Baking bricks was

a more rapidprocess than quarryingand dressingstone, and if the

house or fortress in which they were used had comparatively
it with another.
slightdurability, it was easy enough to replace
The~cnHe~Bricks,dried simply in the sun, became disintegrated
with time and fell into powder ; the kiln dried bricks were carried
off from the ruins of one buildingto be used in another. The
few piers or fragments of wall which remain are confused and
shapeless. A few blocks of stone, sometimes even a singlechip

of marble, is enough to enable us to tell the historyof a building

which has been long destroyed. Such a chip may be the only
survivinof frao^ment of the edifice to which it belonged, but it

preserves the impressionof the chisel which fashioned it,that is

of the taste and individualityof the artist who held the chisel.
We have nothinsfof the kind in the case of a brick. Bricks -were

almost always covered with a coat so that nothingwas of stucco,

requiredof them beyond that they should be of the rightsize and

of a certain hardness. It is only by their inscriptions,
when they
have them, that the dates of these bricks can be determined ;
when they are without them they tell us nothing at all about the

past. Sometimes a brick structure presents, from a distance, an

imposing appearance, and the traveller approachesit thinkingthat
he will soon draw all its secrets from it. But after carefully
ing
study-
and measuring it he is forced to confess that he has failed.
It has no trace of decoration, and it is the decoration of an ancient
buildingwhich tells us its age, its character, and its purpose.
Stone, even greatlybroken, allows
when mouldings to be traced,
but bricks preserve nothing; they are as wanting in individual
expressionas the pebbleswhich go to make a shinglybeech.
Even if it had come down to us in a less fragmentarycondition,
the militaryarchitecture of Egypt would have been far less in-
terestin
than that of Greece. The latter country is mountainous ;
40 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the soil is by valleysand rocky hills ; the Greek towns, or,

cut up
at least, occupiedthe summits of rocky heightswhich
their citadels,

varied greatly and altitude.

in profile Hence the militaryarchitec-
ture
of the country showed great diversityin its combinations.
In Egypt the configuration of the soil was not of a nature to

provoke any efforts of invention or adaptation. All the cities

W'ere in the plain. Fortified posts were distinguishedfrom one

another only by the greater or less extent, height,and thickness of

their walls. We shall,however, have to call attention to the
remains of a few_d"i"nsixe_workswhich, like those established to

guard the defiles of the cataracts, were built upon sites different

enough from those ordinarilypresented by the Nile valley. In

these cases we shall find that the Egyptian constructors knew
how to adapt their military buildings to the specialrequirements
of the ground.

Egyptian cities seem always to have been surrounded by a forti-

fied
enceinte ; in some cases the remains of such fortifications have
been found, in others historytells us that they existed. At Thebes,
for instance,no traces have, so far as we know, been discovered
of any wall. Homer's epithetof hundred-gated{iKaToybirvKos)
may
be put on one side as evidence, because the Greek poet did not

know Egypt. He described the great metropolisof the Empire

of the South as he
imagined it to be. The Homeric epithetis
capablealso of another explanation,
an explanationwhich did not

escape Diodorus,^ it may have referred,not to the gates of the

but
city, to the pylons of the temples,and should in that case be
"
translated as
"
Thebes of the Jiitndi'edpylons instead of hundred
We have better evidence to the existence of fortifications
gates. as

about the town in the left to us by the

descriptions ancient historians
of the siegeof Ptolemy Physcon : the citycould not have resisted
for several years if it had been an open town. It was the same

withMemphis. On more than one occasion,duringthe Pharaonic

period as well as after the Persian conquest, it played the part of
a fortress of the first class. It was the key of middle Egypt.
It even had a kind of citadel which included almost a third of the

cityand was called the white wall (XevKcv This

relx^s).'^ name was

^
DioDORUs, i. 45, 6.
2
i. 104. Cf. iii. 94, and Diodorus, xi. 74. After
Thucvdides, Herodotus,
the Persian the army left the submission
conciuest it was occupiedby corps to ensure

of the country.
 Military Architecture. 41

given,as the scholiast Thucydides informs us, because

to
"
itswalls

were of white stone, while those of the cityitself were of red

brick." The exactness of this -statement may be doubted. The

Egyptiansmade their defensive walls of a thickness which could

only be attained in brick. It seems likelytherefore that these

walls consisted of a brick core covered with white stone. An

examination of the remains

Heliopolissuggestedto the authors of
of the Description de f Egypte that the walls of that cit}'also were

cased with dressed stone. They found, even upon the highest

part of the walls, pieces of limestone for which they could

account in no other way.
Nowhere else is there
anything to be discovered beyond the
remains of brick walls,which have always been laid out in the
form of a parallelogram.^These walls are sometimes between
sixty and seventy feet thick.^ In some cases their positionis

only to be traced by a gentle swelling in the soil ; at Sais.

however, they seem to have preserved a height of fifty-seven
feet in some parts.^ No signs of towers or bastions are ever

found. At Heliopolis there were gates at certain distances with

stone jambs covered with inscriptions.^ The best preserved of

all these enceintes is that of the ancient cityof Nekheb, the Eilithyia
of the Greeks, in the valleyof El-Kab. The rectangle is 595

yards long by 516 wide; the walls are 36 feet thick. ^ About
a quarter of the whole enceinte has been destroyed for the
purposes of agriculture ; the part which remains contains four

largegates, which are not placed in the middle of the faces upon
which they open. In all the paintingsrepresenting sieges these
walls are shown with round-topped battlements, which were

easilyconstructed in brick.
The only fort,properlyspeaking,which has been discovered
in Egypt, appears to be the ruin known as CJionnct-cs-Zezib at
Abydos.^ This is a rectangular court inclosed by a double wall,

Plate 55 of the first volume of Lepsius'sDenkmceler contains traces of the

enceintes of Sais,Heliopolis,
and Tanis. See also the de TEg\pte,Ant.,
Description
Ch. 21, 23, 24.
^
At Heliopolisthey were 64 feet thick at Sais 48
{Description), feet {ibid.)
while at Tanis they were
only 19 feet.
^
IsAMBERT, Itineraire de V Es.ypte. "*
Maxime du Camp, Le Nil. p. 64.
^
Lepsius, Denkmceler, vol. ii. pi. ico. " makes
Ebers, {^Egypten,) the enceinte
of Nekheb a square.
"
Mariette, Abydos, Description
des Fouilles,
vol. ii.pp. 46-49,and plate68.

VOL. IT. G
 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt
42

and it stillexists in preservation,

a fair state
to the west of of
the northern (Fig.28). After examining many possible
necropolis
hypotheses, Mariette came to the conclusion that this was a

military post intended to watch over the safetyof the necropolis,

and to keep an eye upon the caravans arrivingfrom the desert.
Robber tribes might otherwise be tempted to make use of any
moment of confusion for the pillageof the temple. There were

Fig. 28. "

Militarypost at Abydos ; perspectivefrom the plans,etc., of Mariette.

curious arrangements for the purpose of

guarding againsta coup-
de-main. Within the outer wall, which is provided with small

gateways, there is a covered way extending round the whole

fort, and commanded by the inner wall. Before the inner court

could be reached, an enemy had to traverse a narrow and crooked

passage in the thickness of the wall, which was well calculated

to secure the necessary time for a moment of preparationin case

of surprise
(Fig.29).

iI
I FT

i \
Fig. 29. "
Militarypost. Plan of the entrances ; from Mariette.

The most curious relic of the militaryengineering of the

Egyptians is to be found in Nubia. Thirty-sevenmiles south-
ward

of the cataracts of Wadi-Halfah the Nile has worn a

channel through a long chain of granite hills which run across

the valleyfrom east to west. On each side of the river-bed these

hills rise to some height and across its torrent there are a few
detached rocks, which once formed a natural dam, but between which
 u

CJ

gs- a

i
.

I
 Military Architecture. 45

the water now rushes impetuously.Navigationis only possible

these rapids during the inundation. This point in the
among
river's course was therefore well fitted to be the gate of Egypt
and to be fortified againstthe incursions of the southern tribes.
first Theban Empire, the Pharaohs of the twelfth
During the
the national frontier this point,and resolved
dynasty drew at

to establish themselves there in force. The Third Ousourtesen

seems to have built the two fortresses of which substantial remains

exist even now. Each fortress contained a temple and numerous

houses. Lepsius gives the name of Kumme/i to that on the

rightbank and reserves the name Semneh, w^hich has usuallybeen

appliedto the whole group, to the buildingon the left bank only.
For our restoration (Fig. 30) we have had to depend very
little upon The
conjecture.^ only flightof fancy in which we

have indulged is seen in the extra heightwhich we have

given
to the tower at the north-eastern angle of the building It
seemed to us probablethat at some point upon such a loftyterrace

there would be a belvedere or watch-tower to facilitate the

proper surveillance of the country round about. For the rest we

have merely re-established the upper part of the works and

restored its depth to the ditch,which had been filledin by the falling
of the parapets. The line of walls and bastions can be easily
followed except at one point upon the southern face, where a

wide breach exists. The destruction of this part of the wall

alone and the clearingof the ground upon which it stood, suggests
that it was broken down by man rather than by time. It is

probablethat the fortress was taken by some Ethiopianconqueror,

by Sabaco or Tahraka, and that he took care to render its forti-
fications
useless in a way that could
easilyrepaired. not be
Our viev/ of the fort shows it as it must have appeared from
a hill in the Libyan Chain, to the south-west. The engineer
lavished all his skill on rendering the castle impregnable from
^
We have been able to make use, for this reconstruction,of two plans which

only differ in details,

and otherwise mutuallycorroborate each other. One is given
by Lepsius, Plate in, vol. ii.of his Denhticeler \ the plans of the tAvo fortresses are

in the middle of his map of the valley where they occur. In plate 112 we have

a pictorialview of the ruins and the ground about them. In the Bidletin

archeologique
de T Athenceum Francois (1855, pp. 80-84, and plate 5), M. Vogue
also published a plan of the two accompanied by a
forts, section and a description
givingvaluable details,
details which Lepsius,in his Briefeaus passed over
yEg_vf"fe"t,
in silence.
46 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the side of the desert. An attack the flank facing the

upon
stream impossible; on
was that side the walls rested upon
precipitous
rocks risingsheer from the
rapidsof the Nile.
The trace of the walls was a polygon not unlike a capitalL.
The principal
arm perpendicular
was to the course of the river. Its
flat summit (see Fig. t,o) was about 250 feet by 190 feet. The
interior was reached by a narrow passage in the thickness of the

masonry, the entrance to which was reached by an inclined

plane. The entrance is not visible in our illustration but the
incline which leads to it is shown. The walls on the three sides
which looked landwards to eightyfeet high,accord-
fifty were ing from
to the ground. They increased in thickness from twenty-six

Fig. 31. " A besiegedfort,Beni- Hassan ; from ChampoUion, pi.379.

feet at the base to about twelve or thirteen at the summit.

Externallytheir upper parts fell backwards in such fashion that

no ladder, however high, would have availed to reach the

parapet. We find a similar arrangement in the walls of a fortress

represented
at Beni-Hassan (Fig.31).^
The walls of Semneh were both structurally
strengthened, and

from a militarypoint of view, by salient buttresses or small

bastions all the sides that which faced the river.

on except
These buttresses were either twelve or thirteen in number and

from six to eight feet v/ide at the top. In the re-enteringangle

1
In this case the incUnation is, however, in the lower half of the wall ; a

device which would be far less efficient in defeating an escalade than that at

Semneh. " Ed.

p"-,Uv"fi^.;
'"

Fig. 32. "

Siege of a fortress ; from
the Ramesseum, Thebes.
 Military Arciiitkcture. 49

which faces north-west there is a long diagonalbuttress, by the

use of engineer or architect at once

which the economized
material and protecteda weak part of his structure in a most

efficient manner. The salient angles of the enceinte were tected

pro-
by double towers, very well disposed so as to command
the ditch. A symmetrical regularityis not to be found here
than in the funeraryand religious structures of Egypt.
any more
The curtain wall between two of the towers on the southern

face is broken into small buttresses of various degrees of

up
salience, instead being planned on a straight
of line like the rest.
When the fortress was prepared for defence the parapets may
have been furnished w^ith wooden structures actingas machicola-
tions,

whence the besieged could cast javehns and stones and

shoot arrows at an enemy attempting to scale or batter the walls.

A bas-relief at Thebes which represents the siege of a fortress
seems to indicate that the parapets were crowned by wooden
erections of some kind (Fig.32).^
The walls were surrounded by a ditch, which was from 95
to 125 feet wide. We cannot now tell what its depth may
have been, but it appears to have been paved. The counterscarp
and certain parts of the scarp were faced with stone, caretully
polished,and fixed so as to augment the difficulty of approach.

Moreover, the crown of the glacis and the wide glacisitself were
also reveted with stone. All this formed a first line of defence,
which had to be destroyed before the assailants could reach the

placeitself with their machines. The external line of the ditch

does not follow all the of the enceinte,its
irregularities trace is

the same as that of the curtain wall, exclusive of the towers or

buttresses. The clear width from the face of the latter is about

sixty-four feet. Neither ditch nor glacisexist on the eastern face,

where the rapidsof the Nile render them unnecessary.
We must not forgetto draw attention to the curious way in
which the body of the fort is constructed. It is composed of

crude bricks transfixed horizontally, and at rather narrow interv^als,

by piecesof wood. The situation of these beams may be easily
recognizedas they have decayed and left channels in the brick-
work.
That the holes with which the walls are piercedat regular
distances (seeFig. 30)were thus caused, is beyond doubt, especially
^
Both the
plate in the Descriptionde F Egypte {Ant. vol. ii.pi.31),and that in
Lepsius (partiii.pl.
166),suggest this interpretation.
VOL. n. H
50 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

since a few fragments of wood which the centuries have spared

have been found. These fragfrnents have been recoQ^nized as

having come from the douni palm, which is very common in Upper
Egypt, and commoner still in Nubia.

We need not dwell the other fortress that the right

upon "
on

bank. It be seen in the distance in restoration of

may our

Semneh. Being built upon rocks which were on all sides difficult

of access, it did not require any elaborate works. It was

very
composed of an enceinte inclosingan irregular square about 190
feet each way. It had but a few salient buttresses ; there were

only two on the north east, towards the mountains, and one, a

very bold one, on the south-west, commanding the river. There

was no room for a wide ditch. But at a distance of thirteen feet

from the walls there was a glacis similar to that at Semneh. It

had the same casing of polished stone, but on account of the

of
irregularities the rock, the height of its crown varied siderably,
con-

and its slope steep, almost vertical. The

was very
trace of the counterscarp followed that of the enceinte, including
the buttresses. Moreover, at its northern and southern angles it

followed a line which roughly resembled the bastions of a modern

fortification. Its structure was similar to that of Semneh.

Lepsius does not hesitate to ascribe both these forts to Ousour-

tesen III., whose name appears upon all the neighbouring rocks,
and who, with the deities of the south, was worshipped at

Semneh.^ They would thus date back, according to the logy

chrono-
which is now generally adopted, to the twenty- seventh or

twenty-eighth century B.C. In any case they cannot be later than

the time of Thothmes III., who, in the course of the seventeenth

century B.C. restored the temples which they inclose, and covered

their walls with his effigiesand royal cartouches. Even if we

admit that these two castles are not older than the last-named

epoch, we shall still have to give to Egypt the credit of possessing

the oldest examples of militaryarchitecture, as well as the oldest

temples and the oldest tombs.

^
Lepsius, Briefe aus /Egyptcjj,p. 259. "
See also Maspero, Histoire Ancienne,
pp. 111-113.
 CHAPTER II.

METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION, THE ORDERS, SECONDARY FORMS.

" I. An Analysis of Architecho-ai Forms

necessary.

We have now
described the tomb, the temple, and the house

in ancient Egypt. We have attempted to define the character of

their architecture, and to show how its forms were determined by

the religious beliefs, social condition, and manners of the nation,

as well as by the climate of the country. We have therefore

passed in review the most important architectural creations of

a people who were the first to display a real taste and feeling
for art.

In order to give a complete idea of Egyptian art, and of the

resources at its disposal, we must now take these buildings to

pieces and show the elements of which they were composed. The
"
rich variety of supports, the numerous
"
orders of pillar and column,
the methods employed for decoration and illumination, must each

be studied separately. We have commenced by looking at them

from a synthetic point of view, but we must finish by a methodical

analysis. From such an analysis alone can we obtain the sary

neces-

materials for an exhaustive comparison between the art of

Egypt and that of the nations which succeeded her the stage
upon

of history. An examination of the Egyptian remains carries the

historian back to a more remote date than can be attained in the

of other and he is far from reaching the first

case any country, yet

springs of Egyptian civilization. Notwithstanding their gious

prodi-
antiquity, the most ancient of the monuments that have

survived us back into the bosom of a society which had

carry

long emerged from primitive barbarism. The centuries which saw

the building of the Pyramids and the mastabas of the Memphite

necropolis had behind them a long and well-filled past. Although
52 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

we possess no relic from that past, we can diYine its character to

some extent from the impressionwhich it made upon the taste

and fancy of latter ages. Certain effects of which the artists of

Memphis were very fond can only be explainedby habits con- tracted

during a long course of centuries. In the forms and

motives employed by Egyptian architects we shall find more than

one example of these survivals from a previous stage of develop- ment,

such as forms appropriateto wood or metal employed in
stone, and childish methods of construction perpetuatedwithout
other apparent cause.

" 2. Alaterials.

In our explanationof the general character of Egyptian archi-

tecture
we have already enumerated the principalmaterials of
which it disposed,and pointedout the modifications arisingfrom
the choice of one or another of those materials. We should not

here return to the subjectbut for a misconception which has

gained a wide acceptance.

People have seen a few granite obelisks standing in two or

three of the European capitals, and they have too often jumped
to the conclusion that the Egyptians built almost exclusively in

granite. The fact is that there is but one buildingin Egypt the
body of which is of granite,and that is the ancient temple at
Gizeh which is called the Temple of tJie Sphinx (Figs.202 and

203, vol. i.). Even there the roof and the casingof the walls was
of alabaster. Granite was employed, as a rule,only where a very
choice and expensivematerial was required. It was brought into
play when certain parts of a buildinghad to be endowed with
more nobility and beauty than the rest. Thus there are, in the

great temple at Karnak, a few small rooms, called The Grange

Chamber's (Fig.215, H, vol. I.), in which the material in questionhas

alone been employed. Elsewhere in the same buildingit was

only used incidentally.In the pyramid of Cheops the liningof
the Grand Galleryis of granite.^ In many of the Theban temples
it was employed for the bases of columns, thresholds,jambs, and
lintels of doors. It was also used for isolated objects,such as

^
It is of Mokattam limestone (see vol. i.,p. 223). M. Perrot probably meant
to refer to the two ii]jper
"
chambers," botli of whicli are lined with granite. " Kd.
 Materials. ^t,

tabernacles,monolithic statues, obelisks,and sarcophagi. The

enormous quantityof granitewhich Egypt drew, from first to last,

from the quarriesat Syene, was mosdy for the sculptor. The
dressed materials of the architect came chieflyfrom the lime-
stone
and sandstone quarries. Sometimes we find a building

entirelyconstructed of one or the other, sometimes they are

employed side by side. The great temple at Abydos is built
"

partlyof limestone, very fine in the grain and admirably adapted

for sculpture, and partlyof sandstone. The sandstone has been

used for columns, architraves, and the frames of doors, and

limestone for the rest." ^

Bricks were employed to a vast extent by the Egyptians. They

made them of Nile mud mixed with chopped straw, a combination
which is mentioned in the Biblical account of the hardships in-
flicted

upon the Israelites. "

And Pharaoh commanded the sam.e

day the taskmasters of thepeople and their officers,saying,Ye

shall no more give the people straw to make brick as heretofore ;

let them q-q and rather straw for themselves. And the tale of the
bricks which they did make heretofore ye shall lay upon them ;

ye shall not diminish aught thereof,for they be idle." -

This manufacture was remarkable for its extreme rapidity an

"

excellent brick earth was to be found at almost any point in the

Nile valley. An unpractisedlabourer
can easilymake a thousand
bricks a day ; after a week's practicehe can make twelve hundred,
"

and, if paid by the piece as many

"
as eighteenhundred a day.^
Sometimes drying in the sini was thought sufficient ; the result
was a crude brick which was endowed with no little power of
resistance and endurance in such a climate as that of Egypt.
When baked bricks
operation was
were
a little required the
complicatedas they each had to pass through the kiln. Egyptian
bricks were usually very large. Those of a pyramid in the
neighbourhood of Memphis average 15 inches long by 7 wide

'
Mariette, Voyage dans la Haute- Egypie, vol. i. p. 59.
-

Exodus V. 6-8.
^
Marietie, Traite praiigm tt raisonnl- de la Construction en Ei^ypte,p. 59. All
these operationsare shown upon the walls of tomb Abd-el-Gournah
(Lfpsius, a at

Denkniixhr, p. rii, pi. 40). Labourers are seen drawing water from a basin,
^'ggingthe earth, carriingit in largejars,mixing it with the water, pressing the clay
into the moulds, finally
buildingwalls which are being tested with a plumb-line by
an overseer or foreman (see also I'ig.16).
54 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

and 4f inches thick.^ After the commencement of the Theban

epoch they were often stamped with the royaloval as "

the Roman
bricks had the names of the consuls impressed upon them " and
thus they have preserved the dates at which the buildingsof
which they form part were erected (Fig.32,).'^
We see, then, that the Egyptians had no lack of excellent

buildingmaterials of a lapidarykind. On the other hand, they

were very poorlyprovided with good timber. Before the conquest
of Syria they must have been almost entirelyconfined to their

indigenouswoods. The best of these were the Acacia nilotica,

or acacia,and the Acacia lebhak, but neither of these trees
gum
furnished beams of any size. Sycamore wood was too soft ; its

root alone being hard enough for use.^ And yet in default

of better wood it was sometimes employed. The same may

be said of the date palm, whose trunk

furnished posts and rafters,and, at times,

very poor flooring planks. During the

hey-day of Theban supremacy, the timber

for such buildings as the pavilion at
Medinet-Abou must have been brought from

Syria at great cost. The Theban princes,

like those of Nineveh in later times, no

doubt caused the Phoenicians, who were

their vassals, to thin the cedar forests of

Lebanon for their benefit. In structures

Fig. 33. " Brick stamped
v\ ith the royalovalsimportance carpenters and joiners
; from of less
Prisse.
had to do as best they could with the
The difficultywhich
timber furnished by their own country.
they experienced in procuringgood planks explains to some
the care which they lavished upon their woodwork. They
extent

contrived, by an elaborate system of parquetting," of combining "

upright and horizontal stripswith ornamental members, to avoid

the of the smallest pieceof material. In some ways
waste even

this work resembles the ceilings, doorways, and panels of a

1
Prisse, Histoire de V Art Agyptien,
letter-press,
p. i79-
26, 39) has reproduced certain
2
Lepsius part iii.plates 7, 2Sa,
{Denkmceler, a

number of these stamped bricks.

3
We do not here refer to the kind of maple which is often erroneouslycalled
different familyand the
a sycamore with us, but to a tree of quitea appearance,
Ficus Sycomorus of Linnaeus.
 Construction. 55

modern Arab house, of the imnicharabichs of Cairo. The principle

is the same in both cases, although the decorative lines are what
some-

different ; similar necessities have suggested the employ-

ment
of similar processes.''

" 3. Consti'uction.

In spiteof thequalityof Egyptian timber the earliest

bad
efforts at construction made by the ancestors of the people were
made in wood. Their dwellingscannot have been ven,- unlike
those which the traveller even yet encounters in Nubia. These

are cabins with walls formed of palm branches interlaced and

plasteredover with clayand straw. Their roofs are branches or

planks from the same tree laid horizontally across. In Lower

Eg}"pt,upon the borders of Lake Menzaleh, the huts of the

people are formed of long and thick faggots of reeds. Wherever

wood was abundant and the rain less to be feared than the heat
of the sun, dwelling was
the a hut of branches.
first The
manufacture of bricks requireda good deal more patience,calcula-
tion,
and effort, than to planta few boughs in the soil and weave
them together.
We do not mean to pretend that earth, either in the form of
bricks or pise,did not very soon come into use when men began
to form shelters for themselves, but it seems certain that wooden
construction was developed before any other. It was the first to

aim at ornament, and to show anvthina which could be called

a style. This is proved by the fact that the most ancient works
in stone have no appropriatecharacter of their own ; they owe

such decorative qualitiesas they possess to their docile imitation

of works in the less durable material.
We may take the
sarcophagus of Mycerinus as an example
of this. That sarcophagus had a short but adventurous career

after its discoveryby Colonel Howard Vyse in 1837. It was then

empty, but in a state of perfectpreservation, with the exception
of the lid,which was broken, but could be easilyrestored. The

precious relic was removed from the pyramid and embarked,

togetherwith the wooden coffin of the king,on board a merchant
ship at Alexandria. On her voyage to England the ship was
'
Ed. Mariette, Traite Pratique,etc., p. 95.
56 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

wrecked off
Carthagena, and the sarcophagus lost. The coffin
floated and was saved. Happily the sarcophagus had been
accuratelydrawn, and we are enabled to give a perspectiveview
of it compiled from Perring's elevations (Fig.34).
From its appearance no one would guess that this sarcophagus
was of basalt. The whole of its forms were appropriateto
wooden construction alone. Each of its longersides was divided
into three compartments by four groups of minute pilasters, slight
in salience,and crowned by a kind of entablature formed of four
transverse members which were unequal in lengthand relief The
lower parts of the three compartments consist of a kind of false
door with
complicatedjambs. Above
very this there are deeply
cut hollows with cross bars, suggestingwindows, and still higher
a number of filletsrun along the whole lengthof the sarcophagus.
The littlepilasters are separatedby narrow panels,which terminate
in an ornament which could readilybe cut in wood by the chisel,
viz.,in that double lotus-leaf which is so universally
present in
the more ancient tombs.
The ends of the sarcophagus were similar to the sides,except
thatthey had only one compartment. The corners and the upper

edge, exclusive of the lid,are carved into a cylindrical

moulding
which resembles the rounded and tied ansfles of a wooden case.

The upper member of the whole, a bold cornice, is the only

element which it is not easy to refer to the traditions of wooden
construction.-^
The first idea suggested by the design of this sarcophagus is
tJiatof largewooden
a coffer. When we come to look at it a little

more closely,
however, the imitations of doors and windows and
other details incline us to believe that its maker was thinking
of reproducing the accustomed aspect of a wooden house. In

that case we should have in it a reduction of a buildingbelonging

to the closed category of assembled constructions. It is by the

^
In his Histoire de V Hahitation,Viollet-lk-Uuc has sought to find the origin
of this cornice in an outward curve impartedto the upper of the
extremity reeds of
whichprimitivedweUings were made, and maintained by the weightof the roof He
of his hypothesis.There
pubHshed a drawing in justification are, however, many

objectionsto it. It requiresus to admit the generaluse of the reed as the material
for primitivedwellings.Branches which were ever so little rigidand firm could not

have been so bent, and yet they are often found in the huts to which we refer.
It may even bo doubted whether the reeds employed would bear such a curvature

as that of tlie Egyptiancornice without breaking.

 '"'
"
^

'Tim--'-""-#

VOL. II.
 Construction. 59

study of imitative works of this kind and by comparing with one

another theoriginally
forms conceived by carpenters and joiners,
and afterwards employed in stone architecture,that, in our chapter
upon the general principlesof Egyptian construction, we were

enabled to attempt a restoration which may be taken as a type

of the earlywooden (Fig.'St,, architecture
vol. i.).
The foregoingobservations may be appliedwith equaljustice to

the sarcophagusof Khoo-foo-Ankh figuredon pp. 183, 184, vol. i.

It is of the same period,and displaysthe same arrangement of

panels and fillets,the same lotus-leaf ornament, and the same

imitation of a barred window. There is no cornice or Sforofe at

the top, but the upper part of the fiat sides is decorated with the

perpendicular
grooves which are found in the hollow of the cornice

elsewhere. In wood this ornament, which was well adapted to add

richness to the cornice by the shadows which it cast, could easily
be made with a Qrou^e ; so that even if the oforofe itself was not

borrowed from wooden construction its ornamentation

may well
have originatedin that way.
If stillfurther proofsbe requiredof the imitative character of
this earlystone architecture,we shall find them in the door of a

tomb (Fig.35). Nothing can be clearer than the way in which

the lintel obtained its character.

peculiar It is formed of a thick
slab engaged at each end in the upright beams of stone which
form the jambs. This slab appears beyond the jambs, and ends
in a deep groove, which divides them from the walls. Under-
neath
the and well within
lintel, the shadow which it casts, there
is another and more curious slab ; it is,in shape,a thick cylinder,
correspondingin length to the width of the door. In the deep

groove already mentioned the ends of the spindlesor trunnions

upon which it is supported are suggested. They are not, indeed,

in their rightplaces: they are too near the face of the building.
The workman would have had to make the groove very deep in
order to show them in their proper places,and he was therefore
content to hint at them with sufficient clearness to enable those
who saw them to understand what they meant.
We have none of the wooden models under our eyes which
were familiar to the stonemason who carved these doors, but yet
we can easilysee the originof the forms we have justdescribed.
The cylinderwas a circular beam of acacia or palm, upon which a

mat or stripof cloth of some kind was nailed. By means of coils

6o A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

in the groove at the side the cylindercould be made to revolve,

and the curtain would thus be easilydrawn up and down. These

curious forms are thus at once accounted for if we refer them to

the wooden structures which were once plentifulbut have now-

disappeared. Nothing be more could

difficult than to an find

explanationof them in fornis appropriateto stone or granite. Of

what use could such a cylinderbe if carried out in either of those

i"|l^il!i!;'lf .

Fig. 35. " Door of a tomb at Sakkarah ; drawn by Bourgoin.

materials ? It could not revolve, and the deep lateral grooves,

which have such an obvious use in a wooden building, would be

purposeless.
We find repeated in a rectangular
these features stele from the
fourth dynasty,which we reproduce on page 61. In Fig. 37 we
give some of its details upon a largerscale. The upper part of
this stele displaystwo motives which will be recognisedat the
first glanceas borrowed from carpentry. The firstof these is the
 Construction. 6i

row of hexaofonal studs, which forms a kind of frieze above the

pilasters. In the wooden originalthey must have been formed

of six small pieces of wood fixed around a hexagonal centre.

Oriental cabinetmakers to this day ornament ceilingsand cots

wains-

in the same fashion. Something like them is certain to have

existed in that okel,whose ornamented

delicately walls were so

greatlyadmired by the visitors to the Exhibition of 1867. The

same may be said of the row of billets which forms the upper
member of the frieze, to which somethinof of an ovoid form
has been given by rounding their upper extremities. The

same source of inspiration

is betrayed by other details of this
62 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

monument, which has been treated by time with extraordinary

tenderness.

Tombs have been found at Gizeh and Sakkarah, which are

referred to the second and third dynasties. The king Persen,

whose name occurs in some of the inscriptions
upon these tombs,

belongs to that remote period. In many of these tombs the

ceilingis carved to represent trunks

palm-trees; even the
of

roughnessesof the bark being reproduced. Most of the chres

sepul-
in which these details have been noticed are subterranean,
but they are also to be discovered in a chamber in the tomb of
Ti. It is probablethat if more mastabas had come down to us

details of the upper

part of the Stele figuredon the

x" "X
.\j^J\2\J
'
preceding page.

^J 1 jgm ^
UwTfp-j

Fig. 37. "

Stele from the 4th dynasty ; drawn by Bourgoin.

with their roofs intact we should find many instances of this kind
of decoration.^
Our Fio-ures 38 and 39 are taken from another tomb, and show

varieties of that ornament which is universallyemployed as a

finial to the panels we have mentioned. In its most careful

form it consists of two petalsunited by a band, which allows the

deep slit characteristic of the leaves of all aquaticplants to be

clearlyvisible.

^
This imitation of wooden roofs by the savants
was of the l?istifut
noticed

d'Agypte. drew rock-cut tomb in which the ceiHng is carved to look hke
They a

trunks of {Description,Antiquith, vol. pi. 6, figs. and 5).

the pahTi trees v. 3, 4,

See also BAEDKKf:R, part i. p. 360.

 Construction.

This motive seems to have had peculiarvalue in the eyes ot

the Egyptians. It is also found in the tombs at Thebes, and its

persistencemay, perhaps,be accounted for by the association of

the lotus with ideas of a new birth and resurrection.^ Under the
Rameses and their successors it was, with exception of
the the
vertical and horizontal grooves (Fig. 201, vol. i,),
the

only reminiscence of wooden construction preserved

by stone architecture. In the doors of the rock-cut
tombs at Thebes no trace of the circular beam.
nor of any other characteristic of the joiner-inspired
stone-carvino- of earlv times, is to be found. The

Fig. 38. " Flattened form of lotus-leaf ornament, seen in front and in
section ; drawn by Bourgoin.

Egy^ptianarchitects had by that time learnt to use

stone and granite in a fashion suoraested bv their

own W^e see, however, by the represen-

capabilities. tations
preserved for us by the bas-reliefs,that fig. 39." Lotus-

wooden construction maintained the character which S^ e?oT-ated

belonged to it during the first davs of the Ancient (i*"-drawn by
"=" o ^
Bourgoin.
Empire (Fig.40).
We know from the pyramids,from
temple of the sphinx. the
and from some of the mastabas, that the Eg}-ptianworkmen were

thoroughlyefficient in the cuttingand dressingof stone, even in

the time of the first monarchs. However far we back in the
go
history
of Egypt we find no trace of any method of construction
^
Pier RET, Dictionnaire d'Arched ogieEgyptienne.
64 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt

correspondingto that which is called

Cyclopean in the case of the
Greeks. We find no walls built like those of Tiryns,with huge
and shapelessmasses of rock, the interstices being filled in with

small stones. We do not even find polygonalmasonry by which "

we mean walls formed of stone dressed with the chisel,but with

irregular and
joints, with stones of very different size and shape
placed in juxtaposition with one another. In the ancient citadels

of Greece and Italythis kind of construction is to be found in

every variety, but in Egypt the stones are always arranged into
horizontal courses. Here and there the vertical jointsare not

quitevertical,and sometimes we find stones which rise higher,or

sink lower, than the course to which they belong,tying it to the
one above it or below it. Such

[ifflnr HM accidents as these do not, ever,

how-
MM
m 4-= affect the generalrule,which
was to keep each course self-
contained and parallelwith the
MM
EMI soil. All these varieties in
liiiii

Egyptian masonry may be seen

in a horizontal section of the

first pylon at Karnak (Fig. 41).

0
o
This pylon is in such a ruined
state that by means of photo-
graphs
taken from different sides

we can form a very exact idea of

its internal composition.'
Fig. 40. "
Wooden pavilion, from a bas
Great in' execution, and
care
relief at Luxor (Champollion, pi.339).
ofreat size in the units of con-

struction, are onlycomparatively few of the

to be found in

Egyptian monuments. We have already remarked upon the

painstakingskill with which the graniteor limestone casingof the

chambers and passages in the Gizeh pyramids was fixed. Certain

buildingsof the Theban period,such as the vaulted chapels in the

Great Temple at Abydos, and the courts of Medinet-Abou, are

notable for excellence of a similar kind. Everything,however,

must in this respect give way to the Grand Galleryin the pyramid
of Cheops.

The Egypt of the early Pharaohs set more than one good
^
This pylon dates from the Ptolemies,but if there was anythingthat did not

change in Egypt,it was their processes of construction.

 Construction.

example generationsfailed to follow.

which later The ordinary
extra-

number of buildingswhich the great Theban princes

carried on at one and the same time, from the depths of Nubia
to the shores of the Mediterranean, made their subjectsmore

easilysatisfied in the matter of architectural thoroughness. The

habit of covering every plain surface with a brilliant polychro-
matic
decoration contributed to the same result. The workmen
were always hurried. There were hardlyhands enough for all the

undertakingson foot at once. How, then, could they be expected

to lavish minute care upon jointswhich were destined to be hidden
behind a coat of stucco ? We never encounter in Egyptian
buildingsany of those gracefulvarieties of masonry which have
been adopted from time to time by all those artistic nations that
have left their stonework bare. None of the various kinds of
rustication,none of the alternation of square
oblong blocks with
none of that undeviatingregularity in the heightof the courses

and in the direction of the jointswhich by itself is enough to

give beauty to a building,is to be found in the work of Egyptian

masons.^
It was for similar motives that the Egyptians did not, as a rule,
care to use verv larofestones. Their obelisks and colossal statues

prove that they knew how to quarry and raise blocks of enormous

size,but they never made those efforts except when they had good
reason to do so. They did not care to exhaust themselves with

dragging huge stones up on to their buildings,where they

would ever after be lost to si^ht under the stucco. In the most

carefullybuilt Theban edifices the average size of the stones

hardly exceeds that of the materials which are used by our

modern architects. A singlecourse was from 30 to ;^Z inches

high, and the length of the blocks varied between 5 feet
and rather more than 8. In the great pylon of Karnak the
lintel over the doorway is a stone beam more than 25 feet
long. In the hypostylehall the architraves of the central aisle

J
This has been well shown by ChampoUion a propos of one of the Xubian
buildingsconstructed by the Theban kings. He speaks thus of the hemispeosof
Wadi-Esseboua :
"
This is the worst piece of work extant from the reignof Rameses
the Great. The stones are ill-cut; their intervals are masked by a layer of cement
over which the sculptureddecoration, which is poorly executed, is continued. . . .

Most of this decoration is now incomprehensiblebecause the cement upon which

a great part of it was carried out, has fallen down and left many and large gaps in
the scenes and inscriptions."
Lettres " d' Egypte et de Nubie, 121.

VOL. II. K
66 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

are at least 29 feet long.^ It is said that some attain a lengthof

nearly32 feet.
The Egyptian architect quite ready to use mono-
was
liths
therefore
of exceptionalsize for the coveringof voids when they were
necessary, but he did not wantonly create that necessity, as those
of other nations have often done. Most of the travellers who
visit Egypt expect to find huge monolithic shafts rearingtheir
loftyheads on every side, and their surpriseis great when they
are told that the huge columns of the hypostyle halls are not cut

from singleblocks. Their first illusion is fostered by the large

number of monolithic granitecolumns which are found at Erment
at Antinoe, at Cairo, in most of the modern Egyptian mosques.
When they arrive at Thebes they discover their error. At
Karnak and at Luxor, at Medinet-Abou and in the Ramesseum, the
columns are made up of drums placedone upon another. In many

cases even these drums are not monolithic, but consist of several
different stones. Under the Roman domination the Egyptians
chose
deliberately to make their columns of singlestones, and

most of those which are of exceptionalsize date from that late

epoch. We know but one case to which these remarks do not

apply ; we mean that of the monolithic supports in the chambers

of the labyrinth which were mentioned by Strabo, and discovered,
as some believe,by Lepsius.'^We are told by that traveller that

they were of granite, but he only saw them when broken. Strabo

says that the chambers were roofed in with slabs of such a size
that they amazed every one who saw them, and added much to the
effect which that famous structure was otherwise calculated to

produce. Prisse figuresa column of red granite

describes and

which he ascribes to Amenophis III,, and which, according to

him, was brought from Memphis to Cairo. Without the base
which, as given in his drawing,must be a restoration,it is 13 feet

8^ inches high, includingthe capital.^It belongs to the same

kind of pillar as those observed by Lepsius in the Fayoum. In a

paintingin one of the Gournah tombs, three workmen are shown

polishinga column exactlysimilar to that figuredby Prisse,with the

singleexceptionthat its proportionsare more slender (Fig.42).
Monolithic columns of red granitehave been discovered to the

^
Descriptioti
de Egypte, Antipiites,
V vol. ii.p. 437.
"
Strabo, xvii. 37. Lepsius, Briefe aus AigypteJi,
"

p. 74.
2
Prisse, Histcire de PArt Egyptien, text, p. 364.
(" ;

u
 Construction. 69

west of the present city of Alexandria which are nearly 22 feet

high. Their capitalsare imitated from truncated lotus-buds,like

that in Fig.42.
It would seem, then, that monolithic columns were in fashion

during the earlycenturies of the second Theban empire,but that,

in later times, the generalcustom was to build up columns, times
some-

height,of moderatelysized, and sometimes

for their whole
of very small stones (Fig. 17).^
To all that concerns the qualityof the buildingsimilar remarks

may be applied. We have mentioned a few examples of careful

and scientific construction, but. as a rule, Egyptian buildings were

put togetherin a fashion that was careless in the extreme.- The

foundations were neither wide enough nor deep enough. It is not

Fig. 42. "

Workaien polishinga monDlithic coluain ; Champallion, pi. i6i.

until we come to the remains of the Ptolemaic period,such as the

temples at Edfou and Denderah, that we discover foundations
sinking 16 or 18 feet into the ground. The Pharaonic temples
were laid upon the surface rather than solidly
rooted in the soil.
Marietta attributes the destruction which has overtaken the
temples at Karnak less to the violence of man or to quakes
earth-
than to inherent faults of construction, and to the want

*
The columns at Luxor are constructed in courses. The jointsof the stone are

worked for
carefully only about a third of their whole diameter. Their centres are

slightlyhollowed out and filled in with a mortar of pounded brick which has become
friable. {Description de I'Egypfe, Antiguifes,
vol ii. p.
384.)
^
Seep. 29, vol. i. (Note i) and p. 170. The engineerswho edited the Description
make similar remarks with regard Karnak.
to {Antiquitcs, vol. ii. pp. 414
and 500.)
 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

of foresightshown by their architects in not placing them at a

sufficient elevation above the inundations. For many centuries

the waters of the Nile have reached the walls of the templesby
and
infiltration, have graduallyeaten away the sandstone of which
they are composed. Similar causes produce similar effects,and
"

the time may be easily foreseen when the superb hypostylehall

will yield to the attacks of its enemy, and its columns, already
eaten through for three quarters of their thickness, will fall as
those of the western court have fallen." ^
At the time when Karnak was built there were in the country
buildingswhich were from ten to fifteen centuries old, to which
the architects of the time might have turned for information upon
doubtful points. In them the gradual risingof the valleylevel
must have been
clearlyshown. This want of foresightneed

cause us, however, no great surprise ; but it is otherwise with the

carelessness of the architects in arranging their plans,and in

iailingto compel the workmen to follow those plans when made.

"
Except in a few rare instances,"says Mariette, the Egyptian "

workman was far from deserving the reputationhe has gained for
precision and care in the execution of his task. Only those who
have personallymeasured the tombs and temples of Egypt know
how often,for instance, the oppositewalls of a singlechamber are

^
unequal in height."
The custom of buildingas fast as possibleand trustingto the
painted decoration for the concealment of all defects, explains

the method most usually taken to keep the materials together.

The system of using large dressed stones made the employment
of mortar unnecessary. The Greeks, who used the same method
and obtained from it such supreme effects,
put no mortar between
their stones. Sometimes they were held togetherby tenons of

metal or wood, but the builder depended for cohesion chieflyupon

the way in which his materials were dressed and fixed. The

two surfaces intimately

were allied that the points of junction
so

were almost invisible. The Egyptians were in like manner able

to depend upon the vis inertics of their materials for the stability
of their walls,and their climate was far better fitted even than
that of Greece for the employment of those wooden or metal

'
Mariette, Itincraire,p. 179. The pavement of the great temple is now about

six feet below the general level of the surrounding plain.

2
MariI'.tte, Les Tomhes de rAnciefi Empire, p. 10. '
 Construction, 7 1

tenons which would prevent anyslippingor settlement in the

interior of the masonry. The dangers attendingsuch methods of

fixingwould thus be reduced to a minimum. "In consequence

of a dislocation in the walls caused by the insufficiency
of the
foundations, it is possible,
at several points of the temple walls
at Abydos, to introduce the arm between the stones and feel the

sycamore dovetails still in place and in an extraordinarystate

of preservation.A few of these dovetails have been extracted,
and, althoughwalled in for eternity so far as the intentions of the

Egyptians were concerned, they bear the royalovals of Seti I.,the

founder of the temple,the hieroglyphs being very finely engraved.'"^
We see, then, that in many buildings the Egyptians employed
methods which demanded no little patience, skill,and attention
from the workman, but as a rule they preferredto work in a

more expeditiousand less careful fashion. They used a cement

made of sand and lime ; traces of it are everywhere found, both in
the ruins of Thebes and in the pyramids, between the blocks
of limestone and sandstone.- Still more did bricks requirethe use
of mortar, which in their case was often littlemore than mud.

Among the processes made use of for the construction of the

great temple at Thebes there was one which bore marks of the

same tendency. Mariette tells us that traces exist in the front of

the great temple of a huge inclined plane made of large crude

bricks. This incline was used for the construction of the pylon.

The great stones were dragged up ils slopes,and as the pylon

grew, so did the mass of crude brick. When the work was

finished the bricks were cleared away, but the internal face of
the pylon stillbears traces of their positionagainstit. This work
was carried out, according to Mariette, under the Ptolemies,^ but
the primitivemethod of raisingthe stones must have come down
from times much more remote.^

'
Mariette, Abydos, vol. i. j). S." Cataloguegeneral des Monuments d' Abydos,

p. 585. Similar tenons were found by the members of the

(TEgxpte in the
Institut
walls of the great hall at Karnak de fEgy.pte,Antiquites,vol. ii. p. 442.
{Description
" See also Plates, vol. ii. pi. 57, figs,i and 2). We took this illustration for our
guide in compiling our
diagram of Egyptianbonding in Fig.69.
-

Descriptionde V Egypte, Ant., vol. v. p. 153. Jomard, Recueil d' Obsenations et

de Menwires sur V Egypte Ancienne et Modern e, vol. iv. p. 41.
3
Mariette, Karnak, p. 18.
* This is clearlyindicated by Diodorus (i.63, 66) : t^v 8id xw/.iarwv
KaraaKevrji-
yeviarOax.
']2 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

The first travellers who

Egypt in modern times were visited

struck wath the colossal size of some buildingsand of a few

monoliths, and jumped to the conclusion that the Egyptians were
peculiarly skilled in mechanics and engineering. They declared,
and it has been often repeated,that this people possessed secrets
which were afterwards lost ; that many an Archimedes flourished

among them W'ho excelled his Syracusan successor. All this was

a pure illusion. Their only machines seem to have been levers

and perhaps a kind of The elementarycrane. ^
whole secret of

the Egyptians consisted in their unlimited command of individual

labour, and in the unflinching way in which they made use of it.
Multitudes were employed upon a singlebuilding,and kept to
their work by the rod of the overseer until it was finished. The

great monoliths were placedupon rafts at the foot of the mountains

in which they were quarried,and floated during the inundation by
river and canal to a pointas near as possibleto their destined sites.
They were then placedupon sledges to which hundreds of men
w^ere harnessed, and dragged over a w^ell-oiled wooden causeway to

their allotted places. Fig. 43, which is taken from a hypogeum of

the dynasty,gives an excellent idea of the way in which
twelfth
these masses of granitew^ere transported. In this picturewe see
one hundred and seventy-two men arranged in pairsand, to use a
military term, in four columns, dragging the sledgeof a huge seated
colossus by four ropes. ^ This colossus must have been about

twenty-sixfeet high,if the picturedproportionsbetween the statue

and its convoy may be taken as approachingthe truth. Upon the
pedestalstands a man, who pours water upon the planks so that

they shall not catch fire from the friction of so great a mass.-*^

The engineer,who presidesover the whole operation,stands

"

upright upon the knees of the statue and marks time w^ith his "

hands. At the side of the statue walk men carryinginstruments

of various kinds, overseers armed with rattans, and relaysof men
to take the place of those who may fall out of the ranks from

1
Wn.KiNSON, Manners and Customs, etc., vol. ii. p. 309. In speaking of the

mentions what have been kind of crane, but he

pyramids Herodotus seems to a

givesus no information as to its principle

or arrangement (ii.
125).
"^ The in
painting questiondates from the reignof Ousourtesen II. and was found

at El-Bercheh, a short distance above the ruins of Antinoe.

2 The positionof this man and the of the
general probabilities case suggest
jar contains oil rather than Ed.
perhaps,that his water. "
VO! .
11.
 Construction, / :"

fatigue.In the upper part we see a numerous troop of Egyptians

carryingpalm branches, who seem to be leadingthe procession.
From the first centuries of the monarchy blocks of ofranite of
unusual size were thus transferred from placeto place. We learn
this from epitaph of a high officialnamed
the Una, who lived in
the time of the sixth dynasty,-^He recounts the services which he
had rendered in bringing to Memphis the blocks of granite and

alabaster requiredfor the royal undertakings. ^Mention is made

of buildingswhich had been constructed for the receptionof
monoliths. The largestof those buildingswas 60 cubits (about

102 feet) long by 30 cubits wide. A little farther on we are told

that one monolith required3,000 men for its transport.
Thanks to their successful wars the great Theban princes
had far wider resources at their command than their predecessors.
Their architects could count upon the labour not only of the
fellahs of the corvde^ but also upon thousands of foreignprisoners.
It w^as not astonishing,therefore, that the enterprisesof the
ancient empire were thrown into the shade. Neither were the
Sait monarchs behind those of Thebes. Accordingf to Herodotus
the monolithic chapel which Amasis brought from the Elephantine
quarrieswas 39 feet high by nearly23 feet wide and 13 feet deep,
outside measurement.- Taking the hollow inside into sideration
con-

such a stone must have weighed about 48 tons.

Two thousand boatmen were occupied for three years in trans-
porting

this chapel from Elephantine into the Delta. Another

town in the same res^ion must have had a still larofermonolithic

chapel,if we are to believe the Greek historian's account of it.

It was square, and each of its sides measured 40 cubits (nearly
3
70 feet).
How did they set about erectingtheir obelisks ? Upon this
point we have no information whatever, either from inscriptions
or from figuredmonuments. They may have used an inclined

plane,to the summit of which the obelisk was drawn by the force

^
Brugsch, Histoire d' Egypte. vol. i. pp. 74 et seq.
' We with Wilkinson
agree in takingfor the heightthat which Herodotus calls
the length. In all monuments of the kind the heightis the largestmeasurement.
Herodotus's phrase is easilyexplained. The monolith appears to have been lying
in front of the temple into which they had failed to introduce it. (KctVa/.
-apa ri]v
erro8ov,he says). Its heighthad thus become its length.
^ ii. 155.
Herodotus,
 76 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

of innumerable arms, and then lowered by the gradualremoval of

the part supportingits lower end. It is certain that the process
was often a slow and laborious one. We know from an scriptio
in-
that the obelisk which now stands before the church of
San Giovanni Laterano in Rome was more than thirty-five
years
in the hands of the workmen charged with its erection in the
southern quarter of Thebes.^ Sometimes, however, much more

rapid progress was made. According to the inscription

on the
base of the obelisk of Hatasu at Karnak, the time consumed upon
it, from the commencement of work in the quarry to its final
erection at Thebes, zvas onlyseven months?'
Whatever may have been their methods we be
may sure

that there was nothing complicated or particularly

learned in
them. The erection of the obelisks, like that of the colossal
statues, must have been an affair merely of time and of the
number of arms employed,
"
One day," says Maxime du Camp, "
I was sitting one
upon
of the architraves
supported by the columns of the great hall
at Karnak, and, glancing over the forest of stone which
surrounded me, I involuntarily cried out :
'
But how did they
''
do all this V

dragoman, Joseph, who

"
My is a great philosopher, over-
heard

my exclamation, and began to laugh. He touched my arm,

and pointingto a palm tree whose tall stem rose in the distance,
he said : That is what they did it all with ; a hundred thousand
'

palm-branches broken over the backs of people whose shoulders

are never covered, will create palaces and temples enough.
Ah yes, sir,that was a bad time for the date trees ; their branches
'
were cut a good deal faster than they grew ! And he laughed
softly to himself as he caressed his beard."
'*
"
Perhaos he was rio^ht."

^ in
The text questionis quoted in the notes contributed by Dr. Birch to the last
edition of Wilkinson (vol.ii. p. 308, note 2). Pliny's remarks upon the obelisks
are with
intersprinkled fabulous stories and contain no useful information (H. N.,
xxxvi. 14).
^
PiERRET, Didiomiaire d' A?r/ieologie
Egyptieiine. (The dates upon which this
assertion depends have been disputed. M. Chabas reads the inscription from "

the first of Muchir in the year 16, to the last of Mesore in 17," making nineteen
months in all, a period which is not quite so impossibleas that ordinarily
quoted. Ed.) "

3 Maxime du Camp, Lc Nth pp. 261 and 262.

 The Arch. //

" 4. TJie Arch.

We alreadysaid that among

have the Egyptians the arch was

only of secondaryimportance; that it was only used in accessory

parts of their buildings. We are compelled to return to the

subject,however, because a wrong idea has generally been

adopted which, as in the case of the monoliths, we must combat
evidence in hand. The extreme antiquityof the arch in Egypt is
seldom suspected.
It was an article of faith with the architects of the last century
that the arch was discovered by the Etruscans. The engineers
of the Frenchexpeditiondid not hesitate to declare every arch
which they found in Egypt to be no older in date than the
Roman occupation. But since the texts have been interpreted
it has been proved that there is more than one arch in Egypt

which was constructed not only as early as the Ptolemies, but

even under the Pharaohs. Wilkinson mentions brick arches
and vaults bearingthe namesAmenophis I.,and Thothmes III. of
at from the paintingsat Beni-Hassan, he
Thebes, and judging
is inclined to believe that they understood the principleas early

as the twelfth dynasty.^

Wilkinson was quite right in supposing these eighteenth
dynasty vaults to be from the first constructed by Egyptian
architects. The of good timber must
scarcity soon have set them
to discover some method of coverinsfa void which should be more

convenient than flat and

ceilings, as the supply always follows the
demand, they must have been thus led towards the inevitable

discovery. The latest editor of Wilkinson, Dr. Birch, affirms

more than once that the arch has been recentlv discovered amonof

the remains from the Ancient Empire, and in the Itin^raii'e

of Mariette we find :
'" "
It is by no means rare to find in the

necropolisof Abydos, among the tombs of the thirteenth and

even of the sixth dynasty,vaults which are not only pointed in
section as a whole, but which are made up of bricks in the form
of voussoirs!'' Being anxious that no uncertainity such a
upon

'
Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, etc., vol. i. pp. 357-35S: vol. ii. pp. 263,
298-299.
'
P. 148.
78 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

subjectshould remain, we asked Mariette for more information

during the last winter but one that he spent In Egypt. We

received the following answer, dated 29th January,1880: "I have
just consulted my journal of the Abydos excavations. I there

find an entry relatingto a tomb of the sixth dynasty with the

accompanying drawing (Fig.44) : ci is In limestone, and there

can be no doubt that in it we have a keystone In the form of

a true voussoir ; b, d, are also of stone. The rest is made up

of crude in shape,and
bricks,rectangular kept In placeby pebbles
imbedded in the cement.

Obviously,we have here the principle

"
of the arch. Speaking
generally,I believe that the Egyptians were acquaintedwith that
from the earliest times.
principle They did not make an extensive
use of the arch because they
knew that it carried within It

the seeds of Its own death.

Uite inaille rongde emporte tout

Vouvragc,and a bad stone in a

A vault may ruin a whole ing.

build-
The Egyptians preferred
their Indestructible stone beams.
I often ask myself how much
would have been left to us of
Fig. Arch in the necropolisof Abydos
44. "

communicated by Mariette.
;
their tombs and temples if they
^
had used the arch Instead."
Mariette adds that the Serapeum contains the oldest known

example of a vault of dressed stone, and as it dates from the

time of Darius the
Hystaspes,we supposeson that the fine
of
limestone arch at Sakkarah, bearingthe cartouch of Psemethek I.,
which Is figuredat the head of Sir Gardner Wilkinson's tenth

chapter,no longer exists.

It was in their brick buildings that the Egyptians chiefly
employed arches. Such structures were looked upon as less

sacred, less monumental than those in which stone was used,

and a process might therefore be admitted which would be

excluded from the latter. We shall here give several examples

of the Egyptian arch and Its varieties,and
principal it will not

surpriseour readers to find that they are all taken from the New

Empire. The remains from earlier periodsconsist almost entirely

'
"An arch never sleeps"says the Arab proverb-
 The Arch. 79

of tombs, while those left to us by the dynasty

eighteenth and its

successors are of vast dimensions, such as the great Theban

temples,and have annexes comprising buildingserected for a vast

varietyof purposes.
Groined vaults were unknown to the Egyptians, but almost

varietyof arch and of plain vault is to be found in the

every

country.
The semicircular frequentlymet with than any
arch is more

other. That which exists in an old tomb at Abydos has been

already figured (Fig. 44), we shall give two more examples,

dating from the Sait epoch. The illustration below (Fig. 45),
of the tombs in
represents the gate in the encirclingwall of one
the valleyof El-Assassif,at Thebes. The wall diminishes gradually
in thickness from sixteen feet eight inches at the bottom to nine

L^^ ^-

l S

Fig. 45. " Arch in El-As-assif, pre ent condition ; from Lep-ius.

feet nine inches at the top, both faces

being equally inclined.
This latter feature is a rare one in Egypt, the slope being as a

rule confined to the external face. In order to show it clearly

we have the
interrupted wall vertically in our illustration,
isolating
the part in which the arch occurs (Fig.46), and restoringthe
summit. The arch itself is formed of nine courses of brick.
"'
The sarcophagusin "
Campbell'sTomb is protectedby a plain
vault
cylindrical of t'our courses (seeFig. 200, covers vol. i.),
which

a polygonal vault formed of three large slabs. Both vaults are

piercedby a narrow opening, which may, perhaps, have been

intended to allow the scents and sounds of the world above to

reach the of the sarcophagus. Its arrangement is

occupant so

careful that it must have had some importantpurpose to fulfil.

In
the group of ruins which surrounds the back parts of the
Ramesseum (seep. 379, vol. i.)there are vaults of various kinds. A
8o A HisroRV OF Art in Ancient Egypt.

few verge towards

slightly the pointedform (see Fig. 47),others
are (Fig.48). The
elliptic latter are composed of four courses,
and their inner surfaces show a curious arrangement of the bricks ;
their vertical jointsare not parallelto either axis of the vault.
The ends of the courses are slightlyset off from its face
(see Fig. 48).

l'"iG. 46." Arch in restored

El-Assassif, from the plans and elevations of Lepsius.^

A tomb Valleyof the Queens, at Thebes, has a strongly

near the
marked vault (Fig.49).^
elliptical
Finally,the inverted segmental arch is not unknown. It is

found employed in a fashion which, as described by Prisse, made

Viollet-Ie-Duc. The foundations of "
a great Impression upon
certain boundary walls," says the former, "are built of baked

bricks to a heightof one-and-a-half metres (aboutfour feet ten

^
Denhnceler^ part i. pi.94.
* de V Anliitecture, vol. i. p.
Ramef., Histoire ghilrale 262.
 The Arch. Si

inches)
above the ground. The
thirty-one bricks
centimetres are

(about twelve-and-a -quarter inches) long, and the courses arc

arrangedin a long succession of inverted segmentalarches." ^

Fig. 47. " Vaults iu the Ramesscum.

Our figurehas been compiled from the plans and elevations of

Prisse with a view to making the arrangement easilyunderstood

Fig. 48. " Vault in the Ramesseum ; compiled from the data of Lep-ius.

(Fig. 50) ; it represents the lower part of one of the walls in

question.According to M. Viollet-le-Duc,the Egyptian architects
^
Peisse, Histoire de V Art
Egvptien,p. 174. Mariette {Voyagedans la Haute-"

Egypte, vol. ii.pp. 59-60) was struck by a similar arrangement. "Murray's Guide,"
he says, "tells us, in speakingof DajT-el-Medineh, that the walls which inclose the
courts of this temple present strikingpeculiarity
a of construction. Their bricks are
laid in concave-convex which rise and fall alternately
courses over the whole length
of the walls."' This curious arrangement deserved to be noticed, but Dayr-el-Medineh

VOL. TI. M
82 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

had recourse to this contrivance in order to euard ag-ainst the

effects of earthquakes. He shows clearlythat a wall built in such
a fashion would offer a much more solid resistance to their attacks
than one with foundations posed
com-

of horizontal courses.^
If we are to take it as lished
estab-
that the vault or arch was

among the primitivemethods of

Egyptian construction, we have

no reason to believe that off-set
arches were older, in Egypt at
Fig. 49." vavJt
Elliptical ; Thebes.
least, than true arches. We
have described this form of arch
elsewhere, and explained the contrivance by which the superficial
appearance of a vault was obtained.- The process could obviously

Fig. 50. " Foundations with inverted segmental arches ; compiled from Prisse.

only be carried out in stone. We shall here content ourselves

with givingtwo employment. examples of its

The first dates from the eighteenthdynasty,and occurs in the

temple of Dayr-el-Bahari.^ Our Fig, 51 gives a transverse

is not the only place where it is to be found. The bounding wall of the temple of

Osiris at Abydos affords another instance of it. It should also be noticed that the

problem offered to us by such a mode of buildingis complicatedby the fact that,

in the quay at Esneh and in some it is combined
parts of the temple of Philce, with
the use of very largesandstone blocks."
^
ViOLLET-i.E-Duc, Histoh-e de V Hahitatioti Jmmaine, pp. 85-88. Alberti and
other Renaissance architects recommended this method of construction for building
upon a soft surface. {L'Archtkttura di Leon Batista Alherti^ tradotta in lingua
da
fiorentina Cosivw Barioli, Venice, 1565, 4to, p. 70.)
* ^ ggg y^i^
See p. no, Vol. I.,and Figs.74, 75, 76. p_ jjj ^
i_^etseg.
 The Arch. 83

section of a passage leading to one of the chambers cut in

the rock. Fig. 52 offers a view in spective
per-
of the same passage and of the
discharsfine chamber which reallv bears
the thrust of the weight above.
The second example of this struction
con-

comes from a famous work of the

nineteenth dynasty,the temple of Seti I.
at Abydos. Our figure(53) shows one
of the curious row of chapels in which
the originality of that building consists.^ Fig. section of
51. -Transverse
This quasi-vault, for which Mariette finds LTSpsius.lTi'l? '

a reason in the funerarycharacter of the

building, has been obtained by cuttinginto three huge sandstone

Fig. 52. " Section ia perspectivethrough the same corridor ; composed from the elevation
of Lepsiu5.

^
See also pp. 385-392,Vol. I. and Fig.224. " Our has
perspective compiled
been
from the Descriptionde I'Egypte,from ^^ariette's work and from photographs.
84 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

slabs In each horizontal coarse. The stone forminof the crown of

the vault is especially
large.
Brick vaults and arches must have been far more numerous

in Egypt than might be

supposed from the few examples that
remain. They must have suggested the use of off-set vaults in
the case of stone, which, it must not be forgotten, would seem to

the Egyptians to offer all the advantages of a vault without Its

drawbacks. In other countries the stages of progression were ferent,

dif-
and the true arch came very late Into use ; but In Egypt it

certainly seems to have preceded the off-set arch. In the valleyof

'7\.
! /

/
'IV
l^spillasisiiiisi^

t/! "

:[jin

-"

rr \ :. :iir.j

Fig. 53. " Vaulted chapel at Abydos.

the Nile the latter is an Imitative form. The form of

ellipticarch
which we find In certain funerarychambers at Abydos seems to

show this. When the architect of a tomb or temple wished to

substitute a concave surface for a flat ceilinghe made use of this

hollowed-out vault. He thus saved himself from anxietyas

any
to the of
stability his structure, he avoided the of intro-
necessity ducing

what would seem to him a cause of eventual destruction,

while he gave varietyof line and, perhaps, additional symbolic
meanino- to his work.
 Tin-: E(;vi'TiA\ OKr)KF"s.

"5 The Pier and Column. " The Egyptian Orders.

THEIR ORIGIN.

After the wall and covering which the wall supports, we

the
must study in some and
detail the pier, the column which is the

perfectedform of the pier. Thanks to these latter elements

of construction the architect is able to cover largespaces without

impeding circulation,to exactlyapportionthe strengthand number

of his points of support to the weight to be carried and to the
other conditions of the problem. By the form of their bases and

capitals,by the proportionsof their shafts, by the ornament laid

upon them in colour or chiselled in their substance, he is enabled

to give an artistic richness

varietywhich are and
practically
infinite. Their arrangements and the proportions of their spacing
are also of the greatest importancein the productionof effect.
In attemptingto define a styleof architecture and its individual

expression, there is no part to which so much attention should be

paid as the column. It should be examined, in the first place,

as an isolated individual,with a stature and physiognomy proper
to itself. Then in its social state, if we may use such a phrase ;
in the various groups which go to make porticos, hypostyle halls,
and colonnades. We shall begin,therefore, by examining what may
be called the Egyptian orders, and afterwards we shall describe
the principal combinations in which they were employed by the
Theban architects.
Our readers must remember the distinction, to which we called
attention in the earlypart of our task, between two systems existing
co-

at one and the same time in Egypt ; wooden architecture

and that in which stone was the chief material used.^ Under the

Ancient Empire the only kind of detached support which appears

to have been known in stone architecture, was the quadrangular
pier,examples of which we find in the Temple of the Sphinx (Fig.
204, vol. i.).It was not so, however, in wooden construction. We
find in the bas-reliefs belongingto
early epoch numerous that
representationsof wooden columns, which, though all possessing
the same slender proportions,were surmounted bv capitals of

^
See Chanter 11. vol. i.
86 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

various designs. In these capitalsoccur the first suggestionsof

the forms which were afterwards developed with success in

stone architecture.
The type of capitalwhich occurs most frequentlyin the buildings
of the New Empire is certainly that which has been compared to
lotus-bud ; ^
a truncated we may call it the lotiformcapital,and

a bas-relief has come down to us from the fifth dynasty,in which

two columns are shown crowned of
by capitals this type, differing
only from later stone examples in their more elongatedforms
(Figs.54 and 55).

\U
\m-i

Fig. 54. "

Bas-relief from the 5th dynasty ; from Fig, 55. "
Detail of capital; from
Lepsius. the same bas-relief.

After the type of justmentioned,

capital that which occurs most

frequentlyat Karnak and elsewhere is the caiupaniformtype, in

which the general outline resembles that of an inverted bell. It

has been referred to the imitation of the lotus-flower when in full

bloom. However that may be, it is the fact that in a bas-relief

of the fifth dynasty we find a capitalpresentingthe outline, in
full detail, of a lotus-flower which has just opened its petals

(Figs.56 and 57).

Rarer and later types than these are also foreshadowed in
the early bas-reliefs. We shall hereafter have to speak of a

campaniform capitalin which the bell is not inverted, in the part

^
These slender columns with lotiform capitalsare figuredin considerable number

in the tomb of Ti. AfARiKXTK, Foyaj^vdaijs la Haute-Egypte^ vol. i. pi. 10.

 The Egyptian Orders. 87

constructed by Thothmes temple at Karnak.

of the Its
great
prototype may certainlybe recognized in a figured pavilion
at Sakkarah, dating from the sixth dynasty. We reproduce it
from a squeeze sent to us by M. Bourgoin (Figs.58 and 59).

|-^".i^A-,^^

i^fSf

Fig. 56. "

Bas-relief from the 5th dynasty Fig. 5S." Pavilion from Sakkarah, 6th
from Lepsius. d\"nastv.

Fig. 57. "

Details of columns in Fig. 56. Fig. 59. "
Details of column in Fig. 5S.

During the Ptolemaic period,the Egyptian architects made

frequentuse of the form of capitalwhich is now called hatJwric.

in which a masque of Hathor, the cow-headed goddess,is the
rulingprinciple.This capitalis to be seen, in a rudimentary
88 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

condition, in a paviliondating from the fifth dynasty (Figs.60

and 61). It there occurs, as will be seen by referringto our
illustrations,
as the roughly blocked-out head of a cow.

In connection with the last two bas-reliefs,

we must call attention
to the fact that the structures from which they were imitated must

have been erected in some kind of metal. Their forms are sistent
incon-
with the use of any other material. The way in which the

capitalis connected with the member to which it acts as support,

in Fig. 59, and the open-work of the architrave in Fig. 61, are

especially suggestive. In the latter bas-relief the figuresintro-

duced

are evidentlybehind a grille, and the whole structure is

expressiveof metal-work.

rriTTW^^
ill

P'iG. 60. " Bas-relief from the 5th dynasty ; Fid. 61. " Details of the
from Lepsius. columns.

We pavilion shownthatin Fig. 56 was

the also of
suspect
metal, which seems to have played an important part in all that
hght form of architecture with which we make acquaintancein the
decorations. This is very clearly in the examples
sepulchral seen

of painted columns, which we borrow from Prisse (Figs. 62 65). "

They present forms which could only have been compassed by the
use of some metal like bronze. If the use of metal be admitted,
we have no in accounting for
difficulty the playfuland slender

grace found in some of these columns, and ample tufted

the

of
capitals others. The natural tendency in painted decorations
of this kind to exaggerate the characteristics of their models must

not, however, be overlooked. Not being compelled to apportion

the strengthof supports to the weight which they have to carry,
 The Egyptian Orders. 89

it always inclined to elongate forms.

is The decorations at

instance of this. Pompeian painters

Pompeii are a striking gave
impossible to their columns, which
proportions evidently existed

^^m

I
ft 3S'

Figs. 62 "
65,"
Columns from bas-reliefs(Prisse)

no where but in their own fancies. We admit that the

Egyptian
decorators did something of the same kind, that they exaggerated
proportionsand accumulated motives on a singlecapital,which
VOL. II. X
90 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

were not to be found

co-existingin reality.But, with these
reserves, we think it more than probable that the columns shown
in their paintings have preserved the general aspect of the
supports employed in those curiouslyelegantpavilions to which

they belonged. The forms in Fig. 62 are explained,on the one

hand, by the imitation of vegetable forms, on the other by the
behaviour of a metal plateunder the hand of the workman. The
curve which was afterwards, under the name of a volute,to play
such an importantpart in Greek architecture,was thus naturally
obtained.
It will thus be seen that during the Ancient Empire the lighter
forms of architecture were far in advance of that which made use

of stone. possessed a richness and varietyof its own, which

It
were rendered possibleby the comparativeease with which wood
and metal could be manipulated,an ease which graduallyled the
artist onwards to the invention of forms conspicuous for their
playfuloriginality and their singulardiversity.
As for the quadrangular pier,with which the stone architecture
of the Ancient Empire was contented, we are assured that it had
its orio-in in the rock-cut tombs. In the oldest works of the
kind in Egypt, the funerarygrottos of Memphis, "
these piers(we
are told)owe their existence to the natural desire to cause the

light from without to penetrate to a second or even to a third

chamber. In order to obtain this result,openings were made in

the front wall on each side of the door, and the parts of the rock
which were left for support became for that reason objects
of care, and took
finally the form of piers. The rock over these
^
pierswas the prototype of the architrave."
It may be so. But, on the other hand, the pier of dressed
stone may have simple origin. It
had a still more may have
resulted from the obvious requirementsof construction. As soon

as wooden buildingsbegan to be supplementedby work in stone,

it became necessary to find supports strong enough for the weight

of stone roofs. Nothing could be more natural than to take a

^
Ebers, vol. ii.,p. 186. All this passage of Ebers is, ever,
how-
ALgypten,
nothingmore an epitome than
a paper by of einige Lepsius, entitled : Ueber

/HgyptischeKunstfornien und ihre Entwickehmg (in the Transactions of the Berlin

Academy^ 187 1, 4to). This paper contains many just observations and ingenious
notions; but, to our mind it is over and
systematized, its theories cannot all

be accepted.
 The Egyptian Orders. 91

block of stone as it came from the quarry, and to set it up on end.

In course of time its faces would be dressed and its section
accommodated to a square, for the love of symmetry is innate in

man. The pier may also be seen foreshadowed in the squared

beams of that closed form of wooden architecture which has been

alreadynoticed.
We see, then, that the earliest Egyptian art of which we have

any remains comprised the principalelements of which later

architects made use. But it is among the ruins of the great
monuments constructed during the Theban supremacy that we

must attempt to form an exhaustive list of their architectural

forms, and to show how the genius of the race, obeying that
mysteriouslaw which governs all organicdevelopment,arrived at
the complete realization of the ideal towards which it had been
advancingr throuo-h so manv centuries. At Thebes alone can the
architectural genius of the Egyptians be judged.

GENERAL TYPES OF SUPPORTS.

In the followingpages all the principalvarieties of Egyptian

pierand column are passed in review. We believ^e that no type
of any importance has been omitted. The illustrations are all
drawn to one scale of about ten feet to the inch. The difference
in the size of the reproductionsis therefore a guide to the relative
proportionsof the originals, and an idea can be easilyformed of
their comparativeimportancein the buildingsin which they occur.
The quadrangularpier is the simplestform of support, and, as

might be expected, it is also the most ancient. In the example

which we have taken from a tomb in the necropolis of Sakkarah,

a tomb datingfrom the Ancient Empire, it has alreadya base (Fig.
66),an addition which is not to be found in the Temple of the
Sphinx (Fig. 204, vol. i.). Elsewhere it tapers to the top ; an
instance of this, dating from a much later period,is found in the

speos of Phre, at Ipsamboul (Fig. 67). In all these cases the

architrave rests directlyupon the shaft, an arrangement which
gives the pieran archaic character in spiteof its base.
A very different appearance was obtained when, in the time of

Rameses, the pier was provided with a more ample base, and
covered with hieroglyphsand figures. It received a capitalat
the same time, and became worthy of playing its part in a richly-
92 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

decorated buildinglike the great temple at Karnak, from which

our Fig. 68 is taken. The same may be said of the hathoric

pier. The example shown in Fig. 69 is taken from the speos of

a:1iiliillii;iii;i|!!i!li

c 5 I

Fig. 65. Quadrangular pier; Fig.

"

67. Tapering quadrangular

"

from Prisse. pier; from Gailhabaud.

Hathor atIpsamboul. The lower part of the shaft is covered

with inscriptions
above which appears a mask of Hathor.

1
;'lil!!Hi;iil!!'iiil

Fig. 68. Pier

" with capital Fig. 69. " Hathoric pier; from
from Prisse. Gailhabaud.

The form pier called osiride is still more

of elaborate and

decorative. These piers consist of two parts ; a quadrangular

shaft covered with inscriptions,and a colossal statue of the king
 The Egyptian Orders. 93

who was the constructor of the buildingin which they are found,
endowed with the head-dress and other attributes of Osiris. The

motive was a favourite princes of the nineteenth

one with the

dynasty,and it is continuouslyrepeatedboth in the great temples

of the left bank at Thebes and in the rock-cut temples of Nubia.

Our illustration is taken from an osiride pierin the second court

of Medinet-Abou. The word caryatid cannot strictlybe applied

\ r
^EfiSuiuL

"*M"f^^in

Fig. 70. " Osiride pillar.

to these
piers,because the statues do nothelp to support the mass
above, they are merely affixed to the pierwhich actuallyperforms
that office.
The
Ethiopian architects borrowed the motive of these osiride
pillars.They introduced into colonnaded copied from
buildings,
those of the Rameses, some colossal figures in which the
Typhon of the Greeks has sometimes been recognized. They
probablyrepresent the god Set. They, too. are only appliedto
94 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the supports. There is but one instance in the whole

Egyptian of
architecture of the human figure being franklyemployed as a
support,namely, in the case of those brackets or balconies which

overhang the courts of the Royal Pavilion at Medinet-Abou

(Fig. lo). But even here the support is more apparent than real,
for the slabs between which the figuresare crouched are upheld
by the wall at their backs. In nothing that can
this there is

be compared to the work done by the dignifiedvirginsof the

Erectheum or the muscular giantsof Agrigentum, in upholding
the massive architraves confided to their

strength.
A last and varietyof pier is
curious

found in the granite chambers of the

9^
Great Temple at Karnak. Upon two of
their faces are carved groups of three tall
stems surmounted by flowers. Upon
one face these flowers are shaped like
inverted bells (seeFig. 71),on the other

they resemble the curlingpetalsof the

lily. Flower and stem are painted with
colours which make them stand out

from the red of the polished granite.

These piersare two in number, and the
faces which are without the decoration
described finelyexe-
cuted
are covered with

sculptures in intaglio.^
These piersare 29 feet high. Their "

height,as well as their situation,seems

Fig. 71. Ornamented pier
"

to indicate that they never bore any archi-

trave.
Karnak.

They were once, however, crowned

by some royalsymbol ; probablyby bronze hawks, which may have
been ornamented with enamel. There are many representations of
^
such arrangements in the bas-reliefs at Karnak." Supposing this
hypothesis to be well founded, these piers had something in
common with a stele ; had their height been less they might have
been called pedestals; had their shape been less uncom-
promisingly

rectangular, they might have been called obelisks.

^
See Prisse, Histoire de VArt Egypticn,pp. 359, 360.
^
Ibid.
 The Egyptian Orders. 95

Like the steles they are self-contained and independent of their

surroundings.^
We see, then, that Egyptian architects have
as time went on the

transformed the old,plain, rectangularpier by givingit capital and "

base, by adorning it with paintedand sculptureddecorations until "

it became fit to take its place in the most ornate architectural

composition. We have yet to follow the same constructive

member in a further series of modifications which ended by

making it from
indistinguishable the column proper.
In order thoroughlyto understand all these intermediarytypes
we must return to the rock-cut tombs, in which the ceilings
were

upheld by piers left standing when the excavation was made.

The desire to get as much lightas possiblepast these piersled to
their angles being struck off in the first instance, and thus a

quadrangularpier became an octagonalprism (Fig. 72),and was

connected with the soil by a large, flat,disk-shapedbase.
By repeatingthe same process and cuttingoff the eightangles
of this prism, a sixteen-sided shaft was obtained, examples of
which are to be found at Beni- Hassan in the same tomb as the

octagonalcolumn (Fig.y;^).
The practical
"
of cutting these sixteen
difficulty faces with

precisionand of equalizingthe angles at which they met each

other, added to the natural desire to make the division into

sixteen planes clearlyvisible,and to give more animation to the

play of lightand shade, inspiredthe Egyptian architects with the

happy notion of transformingthe obtuse anglesinto salient ridges
by hollowing out the spaces between them." The highestpart, -

however, of these pillarsremained quadrangular, thus preserving

a reminiscence of the originaltype, and supplying a connecting
^
At Dayr-el-Bahari
there are some pillarsof the same shape but engaged in
the wall. They support groups " carved in stone and painted comprisinga hawk,
"

a cynocephali,and
\nilture, so on. They are in the passage which leads to the
north-western s/"e(?s.Their total height,inclusive of the animals which surmount

them, is nearly 18 feet,of which the groups make up nearly a third. The lower

part is ornamented by mouldings in the shape of panels. These pilastersshould

be more studied and reproduced if they stillexist
carefully : the sketches from which
we have described them were made some fifteen years ago. In that monument

of Egyptian sculpturewhich is,perhaps, the oldest of all, namely, the bas-relief

engraved by Seneferu upon the rocks of Wadi-Maghara, a hawk crowned with the

pschent stands before the conqueror upon a quadrangular pier which has panels
marked upon it in the same fashion as at Dayr-el-Bahari.
^
Ebers, ^gypten, vol. ii.,
p. 184.
96 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

link between the shaft and the architrave which almost exactly
corresponds to the Greek abacus.
quadrangularmember This

was advantageous in two ways ; it prevented any incoherence

between the diameter of the shaft and the depth of the architrave,
and it suppliedan unchanging element to the composition.^ The
persistence of this square abacus helps to call our attention to the
continual changes undergone by the shaft which it surmounts.
The slightinclination of the sides gives to the latter the effect of
a cone, and the contrast between its almost circular top and the

Fig. 72. "

; Ikni-Hassan.
Octagonal pillar Fig. 73. " Sixteen-sided ; flated.
pillar

rio-ht-ano-lesof the abacus helps us to remember that the square

pierwas its immediate progenitor.

The conical form of the pillars
at Beni-Hassan, their want of a

well-marked base, their sixteen flutes,the square abacus posed

inter-

between their shafts and the architrave,made, when taken

a great impressionupon
the mind of Champollion. He
together,
thought that in them he had found a first sketch for the oldest of

the Greek orders, and that the type brought to perfectionby the

builders of Corinth and Paestum had its originin the tombs of

^
et de
des Origiiies
Chipiez, Hisfoire critique la Formation des Ordres Grccques,p. 44.
 The Egyptian Orders. 97

Beni-Hassan ; he accordinglyproposed to call their columns

proto-donc.
Here we shall not attempt to discuss Champollion'stheor}'.It
would impossibleto do
be so with advantage without having
previouslystudied the doric column and pointed out
itself, how
little these resemblances amount to. The doric column had no

base ; the diminution of its diameter was much more rapid; its

capital,which comprisedan echinus as well as an abacus, was very

different in importancefrom the littletablet which we find at Beni-
Hassan. The generalproportionsof the Greek and Eg}ptian
orders are, however, almost identical ; the shafts are fluted in each

instance, and they both have the same air of simplicityand

imposinggravity.
But it is futile to insist upon any such comparison. The

polygonalcolumn had long been disused when the Greeks first

penetrated into the Nile valley and had an opportunityof

imitatingthe works of the Egyptians. It was in use in the

time of the Middle Empire, during the eleventh and twelfth

dynasties. The earlier princesof the Second Theban Empire
introduced it into their stone buildings, but there are no examples
which we can affirm to be later than the eighteenthdynasty.
The Rameses and their successors preferredforms less bold
and severe ; their columns were true columns with swelling
entasis and rich and varied capitals.It is no doubt true that
towards the seventh century the Greeks could find the polygonal
column which we have described in many an ancient monument.

But those earlyvisitors were not archseologists. Astonished and

dazzled by the pompous buildingsof a Psemethek or an Amasis,

they were not likelyto waste their attention upon an abandoned
and obsolete type. Their admiration would be reserved for the

great edifices of the nineteenth and later dynasties,for such

creations as Medinet-Abou, the Ramesseum, and the Great Hall
at Karnak ; creations which had their equals in those cities

of the Delta which were visited by Herodotus and Hecataeus.

If Greek art had borrowed from the Egypt of thatday it would
have transferred to its own home not the simple lines of the
porticosat Beni-Hassan, but something ornate and complex,like
the order of the small temple of Nectanebo at Philae.

These few words had to be given,in passing, to an hypothesis

which has found much favour since the days of Champollion,but

VOL. II. o
98 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

we hasten to resume our methodical analysisof the Egyptian

orders, and to class them
by the varieties of their proportions
and by the ever-increasing complicationof their ornaments.
At Beni- Hassan and elsewhere we find pillars
with two or four
flat vertical bands dividing their flutes into as many groups.
These bands are covered with incised inscriptions. Sometimes,
as at Kalabche (Fig.74),there are four flat bands inclosingfive
flutes between each pair. Such an arrangement accentuates the
difference between these so-called proto-doricpillarsand the

Greek doric column. They take away from the proper character
of the pillar, the inscribed tablet becomes the most important
member of the composition, and the shaft to which it is attached

m.

ite^..

Fig. 74. "

Polygonal column v\iih Fig. 75. "

Polygonal pierwith mask of

a flat vertical band. Ilalhor; from Lep.sius.

seems to have been made for its display. In the Greek order, on
the other hand, always find the structural requirementsbrought
we

into absolute harmony with those of the aesthetic sentiment ; every

line of every detail is necessary both to builder and artist.
A later varietyof this type is found in a pillar in which the
vertical band is
interruptedto make room for a mask of Hathor,
which is placed immediately below the abacus (Fig. 75). We
find it in a temple situated eastwards of El-Kab, dating,according

to Lepsius,from the eighteenthdynasty.

After the eleventh dynasty we find monolithic rock-cut supports

at Beni-Hassan, which, although side by side with true polygonal
piers,are columns in the strictest sense of the word ; that is to say,
 The Egyptian Orders. 99

their vertical section ofters curvilinear forms, and they are vided
pro-
capitals. Singularlyenough, they are
with so far from

being a development from the pierthat they do not even distantly

resemble it. They may fairlybe compared, however, with a type of
column which we have alreadynoticed in speaking of ephemeral the
wooden or metal architecture been whose
preserved forms have

for us in the bas-reliefs of the Ancient Empire (seeFig. 54).^

The shaft is formed of four bold vertical ribs,cruciform in plan,
and bound togetherat the top by narrow fillets. The re-entering
anglesbetween the ribs are deep. The horizontal section of the
capitalis similar to that of the shaft,from which it seems to burst ;

T////////y;f.y/////:y^/yy

Fig. 76. Column

" from Beni-IIa"^an ; from Lepsius.

it then graduallytapers to the top, where it meets the usual

quadrangularabacus (Fig.76).
If four stems of lotus, each ending in an unopened bud, be tied

togetherimmediatelybeneath the point where the stem joinsthe.

bud, something bearinga rude resemblance to this column will be
formed, and to the imitation of such a faggotits originhas often

^
Mariette has shown this in
clearly his Voyage dans la Hante-Egypie(p.52).
"
This lightcolumn shaft
or was not abandoned, it reappeared in stone ....
it
reappeared to give birth to the great faggot-shaped
column which rivalled the pierin
size,solidity,
and weight. This column, with its capital
in the shape of a lotus-bud
or flower,is seen in its full development at Kamak. at Luxor, and in the first
temple of the New Empire."
loo A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

been attributed. The fillets which surround the shaft at its

summit represent the cord wound several times round the stalks,
the reeds which fillup the upper parts of the hollows between
the ribs are meant for the ends of the knots.
Not far from the remains of the labyrinth
some columns formed

upon a similar principlehave been discovered. Their shafts are

composed of eightvertical ribs,which are triangularon plan like

stalks of papyrus. The lower part of the shaft has a bold swell.
It springsfrom a corona of leaves and tapers as it rises. The
stalks are tied atthe top with from three to five bands, the ends

hanging down between the ribs. The buds which form the capital

are also surrounded with leaves at their base.

The number of its parts and their
complicatedarrangement, the
leaves painted upon it and its show
generalproportions, that this
column was the product of an art much more advanced than that

of Beni- Hassan. Between the first and second Theban empires

the form of the column underwent a development similar to that
which already described in the case
we have of the pier. Its

surface became less Incoherently irregular; its horizontal section

betrayed a constantlyincreasing tendency towards a circular form.

Moreover, like the edifices of which it formed a part, as it increased
in size it turned its back upon its monolithic originand became

a constructed
carefully succession of horizontal courses.

Thus we arrive,under the New Empire, at a column of which

we find several varieties in the buildingsat Thebes. Its portions

pro-
are various, and so are the methods in which it is capped
and decorated. The variant which preserves most resemblance to

the column from Beni-Hassan is found at Luxor (Fig.']']').It is

like
faggot-shaped its prototype, but the natural originof its forms
is much less clearlymarked. The capital recalls a bunch of lotus-

buds in a very slightdegree,the stems are not franklydetached

one from another and the ligatures are repeated in unmeaning
fashion. We feel that with the passage of time the original
combination earlysignificance.
has lost its
The change becomes stillmore strikingwhen we turn to another

column from the New Empire, from Medinet-Abou (Fig. ^jZ).

The lotiform type may still be recognised, but the shaft is no

lono-er faggot-shaped, except in a rudimentaryfashion and over a

very small part of its

surface. There justbelow the
is a ligature
'
Ebers, L'Egypte, p. 185.
 The Egyptian Orders. lOI

capital,but the latter is encircled by a smooth band and is

decorated with the urseus ; the bottom of the slightlytapering

shaft springsfrom an band
encircling of painted leaves.
Side by side with the type which we have justdescribed we find
another to which the hollow outward curve of the capitalhas

given the name of

cainpaniform. Nothing like it is to be found
at Beni-Hassan, and no example,in stone, is extant from an earlier

^-~ -

^aagd^oi^ae^^a

^tii^i^vm^

Fig. Column Luxor

77. "
at ; Description, Fig. 7S. Column
"
at Medinet-Aboa
vol, pi. S.
iii., vol. ii.,
Description, pi. 4.

time than that of the Second Theban Empire.^ The base is small.
The flutes or separate stems have disappeared. The shaft is
either smooth or decorated with bas-reliefs and inscriptions.The
ligaturesunder the capitalare still introduced. The springing
MVe shall call attention,however,to
a hypogeum at Gizeh, which is numbered
81 Lepsius'smap of that tomb-field. As at Beni-Hassan the chamber
in
is preceded
by a portico. In Lepsius's drawing(vol i. pi.27. fig.i),the columns of this portico
are campaniform.
I02 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

of the capitalis decorated with leaves and flowers painted in

brilliant colours. A cubic abacus or die of stone stands upon the

circular surface of the capitaland transmits the resisting

power
of the column to the architrave.

The proportionsand general appearance of the shaft vary

Medinet-Abou it is short and
greatly.In the first court at stumpy,
and the capitalalone has received a few ornaments in relief.

In the Great Hall at Karnak,

on the other hand, it is taller,
more gracefulin form and richer
in decoration than in any other

Egyptianbuilding(Fig.80). To

give an idea of the colossal

dimensions of these columns we

need only repeat the often-made

assertion that a hundred men can

sit upon the upper surface of their

which
capitals, measure no less
than JQ feet in circumference.
The shafts of both these
columns diminish graduallyfrom
base to summit. The diminution
is slight that it is hardly
so

perceptibleby the eye. In the

hypostylehall of the Ramesseum

(Fig, 81), on the other hand,
it tapers rapidly. The columns
in the central aisle come, by
their proportions,midway between
Fig. 79. " Column at Medinet-Abou
Descriptwti, vol. ii., pi.6. the thick-set type of Medinet-
Abou and the lofty shafts of
Karnak, Their lower parts have the bulbous form which we

have alreadynoticed in speaking of the lotiform type of column.

The painted and sculpturedornament, although not so rich as

that of Karnak, covers about one half of the whole surface.

We may cite, as showing interestingvariations upon the

campaniform type, the column of Soleb, datingfrom the eighteenth

dynasty (Fig, 82), and that of Thothmes, from Karnak

(Fig. 83), The capitalof the former seems to have been

suggested by a bunch of palm leaves arranged about a central

 The Egyptian Orders. lO

post. curvingoutwards the

In

extremityof each leaf forms a

lobe, which is shown in the

plan (Fig.82). The architect

here made free use of the forms

occurringin nature, but in the

ri-^-j
//^/^
"A

Fig. Si."
Column from ihe Hypostyle Ila'l
of the Rameiseum ; from Horeau.

Ptolemaic temples we find the

palm tree copied in a far more

literal fashion. There are

capitalsat Esneh composed

Fig. 80." Column from the Great Hall at
Kariiak ; iii. 30.
Description^
of palm branches grouped in
I04 A History of Art in Ancient EovrT.

stages about the central shaft and copied leaf for leaf. times,
Some-
as at Philse,we even find date clusters mingled with the
leaves.
The other capitalto which we have alluded as occurring in
the work of Thothmes at Karnak, shaped like
is a suspended
bell. The upper part of the shaft swells slightly
so as to coincide
with the outer rim of the bell ; it is encircled with filletsbelow
which is cut a vertical band of hieroglyphs. The capitalis
decorated with leaves growing downwards and on the whole it

may be taken as showing the companiformtype reversed.

'S^:(^ih:

Fig. 82. " Column of Soleb ; from Lepsius,part i. Fig. 83. " Column of Thothmes at

pi. 117. Karnak ; from Lepsius,part i.,pi.81.

In comparison
this between the different forms which were

successivelygiven to the Egyptian column, we might, if we

had chosen, have included other varieties ; and yet we do not

think we have omitted any that are of importance. We have

figuredthem to one scale so that their relative proportionscan

be at once grasped, and we have now to analyse the methods
in which they were allied with their supports and superstructures.
For that purpose we shall have to reproduce several of the
 The Egyptian Orders. 105

piersand columns already mentioned and figured,on a larger

scale and instead
in perspective of elevation. We count upon
these reproductionsto show the individual characteristics of
the Egyptian orders and the originof
peculiarphysiognomy. their
When the architects of
Empire made the New
use of the

square pier without givingit either capitalor base, they covered

it with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. Thus adorned it could be
used without incongruityin rich and elaborate compositions.
The truth of this statement may be seen from the adjoining

reproductionof an angle from the peristyleof the Elephantine

temple (Fig.84).^
The firm and simple lines of the pier contrast well with the
modest projectionof the stylobateand the bolder profileof the
cornice, and help,with the double base, to give dignityand
solidity to the encircling portico.
When the pier is honoured with a capital, that capital does not
in the least resemble those of the column proper. Being, in its
essence, a vertical section of wall,it is treated as such, and given
for crown a capitalcomposed exactlyin the same fashion as the
cornice which crowns every Egyptian wall. Between this quasi-
capital and the architrave a low abacus is introduced (Fig,85).
The figureon page 109, represents one of the seven osiride
piers in the first court of the temple at Medinet-Abou. The
pier at the back of the statue is slightlywider than the base
upon which the latter stands. At each side of the Pharaoh one

of his children sculpturedin very high relief almost in the

stands
round. Without in any way compromising the dignityof the
colossus the sculptorhas bent his head slightly backwards so

as to obtain a natural support for his lofty and complicated

head-dress. Thanks to this artifice the head-dress in question
is securely allied to the massive pier behind it without the
intervention of any unsightlythicknesses of stone, and the ex-
pression

of the whole glypto-architectural is rendered

group more

forcible and more suggestiveof that strength in repose which is

the characteristic of Eg}ptian architecture."
^
See also p. 396, Vol. I.,and Fig.230.
-
There is no pierat Medinet-Abou in so perfecta condition as that figured
by us. In order to complete our restoration,
for so it is, we had the use of
drawings
which had been made long ago and of excellent photographs,
and by combiningone
figurewith another we obtained all the details necessar}-,
VOL, II. p
io6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The next tration

illus-

(Fig.87)
shows the upper
part of a gonal
poly-
column
with a hathoric

capital of the
oldest and most

simple form.
In later ages,
during the Sait
dynasties, the
mask of the dess
god-
was peated
re-

upon the
four sides of the

column, and
sometimes imposed
super-
upon a

bell-shapedcap-
ital.
In this in-
stance,

where
there is but one

mask, the vertical

band of glyphs
hiero-
below it

serves to show
that the face
where it occurs

is the principal
one.

This capitalis
one of the most

ments
achieve-
singular
of Egyp-
tian
art. Why,
out of all the

multitude of

Egyptian gods
tlie temple at Lle])hautinc from the
Fig. 84." Comer pier from ;
and
elevation in the Dcnriptioii,i. 36. goddesses,
 The Egyptian Orders. 107

was Hathor alone selected for such a distinction ? What is the

meaning of the small naos or shrine upon her head ? The

explanation is still uncertain. Perhaps it is to be found in

the simple fact that the word Hathor means the dwellingof Horus.

This capital is found in the tombs as well as in the temples. We

reproduce (Fig. 88) a hathoric pier from the tomb of a certain

Nefer-Hotep who lived under the eighteenthdynasty ; it is now

in the museum at Boulak. The anterior face displaysthe mask
of Hathor over the symbol tet, which has been interpretedto
m"2iX\~ steadfastness or stability} A rich collar hangs down upon
her breast.

ir .-
: !

Fig. 85. " Pier with Kamak

capital, ; from the elevation of Prisse.

On a column in the speos of Kalabche we find the band of

hieroglyphs repeated four
(Fig. 89). The flutes of
upon faces
this column are unusuallynumerous and closelyspaced, and it
therefore approaches the true cylindrical form. The abacus,
however, which overhangs the shaft at every point,stillserves to

recall the monolithic pier and the tablet which was reserved at

its summit when its angles were first struck off in order to eive
freer to the light.
passage
The faggot-shapedcolumn (Fig. 90) is not to be explained
by any theory of development from the
pier. We have
reproduced its upper and lower extremities, together with the
entablature and flat roof which it The extreme
supports.
^
See PiERRET, Didionnaire d' ArchlologkEg\-ptienne.
 io8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

nakedness of the base given by the Egyptians to their columns

is a curious feature. Shaft and capitalmay be carved into various

shapes and adorned with the most brilliant colours, but the base
is always perfectly
bare and simple. Between one column and
another there is no difference in this respect except in size. The
only attempt at ornamentation ever found is a narrow band of
hieroglyphsengraved,as at the Ramesseum, round its circum-
ference
(Fig.91). On the other hand, the lower part of the
shaft is always richlydecorated. The principalelement in this
decoration is the circlet of leaves which are found both in the

faggot-shapedcolumns and in those whose shafts are smooth. In

the latter,however, the ornament is carried farther than in the
former. Slender shoots are introduced between the larp-er leaves,
which mount up the shaft and burst into leaf at the top. Above

these,again,come the royal ovals, surmounted by the solar disk

between two ur?eus serpents.
In the upper part of the column of Thothmes (Fig.90),the
pendants which fill the
re-enteringangles and the four ringsat
the top of the shaft,the pointed leaves and other ornaments of
the capital,are rendered conspicuousby being paintedin colours,
yellow and blue, which will be found reproduced in Prisse's plate.
We should have liked to give one of these columns with all its
coloured decorations,but we hesitated to do so because we were not

satisfied with the accuracy as to tone and tint of those coloured

plateswhich had been introduced into

previousworks. And we

wished to give no coloured reproductionsexcept those made

expresslyfrom the monuments themselves, as in the case of the

tomb from the Ancient Empire whose painted decorations are

produced in platesxiii,and xiv.

It will be observed that in this case the abacus does not extend

beyond the architrave,as it does in the Doric order of the Greeks.

We have given a column from the central aisle of the Great
Hall at affordinga good type of the bell-shaped
Karnak, as

capital(Fig. 80). We also give an example, with slightvaria-

tions,
from the Ramesseum (Fig. 92). It comes from the

principalorder in hypostylehall,and shows Egyptian archi-

the tecture

perhaps at its best. The profile of the capitalcombines

grace with firmness of outline in the most happy manner. By

dint of closelyexamining and comparing many reproductions we

have succeeded, as we believe,in giving a more exact rendering

Fig. 86. " Osiride pier; Medinet-Abou
 The Egyptian Orders. 1 1 1

of its curves than any of

predecessors. Leaves
our and flowers
are most happilyarranged,and are painted also with an exquisite
finish not ta be found elsewhere. The decoration as a whole is
of richness.
extraordinary The royal ovals, with the disk of the
sun and the uraeus, encircle the shaft ; vultures with outspread

Fig. Sj. Hathorio pier from Eilithya. Lepsius, Fig. Sti.

"

"
Haihoric pier from a

part i.,pi. loo. tomb. Boulak.

wings cover the ceiling,

and the architrave is carved on its visible
sides,with long rows of hieroglyphs.^
^
The slabs of which the roof is formed are grooved on their upper surfaces at
their lines of
junction(see Fig.93),a curious feature which recurs in other Egyptian
buildings, has never
but been satisfactorilyexplained.
I 12 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Of the derived and secondary forms of the campaniform capital

there are but two upon which we need here insist. The first is
that which exempHfied by the columns of a temple built by
is
Seti I. at Sesebi, in Nubia (Fig.93). It is very like the one at
Soleb already figured(Fig. 82). The motive is the same, but
the Sesebi example shows it in a more advanced stage of develop-
ment.
Its forms are fuller and more expressive, and the palm
branches from which the idea is derived are more franklyincor-
porated
in the design. It is not an exact copy from nature, as at
Esneh, but a good use has been made of the fundamental vegetable
forms.

Fig. S9. " Column at Kalabche ; from the elevation of Fri.sse.

The other variation upon the same theme is a much later one ;

it is to be found in the
temple built by Nectanebo on the island of
Philse (Fig.94). The simplicity of the Sesebi and Soleb capitals
has vanished ; the whole compositionis imbued with the love for
complex form which distinguishedthe Sait epoch. The swelling
base of the column seems to spring from a bouquet of triangular

leaves. The anterior face of the column is ornamented with a

band hieroglyphs; its upper part is encircled by five smooth

of

rings,above which, again,it is fluted. According to Prisse,who

alone gives particularsas to this littlebuilding,some of the capi-
tals
have no ornament beyond their finely-chiselled palm-leaves;
others have half-openedlotus-flowers between each pairof leaves.

Finally,the square die or abacus which supports the architrave

 Fig. 90. "
Column of Thcthmes III. ; from the Ambulatcry of Thothmes, at Kamak.
From Prisse's elevation.

VOL. II.
 The Egyptian Orders. 1 1

is much higherand more important than in the columns hitherto

described, and it bears -a mask of Hathor surmounted by a naos

upon each of its four sides. This unusual height of abacus, the
of the
superposition hathoric capitalupon the bell-shaped one, and
the of
repetition the mask of Hathor upon all four sides, are

the premonitorysignsof the Ptolemaic style.

Fig. 91. "

Base of a column ; from the great hall of the Ramesseum, central avenue.

The capitalfrom the Ambulator}'of Thothmes, at Thebes,

presents a type both rare and original(Fig.95). Between our

illustration and that of

Lepsius there is a difference which is not

without importance.^ According to the German savants, the

abacus is inscribed within the upper circumference of the bell ;
but if we may believe a sketch made by an architect the
upon
spot, the truth is that the upper circumference of the capitalis
'
Lepsius, Denhmaler^ part i. pi.Si.
ii6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

contained within the four sides of the abacus, which it touches at

their centres The four anglesof the abacus, therefore,stand out

well beyond the upper part of the capital,unitingit properlyto

the architrave,and givinga satisfactory
appearance of solidityto

the whole.
This
peculiarform of capitalhas generallybeen referred to the
individual capriceof some architect,anxious, above all things, to

invent something new.^ But the same form is to be found in the

architectural shapes preserved by the paintingsof the ancient

empire (Fig.59) which seems fatal to this explanation. It is

probable that if we possessed all the work of the Egyptian

architects we should find that the type was by no means confined
to Karnak. It was, however, far less beautiful in its lines than
the ordinary shape, and though ancient enough, never became

popular.
The Egyptians were not always content with the paint-brush
and chisel for the capitals,
decoration they occasionallyof their
made use of metal also. This has been proved by a discovery
made at Luxor in the presence of M. Brugsch, who describes it
in these terms : The work of clearingthe temple began with
"

the part constructed by Amenophis III. and gave some very

unexpected results. The capitals of the columns were overlaid

with copper plates,to which the contour of the stone beneath
had been given by the hammer. They had afterwards been
painted. Large pieces of these plateswere found still hanging

to the capitals, while other pieces lay among the surrounding

debris. Thus a new fact in the historyof Egyptian art has been
established, namely, that stonework was sometimes covered with
metal."2
This process was not generally,
nor even employed,
frequently,
as we judge by the vast number of capitals in
painted the most
may
brilliant colours,which remain. If the surface of the stone was

to be covered such care would not have been taken to beautify

up
it. The fact that the process was used at all is,however, curious ;

1 Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 40. Descriptionde I'Egypte {A/itiquitcs,

In the vol. ii.

p. 474),we find this shape accounted for by opposition of two lotus-flowers,one

above another. Such an explanationcould only be offered by one who had a theory

to serve.

2
Extract from a letter of M. Brugsch, published by Hittorf in the At/iena;um

Francais, 1854, j). 153.

Fig. 92." Bell-shapedcapital,from the hypostylehall of the Ramesseum. From the chief order.
 The Egyptian Orders. 119

it seems to be a survival from the ancient wooden architecture in

which metal was commonly used.

The architrave which was employed with all these varieties of

capitalwas sometimes of a kind which deserves to be noticed

(Fig. 102). Whenever the dimensions of the column were ciently

suffi-

great the stone beams which met upon the die or abacus
had obliquejoints. The motive of the architect in making use of
such a junctionis obvious enough ; it was calculated to afford

Fig. 93. Capital at Sesebi. From the Fig. Capital from the of
"

94. "

temple
elevation of Lepsiu?, Denkmaler, part Nectanebo, at Philce. From the
i.,pi. 119. elevation of Prisse.

greater and
solidity, itwas the most convenient in which lateral
way
architraves could be united with those disposed longitudinally.
Any other arrangement would have involved a sacrifice of space
and would have left a certain part of the abacus doing nothing.
We have now brought our analysisof the principaltypes of
pierand column used by the Egyptians to an end. They suggest,
however, certain general reflections to which we must next
 20 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

endeavour to give expression. In spite of the great apparent

diversityof their forms, we are enabled
perceive that the to

Egyptian orders obeyed an unchanging law of development,

and that certain characteristic features persistentlyreappear
through all their transformations. We must attempt to define
these laws and characteristics,
as, otherwise, we shall fail to make
the of Eyptian art appreciated,
originality we shall be unable to

its successes,
classify or to mark with accuracy the limits which it
failed to pass.

Fig. 95- "

Capital from the -Hork of Fig. 96. "

Arrangement of architraves upon a capital.

Thothmes at Karnak. From the plans and elevations of Lepsius.

the square
Between pier with neither base nor capitalof the

earlyEmpire and the gracefulcolumns of the Ramesseum there

is a difference which marks ages of progress. The generalform of
the support became graduallymore complex and more refined.
As occurred elsewhere, it was divided into parts, each of which had
its proper duty and its proper name. The base was distinguished
from the shaft,and the shaft from the capital.Each of these parts

was shaped by the sculptorand clothed in colour by the painter.

For long centuries the architect never relaxed his efforts to perfect
his art. The simple and sturdyprismatic column gave way to the
 The Egyptian Orders. 121

elaborate forms which exist in the great templesof the Ramessids ;

the latter in turn lost their power to satisfyand new motives

were sought for in the combination of all those which had gone
before. In the series of Egyptian types the of Nectanebo
capital
would therefore occupy a place correspondingto that of the
in
compositecapital the series of Graeco-Roman orders.
The generalmovement of art in Egypt may therefore be pared
com-

to that of art in Greece and Italy;and yet there is a

difference. From the rise of Greek architecture until its decay,

the of its vertical members
proportions underwent a continual,but
modification
consisieni, of their proportions.Century after century
the figurein which their height was expressed proportionately
with their bulk, became greater. In the height of the Doric
columns of the old temple at Corinth there are fewer diameters
than in those of the Parthenon, and in those of the Parthenon
there are fewer than in the doric shafts of Rome. This tendency
explainsthe neglectwhich befel this order about the fourth century
before our era. In the sumptuous buildingsof Asia Minor and
"
Syria and of the Lower Period in
Egypt, it was replacedby the
"

graceful and slender outlines of the Ionic order. A similar explana-

tion
may be given of the favour in which the Corinthian order
was held throughoutthe Roman world.
Such a development is not to be found in Egypt. The forms
of Egyptian architecture did not become less substantial with the

passage of the centuries. It is possible that familiarity with light

structures of wood and metal had earlycreated a taste for slender

supports. The polygonaland faggot-shapedcolumns of Beni-

Hassan are no thicker than those of far later times. A parison
com-

of the columns at Thebes points to the same conclusion.

The shortest and most thick-set in its proportions of them all

(Fig.78) is at Medinet-Abou, and is about two centuries later

than those of the same order which decorate the second court at
Luxor (Fig.jj). Its heaviness is even when
more apparent we

compare it with the great columns of a different order, at Karnak

(Fig.80),and the Ramesseum (Fig. 81), which precede it by
at least a century.
Theprogress of Egyptian art was, then, less continuous and
less regularthan that of classic art. It had moments of rest, of
exhaustion, even of retrogression. It was not governed by
internal logical
principles
so severe as those of the Greeks.
VOL. ir R
122 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The manner in v/hich the capitalis alHed to the shaft below, and
the architrave above shows changes of the same kind.
The first duty of the capitalis to oppose a firm and individual
contour to the monotony of the shaft. The constructor has to

determine a point in the lengthof the latter where it shall cease

to be, where its gradual diminution in section, a diminution

which could prolonged to the architrave without com-
not be promising

the safety of the building,shall be arrested. The

natural office of the capital would seem to be to call attention
to this point. The architect,therefore,gives it a diameter greater
than that of the shaft at the pointwhere they meet. This salience
restores to the column the material which it has lost ; it completes
it,and determines its proportion, so that it is no longercapableof
either increase or diminution.

Again, when the salience is but the preparationfor a greater

development above, it seems to add of the edifice
to the solidity

by receivingthe architrave on a far largersurface than the shaft

could offer. The support seems to enlarge itself,the better to
embrace the entablature.
The two requirementswhich the has
capital to fulfil may, then,
be thus summarized : in the first place,it has to mark the point
where the upward movement of the lines comes to an end ; and,
secondly,it has to make, or to seem to make, the column better
fitted to play its part as a support. Its functions are dual in

principle the aesthetic desires of the eye, and the

; it has to satisfy

constructive requirementsof the material. The latter office may

be more apparent than real,but, in architecture,what seems to be

necessary is so.

The Greek capital,in all its forms, thoroughly fulfils these

double conditions,while that of Egypt satisfies them in a very

imperfectmanner. us Let take the ancient polygonal column

as an example. The feeble tablet which crowns its shaft neither

opposes itself franklyto the upright lines below it, nor, in the
absence of an echinus, is it happily allied with the shaft. It

gives,however, a greater appearance of constructive repose to

the architrave than the latter would have without it.

In the column which terminates in a lotus-bud the capitalis of

more importance,but the contrast between it and the shaft is often

very marked.
slightly At Luxor and Karnak capital
the smooth

seems to be nothing more than an accident,a gentleswellingin

 The Egyptian Orders. 12

the upper part of the cone ; besides which it realiyplays no part

in the construction,as the surface of the abacus above it is no

greater than a horizontal section through the highest and most

slender part of the shaft.

Of Egyptian capitals,
all the that which seems the happiest in

conception is the campaniform. This capital, far from being

folded back upon itself,throws out a fine and bold curve beyond
the shaft. But we are surprisedand even distressed to find that
the surface thus obtained is not employed for the support of the
architrave, which is carried by a comparativelysmall cubic abacus,

Fig. 97. " The Nymphasa Xelumbo : from the Descriptionde l'Egyplc : Hiit. Katurelle, pi.61.

w^hich rests upon the centre of the capital. At Karnak and

Medinet-Abou this abacus is not so absurdlyhigh as it afterwards
became in the Ptolemaic but
period,^ yet its effect is singularrather
than pleasant. We feel inclined to wonder why this fine calyx of
stone should have been constructed if its borders were to remain
idle. phrase commenced
It is like a but never finished. Without
this fault the composition, of which it forms a part, would be worthy
both in proportionand in decoration, of being placed side by side

with the most perfectof the Greek columns.

^
A good idea of this can be gained from the buildingknown as Pharaoh's bed, at
Philge. It is shown on the rightof our sketch at p. 431, Vol. I.
124 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The last or, it may be, the first question,

which is asked in nection
con-

with the form of column

employed by any particular race,
has to do with its origin. We have preferredto make it the last

question,because we thought that the analysisof form which we

have attempted to set forth would help us to an answer. There
are many difficulties in the matter, but after the facts to which we

have called attention, it will not be denied that the forms of wooden
construction,which were the first to be developed in Egypt, had
a great effect upon work in stone.

Ever since men began to interest themselves in Egyptian art,

this has found an important place in their speculations. In the
two forms which alternate with one another at Thebes, many have
seen faithful
transcriptionsof two plantswhich filled a largespace
in Egyptian civilization by their decorative qualitiesand the
services which
practical they rendered ; we mean, of course, the
lotus and the papyrus.
There were in Egypt
speciesbelongingto the familyof
many
the NymphceacecB,a familywhich is representedin our northern
climates by the yellow and white nenuphars or water-lilies.
Besides these Egypt possessed, and stillpossesses, the white lotus

{^Nyiuphcea lotus of Linn"Eus), and the blue lotus {^Nyinphisa ccerulea

of Savigny); but the true Egyptian lotus, the red lotus (the
Nymphcea nelwnbo of Linnaeus, the Nelumbium speciosumof Wild)
exists no longer in a wild state, either in Egypt or any other
known part of Africa (Fig. 97). The accurate descriptions
given by the ancient writers have enabled botanists,however, to
recognizeit among the fiora of India. It is at least one third

largerthan our common water-lily, from which it differs also In the

behaviour of its leaves and of the stems which bear the flowers.
These do not float on the surface of the water but rise above it to a

heightof from twelve to fifteen inches.^ The flower,which stands

higher than the leaves,is borne upon a stalk which instead of being
soft and pliantlike that of the water-lily has the firmness and

consistencyof wood. It has an agreeablesmell like that of anise.

In the bas-reliefs the ancient Egyptians are often seen holdingit
to their nostrils. The fruit,which Is shaped like the rose of a

watering-pot, contains seeds as large as the stone of an olive.

^
These upstandingfiowers and stalks form the characteristic of
distinguishing the
Nelumbo species.
 The Egyptian Orders. 125

These seeds,which were eaten either green or dried,^ were called

Egyptian beans by the Greek and Latin writers because they were
consumed in such vast in the
quantities valley.^ The seeds Nile

of the other kinds of nymphceacese,which were smaller (Herodotus

compares them with those of a poppy), gave, when pounded in

a mortar, a flour of which a kind of bread was made. Even the

root was not wasted ; according to the old historians, it had a

sweet and agreeabletaste.^

The belongs to the familyof Cyperacece,
papyrus which is still

representedin Egypt by several species,but the famous plant

which received the early writings of mankind, the Papyrus
antiquorum of the botanist,has also practically disappearedfrom
Egypt, where it is only to be found in a few privategardens.

The ancients made it an object of specialcare. It was vated

culti-
in the Sebennitic nome, its roots beinof arown in shallow

water. sufficiently
Strabo accurate idea of its appearance
gave a

when he described it as a peeled wand surmounted by a plume"

^
of feathers." This green plume or bouquet is by no means
without elegance(Fig.98). According to Theophrastus the plant
attained to a height of ten cubits, or about sixteen feet.^ This

may, however, be an exaggeration. The finest plantsthat I could

find in the gardens of Alexandria did not reach ten feet. Their
stems were as thick as a stout broom-handle and sharplytriangular
in section.

The reed-brakes which occur sofrequentlyin the paintings

consist of different varieties of the papyrus (Fig.8, Vol. I.).The uses
to which the plant could be put were ver)^ numerous. The root

was used for fuel and other purposes. The lower part of the stalk
furnished a sweet and aromatic food substance, which was chewed
either raw or boiled, for the sake of the juice.^ \^eils,mats,
sandals, "c., were made from the bark ; candle and torch wicks

^
Herodotus, ii. 92.
"
For the different species
of the lotus and their characteristics see Description
de TEgypfe,Hist. Natiirelle,
ii. pp. 303-313
vol. and Atlas, plates 60 and 61. "
In
the Recueil de Traraux, etc.,vol. i. there is M. Victor Loret
p. 190, a note by upon
the Eg"-ptiannames for the lotus.
'
Strabo, xvii. i, 15. Diodorus, i. 34. "

^
Strabo, xvii. i, 15.
Straho only speaks of ten feet, which would better with modern
agree
experience.
"^
Diodorus, i. 80,
126 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

from the bark ; baskets and even boats from the stalk/ As for
the processes by which the
precious fabric which the Greeks
called fic^Xos was obtained they will be found fullydescribed in
the paper of Dureau de-la- Malle Sur le Papyrus et la Fabrication
du Papier? Our v^qx^ paper is derived irom papyrus, and forms a
slightbut everlasting monument to the great services rendered to

civilization by the inventive genius of the Egyptians. The

importationof the papyrus, which followed the establishment of
direct relations between Greece and Egypt in the time of the Salt

princes,'^exercised the greatest influence upon the development of

Greek thought. It created prose composition, and with it history,

philosophy, and science.

The two plantswhich we have mentioned were so specially
reverenced by the Egyptiansthat they constituted them severally
into the signs by which the two great divisions of the country
were indicated in their writings. T\\q papyrtcs w^as of the emblem

the Delta, in whose lazywaters it luxuriated,and the lotus that of

the Thebaid.^
Besides this testimonyto their importance,the careful tions
descrip-
left by the ancient travellers in Egypt, Herodotus and

Strabo, also show the estimation in which these two plantswere

held by the Egyptians ; the palm alone could contest their well-

earned It is easy, then, to understand how the artist

supremacy.
and ornamentist were led to make use of their graceful forms. We

have alreadypointedout many instances of such employment, and

we are far from underratingits importance,but we have yet to
explainthe method followed, and the kind and degree of imitation
which the Egyptianartist allowed himself
The lotus especiallyhas been found everywhere by writers
upon Egypt.^ The pointed leaves painted upon the lower parts
PiERRET, Dictionnaire d'ArcheologieEgyptienne,see Fa/"jr?/s.
^ Upon the different
varieties of papyrus, see also Wilkinson, vol. ii.p. 121 ; pp. 179-189 ; and Ebers,

ALgypten,pp. 126, 127.

vol. xix. p. 140, with plate.
^
Memoires de P Academic des Inscriptions, one

3
Egger, Des Originesde la Frose dans la Litt'erature Grecque. {Memoiresde
Litt'eratureAncienne, xi.)
*
Maspero, Histoire Anciemie, p. 8.

Descriptionde PEgypte ; Hist.

^
Naturelle, \o\. ii. p. 311. Antiqiates,vol. i.
"Who doubt that they wished to
Descriptiongeneratede Thebes, p. 133: can

imitate the lotus in its entirety? The shaft of the column is the stem, the capital

the flower,and, stillmore obviously,the lower part of the column seems to us an

exact of that of the lotus and

representation of plantsin general."
 The Egvptian Orders. 127

of columns have been recognized as imitations of "

those scaly

Fig. 98.
"
Papyrus plant, drawn in the gardens of the Luxembourg, Paris,by
M. Saint-Elme Gautier.

leaves which surround the pointwhere the stem of the lotus,the

128 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

papyrus, and many other

aquatic plants,merges in the root."

According to this theory the ligneousstem which rises from a

depth beneath the water of,perhaps,six feet,and carries the large

open flower at its top, was the prototype of the Egyptian column.
The bulbous form with which so many shafts are endowed at the

base, would be anotherdirectly feature

from nature. taken
The
leaves,properlyspeaking,which spread around the flower, are
found about and below^ the capital,
while the capitalitself is nothing
else, we are told,than the flow^er,sometimes fully opened, some-
times

while yet in the bud. When the shaft is smooth it represents

a singlestem, when it is grooved,it means a faggotof stems tied

togetherby a cord.
Others make similar claims for the papyrus. They refuse to

admit that the whole of the

Egyptian orders were founded upon
the lotus. Mariette allowed that the capitals which w^e have called
lotiform were copied from that plant,but he contended that the
bell-shapedcapitalwas freelycopied from the plume of its rival.
He proposed that this latter capitalshould be called papyriform,
and to my objections, which were founded upon the compositionof

a head of papyrus, he answered that the Egyptians neglectedwhat

may be called internal details,and were contented with rendering

the outward contours. In support of his idea,he called attention

to the fact that some of the faggot-shaped columns present

sections,like that of the papyrus
triangular stem.

In spiteof this latter fact, Mariette did not convert me to

his opinion. The columns in which

triangular section is found this

are not crowned by an open flower. The profiles of their capitals

resemble that of a truncated bud, a form which cannot possibly
be obtained from the papyrus, and they seem, therefore, to
combine characteristics taken from two different plants. His

explanationof the campaniform capitalseems still less admiss-

able. It is impossible to allow that in the tuft of slender
filaments gracefully yieldingto the wind, which is figuredon page
127, we have the prototype of those inverted bells of stone, whose

uninterruptedcontours express so much strengthand

amplitude.
No less difficult is it to discover the first idea of those sturdy
shafts which seem so well proportioned to the mighty architraves

which they have to support, in the slender stalk of the famous

water plant. The hypostyle halls may be compared to palm

to forests of pine,of oak, or of beech. In such a
groves,
 Till-: Egyptian Orders. 129

comparison there would be

nothing surprising,but the papyrus,
with its attenuated proportionsand yieldingframe, would seem to

be. of all vecretables,the least likelv to have inspired the architects

of Karnak and Luxor.

The lotus seems to us to have no more right than the papyrus

to be considered the unique originof the forms which we are

considerino-. All those resemblances, of which so much has been

made, sink to very littlewhen they are closelyexamined. It re-

quires

more than good will to recognizethe formless yb//'(?/^i-

which

cluster round the base of the stalk in those large and well-shaped

leaves
triangular with parallel ribs,which decorate the "bases of

Egyptian columns. Moreover, these leaves reappear in other

places,such as capitals, in which, if this explanationof their

origin is to be accepted,they could have no place. They
frequentlyoccur, also, at the foot of a wall. As tor the true

circular leaf of the lotus,it is not to be found, except, perhaps in a

few Ptolemaic capitals.Its stem, concealed almost by the

entirely
muddy water, is very slender,and is hardlymore suggestivethan
that of the papyrus of a massive stone column. The bulbous
form of the lower part of the shaft would be a constant form if it

were an imitation of nature, whereas it is, in fact, exceptional.

With the capitals,
however, it is different. Those which are to

be found at Thebes are referred,by common consent, to the lotus-

bud. And yet, perhaps,they resemble any other bud as much as

that of the lotus. It fullyopen, that

is,however, when they are
one flower is easilydistinguishable from another by the shape
and number of their petals,as well as by the varietyof their
colours. Like babies in their cradles,unopened buds are strangely
alike. But seeing the placeoccupiedby the lotus in the minds
of the Egyptians,"in their wooden architecture and painted
decorations, it is natural enough to believe that it gave them

their first hint for the capitalin question; we have, therefore,not

hesitated to use the epithetlotiform which has been consecrated

to it by custom.

As for the campaniform capitalwe find it difticult to allow

that it represents the open flov'er of the lotus. From a certain

distance it no doubt resembles the generallines of some flowers,
but those belong to the familyof the than rather
Catupanulaceci^
to that of the nymphseace^e. The profile of this inverted bell,

however, does not seem to have been suggested by the wish to

VOL. II. s
130 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

imitate any tiower whatever, least of all that of the lotus. The
capitalsat Soleb and
(Figs. 82 and Sesebi
93) embody
careful imitations o(,at least,the generalshapes and curves of
date-tree branches. Here there is nothing of the kind. There
is not the slightestindication of the elongatedand crowded petals
of the lotus. Both at Karnak and at the Ramesseum, the latter

may be easilyrecognised among the stalks of papyrus and

other freelyimitated flowers,but ?//"??? the columns and not in
their shapes. Both base and capital were ornamented with leaves
and flowers. Their contours have been gentlyindicated with a
pointedinstrument and then filled in with brilliant colours,which
help to relieve them from their ground. The whole decoration is
superficial ; it is not embodied in the column and has no effect

upon its generalform and character.

The followingexplanationof the resemblances which do un-'

doubtedlyexist between certain details of Egyptian architecture

and the forms of some of the national plants, is the most probable.
The stalks of the lotus and the papyrus are too weak and slender
ever to have been used as supports by themselves,but it is
quite
possiblethat on days,they were
/c/'e used to decorate and
pillars
posts of more substantial construction,being bound round them
like the outer sticks of
faggot. This fashion has its modern
a

illustration in the Italian habit of draping the columns of a church

with cloth or velvet on specialoccasions,and in the Erench
custom of draping houses with garlands and white cloth for the
processionof the /^e/e Dieii.
The river and the canals of Egypt offered all the elements for

such a decoration. The lotus and papyrus stems would be

attached to the column which they decorated, at the top and

bottom. The leaves at the roots would lie about its base, those
round the flower and the flower itself would droop -gracefully
beneath the architrave, would embrace and enlarge the capital
when it existed,or supply its place w hen there was none. The

eyes of a people with so keen a perception of beauty as the

Egyptians could not be insensible to the charm of a column thus

crowned with the verdure of green leaves, with the splendour of
the open flower and with the gracefulforms of the stillundeveloped
bud. probable enough that the architect,when
It is he began to

feel the necessityfor embellishing the bare surface of his column,

took this temporary^andoften-renewed decoration for his model
 The Egyptian Orders. 131

The firstattempt to imitate these natural forms would be made

in wood and metal, substances which would lend themselves to

the moulder
unpractised more readilythan stone, but in time the

difficultiesof the latter material would be overcome. The deep

vertical grrooves cut in the shaft would afford a rouofh imitation
of the round stems of the lotus and the triangularones of the

papyrus. The circular belts at the top would suggest the cords

by which they were tied to the shaft. The leaves and flowers

paintedupon the lowest part of the shaft and upon the capital,
may be compared to permanent chromatic shadows of the bouquets
of colour and verdure which had once hidden those members.
the
Finally, artist found in the swellingsides of the bud and the
hollow curves of the corolla those flowing lines which he desired
for the proper completionof his column.
This hypothesisseems to leave no point unexplained,and it
receives additional probability from a detail which can hardlybe
satisfactorily accounted for by the advocates of the rival theory.
We mean the cube of stone which is interposedas a kind of abacus
between the capitaland the architrave. If we refer the general
lines to those of a plaincolumn bound about with floweringstalks,
there is no difficulty.The abacus then represents the rigid
column behind the decoration, raisingits summit above the
drooping heads of lotus and papyrus, and visiblydoing its duty as
a support. Its effect may not be ver)^ happy, but its raisoii cCitrc
is complete. On the other hand its existence is quiteinexplicable,
if we are to look upon the column as a reproductionin stone, a
kind of petrifaction of a singlestem. To what, in that case, does
this heavy stone die correspond? To those who believe the
capital to be the representation of a singleflower with its circlet of

gracefulpetals,its presence must seem nothing less than an

outrage.
In their
lightstructures only do we Egyptians frankly And the
imitating
flowers and half-openedbuds (Figs.^~ 63. and 64),but ,

even there the imitation is far from literal. The petalsin a single
"
"
bloom are often of different colours, some blue, some yellow,
others again red or pink,a mixture which is not to be found in
nature. The Egyptian decorator thought only of decoration.
He used his tints capriciously from the botanist's pointof viev.-, but
he often reproduced the forms of Egyptian plantswith considerable

fidelity, especially those splendidlotus-flowers which occupied so

132 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

largea part in his affections long before the poets of India sang
their praise. In fashioning slender shafts which had littleweight
to support, the artist could give the reins to his fancy,he could
mould his metal platesor his precioustimber into the semblance
of any natural form that pleased his eye, and the types thus
created would, of course, be present in the minds of the first
architects who attempted to decorate rock-cut tombs or temples
and constructed buildings. We affirm, again,however, that neither
the stone column of the Egyptians,nor that of the Greeks, in its
most complete and dignifiedform, resulted from the servile
imitation, nor even from the intelligent interpretation of living

nature.

The column was an abstract creation plasticgenius. Its

of

forms were determined by the natural propertiesof the material

employed, by structural necessities,and by a desire for beauty of
proportion. Different peopleshave had different ideas as to what
constitutes this beauty ; they have had their secret instincts and
individual preferences. The artist,too, who wishes to ornament

a column, is sure to borrow m.otives from any particular form of

art or industryin which the race to which he belongs may have
earned distinction In some cases, therefore, his work may
resemble carved wood, in others chased or beaten metal. He will
also be influenced,to some extent, by the features and characteristic
forms of the plants and animals peculiarto his country. But
wherever a race is endowed with a true instinct for art, its archi-
tects
will succeed
creatingfor stone architecture an appropriate
in

styleof its own. The exigencies of the material differ from those

of metal or wood. Its unbending rigidity places a great gulf

between it and the elasticity and perpetual mobility which
characterize organic life. The Egyptian architects saw from the
first that this difference,or rather contrast, would have to be

reckoned with. They understood perfectlywell that the shaft

which was to support a massive roof of stone must not be a copy
of those slender stems of lotus or papyrus which bend before the
wind, or float upon the
lazy waters of the canals. The phrase
cohimn-plantor which
plant-colunin, has sometimes been used in

connection with the columns of Luxor and Karnak, is a

contradiction in terms.

But why should we dwell upon questionsof origin? In

these
the historyof art, as in that of language,they are nearlyalways
 The Oruonnance of Egvi'tiax Colonnades, 133

when
insoluble,especially we have to do with a race who created

all their artistic forms and idioms for themselves. The case is

different when we have to do with a nation who came under the

influence of an earlier civilization than their own. Then, and

then only,can such an inquirylead to useful results. The word

orio-in is then a synonym for and

affiliation, aninquiryis directed
towards establishingthe method and the period in which the act
of birth took place.
In our later volumes we shall have to go into such questionsin
detail,but in the spared that task. All that
case of Egypt we are

we mean by civilization had its originin Egypt, so far, at least,as

we can tell. It is the highestpoint in the stream to which we

can mount. Any attempt to determine the genesis of each

particular aesthetic motive in a past so distant that a glance into
its depths takes away our breath, would be a mere waste of time

and ingenuity.

^ 6. The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnades.

A French writer tells us that uniformityis sure to give birth

to weariness sooner or later,and there are many people who
would believe, If they thought about It, that his words exactlv

apply to the art of Egypt. The character which given was

to it when its creations first became known to modern Europe

clings to it still. Our museums are full of objects dating from
the last centuries monarchy and even of the
from the Greek and
Roman period. A very slightstudy of Egyptian architecture
is sufficient,however, to destroy such a prejudice,In spite of
its convenience for those who are lazilydisposed. The pier and
column w^ere extremelyvarious In their types, as we have seen,
and each type was divided Into numerous species. The same

variety is found In the arrangement, or ordonnance, of the

columns, both In the interior and exterior of their buildings.
We cannot prove this better than by placinga series of plans
of hypostyle halls and porticosbefore the of the reader,
eye
accompanied by a few illustrations perspective which in will
suffice to show the freedom enjo)ed by the Egyptian architect and
the number of different arrangements which he could introduce
into a single bulldino-.
 134 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The fullest development of Egyptian columnar architecture is

to be found in their interiors.

The simplestarrangement is to be found in the small chambers

where the roof is sustained by
singlerow of columns
a (Fig.98).
When the apartment was slighty
largerit contained two rows, the

Fig. 99. " Small chamber Fig. 100. Apartment

" in the Fig. ioi. Hall of the temple at
"

at Karnak. temple at Luxor. vol. ii.p. 41.

Aliydos; Description,

space between being wider than that between

the rows the
columns and the wall (Fig.lOo). Sometimes in still largerhalls

we find three rows of columns separated from one another by

equal spaces in every direction (Fig. loi). Finallyin those great
chambers which are known as hypostyle halls, the number of

columns seems to be practicallyunlimited. At Karnak there are

Fig. 102. " Plan of part of the HypostyleMall at Karnak.

a hundred thirty-four(Fig. 102),at the

and Ramesseum forty-
eight,at Medinet-Abou twenty-four.
The full effect of the hypostyle hall is to be seen at Karnak

and at the Ramesseum. In those halls the central aisle is higher

than the parts adjoiningand is distinguished
by a different type
 The Ordonnanxe of Egvi'tian Colonxadks.
v-":"

of column (PlateIV^). It is more than probable that this happy

arrangement was not confined to Thebes. We should no doubt
have encountered it in
temples of Memphis
more than one of the
and the Delta had they been preserved to our time. Its principle
was reproducedin the propylaeaof the acropolis at Athens, where
the Ionic and Doric orders figuredside by side.

c z?
" Bsaoccj CDaQoac

OOOOOO OOOOOD
OOCOOO OGOOOa

Fjg. 103. Tomb at Fig. 1 1all in the inner of

porti'^n the
"

104. "

SakUarah. Great Temple at Karnak.

In the ancient tombs at Sakkarah quadrangularpier alone

the
was used to support the roof (Fig.103). In the Theban temples
it was combined with the column. In the chamber called the

ambulatory of Thothmes (J in Fig. 215. \'ol. I.),at Karnak, a

row of square pierssurrounds an avenue of circular columns which

to bear the roof (Fig.104).

o
o

o
r^
o
0
o

Fig. 105. " Portico of the first com-t at

Medinet-Abou.

The external porticosare no less remarkable forvarietyof plan.

At Medinet-Abou we find one consistingof only a single row
of columns (Fig.105). At Luxor the columns are doubled upon
I ^6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

all four sides of the first court (Fig.io6),and upon two sides of
the second ; upon one side of the latter,
the side nearest to the

sanctuary, there are four rows of columns (Fig.107).

All these are within the external walls of the courts, but the
peripteralportico,embracing the temple walls, like those of

Greece, is a-so to be found in a few rare instances (Fig.108) ; as,

OO0O 0"""
"O"" O"0O
O"0" 0000] I
"^""lOQQO OOOOL_ZIS

00 0 0
i
O O O 0

Fig. 107. " The porticoof the pronaos, Luxor.

forexample, in the small temple at Elephantine which we have

already described,^
In the cases where the porticois within the courts, it is times
some-

confined to two sides,as at Luxor (Fig.109); the columns

shown at the top of our plan belong to the pronaos and not to

jl^ees 9 e e o

3 "

Fig. ioS. Part plan of the

"
Fig. 109."
Luxor, plan of the
temple at Elephantine. second court.

the court. In the Temple of Khons it surrounds three sides

(Fig. no), while the fine

temple of Luxor court added to the

by Rameses II. has a double colonnade all round it (Fig.iii).

Both in the interior of the halls and in the external porticos

we find an apparentlycapriciousirregularity in spacing the

J
Chapter iv. pp. 396-400, Vol. T.
 The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnaues. 137

columns. Sometimes Intercolumniations vary at pointswhere we

should expect uniformity,
as in the outer court of Luxor (Fig.1 12).
On two of the faces the columns are farther apart than on the
other two. The difference is
easilyseen
not on the ordinary
small plans,but it is conspicuous in the large one of the
Descriptio7i}
It is easy to understand why the spacing should have been
increased in front of a door, an arrangement which exists at

Gournah (Fig.113),and at Luxor (Figs.109 and iii).

In the hypostylehalls we find columns of different sizes and
orders. Six of the great columns which form the central avenue

at Karnak cover as much Sfround, measuring from the first to

the sixth, as nine of the smaller pillars.Between supports so

iiiiiil

Fig. iio. " Portico in the Temple Fig. hi. "

Luxor, portico of the
of Khons. first court.

arrangedand proportionedno constant relation could be established

(Fig.114). The transverse lines passing through the centres of

each pairof great columns correspondto the centres neither of the
smaller shafts nor of the spaces which divide them. The central
aisle and the two lateral groves of stone might have been the
creations of separate architects,working without communication
with one another and without any desire to make their proportions

seem the result of one coherent idea.

In the inner hypostyle hall at Abydos the intercolumniations

which lead respectively
to the seven sanctuaries vary in width
(Fig.115). This variation is not shown by Mariette, from whose
work our plan of the temple as a \s hole was taken, but it is clearly
seen in the plangiven in the Description. These are not the only
'
de
Description V vol.
Egypte.plates, iii.pi.5.

VOL. n. T
138 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

instances in which those earlyexplorersof Egypt excelled their

successors in minute accuracy.

0^M^r^^^m

Fig. 112." Part of the porticoof the fir.t Fig. 113. "
Portico in front of the facade of the
court, Luxor. From the Description, temple of Gournah. From theDescription,
iii. 5- ii. 41.

Here and there

find the spaces we in a singlerow of columns

increasing progressivelyfrom the two ends to the centre

(Pig- 105).

FiG. ^^Part of the Hypostyle Hall in the Great Temple at Kaniak.

114. "

The combination of piersand of the

with
quadrangular Osiride
latter with columns proper was also productiveof great variety.
In the speos of Gherf-H ossein six Osiride piersare inclosed by
six of quadrangularsection (Fig. 116). In the first court at
 The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnades. 139

Medinet-Abou a row of Osiride piers faces a row of columns

(Fig. 117),while in the second court there is a much more

complicated arrangement. The lateral walls of the court are

w^ mm^^ r'-i.h ^ga

r\ 0
00 0000

00 GOOQOO

00 00000"

Fig. 115. "

Second HypDstyle Hall in the temple of Fir,. 116. " Hall in the speo^ of
Abydos. Description,iv. 36. Gherf-Hossein (from Prisse).

prefacedeach by a row of columns. The wall next the entrance

has of Osiride piersbefore it ; while that
a row
through which the
pronaos is gained has porticosupportedby,first,
a a row of Osiride
piers,and, behind them, by a row of columns (Fig.1 18).

.\
P^J0_ ^ ^ ^ ^

^^1 o

,Lj e^i
LJ. :l1ij: iisi

.s-,s.sv...l U

Fig. 117. Medinet-Abou; firstcourt. Fig. 118." Medinet-Abou ; second

"

court.

In the temple of Khons the peristyle is continued the door-

way
past
in the pylon (Fig. 1 19),and the inclosure is reached through
140 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

one of the intercolumniations.'" At Luxor, on the other hand, the

porticowas brought to an abrupt termination againstthe sahent
jambs of the doorway (Fig.120).
The Egyptian architect,Hke his Greek successor, made frequent
use of the anta, that is,he gave a sahence to the extremities of
his walls which strenethened his design and afforded structural

Fin. 119. " Portico of the Temple of Khons, looking towards pronaos.

members, akin to pilasters

or quadrangularpillars,
which were

combined in various ways with columns and piers. Sometimes

the anta is nothing but slightprolongation of a wall beyond the
a

point where it meets another (Fig. 121); sometimes it is the

commencement of a returningwall which appears to have been
broken off to give placeto a row of columns (Fig.122); a good
instance of the latter arrangement is to be found on the facade

^^-^r

Fig. 120." Portico of first court at Luxor.

of the temple at Gournah, Sometimes, as at Medinet-Abou, it is

a reinforcement to the extremity of a wall, and serves to form

a backing for colossal Osiride statues (Fig.123),sometimes it gives
^
This is a mistake. By a reference to Fig.208, Vol. I.,or to Fig. 126 in this
volume, it will be seen that the peristyle
was not continued along the inner face
of the pylon. " Ed.
 The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnades. 141

accent strengthto an angle,as in the Great Hall at Karnak

and

(Fig.124). At the Temple of Khons the terminations of the two

rows of columns which form the porticoare marked by antae on
the inner face of the pylon (Fig. 126), while the wall which

o ^ *

Fig. 12!. "

Anta, Luxor; second court. Fig. 122. "

Anta, Goumah. From

Description,
lii. 5. Gailhabaud.

incloses the pronaos is without any projectionexcept the jambs

of the door. This arrano-ement has an obvious 7'aison cfetre ;

if the columns were brought close up to the pylon their outlines

would .not combine happilywith its inclined walls. At the other

o u r\
^^^
O (

Fig. 123." Anta, Medinet-Abou. Fig. Anta in the Great Hall of Karnak.
124. "

extremityof the court, the wall being perpendicular,there was

no necessity
f or such an arrangement.^ A glance at Fig. 126 will
The arrangement in question is capable of another and, perhaps, more
simple explanation. The tvvo rows of columns of which the portico in
142 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

make this
readilyunderstood. At Medinet-Abou the porticois
terminated laterallyby two antse, one correspondingto the row
of columns, the other to the row of caryatidpiers. In another
court of the same temple the antse on either side vary in depth,at
one end of the porticothere is a bold pilaster, at the other one
which projectsvery slightly indeed (Fig.128). This is another
instance of the curious want of symmetry and regularitywhich
is one of the most constant characteristics of Egyptian
architecture.

M$"

Fig. 125. Antse, Temple of

" Khons. Fig. 126. " Anta and base of pylon, Tenple of

Description,iii. 54. Khons. iii.55.

Descrip/ion,

The anta is often without a capital,

as, for instance, in the
temple of Khons (Fig. 126). Elsewhere the architect seems

to have wished
bring it into more
to complete harmony with
the magnificenceof its surroundings,and accordinglyhe gives
it a capital,
as at unlike those
Medinet-Abou, but a capitaltotally

question is composed, run in an unbroken line round the court with the
exception
of the side which is filled by the pylon. It was natural enough, therefore,that they
should each be
stopped againstan anta, even if there had not been an additional
reason in the inclination of the pylon. The ordonnance as a whole may be com-
pared

to a long portico, like that in the second court of the temple at Gournah, bent

into two rightangles. Ed. "

 The Ordonnance of Egyptian Colonnades. 143

to the column. ^ It was identical in form with that gorge

proper
or cornice which crowns nearly every Egyptian wall. Considering
that the anta was reallyno more than a prolongationor momen-
tary

salience of the wall, such an arrangement was judiciousin

every way (Fig.129).
The width of the intercolumniations also varied between one

court or hall and another, and, least in the present state

at of the

Egyptian remains, we are unable to discover any rule governing

the matter, such as those bv which Greek architects were o-uided.
We may affirm generallythat the Egyptian constructor, especially
in the time of the New Empire and when using columns of large

r%

P P
ir

Fig. 127. "

Ants, Medinet-Abou. Fig. 12S. "
Ants?, Medinet-Abou.

dimensions, preferredclose spacing to wide.

tendency to His
crowd his columns is to be explained,partlyby the great weight
of the superstructure which they had to support, partlyby the
national taste for a massive and close architecture. The spaces
between the great columns in the hypostyle hall of Karnak,
measured pointsof junction between
between the
the bases and
the shafts, is slightlyless than two diamieters. The spaces
between the smaller columns on each side are hardlymore than

one diameter.
A better idea originalcharacter of
of the these ordonnances

may perhaps be gathered from the platewhich faces the next page
'
In this the Greek architects took the same course as those of Egypt
 144 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

than
(PI.viii) to any plan to which we could refer the reader.
It represents that part of the colonnade, in the second court

of the temple at Medinet-Abou, which veils the wall of the

pronaos, and it shows how little space the Egyptian architects

thought necessary for the purposes of circulation. The spaces
between the columns and the wall on the one hand and the osiride

pierson the other,are not quiteequal to the diameter of the bases

of those columns, which have, however, been expresslykept
smaller than was usual in Egypt. If they had been as largeas
some that we could pointout, there would have been no room to

pass between them and the wall.

Did the Egyptians ever employ isolated columns, not as

structural units, but for decorative purposes, for the support of

a group or a statue ? Are there any examples of pillarslike
those which the Phoenicians raised before their temples,or the
triumphal columns of the Romans, or those reared for memorative
com-

purposes in Paris and other cities of Modern Europe ?

It is impossibleto give a confident answer to this question. The
remains of the great colonnade which existed in the first court

at Karnak, of
single column which
with bell-shapedcapital
a

is stillupright(Fig.130), suggest, perhaps,that such monumental

pillarswere not unknown to the Egyptians. These columns
display the ovals of Tahraka, of Psemethek, and of Ptolemy
Philopator. The width of the avenue between them, measuring
from centre to centre, is so great, about fifty-five
feet, that it
is difficult to believe that it could ever have been covered with
a roof. Even with wood it would have been no easy matter "
for
the Egyptians "
to cover such a void. We have, moreover, good
reason to believe that they never used wood and stone togetherin
their temples. A "velarium has been suggested,but there is
nothing either in the Egyptian texts or in their wall paintingsto
hint at their use of such a covering.
It would have been quite possibleto connect the summits of
these columns togetherlengthwise. The architraves would have
had less than twenty feet to bridge over. But not the slightest
relic of such a structure has been found, and it is difficult to

see what good purpose it could have served had it existed.

The authors of the Descriptioncame to the conclusion that
there had been no roof of any kind to the avenue formed by the
columns, that they merely formed a kind of monumental approach
 The Okdonnance of Egyptian Colonnades. M5

to the hypostylehall.^ Marietta also discards the idea of

architraves, which would have
unusually long, but he
to be

cannot accept the notion that the columns were merely colossal
Venetian masts borderingthe approach to the sanctuary. He
supposes the centre of the courtyard to have contained a small

hypsethraltemple built by Tahraka. This temple figuresupon

his plan,but neither he himself,by his own confession,nor any one
else has ever found the slightest trace of it in reality.- In the ex-
cavations

made by him in 1S59, he did not find a vestigeeven of

Fig. 129. " Anta and column at Medinet-Abou.

the two columns which

he inserts upon each of the two short sides
of the rectangle.These columns were
necessary in order to

1
Antiquitis.
Description, vol. v. pp. 120, 121. In their DescriptionGincrale dc
Thebes (ch.ix. section 8, " 2).the same wiiters add :
"'
We are confirmed in our

opinionby the discover}- on a bas-relief of four lotus stems with their flowers sur-
mounted

by hawks and statues, and placed exactlyin the same fashion as the
columns which we have just described. They are votive columns. We are also
confirmed in this opinionby the fact that we find thingslike them among those
amulets which reproduce the various objectsin the templesin small."' This bas relief
is figured in the third volume of platesof the Description, pi.n, Fig.i.
Mariette, Karnak, p. 19, pi. ^.
-

Voyage dans la Hnnte-Egyptc.pp. 13, 21, 22.

VOL. IL U
146 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

complete a peripteralarrangement, similar to that which exists

in the hypaethraltemples at Philse and in Nubia. The closest

study of the site has brought to lightnothing beyond the twelve

columns shown in our plan (Fig.214, e, Vol. I.).
The most probableexplanationis that which we have hinted at
above. ^ These great columns were erected to give majesty to the
approach to the hypostyle hall,and to border the path followed
by the great religious processionsas they issued from the hall and
made for the great doorway in the pylon. They must always

P"iG. 130." Column in the court of the Buba^tides, at Karnak.

have been isolated,and it is possiblethat formerly each carried

the cubic die which still surmounts the capital,
groups of
upon
bronze similar to those which, to all appearance, crowned those
stele-like pierswhich we described speaking of in the work of
Thothmes in the same temple (page 94). This was also the

opinion of Prisse d'Avennes, who studied the monuments of

Egypt, both as an artist and as an archceologist,

more closely,
^
This explanationseems to have been accepted by Prof. Ebers ; /Egypten iiii

Bild tirid Wort, vol. ii. p. 331.

 Monumental Details. 147

perhaps,than any one else.^ It has been objectedthat the columns

would hide each other, and that the s\mbolic animals perched
upon their summits could not have been seen ; but this would only
be the case with those who looked at them from certain vantageous
disad-

positions from between the columns, or exactlyon

"

their alignment. From the middle of the avenue, or from one

side of it,they would be clearlyvisible,and the vivid colours

of their enamels would produce their full effect.
The questionmight be decided in a very simple fashion. The
summit of the column which is still uprightmi^jhtbe examined,
or the abacus of one of those which have fallen micrht be dis
covered ; in either objectswhich they supported
case traces of the

would be found, supposing our hypothesisto be correct, More

than one doubtful questionof this kind would long ago have been
solved had the Egyptian monuments been studied on the spot

by archaeologists and artists instead of being left almost entirely

to the narrower experienceof engineersand egyptologists.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we shall,then, look
upon it as
probablethat the Egyptians sometimes raised columns,
like other people, not for the support of roofs and architraves,
but as giganticpedestals, as self-contained decorative forms, with
independent parts of their own to play. Such a proceedingwas
doubtless an innovation in Egyptian art one of those fresh "

departureswhich date from the latter years of the Monarchy.

Even in Egypt motives grew stale with repetition at last, and she
cried out for something new.

^ 7. JMonuniental Details.

We have seen that

proportions,the entasis,the shape,and
the
the decoration of the Egyptian column, were changed more than

once and in many ways. The Egyptian artist,by his fertility of

resource and continual after improvement, showed

striving that he
was by no means actuated by that blind respect for tradition which
has been too often attributed to him. Besides, the remains which
we possess are but a small part of Egyptian architecture. The
buildingsof Memphis and of the Delta have perished. Had they
been preserved we should doubtless have found them
among
'
M.AXiME Du Camp, Le Xil, p. 251.
148 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

forms and details which do not exist in the ruins of Abydos, of

Thebes, or in the Nubian hypogea ; we should have been able
to describe arrangements and motives which do not occur in the
works of the three great Theban dynasties.
On the other hand, the mouldingsand other details of the same

kind are monotonous in the extreme. Their want of varietyis

not to be explained,like that of Assyria,by the nature of the
materials. Brick, granite,limestone, and sandstone constituted
a series of materials in which a varied play of lightand shade,
such as that which characterized Greek architecture,should have
been easy. The real cause of the poverty of Egyptian design in
this particularis to be found in their habit of coveringnearly

Fig. 131. "

Stereobate, Luxor. Fig. 132. " -Stereobate with double plinth,Luxor.

surface painted decoration.

with a carved More and
.every
elaborate or bolder mouldings might have interfered with the

succession of row upon row of picturesfrom the bottom to the

top of a wall. The eye was satisfied with the rich polychromatic

decoration, and did not require it to be supplemented by

architectural ornament.

When slope of a wall was

the ornamented with projections in

the shape of mouldings it was because the wall was bare. At

Luxor, for example, in the external face of the wall which incloses
the back of the temple, the lowest course projectsbeyond the
others, forming a step, and a few courses above it there is a

hollow moulding similar in section to the cornice at the top ; the

 Monumental Details. 149

lower part of the wall is thus formed into a stereobate (Fig.

131). At pointin the circumference of this temple there
another

is a stereobate of a more complicateddescription.It is terminated

above by a cornice-shapedmoulding like that justdescribed, but
it rests upon two steps instead of one (Fig. 132). By this it
that the Egyptian architects understood how to add to
appears

apparent solidity of their buildingsby expanding them at their

junction with the ground. This became a true continuous

stylobate,carrying piers,in peripteraltemples like that at

Elephantine(Fig. 230, \'ol. I.). In the latter buildingits form is
identical with that which we have justdescribed.

We have now to describe an arrang-ement which, though rare in

the Pharaonic period,was afterwards common enough. The

porticowhich stretches across the back of the second court in the

Ramesseum is closed to about a third of its heisfht bv a kind of

pluteus (Fig. 133).^ This barrier formed a sort cf tablet, sur-

rounded

by a fillet,and crowned by a cornice of the usual type,

between each pairof Osiride piers. In the Ptolemaic temples the
lower part of the porticowas always closed in this fashion. It

constitutes the only inclosure in front of the fine hypostyle hall

at Denderah.
We have buildingsin sufhcient number
now studied to become
familiar with the Egyptian Goi'gc. As early as the Ancient
Empire the architects of Egypt had invented this form of cornice.
and used it happilyupon their massive structures. It is composed

of three elements, which are alwavs arranofed in the same order.

In the first place there is the circular moulding or torus with

a carved ribbon twistinof about it. This moulding occurs at the

edge where two faces meet in most Egyptian buildings. It

serves to o-ive firmness and accent to the ansrlesand, when used

at the top of the wall, to mark the pointwhere the wall ends and

^
The Descriptionde FEgypte indicates the existence of this pluteus both in the
Ramesseum (vol ii.pi. 29) and at Medinet-Abou (vol.ii.pi.7, Fig. 2). Photographs
do not show a trace of it,but many parts of those buildingshad disappearedbefore
the beginningof the present century. There is no reason to suppose that the
Ramesseum underwent any modification after the temiination of the Theban

supremacy. In his restoration

Dap-el- Bahari, of ^L Brune has introduced
a similar detail,which he would
assuredly not have done unless he had found
traces of it under the portico. Unfortunately his restoration is on a ver}' small
scale. That at Dayr-el-Bahari must have been the earliest example of such an

arrangement.
I50 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt

the cornice begins. Above this there is a hollow curve with

perpendicular
grooves, which, again, is surmounted by a plain
filletwhich sharp line againstthe sky. In all this there
makes a

is a skilful oppositionof hollows to flat surfaces,of deep shadow

to brilliant and unbroken sunlight,which marks the upward

Fig. riuteu-- in the intercolumniations of the porticoin the second court of the Rame seu:)i-
133. "

determination of the great masses upon which it is used in the

most effective manner.

Although Egyptian architect repeated this cornice con-

the tinually,

he contrived to give it varietyof effect by modifying its

and by introducing different kinds of ornaments. In
proportions,
 Monumental Details. i=;i

often find that the cornice of the

the pylons,for instance, we
both deeper and of projection
bolder than those
doorway was
upon the two masses of the pylon itself (Fig. 134). It was
ornamented with the winged globe,an emblem which
generally was

afterwards appropriated by the nations which became connected

w^ith Egypt.
This emblem in its full development was formed of the solar

disksupportedon each side by the nrceus, the serpent which meant

royalty. The sun was thus designatedas the greatest of kings,

^f^;'"^^^^.:u:.^:T-^r

Fig. 134. "

Doorway, Luxor. iii. 6.

Description,

the kingwho mounted up into space, the

and vivifying
enlightening
upper and lower country at one and the same time. The disk and
its supporters were flanked the
stretching
by wings with
two wide
rounded, fan-shaped extremities, which symbolized the untiring
activity of the sun in making its dailyjourney from one extremity
of the firmament to the other. Egyptologists tell us that the

group as a whole signifies the triumph of rightover wTong, the

victoryof Horus over Set. x\n inscription at Edfou tells us that,
after the victor}-, Thoth ordered that this emblem should be carved
over every doorway in Egypt, and. in fact, there are very few
 1=^2 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

lintels without it.^ It first appears at about the time of the

twelfth dynasty,according to Mariette, but its form was at first
more simple. There were no 2trcEi,and the wings were shorter,
and pendent instead of outstretched.- Towards the eighteenth

dynasty it took the shape in which it is figuredin our illustrations,

and became thenceforward the Egyptian symbol /^r excellence.
In the more richlydecorated buildings, such as the Ramesseum,

we sometimes find cartouches introduced between the vertical

grooves of the cornice (Fig. 135). In the of

representations
architecture on the paintedwalls the upper member of the cornice

as usually constituted, is often surmounted by an ornament

composed of the ur^us and the solar disk, the latter being upon
the head of the former (Fig.136). This addition gives a richer

;Fi:iti!riTnnT[:iiri-|-i'rn-rii

I'lG. 135. " Cornice of the Ramesseum. Fig. 136. Cornice

" of a \\ooden
ii. 30.
Description, pavilion; from Prisse.

and more ample cornice, which the Ptolemaic architects carried

out in stone. It is not to be found thus perpetuated in any

Pharaonic but
building, the same motive occurs at Thebes, below
the cornice, and its existence in the bas-reliefs shows that even

in earlytimes it was sometimes used. Perhaps it was confined to

those light structures in which complicated forms were easily

carried out.

This cornice seemed to the Egyptians to be so entirelythe

proper termination for their risingsurfaces,that they placed it at
1
historyand signification
The of this symbol were treated by Brugsch in a paper

entitled : ''Die Sa^i^^e

von Sonneiischeibe nach alt yEgyptischenQuellen
der gefliigelten

da7\s;esti'Ilt."
'^ In this restricted and comparativelymean form the emblem in questionis found
at Ikni-Hassan. (Lepsius,Denki/iukr,part ii.pi.123.)
 Monumental Details. DO

the top of their

stylobates (Figs.131 and 132) and their pedestals
(Fia.137). They also used it within their buildingsat the top of
the walls behind their colonnades,as, for instance, in the peripteral
temple at Elephantine(Fig.138).
The number of buildings in which this cornice was not used is

very small. The Royal Pavilion at Medinet-Abou is surrounded,

at the top, by a line of round-headed battlements ; in the Temple
of Semneh, built by Thothmes I.,^and in the pronaos of the

Temple of Amada, the usual form givesplaceto a square cornice

which is quiteprimitive in its simplicity.

Traces of other mouldings,such as those which we call the

cyma, and the cyma reversa, may be found in Egyptian

Fig. 137. "

Pedestal of a Sphinx at Fig. 13 8. "
Ccmice under ihe portico,
Kamak. Description,iii. 29. Elephantine.

temples,but they occur so rarelythat we need not dwell upon

them here or figurethem.-
Besides these mouldings, which were used but ver)' rarely,
we need only mention one more detail of the kind, namely,
those vertical and horizontal grooves which occur
upon the
masonrv walls and were derived from the structures' in wood.
They chieflyused for the ornamentation
w^ere of the great sur-
faces

afforded by the brick walls (Fig.261, \'ol. I.),but they are

also to be found upon stone buildings.We give,as an example,a
fragmentfound at Alexandria, which is supposed to belong to the
1
Lepsius, Denkmaler, voL ii.pi.83, and voL v. pi.56.
""
See Chipiez, Histoire Critiquedes Ordres Grecques,p. 90.

VOL. IL X
J 54 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

lower part of a sarcophagus, A curious variation of the same

ornament exists in one of the

royal tombs at Thebes (Fig.140),
in which each panel is separated from its neighbours by the
figuresof headless men with their hands tied behind their backs.

They represent, no doubt, prisonersof war who have been

Fio. 139. " of a sarcophagus. Desoiption,v. 47.

l-'rajJiiient

beheaded, and the decorator has wished, by the use of a what

some-

though gracefulmotive, to suggest the exploits

barbarous
of him for whom the sepulchrewas destined.
Not much varietywas to be obtained from the use of these
but yet they disguisedthe nudity of great wall spaces,
grooves,
they prevented monotony from becoming too monotonous, while

Vie. 140. "

Fragment of decoration from a royaltomb at Thebes. ii.86.

Descripticn,

they afforded linear combinations

power which had some to please
the eye. The Assyriansmade use of hardly any other mode of

breakingup the uniformityof their brick walls.

It has been asserted that the first signsof that egg-moulding
which played in Greek architecture to be
so great a part are
 Monumental Details, 155

found in Egypt. Nestor recognised it

L'Hote thought that he
in the entablature,under the architrave,of some paviHonsfigured
in decorations at Tell-el-Amarna and at Abydos.^ He was

mistaken.
certainly The outline of the ornament to which he
referred has a distant resemblance to the moulding in question,
but the place occupies gives it an entirelydifferent
which it

character ; it seems to be suspended in the air under the enta-

blature.

In other painted pavilionsthe same place is occupied

by flowers,bunches of grapes, and fruits resemblingdates or acorns,
suspended in the same fashion.^ If such forms must be explained
otherwise than by the mere fancy of the ornamentist, we should
be inclined to see in them metal weights hung round the edges
of the awnings, which supplied the place of a roof in many
wooden pavilions.
The same remarks may be applied to those objects,or rather

appearances, to which the triglyphsof the Doric order have been

referred. It is true that in the figuredarchitecture of the bas-
reliefs many of the architraves seem to show vertical incisions

arranged in groups of three, each group being separated from

the next by a square space which' recalls the Greek metope
(Figs.62-64). sometimes
stripesfollow each other
But these
at regular intervals,sometimes they are in pairs,and sometimes
they are altogetherabsent, the architrave being either plainor
decorated with figuresand inscriptions.Where the stripesare

present they represent sometimes applied ornaments, sometimes

the ends of transverse joistsappearing between the beams of the
architrave. Similar ornaments surround the paintings in the
tombs, and are to be found upon the articles of furniture,such
as chairs,which form part of most Eg)-ptianmuseums. Neither
these so-called and
triglyphs metopes, which do resemble
slightly
the details so named of the Doric order, nor the egg moulding,
which is a pure delusion, ever received that established form and

elemental character which alone gives such things importance.

Architecture "
stone architecture " made no use of them, and the
analoofies which some have endeavoured to establish are mis-

leading. The apparent coincidence resulted from the nature of

the material and from the limited number of combinations which
it allowed.
^
Lettres,
pp. 68, 1 1 7.
-

See the platein Prisse entitled Details dc Colotmeitcs de Bois.

1^6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Doors and Windoivs.

So far we have been concerned with the structure and shape

of Egyptian buildings ; we have now to describe the openings
pierced in their substance for the admission of hght, for the
circulation of their inhabitants and for the entrance of visitors
from without. The doors and windows of the
Egyptians were

peculiar
in many ways and deserve to be described.
carefully

DOORF.

The plans of Egyptian doorways do not always show the same

arrangements. The embrasure of whichj we moderns make use

is seldom met with. It

peripteraltemple at
occurs in the
Elephantine,but that is quite an exception (Fig. 141). The
doorways of the temples were generallyplanned as in Fig. 142,
and in the passage which traverses the thickness of the pylons,
there is in the middle an enlargementforming a kind of chamber
into which, no doubt, double doors fell back on either side

(Fig.143).
In their elevations doorways show stillgreater variety.
Let us consider in the first place those by which access was

gained to the temenos, or outer inclosure,of the temple. They

may be divided into three classes.
First of all pylon proper, with its great doorway
comes the
flanked on either side by a tower which greatlyexcedes it in
height(Fig.207, Vol. I.).Champollion has pointedout that even in

the Egyptian texts themselves a distinction is made between the

pylon and that which he calls the propylon. The latter consists
of a door opening throughthe centre of a singlepyramidoid mass,
and instead of forming a fagade to the temple itself, it is used for
the entrances to the outer inclosure. Figs. 144 and 145 show the
different hieroglyphswhich represent it.^
These propylons,to adopt Champollion'sterm, seem to have
included two different types which are now known to us only
throughthe Ptolemaic buildingsand the monumental paintings, as

'
From Champollion, Grammaire Egyptiennc.p. 53,
 Doors and Windows. D/

the boundary walls of the Pharaonic period have almost entirely

disappearedand their gateways with them.
We have illustrated the firsttype in our restoration,
page 339, Vol. I.
(Fig.206). The doorway itself is very high,in which it resembles
many propylons of the Greek period which still exist at Karnak
and Denderah.^ The thickness of the whole mass and its double
cornice, between which the covered way on the top of the walls
could be carried, are features which w-e also encounter in the

propylon of Denderah and in that of the temple at Day bod in

Fig. 141. "

Plan of doorway, Fig. 142. " Plan of doorway, Temple of
Temple of Elephantine. Khons.

^ added the
Nubia. We have nothing but wall, and a gateway,
in Egypt, impliesa ; no reason to suppose wall
that the for there is

Egyptians had anything analogousto the triumphal arches of the

Romans. The temple was a closed building, to which all access

was forbidden to the crowd. The doors may well have been

numerous, but, if they were to be of any use at all,they must have

been connected by a continuous barrier which should force the
trafficto pass through them.

J=T

Fig. 143. " Plan of doorway in the pylon, Figs. 144, 145. "
The pylon and propylon
Temple of Khons. Description, iii, 54. of the hieroglyph'.

In our restorations this doorway rises above the walls on each

side and stands out from them, on plan,both within and without.
We may conjecturethat
fairly it was so. The architect would
hardly have wasted rich decoration and a well designed cornice
upon a mass which was to be almost buried in the erections on

each side of it. It must have been conspicuousfrom a distance,and

this double relief would make it so. There are, moreover, a few
'
Ebers, ^gypfen, p. 250.-
*
Felix Tevxard, Vues (T Egypte et dc Xubie, pi.106.
158 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

instances in which these

secondary entrances have been preserved
togetherwith the walls through which they provided openings,
and they fully confirm our conjectures. One of these is the

gateway to the outer court of the Temple of Thothmes at Medinet-

Abou (Fig. 146). This gateway certainlybelongs to the

Ptolemaic part of the building, but we have no reason to suppose

that the architects of the Macedonian period deserted the

ancient forms.
The
propylons were decorated with masts like the pylons,as
we see by a figurein a painting in one of the royal tombs at

Thebes, which was reproduced by Champollion (Fig- i47)- ^

Judging from the scenes and inscriptions which accompany it,

Champollion thought this represented a propylon at the

QEinnHi^

ETT-'S

H /fmm.

Fk;. 146. Gateway to the court-yardof the small

"
Fig. 147. "
A propylon with
Temple at Medinet-Abou, Description,ii. 4. its masts.

Ramesseum. That the artist should, as usual, have omitted

the wall, need not surpriseus when we remember how tonous
mono-

and free from incident those great brick inclosures must

have been.
The second type of propylon differs from the first in having
a very much smaller doorway in comparison with its total mass.

In the former the door reaches almost to the cornice,in the latter
it occupies but a very small part of the front. This is seen in
Fig. 147, and, still more conspicuously,in Fig. 148, which was
also copiedby Champollion from a tomb at Thebes.^ In one of
these examples the walls are nearlyvertical,in another they have
a considerable slope,but the arrangement is the same and the

'
Monuments de
VEgypte et dc la N'ubie^Notices Descriptives,
p. 504.
"

Notices Descriptii'es,
p. 431.
 Doors and Windows. ^59

proportionsof the
openings to the towers themselves do not

greatlydiffer. Our Fig. 149, which was composed by the help of

those representations,is meant to give an idea of the general
compositionof which the door with its carved jambs and architrave,
and the tower with its masts and banners, are the elements. The
two types only differ from one another in the relative
dimensions of their importantparts, and the transition
between them may have
imperceptible. been almost
It would seem that in the Ptolemaic epoch the wide
and loftydoors were the chief objectsof admiration,
while under Fig. 148." a
the Pharaohs, the towers through which propylon.
they were piercedw^ere thought of more importance.
If we examine the doorways of the temples themselves we

shall there also find great variety in the manner in which they
are combined architecturally with the walls in which they occur.
In the Temple of Khons the jambs of the door are one,
architecturally, the wall. The courses
with are continuous. The

Fig. 149. Gateway in the inclosingwall of

"
a Temple. Re.-tored by Ch. Chipiez,

lintelalone,beingmonolithic,has a certain independence(Fig.150).

In the Temple of Gournah, on the other hand, the doorway forms
separate and self-contained composition. The
a
jambs are
monoliths as well as the lintel,
and the latter, the
notwithstanding
great additional weight which it has to carry, does not excede the
i6o A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

former in section. At Abydos, on the other hand, the capital

part which this stone has to play is indicatedby the great size
of the sandstone block of which it is composed (Fig.154).

mMMM/M^/Z/.y. ^M^
cc

\ \ Z 'i iiia
'^'

Fig. 150. "

Doorway of the Temple of Khons. Descriptmi, iii,54.

One of the doorways we have represented,that in Fig. 146,

requiresto be here mentioned again for a moment. Its lintel is

'
"J 1 7

1"'IG. 151. "

Doorway of the Temple of Gournah. ii.42.
Description,

discontinuous. The doorway in question dates from the

Ptolemaic period,but there is undoubted evidence that the same
 Doors and Windows. i6i

form was sometimes used periodfor the openings

in the Pharaonic
in inclosing walls. There is a representation of such a door
in a bas-relief at Karnak, where it is shown in front of a pylon
and forms probablyan opening in a boundary wall.^ It was this

representation that decided us to give a broken lintel to the

I^Wi iflil^^^/

I"iG. 152. "

Doorway of the Temple of i;eti,at Abydcs.

doorway oppositeto the centre of the royalpavilionat Medinet-

Abou (Plate \'III.). This form of entrance may have originated

in the desire to give plentyof head-room for the canopy under
which the sovereignwas carried, as well as for the banners and

various standards which we see figured in the triumphal and

religious processionsof the bas-reliefs (Fig. 172, \'ol. I.).

'
Pris?e, Hisfoirc d': J'Art Egxfiun.

VOL. II.
l62 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Windows.

The
royal pavilionat Medinet-Abou is the only buildingin

Egypt which has preserved for us those architectural features

which we call windows. They differ one from another, even
upon this singlebuilding, as much as the doors. One of them

(Fig. 153) is enframed like the doorway at Gournah ; but the

jambs are merely the ends of the courses which make up the

Ni '^v

sr
M^^^^^AJMM^^

Figs. 153, 154- " Windows in the Royal Pavilion at Medinet-Abcu.

wall, and their salience is very slight. On the other hand

a window frame with a very bold relief (Fig. 154) is to be
found in the same building. This window is a little work of
art in itself It is surmounted by a cornice, over which again
appear various emblems carved in stone, making up one of
the most graceful compositions to be found in Egyptian
architecture.

" 9. T/ie Illuminatio7i of the Temples.

We have described the way in which the
Egyptian architects
treated doors and windows from an artistic point of view ; we
have yet to show the method which they adopted for allowing
sufficient lightto penetrate into their temples,that is,into those
iMG. I55-" Attic of the Great Hall at Karnak. Restored by Ch. Cliipity.
 The Illumination of the Temples. i6^

which, being closely

buildings, could
shut againstthe laity, not be

illuminated from windows in their side walls. Palaces and private

houses could have their windows as lar^e and as numerous as thev

chose, but temple could only be lightedfrom the roof,or at

the
least from parts contiguousto the roof.
The hypostyle hall at Karnak, with its loftywalls and close
ranges of columns, would have been in almost complete darkness
had it been left to depend for lightupon its doors alone. But
the difterence of heightbetween the central aisle and those to the

rightand left of it.was taken advantage of to introduce the light

required for the proper display of its magnificent decorations.

'"
\ \ "
"""

! -" !

; f.f f f.ff.f. in
Fig. 156. " Ciausira of the Hypostyle Hall, Karnak. iii.2^
Discriptiort,

The wall which filled up the space between the lower and upper
sections roof, forming something almost
of identical with the
of a Gothic cathedral,was
clerestory constructed of upright sand-
stone

slabs, about sixteen feet high, which were pierced with

numerous perpendicularslits. Stone gratings, or claustra as the
Romans would have called them, were thus formed, through which
the sunlightcould stream into the interior. The slits were about
ten inches wide and six feet
high. The illustration on page 163
shows how the slabs were arranged and explains, moreover, the

general disposition of the roof Fig. 156 gives the claustra in

detail,in elevation, in plan,and in perspective.
1 66 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

hypostyle halls are nearlyalways lightedupon the same

The

principle.The chief differences are found in the sizes of the

openings. At the Temple of Khons, where the space to be

lightedwas not nearly so large,the slabs of the claiLstra were
much smaller" and the openings narrower (Fig. 157). In one of
the inner halls at Karnak different system has been
a used. The
lightpenetrates through horizontal openings in the entablature,
between the architrave and the cornice,divided one from another
by cubes of stone (Fig. 158). In the inside the architrave was

Fig, 157. " tlaustra in the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Khons. Compiled from the elevations
in the Description,iii. 2S.

bevelled on its upper edge, so as to allow the lightto penetrate

into the interior at a better anele than it would otherwise
have done.
The use of these full
clcucstra, of variety though they were in
the hands of a skilful architect, were not the
only methods of

lightingtheir temples to which the Egyptians had recourse.

They were helped in their work, or, in the case of very small

chambers, replaced,by oblique or vertical openings contrived

in the roof itself These oblique holes arc found in the superior
anglesof the hypostylehall at Karnak (I'ig.159). After the roof
 The Illumination of the Temples. 16;

was in place it was seen, no doubt, that the claustra did not

of themselves orive enough for the husfe chamber, and

lio;ht these

Fig. 158. " Method of lightingin one of the inner halls of Kamak, Compiled from the plans and
elevations of the Description.

narrou- openings were laboriously

cut in
ceiling.One of the its
inner chambers of the Temple of Khons is feebly lighted by
vertical holes cut through the slabs of the roof (Fig.160). Similar

j?^--ux,i'
Fig. 159."

Auxiliarylight-holesin the Fk;. 160. " Method of

lightingone
Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. scription,
De- of the rooms Temple of
in the
iii. 26. Khons. Description,iii.55.

Openings are to be seen in the lateral aisles of the hypostylehall

in the Ramesseum. The slight which
upward projection surrounds
i68 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the upper extremities of

(Fig,i6i). these holes should be noticed

Finallythere are buildingsin which these openings are the only

sources of illumination. This is notablythe case in the Temple of

Amada. The upper part of our plan (Fig. 162) represents the
roof of that temple and the symmetricallyarrangedopenings with
which it is pierced.

Fig. 161. "

Light openings in a lateral aisle of the Hypostyle Hall in the Ramesseum.

From a photograph.

The Ptolemaic
Temple of Edfou is much more generously
treated in the matter of light. Its fiat roof is piercedby two large
rectangularopenings resembling the compluvmm of a Pompeian
house, and making it,in a certain sense, hypaethral. No example
of such an arrangement has been met with in the Pharaonic

S S m Q

a B a a

_-'i .Jtr:

Fig. 162. " The Temple of Amada. Fig. 163.

"
Clattstra,from a painting.

temples. It is that
possible principlewas
its directlyborrowed
from the Greeks. It is hardly so consistent with the national
ideas and traditions as the claustra.

Palaces and privatehouses were, as we have said,better lighted

than the temples. The illustrations in the preceding chapter
 The Obelisks. 169

show privatehouses with their windows. Some of those houses

had windows formed of stone claustra. The window copied by
ChampolHon^ from the walls of a small chamber in the Temple of
Thothmes at Medinet-Abou (Fig. 163),shows this,as well as an

Fig. 164. " Window of a house I"iG. 165.

" Window closed by a

in the form of claustra. mat.

opening in the house illustrated in Fig. 19, which we here

reproduceupon a largerscale (Fig.164). We do the same for a

window belono-ino^to the buildinofshown in Fio-. i. It is closed

by a mat which was raised,no doubt, by means of a roller and

cords (Fig.165).

" 10. The Obelisks,

We cannot bring our analysisof the forms and motives of

architecture
Eg)'ptian to an end without mentioning a monumental

type which is
peculiarto Eg}-pt,that of the obelisks. These are
granitemonoliths of great height, square
-
on plan,dressed on all
four faces, and slightly tapering from base to summit. They
usually terminate in a small pyramid, whose rapidlyslopingsides
contrast stronglywith the gentle inclination of the main block
beneath. This small pyramid is called the pyramidion.
The tall and slender shapes of these monoliths and their
pointed summits have led to their being compared, in popular

language,with needles and spindles.'^ The first Greeks who

^
Xotices Desifiptives.
p. 332, fig.2.
-

In front of the sphinxeswhich stand before the great pylon at Kamak there
are two small obelisks of sandstone.
^
The Italians call them needles, and
guglie, the Arabs micellet Faraoun, Pharaoh's
needles. The obelisks now in London and New York which
respectively, were

taken by the Romans from the ruins of in order

Heliopolis, to be erected in front
of the Caesareum at Alexandria,were kno^^Tl as Cleopatra'sNeedles. Herodotus
VOL. IL 3
170 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

visited the country and found a monumental type so unlike thing-

any-
they had at home, wished to convey a good Idea of it
to their compatriots ; they accordinglymade use of the word

h/3e\os,a spindle. It is difficult to understand how their de-

scendant
came to prefero^eXtaKo^, a littlespindle.^ A diminutive

hardly seems the rightkind of word under the circumstances ; an

augmentative would, perhaps, have been better. But it was

this diminutive that the Romans borrowed from the Greeks of

Alexandria and transmitted to the modern world.

This is not the place for an inquiryinto the meaning of the

obelisk. It may symbolize,as we have often been told,the ray of

the sun, or it may be an emblem of Amen-Generator.^ It seems

to be well established,that in the time of the New Empire

at least,it was used to write the syllable?uen, which signified
Jirnniess
or stability.^"
The usual situation of the obelisks was in front of the first

pylon of the temples. There

couples,one upon each they stood in

side of the entrance. Those instances where they are found,

as at Karnak, surrounded by the buildingsof the temple,are easily
explained. The two obelisks in the caryatidcourt were erected

during the eighteenthdynasty,at a time when those parts of the

temple which lie between the obelisks and the outer wall were not

yet in existence. The obelisks of Hatasu, when first erected,

were in front of the Temple of Amen as it was left by the early

sovereignsof the eighteenthdynasty.
But the obelisk was not the exclusive property of the temples.
Some littleones of limestone have been found in the mastabas,^
and Mariette has described those which formerlystood in front of
theroyaltombs belonging to the eleventh dynasty,in the Theban

necropolis.He has publishedthe inscription which covers the four

faces of one of these obelisks, a monolith some ten feet nine

only used the expression, 'Ev roi re/xeVtt

o/3eA.os. dfSeXol XlOlvol (ii.
io-rdo-L/xeydXoL 172 ;
also ii. III).
'
DiODORUS (i.57, 59), always uses the word o/SeXaxKos. The termination is
Traife dc la Formation dcs Mots
certainlythat of a diminutive. See Au. ReGx\ier,
dafis la Langue Grecquc,p. 207.
-

De Rouge, Etnde sur les Monuments de Karnak.

3 PiERRET, Didionnaire Egyptienne.
d' Archeologie
* A small funeraryobelisk,about two feet high,is now in the museum of Berlin.

It is figuredin the Doikmcckr, part ii. pi.88. It was found in a Cizeh tomb dating
from the fifth dynasty.
 The Obelisks. i
~

inches hieh.^ Obelisks seem also to have been employed for the

decoration of palaces,
as we may conclude from a Theban painting-
in which one appears before the
principalentrance to a villa
surrounded with beautiful gardens.- Judging- by the sizes of

people in the same painting,this obelisk must have been about

thirteen feet high.

Diodorus speaks of obelisks erected by Sesostris which were

-^ and different allude

1 20 cubits, nearly 180 feet, high ; texts

to monoliths which were 130, 117, and 114 high. We have

feet

some in acceptingthe
difficulty firstof these figures. The obelisk
of Hatasu, at Karnak, which is the tallest known, is 108 feet 10

inches in height.^ That standing at Matarieh, on which is still

the site of the ancient Heliopolis, is only 67 feet 4 inches high.

But the fact that it is the oldest of the colossal obelisks of Egypt
makes it more interestingthan some which

surpass it in size (Fig. 167). It bears

the name of Ousourtesen I.,of the twelfth
dynasty. As a rule, the inscriptions
cut

upon the four sides of those obelisks which

are complete are very insignificant.
They
consist of littlebut pompous enumerations .
^
"'" _-"^-;=,^
royaltitles.
--

of the
obelisk in
The two obelisks erected bv Rameses II. FiGi66^^-Funerary
the of lhebe".
rsecropolis
in front of the first pylon at Luxor were from Mariette."

unequal in
slightly height. One was ^},feet
4 inches, the other 78 feet 5 inches. To hide this difference
to some extent they were set upon bases also of unequal
height,and the shorter was placed slightlyin advance of its

companion, i.e. slightlynearer to the spectator approaching the

temple by the dromos.' By these means they hoped to make

^
Mariette, Mo7uiments Divers, pi.50. The obelisks illustrated in this chapter
are all drawn to the same scale in order to facilitatecomparison.
^ i. 57.
-
WiT.KiNSOX, Manners a/id Customs, etc., p. 396. Diodorus,
" Recent measurement has shown that the height givenon page 105, Vol. I., is
incorrect. " Ed.
'"

In the Dictiontiaire Egyptienrieof

d'Arc/iivIogie M. Pierret, a translation of the
hieroglyphics
upon one side of the Paris obelisk will be found under the word
The
Obelisqiie. Athe?iceum for October 27, 1877, contains a complete translation of
the inscription
upon the London obelisk,by Dr. Birch. " Ed.
^'
Monuments Divers, pi.50.
"

Antiquites,vol. ii.pp.
Description. 371-373. In our view of Luxor on page 345
 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the difference conspicuous. This difference

between the two less

may have been caused by any slightaccident, or by the discovery

of a flaw in the graniteduring the operationof cuttingIt in the

quarry. In dealingwith huge blocks like these,such contretemps

must have been frequent.

The smaller of the two obelisks was chosen for transport to

Paris In 1836, Its present situation

In on the Place de la

Concorde it is separated from the sculpturedbase upon which

It stood at Luxor. The northern and southern faces of that

pedestalwere each ornamented with four cynocephall adoring

the rising sun ; the other two had figures of the god Nile
presentingofferings to Amen (Fig.168).
In order to restore this and other obelisks to the form which

they enjoyed In the

days of the Pharaohs we should have to give
them back their original summits as well as their pedestals. "

Hittorf has shown that these probably consisted of caps of gilded

copper fitted over the pyramldion,^ In those cases where the latter

was not ornamented with carved figures. A curious passage In

Abd-al-latif,which has been often cited,proves that the pyramid

of Ousourtesen preserved Its cap as late as the thirteenth century.
"
The summit," says the Arab historian, is covered
"
with a kind

of funnel-shapedcopper cap, which descends about three cubits

from the apex. The weather of so many centuries has made the

copper green and rusty, and some of the green has run down the

shaft of the obelisk." ^ In the

plateattached to his essay, Hittorf
gives us a plan and elevation of the pyramidion of the smaller
obelisk of Luxor. He shows how its broken and Irregular mass ,

Impliesa metallic covering,a coveringwhose existence is more- over

proved by the groove or rebate, about an inch and a

half deep, which runs round the summit of the shaft. His

Figs. 3 and 4 show that this groove was carefullypolished.

His conclusions have failed to find acceptance in some quarters.
It has been asserted that the rays of the sun, strikingupon such

a surface, would be reflected In a dazzlingfashion,and that the

we have restored the base of the largerobelisk after that belongingto the one now

at Paris. We were without any other means of its form.

ascertaining
""
Precis sur les Pyramidions de Bronze dore Employes par les Ancieiis Egyptiens
comme cojironnemefit de de
quelques-2ins leurs Obclisqiies,
etc. J. J. Hittorf,
8vo, 1836.
2
Abd-al-latif, Relation de I'Egypfe; French translation by Silvestre de Sacy,
published in 4to, in 18 to, p. 181. " Ed.
 J. "
.'K
" r.-r r\

frnt

eu

" '^^

if ;^ i:-

Fio. 167.
"
The obelisk of Ousourtesen. J^l^'""'^^'iv"?.ML
Description,v. 26,

Fig. 16S." The obelisk in the Pl.ice

de la Concorde, restored to its
original base. From Prisse.
174 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

general effect would have been

unsatisfactory.The Egyptians
had no such fear. They made lavish use of gold in the decora-
tion
of their buildings. According to the inscription which covers
the four sides of the pedestal under the obelisk of Hatasu at

Karnak, the pyramidion was covered with pure gold taken from "

the chiefs of the nations,'^ which seems to imply either a cap of

gilded copper, like that of the obelisk at Heliopolis, or a golden

sphere upon the very apex. An object of this latter kind is

figured in some of the bas-reliefs at Sakkarah. Besides this there
is no doubt that the obelisk
questionwas in
gilded from head to
foot. We remark, in the first place,that the beds of the hiero-
"
glyphs
were carefully polished; secondly,that the four faces of the
obelisk itself were left comparativelyrough, from which we should
conclude that the latter alone received this costlyembellishment,
^
the hieroglyphs preservingthe natural colour of the granite."
In that transplantation of which the Ptolemies first set the

example, the obelisk at Paris was deprived of its original pedestal,

as we have seen ; it was erected in an open space of such extent

that its dimensions ; it was

insignificantseem almost
placedupon
a pedestalwhich, neither in dimensions nor design,has anything
Egyptian about it ; and finallyit was deprived of its metal finial.
It can therefore but littleidea of the effect which
Q-'ive the obelisks

produced while they still remained in the places for which they
were designed. The artistic instinct of Theophile Gautier was
quitealive to this fact when he penned his fanciful but charming
lines on the Nostalgicd'Obdisquc.
A curious fact has been ascertained in connection with the
obelisks of Luxor. Their faces present a slightconvexity,the
total protuberanceat being rather more
the base than an inch and

three-tenths. It is probable that the same arrangement would

be found in other obelisks if they were carefullyexamined. Its

explanationis easy. If the surfaces had been absolute planes

they would have been made to appear concave by the sharpness

of the corners. It was necessary, therefore, to give them a

gentle entasis which should graduallydiminish towards the

summit, completely disappearingby the time the pyramidion

was reached.-

'
Mariette, Itinerah-e de hi third edition,
Ilaufe-Egypte, ]). 142.
2 vol. ii.p. 369.
Antiquitcs,
Description, " Charles dans
Bi.anx, Voyai:;e la Haute-

Egypte, p. 150.
 The Ohklisks, /o

The obelisk at Beo^gig,in the F"ayoum,offers a singularvariant

upon the type which we have described. It was formerly a
monolith about 43 feet high ; it is now overthrown and broken
into two pieces. It bears the ovals of Ousourtesen I., and
would seem, therefore, to be contemporary with the obelisk at

Heliopolis.^ Its peculiarityconsists in its shape. It is a

rectangularoblong, instead of a square, on plan. Two of its

sides are 6 feet 9 inches wide, and the other two about 4 feet. It

has no pyramidion. The sum.mit is rounded from front to back.

mM

13.^
,?4i,"i J -..-I'll .; '"' "\ A )\'\\l

Fig. 169. The

" obelisk of Beggig. From the FiG. 170. "

Upper part of the obelisk at

elevation of Lepsius.- Beggig. From the elevation of Lepsius.

forming a ridge,and the upper part of its principal faces are filled
with sculptures in low relief (Fig 170). All this makes it resemble

a gigantic stele rather than an obelisk (Fig. 169).

Whatever may have been the origin of this form it never
became popular in Egypt. In Nubia alone do we find the type

1
For an interesting
descriptionof the present state and curious situation of
this obelisk, see T/ie Land of K/icmi, by Laurkn'CE Oliphant, 98- 100,
pp.
(Blackwood. 1882). " Ed. -

Dcukmcder, part ii. pi. iiq.

176 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

repeated,and that only in the debased periods of art. On the

other hand, the obeHsks proper seem to have been made in
truly
numbers
astonishing in the time of the Middle and New Empires.
Egypt has supplied Rome, Constantinople,Paris, London, and

even New York with these monoliths, and yet she stillpossesses
many at home. Of these several are still standing and in good
others
preservation, are broken and buried beneath the ruins of
the temples which they adorned. At Karnak alone the sites of
some ten or twelve have been found. Some of these are still

standing,some arelying on the ground, while of others nothing

is left but the pedestals. At the beginning of the century the
French visitors to the ruins of San, the ancient Tanis, found the

fracjments of nine different obelisks.^

^11. TJie Professionof Arcliitect.

It may seem to some of our readers that we have spent too

much time and labour on our analysisof Egyptian architecture.

Our excuse lies in the fact that architecture was the chief of the
arts in Egypt. We
nothing of her painters. The pictures
know

in the Theban tombs often displaygreat taste and skill,

but they

seem to have been the work of decorators rather than of painters

in the higher sense of the word. Sculptorsappear, now and then,

to have been held in hicrher consideration. The names of one or

two have come down to us, and we are told how dear the}^were
to the employed them.^
kings who But the only artists who had
a high and well defined social positionin ancient Egypt, a country
where ranks were as distinctlymarked as in China, were the
architects or engineers,for they deserve either name. Their

^ ch. 23. has recently(June 16,

Descriptio7i,
Aniiq?iitcs, M. Edouard Naville "

18S2)published in the Journal de Geneve an account of a visit to these ruins,during

which he counted the fragments of no less than fourteen obelisks,some of them of
size.
extraordinary " Ed.
2 The sculptorwho made the two famous colossi of Amenophis III. had the

same name as his

Amenhotep. (Brugsch, History, ist edition,vol. i.
master,
pp. 425-6). Iritesen,
who for Menthouthotep II. in the time of the first
worked
Theban Empire, was a worker in ivory,and ebony. He held a
stone, gold,silver,
place,he tells us, at the bottom of the king'sheart, and was his joy from morning

tillnight. (Maspero, la Stele C. 14 du Loiivfe,in the Transactions of the Society

of
Biblical vol.
Archceology, v. part ii. 1877.)
 The Profession of Architect. ^11

names have been preservedto us in hundreds upon their elaborate

tombs and inscribed steles.

might,then, amuse
We ourselves by making out a long list of
Egyptian builders, a list which would extend over several
thousands of years, from Nefer, of Boulak (Fig.171 ^),who may
have built one of the Pyramids,to the

days of the Ptolemies or of the Roman

emperors. In the
glyptothekat Munich
there is a beautiful sepulchral statue of
Bakenkhonsou, who was chief prophet of
Amen and principal architect of Thebes,
in the time of Seti I. and Rameses II.
From certain phrases in the inscription,
Deveria believes that Bakenkhonsou
built the temple of Gournah.- In his

epitaph he boasts of
the great ottices
which he had filled and of the favour
which had been shown to him by his
sovereign. Every Egyptian museum
contains some statue and inscriptionof
the same kind. Brugsch has proved
that under the Memphite dynastiesthe
architects to the kinof were sometimes
recruited among the princesof the blood

royal,and the texts upon their tombs

show that they all,or nearlyall,married
daug-htersortrrand-dauo-hters of Pharaoh,
and that such a marriage was not looked

upon as a mesalliaiiee.^ Fig. 171. "

Limestone statue of the
architect Nefer, in the Boulak
Similar evidence is forthcoming in Museom. DrawTi by Bourgoin.
connection with the first Theban

Empire, but it was chieflyunder the three great dynasties

that the post of architect to Pharaoh became one of great
and
responsibility, ":arried with it great influence and authority.

1 See Notice des Principaux Afonu merits exposes daris -e Miisee de Boulak, 1876,
No. 458.
-

Deveria, Bakenkhonsou {Rei-ue

Archlologique,
new series,vi. p. loi).
3
Brugsch, History of Egypt (English edition),vol. i. p. 47. Ti, whose
splendidtomb has been so often mentioned, was
"
First Commissioner of Works "

for the whole of Egypt, well " "

as as Secretar}-
of State to Pharaoh.
VOL. IT. A A
178 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

For the building and keeping in repair of the sumptuous

monuments then erected a great system of administration must

have been devised, and Thebes, like modern London, must have
^
had its "
district-surveyors."
So far as we can tell there was a chief architect, or
superintendentgeneral of buildings, for the whole kingdom ; his
title was Overseer of the buildingsof Upper and Lower Egypt?
For how many scribes and draughtsmen must the offices of
Bakenkhonsou or of Semnat, the favourite architect of the great
regent Hatasu, have found employment ?^
Who would not like to know the course of study by which
the ancient Egyptian builders prepared themselves for the great

publicenterpriseswhich were always going on in their country ?

We may admit that the methods employed by their engineers
were much more primitivethan it has been the fashion to suppose,
that their structures were far from possessingthe
we may prove

accuracy of plan that distinguishes ours, but yet we cannot deny

that those who transportedand raised the obelisks and colossal
statues, and those who constructed the hypostylehall of Karnak,

or even the pyramids of Gizeh, must have learnt their trade.

How and where they learnt it we do not know^ It is probable

that they learnt it by practiceunder a master. Theory cannot

have held any great part in their teaching. Their system must
have been composed of a collection of processes and receipts which
in number as the centuries passed away. There is nothing
grew
in the texts to show that these receipts were the property of any
close corporation, but heredityis sure to have played an important
part and to have made them, to some extent, the property of a

class. Architects were Brugschgenerallythe sons of architects.

has given us one genealogical table in which the profession
descended from father to son for twenty-two generations. By
help of the inscriptions he traced the familyin question from the

^
We have here ventured to take a with
slightliberty M. Perrot's local tints. " Ed.

Paul Pierret de
{''Stele Siiti et de Har, architedes de Thebes'' in the Recueil de

Travaux, vol. i. p. 70),says,

"
This is said by him who has charge of the works of
"I have the direction of tlie
Amen in Southern Ap." Suti-Har says in his turn :

We the directors of the great monuments in Ap, in the

west, he of the east. are

centre of Thebes, the cityof Amen."

-
Pierret, Dictiontiaire Egyptienne,p. 59.
d'ArcJicologie
2
See Brugsch, History of Egypt, ist edition,vol. i. p. 302.
 The Profession of Architect. 179

time of Seti I. to that of Darius the son

of Hystaspes.
But then he not have tracked the stream to its source.
even may

The rule and have entered that family long before

compass may

the time of Seti their use

also have continued long after
; may

the Persian kings had been driven from Egypt.

^iiiiliiii
/llilllll
 CHAPTER III.

ScULrTURK.

" I. The Origin of Statue-making.

The art of imitating living forms by means of sculpture was

no less ancient in Egypt than architecture. We do not mean

to that it already existed in those remote when the first

say ages

ancestors of the Egyptian people built their mud cabins the

upon

banks of the Nile; but as soon as their dwellings became

something more
than mere
shelters and began to be affected by
the desire for beauty, the figures of men and animals took a

considerable place in their decoration. The oldest mastabas that

have been discovered have bas-reliefs their walls and statues

upon

in their mummy-pits.
The existence of these statues and their relative perfection
show that sculpture had advanced with strides no less rapid than

those of the sister art. It even be said that its had

may progress

been than that of architecture. Given the particular kind

greater

of^^pressive beauty which formed the ambition of the Egyptian

sculptor, he produced masterpieces as early as the time of the

Pyramid builders. We cannot as much of the architect.

say

The latter showed himself, indeed, a master in the mechanical

of dressing and fixing stone, but the

arrangement of
processes

his buildings was simple, we might say elementary, and

many

centuries had to before he had become capable of imagining

pass

and creating the temples of the New Empire, with

sumptuous
those ample porticos and hypostyle halls which the
great were

culminating achievements of Egyptian architecture.

In order to explain this curious inequality we need not inquire

which of the two arts the fewest difficulties. It is with
presents
 The Origin of Statue-making. i8i

nations as with individuals. Some among them succeed with ease

in matters which embarrass

neighbours. It is a question their
of circumstances, of natural qualifications, and of surroundings.

Among the Egyptians the progress of sculpturewas accelerated

by that national belief in a posthumous life for the body which

we have described in connection with their funeraryarchitecture.

By the existence of this constant and singularbelief we may

explainboth the early maturity of Egyptian sculptureand the
great originality of their most ancient style.
We have already described the arrangements which were

necessary to enable the inhabitant of the tomb to resist annihila-

tion.
Those arrangements were of two kinds, a provisionof food
and drink, which had to be constantlyrenewed, either in fact or by
the magic which
multiplication followed prayer, and a permanent
support for the ka or double, a support that should fillthe placeof
the livingbody of which it had been deprived by dissolution.
This support was afforded to some by the mummy
extent ; but
the mummy was liable to be destroyedor to perishby the action
of time. The Egyptians were led to provide against such a
catastropheby the invention of the funerary statue. In the
climate of Egypt, stone, and even wood, had far better chances
of duration than the most carefully embalmed body. Statues had
the additional advantage that they could be multipliedat will.
There was nothing to prevent ten, twenty, any number of them,

being placed in a tomb.^ If but one of these images survived all

the accidents of time, the dojtble would be saved from that
annihilation to which it would otherwise be condemned.

Working under the impulseof such an idea, the sculptorcould

not fail to do his best to endow his statue with the characteristic
features of the original."It why is easy, then, to understand
those Egyptian statues which do not represent gods are always
portraits of some individual, executed with all the precisionof
which the artists were capable. They were not ideal figuresto
which the desire for beauty of line and expressionhad much
to say, they were stone bodies, bodies which had to reproduce all
the individual contours of their flesh-and-blood originals. When the
latter was ugly, its reproductionhad to be ugly also,and ugly in

^
The serdabs of the tomb of Ti contained of which
twenty, only one was recovered
uninjured. Mariette, AW/Vf du Miisce de Boulak, No. 24.
 1 82 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the same way. If these principles

were disregardedthe double
would be unable to find the support which was necessary to it."^
- The first Egyptian statue was not so much a work of art as

a cast from photography had been invented in the

nature. If

time of Menes, photographerswould have made their fortunes

in Egypt. Those sun-portraits, which are supposed to present a
perfectresemblance, would have been put in the tomb of a deceased
man in hundreds. Wanting such things,they were contented to

copy his figurefaithfully in stone or wood. His ordinaryattitude,

his features and costume, were imitated with such scrupulous

sinceritythat the serdabs were filled with faithful duplicates of
himself. To obtain such a likeness the artist cannot have trusted
to his memory. His employer must have sat before him, the stone

body must have been executed in presence of him whose tality

immor-

it had to ensure. In no other way could those effigies have

been produced whose iconic character is obvious at first sight,

effigies to which a contemporary would have put a name without

the slightest hesitation.
This individuality is not, however, equallywell preserved in
all Egyptian sculpture, a remark which applies to the early
dynastiesas well as to the later ones, though not in the same
degree. In those earlyages the beliefs which led the Egyptian to
inclose duplicates of his own body in his last resting-place were

more powerful over his spirit, and the artist had to exert himself
to satisfythe requirements of his employers in the matter of

fidelity. Again, those centuries had not to struggleagainstsuch an

accumulation of precedentsand fixed habits,in a word, againstso
much conventionality as those which came after. There were no

formulae, sanctioned by long custom, tj relieve the artist from the

necessity for original thoughtand continual reference to nature ; he

was compelled to make himself acquaintedboth with the general

features of his race and those of his individual employers. This

necessity him the best possibletraining. Portraiture taken

gave
up with intelligence and practisedwith a passionatedesire for
truth has always been the best school for the formation of masters
in the plastic arts.

In those early centuries,then, Egypt produced a few statues

which were masterpieces of artistic expression,which were

admirable portraits.In all countries, however, great works are

'
Maspero, in Rayct's Monutncnts dc P Art Anfique.
 The Origin of Statue-makinc.

rare. The sepulchral

statues being all equal in were far from

value to those of the Sheik-el-Beled, of Ra-Hotep from Meidoum,

or of the scribe in the Louvre. This intelligent and scientific

interpretation of nature was not reached at a bound ; Egyptian

sculpturehad its archaic periodas well as that of Greece.

^loreover, even when the art had come to maturity,there was.
as in other countries a crowd of mediocre artists whose work

was to be obtained at a cost smaller than that of the eminent men

whom theysurrounded. The leadingsculptors were fullyemployed

by the kings and great lords,by ministers and functionaries of high
rank : their less able brethren worked for that great class of

functionaries of the second order, who composed what may be

called the Egyptian middle class. It is probable too, that,
althoughhis work was to be hidden in the darkness of the serdab,
the artist took reproducing the features of a great
more care in

whose appearance might be known from one end of the

personage
Nile valley to the other, than when employed by some paratively
com-

humble individual. Before descending into the tomb,

the statue must for a time have been open to inspection,and its
creator must have had the chance of receivingthose praiseswhich
neither poet nor artist has been able to do without, from the days

of Memphis to those of Modern Europe.

In most cases, however, he had to reproduce the features and
contours of some obscure but honest scribe, some insignihcant
unit the thousands who served Cheops or Chephren ; and
among
his conscience was easilysatisfied. If we pass in review
more

those limestone figureswhich are beginning to be comparatively

common in our museums, we receive the impression that many
amonor them bear onlv a general resemblance to their orielnals ;
they preserve the Eg}-ptiantype of feature,the individual marks
of sex and age, the costume, the familiar attitude,and the attributes
and accessories requiredby custom, and that is all. It may even

be that,like certain
a category of funerarysteles among the Greeks
of a later age, these inferior works were bought in shops ready
carved and painted,and that the mere inscription
of a name was

supposed to give them that iconic character upon which so much

depended. A name indeed is not always found upon these
images,but it is always carved upon the tombs in which they were
placed,and its appearance there was sufficient to consecrate the
statues and all other contents of the sepulchreto the of
support
184 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the double to which

belonged. Whether itit was copied from a
sitter or bought ready-made,the statue became from the moment
of its consecration an auxiHarybody for the double. It preserved

more of the appearance of life than the corpse saturated with

mineral essences and hidden under countless bandages ; the half-

open smilinglipsseemed about to speak,and the eyes, to which

the employment of enamel and polished metal give a singular
seemed
brilliance, instinct with life.
The first statues produced by the Egyptians were sepulchralin
character,and in the intentions both of those who made them and
of those who gave the commissions,
they were portraits, executed
with such fidelity that the double should confidingly attach himself
to them and not feel that he had been despoiledof his corporeal

support. As the power and wealth of the Egyptians grew, their

artistic aspirations grew also. They rose by degrees to the con-
ception

of an ideal, but even when they are most visiblyaiming

at grandeur of stylethe origin of their art may stillbe divined ; in
their happiestand most noble creations the persistenteffect of
their earlyhabits of thought and behef is stillto be surelytraced.

" 2. Sculptureunder the A^icient Evipire.

The most ancient sculptureto which we

monument can of

assign,if not a date, at least a chronological place in the list of

Egyptian kings,is a rock-cut monument in the peninsulaof Sinai.

This is in the Wadi-maghara, and represents Snefrou, the last

monarch of the third dynasty,destroyinga crouching barbarian

with his mace. In spite of its historic importance,we refrain

from producing this bas-relief because its dilapidated state takes

away its interest from an artistic pointof view.^

There are, besides, other statues in existence to which egypto-

logistsascribe a still greater age. The Louvre contains three
before which the historian of art must halt for a moment.

Two of these are very much alike, and bear the name of a

personage called Sepa, who enjoyed the style and dignityof

prophet and priestof the white hill. The third is the presentment

All the monuments in the Wadi-maghara are figured in the Deukmcelej- of

Lepsius (partii.plates2, 39, and 61) ; casts of them have also been made.
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire.

of Nesa, who is called a relation of the king,and was, in all bability,

pro-
the wife of Sepa (Fig.172). These statues were of soft
limestone. Both man and woman have black wigs with squared
ends, w^hich descend, in the case of the former, to the shoulders,
in that of the latter,to the breasts. Sepa holds a long staff in

his left hand, and in his right the sceptre called pat, a sign of
authority. His only robe is a plain scJicnti, a kind of cotton

breeches fastened round his waist bv a band. His trunk and leo^s
are bare, and the latter are only half freed from the stone in which

they are carved. Nesa is dressed in a long chemise with a trian- gular

opening between the breasts. Upon her arms she has

bracelets composed of twelve rings. In each figurethe wig, the
pupils,eyelids,and eyebrows,are painted black, while there is a
green stripeunder the eyes. The bracelets are also green.
De Rouge asserted boldlythat these were the oldest statues in

the world.^ He believed them to date from the third dynasty,and

his successors do not think he exaggerated; they would perhaps
give the works in questionan even more venerable age.
This impressionof great antiquity not is caused by the short
inscriptions on the plinths. The well-carved hieroglyphswhich
compose them are in relief, but this peculiarity is found in monu-
ments

of the fourth and fifth dynasties. The physiognomies and

generalstyle of the figuresare much more significant. They

betray an art whose aims and instincts are well developed,

although it has not yet mastered its mechanical processes. The

sculptorknows thoroughlywhat he wants, but his hand stilllacks

assurance and decision. He has set out upon the way which will
be trodden with
ever-increasing firmness by his successors. He
follows nature faithfully. Observe how franklythe breadth of

Sepa'sshoulders is insisted upon, how clearly the collar-bones and

the articulations of the knees are marked. The rounded contours
of Nesa's
thighsbetraythe same sincerity.x\nd yet there is a
certain timidityand awkwardness in the group which becomes
clearly perceptiblewhen we compare it with works in its neigh-
bourhood
which date from the fifth dynasty. The workmanship
lacks freedom, and the modelling is over-simplified. The arms,
which elsewhere are laid upon the knees, or, in the case of the

^
Notice des Monuments
exposes dans la Gakric d'A?;tiqtutls Salle
Egyptienncs, dn
Fez-de-chaiisseet Palier de TEscalier, 1875, P- 26.
VOL. II. B B
1 86 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

woman, passed round the neck of her husband, are too rigid.
One is held straight down by the body, the other is bent at a right
angle across the stomach. The pose is the
stiff, placidfeatures
lack expression and will.
The induction to which we have been led by the styleof these
figuresis confirmed by an observation made during recent tions
explora-
in the necropolisof Memphis, The patch of paint
green
under the eyes has, as yet, only been found in statues from

Fig. 172. "

Sepa and Nesa, Louvre. Four feet eightinches high.

a certain peculiarclass of tombs at Gizeh and Sakkarah. These

are chambers cut in the rock, in which the roofs are carved into
imitations of timber ceilingsof palm wood. Some of the texts

which have been found in them contain the name of a king whose
placehas
chronological not yet been determined, but
satisfactorily
v/ho seems to have been anterior to Snefrou. The figuresupon
which the adornment in questionoccurs would appear therefore
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire.

to be contemporary with the oldest tombs in the neighbourhood

of the pyramids.^
Progress was rapid between the enddynasty and of the third

that of the fourth. It was during the latter dynasty that the art
of the Ancient Empire produced its masterpieces. ^lariette
attributes the two famous statues found in a tomb near the

pyramid of Meidoum to reign of Snefrou, the predecessorof

the

Cheops. They are exhibited, under glass,in the Boulak Museum

(PlateIX).2
"
One of them represents Ra-hotep.a princeof the blood, who
enjoyed the dignityof general of infantry,
a ver}- rare title under

the Ancient Empire ; the beauty;

other is a woman, Xefert, tJie

her statue us also informs

was to king. We
that she related the
do not know whether she w^as the wife or sister of Ra-hotep. The
interest excited by the extreme beauty of these figuresis increased
by our certainty of their prodigiousantiquity. In the mastaba
where they were found everythingis franklyarchaic,everythingis
as old as the oldest of the tombs at Sakkarah, and those date from
before the fourth dynasty. A neighbouring tomb which, as is

proved by the connection between their structures, dates from the

same periodas that of functionaryattached

Ra-hotep,is that of a

to the person of Snefrou I. We may, therefore,fairly assignthe

^
two statues from Meidoum to the last reignof the third dynasty."

Each of these figures, with its chair-shaped seat, is carved from

a singleblock of limestone about four feet high. The man is

almost nude ; his only dress is a ribbon about his neck, and white

breeches like those to which we have alreadyalluded. The woman

is robed in the long chemise, open between the breasts, which we

have seen upon Xesa. Besides this a wide and richlydesigned
necklace spreads over her chest. Upon her head she has a
square-cut black wig, which, however, allows her natural hair to
be visible in front. Over the wig she has a low flat cap with a
decorated border. The carnations of the man are brownish red,
those of the woman lightyellow.
^
The Boulak Museum also contains specimens of these figures. See Xofiie,
Nos. 994 and 995.
'
Notice des principaux Monujuents exposes Boulak, Xo. These
figures
a 973.
were discovered in January, 1872. They had a narrow escape being destroyed
of

by the pickaxes of the fellaheen.

superstitious Mariette arrived just in
fortunately
time to prevent the outrage. Reciieil de Travaux, vol. i. p. 160.
'
Mariette, Voyage dans la Haute-Egypte, p. 47.
1 88 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

These statues betray an art much more advanced than that of

Sepa and Nesa. The pose is much easier and more natural,but
the right arm of Ra-hotep is stiff and held in a fashion which
would soon cause cramp in a livingman. The modelling of
the body is free and true, though without much knowledge or
subtlety. The breasts,arms, and legs of Nefert are skilfully
suggested under her robe. But the care of the sculptor has been
mainly given to the heads. By means of chisel and paint-brush
he has given them an individuality which is not readilyforgotten.
The arched eyebrows surmount large well-openedeyes ; the eye- lids
seem to be edged with heavy lashes and to stand out well
from the eyeball. In the case of the latter the limestone has
retained its primitive whiteness, giving a strong contrast with the
pupil and iris (Fig.173). The noses, especially that of Ra-

hotep are fine and pointed; the thick but well-drawn lipsseem
about to speak. Her smooth cheeks and soft

dark eyes, eyes which are still common among

the women of the East, give Nefert a very
attractive look. Her smiling and restful tenance
coun-

is in strong contrast to that of Ra-hotep,

which is full of life and animation not unmingled
with a littlehardness.
The Ion O'er we look at these fiorures the less

Fig. 173." Ra-hotep. ready are w^e to turn away from them. They
Drawn by Bourgoiii. "
i "
r 11
are
,

portraits, and portraits

^

oi marvellous cerity.
sin-

they could
giftedwith lifeto-morrow,
If be

if we could encounter Nefert working under the

Ra-hotep and
sun of Egypt, the man semi-nude, sowing the grain or helping
to make an embankment, his companion robed in the long blue

chemise of the fellah women and balancing a pitcherupon her

head, we should know them at once and salute them by name as

old acquaintances. We find none of the marks of inexperience

and archaism which are so conspicuous in the statues of Sepa
and Nesa. A few later figuresmay seem to us more delicately
modelled and more full of detail,but taking them all in all,we

cannot look upon these statues as other than the creations of a

mature art, of an art which was already in full command of its

resources, and of a sculptorwho had a well-marked personaland

styleof
original his own.

We find the same qualitiesin another group of monuments

 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 189

^ The
ascribed by Mariette to no less remote period. a same eye
the life-Hke expression,the frankness
for proportion, same same

and confidence of hand are to be found in those sculptured

wooden panelsof which the museum at Boulak possesses four

fine examples. They were found at Sakkarah in the tomb of a

called Hosi, where they were enframed in four blind

personage
doorways. They are on the average about 3 feet 10 inches
high
and I foot 8 inches wide. The drawings which we reproduce
o-ive a good idea of the of styleand
peculiarities execution by
which they are (Figs.174-176).^
distinguished
At first sight these carvingsare littleembarrassing to the eye
a

accustomed to works in stone. The type of figurepresented is

less thickset. The body, instead of being muscular, is nerv^ous
and wiry. The arms and legs are thin and long. In the head
do
especially we find unaccustomed features ; the nose, instead of
instead of being thick
being round, is stronglyaquiline; the lips,
and fleshy,as in almost all other Egyptian heads, are thin and
compressed. The profileis stronglymarked and rather severe.
The generaltype is Semitic rather than Eg)'ptian.And yet the
which
inscriptions surround them prove that the originals were

pure Egyptians of the highestclass. One of them, he who is re- presented

standingin two different attitudes, is Ra-hesi ; the other,

who is sittingbefore a table of ofterinors,
bears the name of Pekh-
hesi. The decipherable
part of the tells
inscription us that he

was a scribe,highlyplaced,and in great favour with the king.

The tomb in which these panels were found was not built on

the usual plan of the mastaba. IMariette alludes to certain liarities

pecu-
which are to be found in it,but he does not describe them
in detail. The hieroglyphsare grouped in a peculiarfashion ;

many of them are of a very uncommon form. The arrangement

of the objectsborne in the left hand of Ra-hesi is quiteunique.
Struck by these Mariette
singularities, asserts that "
the styleof
these panelsis to Egyptian art what the stylecalled archaic is to

that of Greece."'^ This assertion seems to us inaccurate. Xot

^ "
Accordingto all appearance these panelsdate from before the reignof Cheops."
Notices des principaiix Mo7mmetits, etc. Xos. 987-92.
There is a panel of the same kind in the Louvre of
{SalleHisforique,Xo.
-

Pierret's Catalogue),
but it is neither firm, nor in such those
so good preser^-ation
as

at Cairo.
3
Mariette, La Galerie de F Egypte Ancienne au Trocadero, 1878. p. 122.
 190 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

that we mean to contest the vaHdityof the reasons which Mariette

gives for
ascribingthese an panels to
epoch anterior to the
great pyramids ; but, whatever may be their age, it seems to be

impossible, in view of the stylein which they are executed, to call

them archaic. They show no more archaism than the statues of
Meidoum. The Egyptian artist never carved wood with greater
decision or with more subtletyand finesse than are to be seen in
these panels. As for the differences of execution which have
been noticed between these figuresand the stone statues of the
same epoch, they may easilybe explained by the change of
material and by the Egyptian love for fidelity of imitation.
Wood is not attacked in the same fashion as soft stone. Its
constitution does lend
ample and rounded
not itself
forms to the
of lapidarysculpture. It demands, especially when a low relief
is used, a more delicate and subtle modelling. Again, these were

portraits ; all the Egyptians were not like one another,especially

in that primitiveEgypt in which perhaps various races had not

yet been blended into a homogeneous population. Among the

contemporariesof Cheops, as in our day, there were fat people

and thin people. Men who were tall and slender,and men who
were short and thickset. Countenances varied both in features

and expression.^ In time art succeeded in evolvingfrom all these

diversities a type of Egyptian manhood and beauty. As the ages

passed away the influence of that type became more and more

despotic. It became almost universal,except in those cases where

there was a rigidobligationto reproduce the personalcharacteristics

of an individual with fidelity.But at the end of the third

dynasty that consummation was still far off. And we need feel

no surprisethat the higher we mount in the stream of Egyptian

civilization the more particular are the concrete images which it
offers to us, and the more strikingthe variation between one work
of art and another.
It must not be supposed,however, that the features which we

have mentioned as peculiarin the cases of Ra-hesi and Pekh-hesi

are not to be found elsewhere. If we examine the profile of Nefert,

still more that of Ra-hotep,we shall find that they also have the
'
Thus we which, according to Lepsius,dates from the fourth
find in a tomb

dynasty,certain thickset sculptured forms, which contrast strongly with figures

taken from mastabas in the same neighbourhood, at Gizch. The body is short,
the legs heavy and massive. Lepsius, De7ikmcclcr^part ii.pi.9.
 -^ i!:.L

Fig. 174." Wooden panel from the Tomb of Ilosi. Drawn by Bourgoi
192 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

slopingforehead and aquilinenose. The body of Ra-hotep is

rounder and fatter than those in the wooden reliefs,
but the lines
of his countenance have a strong resemblance to those which
have excited remark in the figureson the panels.
In the case of a limestone head, covered with red paint,which
stands in the Salle Civile,in the Louvre, the cranium is no less
elongated,the cheekbones are less
large,the cheeks themselves
no

are as hollow, the chin as and the whole head as bony

protuberant,
and fleshless. We do not know whence it came, but we have no

hesitation in agreeingwith De Rouge, Mariette, and Maspero, that

this head is a masterpiecefrom one of the earlydynasties. It may
be put by the side of the Meidoum couple for its vitalityand
individual expression. The unknown originalmust have been ugly
almost to vulga.rity,but it rouses in the spectator the same kind
of admiration as a Tuscan bust of the fifteenth century, and a

pleasurewhich is not diminished by the knowledge that the man

whose faithful image is under his eyes passed from the world some
five or six thousand years ago (Fig.177).
The littlefigurewhich
occupiesthe placeof honour in this same
saloon (Plate X.),though more famous, is hardlysuperiorto the
fragment just described. It was found by Mariette in the tomb

of Sekhem-ka, during his excavation of the Serapeum. Other

figuresof the same kind were found with it,but are hardly equal
to it in merit. They are believed to date from the fifth or sixth
dynasty.
This in an
scribe is seated, cross-legged, attitude stillfamiliar to

those who have visited the East. The most visitor

superficial to

the Levant must have seen, in the audience-hall of the cadi or

pacha, the crouching exactlyin the same

kiatib fashion before the
chair or divan, registeringsentences with his rapid kalem, or

writingout despatches.Our scribe is listening ; his thin and bony

features are vibratingwith intelligence ; his black eye-ballsposi-

tively
sparkle; his mouth is only closed because respect keeps
him silent. His shoulders.
are high and square, his chest ample,
his pectoralmuscles very large. People who follow a very seden-'

tary occupationgenerallyput on much fat on the front of their

bodies,and this scribe is no exceptionto the rule. His arms are

free of his sides ; their positionis easy and natural. One hand
holds a stripof papyrus upon which he writes with the other, his

pen being a reed. The lower parts of the body and the thighs
 '"'-
^illic^*''''**''

Fig. 175. Wooden panel from the Tcmb of Hosi. Drawn

"

by Eourgoiu.
VOL. II.
C C
 194 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

are covered with a pairof drawers, whose white colour contrasts

with the brownish red of the carnations. The breadth and truth
with which the knee-joints
are indicated should be remarked. The

only details that have, to a certain extent, been scamped,"are the "

feet. Trusting to their being-half hidden by the folded legs,the

sculptorhas left them in a very rudimentarycondition.
The eyes form the most strikingfeature in this figure. They "

consist of an iris of rock crystalsurrounding a metal pupil,and

set in an eyeballof opaque white quartz. The whole is framed
in continuous ^
eyelidsof bronze."
This clever contrivance givessingularvitality and animation to

the face. Even the Grecian sculptornever produced anything

so vivacious. The latter, indeed began by renouncingall attempts
to imitate the depth and brilliancy of the human eye. His point
of departurediffered entirely from that of his Memphite predecessor;
his conceptionof his art led him, where the Egyptian would have
used colour, to be content with the o^eneralcharacteristics of form
and with its elevation highestpitch of nobilityof which
to the
it was capable. This is not the place for a comparison of the
two systems, but acceptingthe principles of art which prevailed
in early Egypt, we must do justiceto those masters who were

contemporary with the Pyramids. It must be acknowledged

that they produced works which are not to be surpassed in their
way by the greatest portraitsof modern Europe. In later years
the Egyptian sculptorceased to paint the eyes. Even in the

time of the Ancient Empire the Egyptian custom in this particular

was the same as the Greek, so far as statues in hard stone were

concerned. The great statue of Chephren is an instance. In it

the chisel has merely reproduced the contours of the eyelidsand

the salience of the eyeball. No attempt has been made to imitate
the iris or to give brightness to the pupil. In none of the royal
statues that have come down to our time do we find any effort
to produce this kind of illusion,
either by the use of paintor by
the insertion of coloured
naturally substances.

There is a statue perhaps,be preferred

at Roulak which may,
even to the scribe of the Louvre. We have already alluded to
it as the Shcik-el-Bclcd (Fig.7, Vol. I.). In its present state (it
is without either feet or base) it has no inscription but it is

sometimes called Ra-em-ke, because that was the name of the

^
1)e RouciE, Notice soiiimairc des Moiuaiicnts hli^xpticus^
1865, p. 68.
 ./:;
'/^ .o
i 1?
""
ig^'sii-

Ul Tfni "^mmi

Fig. 176. Wooden panel from the Tomb of Hosi. Drawn

"

by Bourgoin
196 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

person in whose tomb it was found. It is of wood, and, with the

exception of its lower members, is in marvellous preservation.
The eyes are similar to those of the scribe,and seem to be fixed

upon the spectator while their owner advances upon him. The

type is very different from those we have hitherto been

describing. The face is round and fiat,and so is the trunk.

Fig. 177. " Limestone head, in the Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

The smilinggood humour of the expressionand the

embonpoint
of the person indicate a man well nourished comfortablyoff,
and

a man content both with himself and his neighbours.^

^ Another wooden statue of equal merit as a work of art was found in the same
tomb. It represents a woman, standing. Unfortunatelythere is nothingleft of it
but the head and the torso. Notice des principatixMoniunents du Musee de

Boulak, No. 493.

 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 197

This statue is dressed in a different fashion from those we

have hitherto encountered. The sheik has his

hips covered with
a kind of gathered into pleatsin
petticoat front. His legs,torso,
and arms are bare. The last named are of separate pieces of

wood, and one of them, the bent one, is made in two parts.
When the statue was first finished the joints were invisible.
The whole body was covered with fine linen,like a skin. Upon
this linen a thin Liyerof plasterwas spread,by means of which,
when wet, refinement could be added to the contours by the
modellingstick ; the colours of nature were afterwards added by
the brush. Such figuresas these have therefore come down to

us in a condition which resembles

primitivestate much less their
than that of the works in stone. They have, so to speak, lost
their epidermis, and with it the colours which served to distinguish
the flesh from the drapery.^
It would seem that the sculptorin wood often counted upon
this final coat of stucco to perfecthis modelling. There are in
fact wooden statues which seem to have been but roughly blocked
out by the chisel. There are three figuresin the Louvre in which
this character is very conspicuous. The largestof the three is
reproducedin our Fig. 178.- Acacia and sycamore wood is used
for this kind of work.''

Finally,in this epoch or perhaps a little later,under the fifth

and sixth dynasties, funerarystatues were cast in bronze. This
notable fact was first proclaimed by M. de Longperier. We
quote the observations which he addressed to the Academy of

Inscriptions.^
The fact that bronze was
"
employed in Egypt in very ancient
^ The
Descriptionde F Egypte {Antiquites,
vol. v. p. ^T))gives the details of a

mummy-mask in sycamore wood, of good workmanship, which was

fairly found at
Sakkarah. The eyebrows and edges of the eyelidswere outlined with red copper ;
a fine linen was stretched over the wood ; over this there was a thin layerof stucco,
upon which the face was painted in green.
"

The figurein the Louvre is split deeplyin several places, one of the fissures
beingdown the middle of the face. This latter our artist has suppressed,so as to

give the figuresomethingof its ancient aspect. These fissures are sure to appear
in our humid climate. The warm and dry air of Egypt is for
absolutelynecessary
the preser\-ationof such works, which doomed in
seem to rapid destruction our

European museums.
*
Maspero
{Journal Asiatigue,March- April. 1880), Siir quelques Fein f11 res

Funeraires,p. 137. See also Brugsch, Die Grabenvelt

Eg\-ptische Xo. 87.
"*
Comptes Rend us de I'Academie des Inscriptions,
1875, p. 345.
198 A History op' Art in Ancient Egypt.

times has long been ascertained. The knob from the Sceptre
of Papi, a Pharaoh of the sixth dynasty, which exists in the
British Museum, is enough to prove this fact. M. Chabas has
called our attention to the fact that bronze is mentioned in texts

Wooden in the Louvre. Three feet eight inclies high. Drawn by

Fig. 178." statue
Saint-Ehne Gautier.

which date from a period anterior to the construction of the

great Pyramids.^
"
That the earliest Egyptian bronzes representingthe human

^
Chabas, Si/r T Usaof des Batons de Main, p. 12. (Taohs, 8vo, 1875 )
Fig. 179. Eror.ze Two feet
"

statuette. two inches high. Dravn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

200 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

figureare much older than was formerlythought,Is proved by two

belonging to M.
statuettes Gustave Posno. One of these is

twenty-sixinches high,the other nineteen. They merit a short

description
: No i : A man
"
standing; left foot forward, the left
hand closed and raised to a level with the breast. This hand,
doubtless, held a spear.right hand which
The hangs straight
down by the thigh formerlyclasped,in all probability, the small

sceptre which is representedin many bas-reliefs. The loins are

p"irt with the garment called the schenti, the band of which

supports a dagger. arranged into regular rows

The hair is

of small square" knobs. The eyes and eyebrows, which were

inlaid,have disappeared(Fig.179)."^
No
"
2 : A man standing; his loins girtwith the schenti,his
left foot forward, his righthand raised to the level of his breast,
the left hanging by his left thigh. The inlaid eyes and eyebrows
have been abstracted. His hair,which is less abundant than that

of his companion and allows the contour of his head to beeasily

seen, is arranged into very small knobs. A vertical inscription
on the left side of his chest gives the name of the personage,
in or after which appears the ethnic Schasozt, which seems to

indicate an Oriental origin. The Schasous are mentioned in

several Egyptian texts and seem to have occupied the country

which bordered Egypt on the North-East (Fig.180)."^
"In these two statuettes the muscles of the arms and legs,
and the articulation of the knees, are expressedwith a care and
truth which denote a very remote age. We cannot fail to

recognizea phase of art earlier than the Second Empire. But if

the first mentioned figurerecalls,by its features and the manage-
ment
of the hair, the sculpturesin stone of the fifth and sixth

dynasties, the second cannot, perhaps,be referred to quitesuch an

earlyperiod. In the latter the vertical line of the back and right
leg slopes slightlyforward, betraying an attempt to express
movement ; the dorsal line of the first figureis,on the other hand,

quiteperpendicular.
"
Even in the photographscertain details are visible,such as

the form of the hair,the features,the renderingof the anatomical

contours, which denote a school anterior to that of the eighteenth
dynasty.
'
Catalogue of tlie Posno Collection,No. 468.
Ibid.,No. 524.
rir,. i8o. "
Bronze statuelle. One fool seven inches hiVh. Prawn bv Saint-Elme Gautier.

VOL. II. D D
202 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

"
Egypt, then, was first in the field in bronze casting,as she

was in stone and wood carving. One at least of the Posno

statuettes carries us so far back

historyof humanity that it is in the

difficult to see where we can look for earlier works of art, especially

of so advanced a style. We have alreadyascertained that the first

named of these two figuresis far superior,both in style and
modelling,to the Asiatic canephorus of AfadjV a work which
was dedicated to a goddess by a king, and must therefore be
considered a good example of the art of Western Asia."
We agree with M. de Longperier in all but one point,and that
one as to which he is careful not to commit himself. According to
him the second figureis later than the sixth dynasty and earlier
than the eighteenth, so that it would belong to the first Theban
Empire. But we do not see why, supposing the Egyptians of
the Ancient Empire capableof making the first figure, they should
not have made the second. Between the two statuettes there

are but slight differences of handlinof,differences much the same

as those to be found in the wooden and stone statues which we

have already mentioned. Neither the artists nor their sitters

had quite the same capabilities.
The technical skill shown extraordinary. in these bronzes is
The most ancient Etruscan and Greek bronzes are solid castings,

on the base of which are rough protuberances,sometimes of

considerable length,resultingfrom the fact that the metal was
allowed to solidify in the orifice by which it was poured into the
mould. Here there is nothing of the kind. No imperfection in

the mechanical part of the work is allowed to interfere with its

artistic castingis light,hollow, and in one
effect. The piece;
the method employed must have been excellent in itself and

thoroughlyunderstood.^ They also understood how to add finish

by chasing the metal after its relief from the mould. The small

circular ornaments on the chest of the second figure,

ornaments

which are so delicate in execution that they could not be re-

produced

in our engraving without giving them too much

^ III.
De Longperier, Musee Napoleon pi. i.
^
M. Pisani, who mounted the numerous bronzes in M. Posno's collection,
assures me that their insides are stillfilled with the core of sand around which they
were cast. The outward details of the casting are repeatedinside,showing that

the method used was what we call fo7iteau carton.

 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 20'

importance, and the hieroglyphs cut in the same figure,are

instances of this.
That so few bronze statuettes have come down to us seems

to show that the use of the metai by sculptorswas quite

used wood far than bronze, and
exceptional.They more stone

more than sepulchralstatues

wood. Most
are cut in softof the

limestone (seeFigs.6, 49, 88, 89, \'ol. I., and Fig. 172, Vol. II.).
Sometimes these statues are isolated, sometimes they form family
of and children.
groups, often consisting father,mother,
Statues of men are the most numerous. Difterences between

one and another frequent,but they are. on the

are many and

whole, less strikingthan the points of resemblance. Here we

find a head bare, there enveloped in either a square or rounded

wig. The bodies are never completely nude, and the garment
which covers their middles is arranged in a varietyof ways.

Fashions, both for men and women, seem to have changed in

Egypt as elsewhere. In the statues ascribed to the last dynasties
of the Ancient Empire the national type seems more fixed and
accentuated than in earlier works. These funerarystatues are the

portraits of vigorousand powerfulmen. with broad shoulders, well-

developed pectoral muscles, thin flanks and muscular legs. Ra-

nefer, priestof Ptah and Sokar, stands upright,his arms by his
sides,and each hand grasping a roll of papyrus (Fig 181).^ A
dagger is passed through the belt of his drawers.
The person represented in Fig. 1S2 is distinguishedfrom
Ra-nefer by the fashion in which he wears his hair and by his
costume. His loose skirt is arranged in front so as to form a

kind of triangular apron. This peculiarfall of the garment was

obtained by the use of starch and an instrument similar to our

flat-iron. It is better seen in the statue of Ti, the great personage
to whose gorgeous tomb we have so often referred.- The
Albanians obtain the curious folds of their kilts in the same

fashion.^ Ti wears a periwig of a difterent kind from that of

'
A sketch of this statue also appears on page 10, Vol. I. Fig. 6 ; but as, accord-
ing
to Mariette, it is one of the best statues in the Boulak Museum, \s-e have thought
give it a second
well to which,
illustration, in spite of its smaller scale, shows the
modelling better than the first.
-

y ofice d(s principaux ^fonume7lts du Musie de Boulak, No. 24.

'
Wooden instruments have been found which were used for the pleating
of linen
stuffs. One of these, which is now in the museum of Florence, is figuredin
Wilkinson {Manfiers and Customs, vol. i. p. 1S5). The heavy and symmetrical
204 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Ra-nefer. The
Egyptians shaved their heads from motives
of cleanHness. The priestswere compelled to do so by the
rules of their religion,
which made purityof person even more

imperative 'jpon them than upon the laymen. It was necessary,

however, that the head should be thoroughlyprotected from the

sun, hence the wig. The shaved Mohammedans of our day

replacethe periwig with the turban.

Fig. i8i. " Ra-nefer. Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.

One wooden statue varietyof costume

at Boulak offers
which a

is at present unique among the remains of Egyptian civilization.

It is, unfortunately,in very bad preservation. It represents a

man, standing,and draped in an ample robe which covers him

folds which are tlnis obtained are found, as \vc shall see, in the drapery of Greek

statues of the archaic period.

 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 20^

from head to foot. His rightarm is free ; it is held across the

body, and meets the left hand, which is thrust through an opening
in the robe. The placewhere this statue was found, the material
of which it consists,and the character of the workmanship, all
combine to prove that it is a production of the earlydynasties

(Fig. 184).^

Fig. 182. " Statue in the Boulak Fig. 1S3. " Statue of Ti. Boulak.
Museum. Drawn bv Bouriroin. Jbrawn by Bourgoin.

A few kneelingfstatues have also been found. The anonvmous

personage whose portraitis reproduced in Fig. 1S5 is upon his

knees. His clasped hands rest upon his thighs. His eyes are

inlaid they; are formed of numerous small pieces skilfully

put
together. -

There is no less varietyin those groups where the sculptorhas

'
Notice du Musk de Boulak, Xo. 770.
""
J bid.,No. 769.
2o6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

been charged to represent a whole

family reunited in the tomb.
Sometimes the husband is sitting
and the wife standing. She has

her left arm round his neck, the left hand restingon his left
shoulder, while with her right hand she holds his right arm
(Fig. 88, Vol. I.). Sometimes a father and mother are seated

upon the same bench, but here too the woman confesses her pendence
de-

on, and shows her confidence in, her master by the same

M "
"
'''"' I'll

I'lG. 184.
" Weoden statue, Koulal Fig. 185. " Statue iu limestone, Boulal-
Di-awn by Bourgoin. Drawn liyJ"ourgoiu.

affectionate gesture (Fig. 186). l^oth are of the same height,but

between them, and leaningagainstthe bench upon which they are
seated, appears their child, quite small. His gesture is that to
which the Egyptian artist has recourse when he wishes to express

early childhood (Tig.187). We also find the husband and wife

standing erect in front of a slab ; the relation which they bear to

each other is here also indicated by the positionof the woman's
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire, 20:

arms (Fig. 188).^ Sometimes the

altogetherabsent woman is

(Fig.89, Vol. I.).The head of the familyis placedby himself, on

a raised seat. In front of this seat, and hardlyreachingto their
father's knees, are two children,boy and girl, the boy holding the

rightleg,the girlthe left. The boy has the lock of hair pendent

Fig. i85. Limestone group in the Louvre. Height twenty-eight inche?. Drawn by
"

Saint-Elme Gaurier.

over the rightear, which, like the fingerin the mouth, is a sign of
tender He is nude the
years. ; girlis dressed in an ornamental robe
reaching
to her ankles. There is a piquantcontrast between these
two tender little bodies with their childish heads, and the virile
power of the father and who
protector towers so high above them.
^
Notice,No. 793. These two people were called Xefer-hotepand Tenteta.
The latter is also described as related to Pharaoh.
208 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

These limestone groups do not, as a rule,appear to have been

executed with any great care. Their makers do not seem to have

taken much painsto give them an individuality

of their own ; but
in spite of this feebleness of execution, they please by their

l^^l
"^M ''" ^

K(^-
'
i^:"'/::4

Fig. 187.
"
Wooden statuette, Iloulak. I'iG. 1S8. "
Nefer-hotep and Tentela
Drawn by Jioui goin. Boulak.

composition. They arranged,their attitudes are simple

are well
and their gestures expressive. As a whole they have an air of
calmness and repose which is thoroughlyin accord with the ideas
of the Egyptians on the questionof life and death.
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 209

From the memphite tombs

same many limestone statues have
been recovered, representing,
not the defunct himself,but those
who mourn his decease and the crowd of retainers attached
to his person. All these are expectedto carry on their labours for

Fig. 189." Limestone statue, Boulak. Fig. 190. "

Limestone statue, Boulak.
Dra-WTi by Bourgoin. Drawn by Bourgoin.

his benefit and to be ready to satisfyhis wants through all

eternity.Here we find one seated upon the ground, his hand
upon his head
sign of grief(Fig.189).^ There a young man,
in

completelynaked, advancing with a sack upon his left shoulder

which falls down to the centre of his back. He carries a bouquet
^
Notice du Miisee de Boulak, Xo. 768.
VOL. IL E E
2IO A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

of flowers in his righthand (Fig.190).^ A man seated the

upon
ground holds a vase between his knees, into which he has plunged
his righthand (Fig.191).^ Another bends over a wide-mouthed

jarof mortar in which he is mixing flour and water (Fig.192). A

young woman, in a similar attitude,is occupied over the same

task (Fig.193). Other women are the paste

rolling thus obtained
on plank,or rather upon a stone slab,before which they kneel
a

upon the ground. The muscular exertion necessary for the

operationis rendered with great skill(Figs.193 and 194).^ Women

are stillto be encountered at Elephantine and in Nubia, wearing

Fig. 191. " Limestone statue, Boulak. Fig. 192." Limestone statue, Boulak
Drawn by Buurgoin. Drawn by Bourgoin.

the same carryingout the same

head-dress operation in the
and

same attitude and with exactlysimilar utensils. We reproduce

two sketches by M. Bourgoin,which show the details of this head-

covering, which, among the women of the lower orders,supplied the

pieceof the wig ; it consists of a pieceof stuff held upon the head
by a ribbon knotted at the back of the neck (Figs.196 and 197).
^
Notice, No. 771. This is the person representedin profilein Fig.47, Vol. I.
'-
Notice, No. 766.
"^
The four last belong
quoted figures to the seriesnoticed in the Boulak Catalogue
under numbers 757 to 764. The statue reproduced in Fig.197 has been already
shown in profilein Fig.48, Vol. I.
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 2 I I

Marietta brought all these figuresto Paris in 1878, where they

excited the greatest interest among artists and archaeologists.
They were eminentlywell fitted
enlightenthose who are able
to

to see and to do away with many rooted prejudices. What an

abyss of diflerence they showed between Egyptian art as it used to

be defined some thirtyyears ago and the reality.The stiffness
and rigidity which used to be so universally attributed to the pro-
ductions
of the sculptors of Memphis and Thebes, were forgotten

Fig. 193. " Won an kneading dcugh, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.

before their varied motives and free natural attitudes. The whole of
these works, in fact,are spiritimbued with
which is diametricallya

opposed to the unchanging inflexibility which used to be con-

sidered

the chief characteristic of Egyptian art. They are

distinguished by an extraordinaryease of attitude^ and by that
curious elasticityof body which still remains one of the most
conspicuousphysicalqualities of the race.
"
The supplenessof body which distinguished the female fellah
212 A HiSTORY OF Art in Ancient Egypt,

is marvellous. She rarely_sits down. When she requiresrest

she crouches with her knees in the air in an attitude which

we should find fatiguing.So

singularly too with the men. Their
habitual posture corresponds to that shown on the steles : the
knees drawn up in front of the face to the height of the nose, or

on each side of the head and level with the ears. These attitudes
are not graceful,but when the bodies thus drawn togetherare
raised to their full heightthey are superb. They are, to borrow
a happy expressionof Fromentin, at once '
awkward and ficent
magni-
; when crouchingand at rest they look like monkeys ; when
"

they stand up they are livingstatues.' ^

/""6l"w"

Fig. 194. " Woman making bread, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.

carried its powers of observation and its

Thisearlyart never
exactitude of reproduction farther than in the statue of Nem-hotep,
which we show in full-face and profilein Figs. 198 and 199.
Whether we call him, with Mariette, a cook, or, with Maspero, a
master of the wardrobe or keeper of perfumes,it cannot be doubted

that Nem-hotep was a person of importance. One of the fine

tombs at Sakkarah was his. He certainly did not make his way
^
Gabriel Charmks, Cinq i/ioisan Cairc, p. 96.
 Sculpture under the Anxtent Empire. 21

at court the graces of his person.

by He was a dwarf with all the

characteristics that distinguish those unlucky beings. Hjs^ head

was too large,his torso long,his arms
very and legsver)- short ;

besides which he was marvellouslydolichocephalic.

Fig. 195. "

Bread maker, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.

The sincerityof Egjptian art is conspicuouslyshown in its

treatment of the foot. Winckelmann noticed that the feet in

Eg}-ptianstatues were largerand flatter than in those of Greece.

Figs. 196, 197. " DetaLs of head-dre-ses.

The great toes straight,

are no articulations being shown. The
second toe is always the longest, and the littletoe is not bent in
the middle but straightlike the others. These peculiarities spring
from the Egyptian habit of walking bare-foot on the Nile
214 A History of Art in Ancient EovrT.

mud ; they are very stronglymarked in the feet of the modern

fellah.^
The creneral characteristics of these works in the round are

repeatedin the bas-reHefs of the mastabas at Gizeh and Sakkarah.

Of these we have
alreadygiven numerous illustrations ; we shall
therefore be content with reproducingone or two which are more

than usuallyconspicuousfor their artistic me^rlt.

^it /' ri
'!',,; ,

i '.y!,'A'i','' 'li "'"]

"'.''/

Figs. 198, 199. "

Nem-hotep ; limestone stalue at Boulak.

The sculpturesof Wadi-maghara and the wooden panels from

the Tomb of Hosi are enough to prove that work in relief was

old in work in the round. In the mastabas sculptures

as Egypt as

in low-relief served multiplythe images

to of the defunct. He is

the steles which occupy the principal

wall,as well
figuredupon as

in various other parts of the tomb. Sometimes he is shown seated

^
Wilkinson, Manners and Ci/sfoiiis.vol. ii.]). 270.
'^^
II'-

"A

I''i^J: ^^i^^^^-^g"
|i^' 1 r

-^c
m!;^ :^ J e=

"

V !r=: ;^r~
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 21

before the table of offerings(Fig.200),sometimes standingupright

(Figs.57 and 1 20, Vol. I.). But the sculptor did not restricthimself

to these two motives. In the preparation and presentation of the

funeral gifts he found many themes, to which he was able to give

more or less development accordingto the space at his command.

Even in the earliest attempts that have come down to us, the

Eg)'ptiansculptorshows a complete grasp of the peculiarfeatures

of the domesticated of the country. Men
animals accustomed to

the careful study of the human figurecould make lightof ing

render-
those of beasts,with their more strikingdistinctions between

one speciesand another. In the time when the oldest existing

tombs were constructed, the ass was already domesticated in

Egypt. Then as now, he was the most indispensableof the

y \
..'^""^ -

Fig. 201. " Eas-relief from the Tomb of Ti, Sakkarah.

servants of mankind. There were, in all probability, as many

donkeys In the streets of Memphis under Cheops as there are now

in Cairo under Tewlik. Upon the walls of the mastabas we see

them trottingin droves under the cries and

sticks of their drivers
(Fig.201),we see the foals,with their awkward gait and long
prickedears, walking by the sides of their mothers (Fig.202),the
latter are heavilyladen and drag their steps : the drivers brandish
their heavy sticks,but threaten their patientbrutes much oftener
than they strike them. This is still the habit of those donkey
boys,who, upon the E she kick, naivelyoffer you M. de Lesseps' ''

donkey." The bas-relief to which we are alludingconsists only of

a slight outline,but that outline is so accurate and full of character,
that we have no difficulty In Identifying the ass of Egypt, with his
graceful carriage the head and easy, brisk, and daintymotion.
of
VOL. II. Y Y
2l8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The same artists have

figuredanother of the companions of man
with equalfidehty; namely,the deep-sided, long-tailed, long-horned,
Egyptian ox. Sometimes he lies upon the earth, ruminating
(Fig.29, Vol. I.); sometimes he is driven between two peasants, the
one leading him by a rope, the other bringingup the rear with a
stick held in readiness against any outburst of self-will (Fig.203). In
another relief we see a drove advancing by the side of a canal,
upon which a boat with three men is making way by means of pole
and paddle. One herdsman walks in front of the oxen, another
marches behind and urges them on by voice and gesture (Fig.204).
In another place we find a cow being milked by a crouching
herdsman. She seems to lend herself to the operation in the

Fig. 202. " -Bas-relief from the Tomb of Ti, Sakkarah.

most docile manner in the world, and w^e are inclined to wonder
what need there is of a second herdsman who sits before her nose

and holds one of her legs in both his hands. The precaution,
however, may not be superfluous, an ox-flymight sting her into
sudden movement, and then if there v/as no one at hand to

restrain her, the milk, which

alreadynears the summit of the pail,

might be lost (Fig.30, Vol. I.).

By careful selection from the sepulchralbas-reliefs,we might,
if we chose, present to our readers reproductionsof the whole
fauna of Ancient Egypt, the Hon, hyena, leopard,jackal,fox,
wolf, ibex, gazelle,the hare, the porcupine,the crocodile, the
hippopotamus, the different fishes in the Nile, the birds in the
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 2 19

marshes, the flamingo,the ibis,duck, stork, crane, and goose, the

dog and the cat, the goat and the pig. Everywhere we find the

same aptitudefor summarizing the distinctive characteristics of

visi^ri'y
-'Cn.i^s'i^ "
si ="-"
-
Fig. 203. "Sepulchral bas-reliif,Boulak.

a species. This accuracy of observation has recognized

been

by every connoisseur who has treated the subject. In the ''

Boulak Museum,' says M. Gabriel Charmes, "'

there is a row

Fig. 204. " Ba^-relief froji the Tomb of Ra-ka-pou, Boulak.

of Nile geese painted with such that

precision, I have seen a

naturalist stand amazed at their truth to nature and the fidelity

with which they reproduce the features of the race. Their
220 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

colours,too, bright and uninjured as upon the day when

are as

they were last touched by the brush of the artist." ^

The figuresof men and animals to which our attention has been
given all belong to the domain of portraiture.The artist imitates
the forms of those who sit to him and of the animals of the

country ; he copiesthe incidents of the dailylife about him, but his

ambition goes no farther. All art is a translation,an interpretation,
and, of course, the
sculptorsof the mastabas had their own
individual ways of looking at their models. But they made no

conscious effort to add anything to them, they did not attempt to

select, to give one feature predominance over another, or to
combine various features in different proportionsfrom those found
in ordinarylife, and by such means to produce something better

than mere repetitions of their accidental models. They tried

neither to invent nor to create.

And yet the Egyptians must have begun at this period to give
concrete forms to their gods. In view of the hieroglyphs of
which Egyptian writing consisted, we have some in
difficulty
imamnino- a time when the names of their deities were not each
o o

attached to material
image with well marked features of its own.
a

To write the name of a god was to give his portrait, a portrait

whose sketchy outlines onlyrequiredto be filled in by the sculptor
to be complete, Egypt, therefore,must have possessedimages of
her gods at a very earlydate, but as they were not placed in the
tombs they have disappearedlong before our day, and we are
thus unable to decide how far the necessity for their production

may have stimulated the imaginativefaculties of the earlysculptors.

In presence, however, of the Great Sphinx at Gizeh, in which we
find one of those composite forms so often repeated in later
centuries, we may fairlysuspect that many more of the divine

types with which we are familiar had been established. The

Sphinx proves that the alreadybitten

primitiveEgyptians were
with the mania for colossal statues. Even the Theban kings
never carved any figuremore huge than that which keeps watch

over the necropolis of Gizeh (Fig. 157, Vol, I.). But Egypt had
other gods than these first-fruitsof her reflective powers, than those
^
Gavaukl Reorganisationdu Musee de Boiilak {Revue des Deux
Charmes, La

Mondes, September i, 1880). He is speaking of the fragment which is numbered

988 in the N'otiee du Musee. According to Mariette it dates from a period anterior
to Cheops. It was found near tlie statues of Ra-hotep and Nefert.
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 221

who for
personified her the forces which
mysteriousbeings
had created the world and preserved its equihbrium. She had

her kino-s,children of the sun, present and visible deities who

maintained upon the earth, and especiallyin the valley of the

Nile, the ever-threatened by their divine

order established

progenitors. Until quite recentlyit was impossibleto say for

certain whether or no the Egyptians of the Ancient Empire had
attempted to impress upon the images of their kings the national
belief in their divine origin and almost supernatural power.
But Mariette again Mariette
"
recovered from the well in the
"

Temple of the Sphinx at Gizeh, nine statues or statuettes of

Chephren. The inscriptionsupon the plinthsof these statues

enable us to recos^nize for certain the founder of the second

pyramid.
Most of these
figureswere broken beyond recovery, but two
have been successfully restored. One of these, which is but little
mutilated, is of diorite (Fig. 205) ; the other, in a much worse

condition,is of green basalt (Fig.56, \'ol. I.).^

An initialdistinction between these royalstatues and the portraits
of privateindividuals is found in the materials employed. For

subjectseven of high rank, wood or limestone was good enough,

but when the august person of the monarch had to be immortalized
a substance which was at once harder and more beautiful was

employed. The Egyptians had no marble, and when they wished

to do particular honour to their models they made use of those
"volcanic rocks, whose close grain and dusky brilliance of tone make
them resemble metal. The slowness and difficultywith which
these dense rocks yielded to the tools of the sculptorincreased
the value of the result,while their hardness added immensely to
their chances of duration. It would seem that figures which only
took form under the tools of skilful and patientworkmen after

years of perseveringlabour might defy the attacks of time or of

human enemies. Look at the statue on the next page. It is very

different from the figureswe have been noticing,although it
resembles them in many details. Like of his subjectsthe
many
king is seated. His head, instead of being either bare or covered

Notice du Musce de Boi^/al',"Sos. ^-jS and The

discoverywas made in
792.
i860 Mariette givesan of it in his Lettres M.ks Rcsnltats
de
; account Rouge
a sur

des Fouilles entreprisesfar ordre du Jl'ce-roid'Egypte. (Rei-ue Anheologique,Xo. 5,

vol. ii.pp. 19, 20.)
222 A History of Art in AncieiNT Egypt.

with the heavy wig,is enframed in that royalhead-dress which has

been known, ever since the days of ChampolHon, as the klaft}

Fif'.. 205. " .Statue of Chephren. Height Ave feet seven inches. Boulak. Drawn by
G. Bcncdite.

It consists of an ample band of linen covering the upper part of

the forehead, the cranium, and the of the neck. It stands
nape
'
This is a Copticword meaning hood.
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 22,

outboldlyon each side of the face, and hangs down in two pleated
lappetsupon the chest. The king'schin is not shaved like those

of his subjects. It is adorned like that of a god with the long and
narrow tuft of hair which we call the Osiride beard. At the back
of Chephren'shead, which is invisible in our illustration,
there is

a hawk, the symbol of protection. His trunk and legsare bare ;

his only garment about

is,in fact, the .fr//r;/// his middle. His left
hand lies upon his knee, his righthand holds a rod of some kind.
The details of the chair are interestino^. The arms end in lions'

heads, and the feet are Upon the sides

paws of the same animal.

are figured in high relief the two plants which symbolize the
upper and lower country respectively ; they are arranged around
the hieroglyphsaiu, signifyingunion.
The other statue, which now consists of little more than the
head and trunk, differs from only in a few details. The
the first

chair is without a back, and. curiouslyenough, the head is that of

a much older man than the Chephren of the diorite statue. This

difference makes it pretty certain that both heads were modelled

directlyfrom nature.
These royal statues are, like the
then, portraits rest, but when
in their presence they are more
we than portraits,
feel that that
there is something in their individuality which could not have

been rendered by photographyor by casts from nature, had such

processes been understood by their authors. In spite of the

unkindly material the execution is as free as that of the stone

figures. The face, the shoulders, the pectoral muscles, and
especially the knees, betray a hand no less firm and confident
than those which carved the softer rocks. The diorite Chephren
excels ordinary* statues in size for it is larger than nature "
in "

the richness of its throne, in the arrangement of the linen hood

which gives such dignity to the head, in the existence of the
beard which giveslengthand importance to the face.-- The artist
has never lost siofhtof nature : he has never forgotten that it was
his business to portray Chephren and not Cheops or Snefrou ;

and yet he has succeeded in o-ivino;

to his work the sio'nificance
of a type. He has made it the embodiment of the Egyptian
belief in the semi-divine nature of their Pharaohs. By its size.
its pose, its expressionand^rrarigemervTHeTias
given it a certain
ideality.We may see In these two statues, for similar qualities
are

to be found in the basalt figure,the firsteftbrt made bv the orenius

 2 24 A History of Art ix Ancient Egypt.

of Egyptian art to escape from mere realism and to bring the

higher powers of the imaginationinto play.
The reign of those traditional forms which were to be so

in
despotic Egypt began at the same time. The type created by
the sculptorsof the fourth dynasty, or perhaps earlier,for the
representation of the Pharaoh in all the mysteriousdignityof his

position,was thought satisfactory.The calm majesty of these

figures, their expressionof force in repose and of illimitable power,

left so little to be desired that they were accepted there and there-
after.
Centuries rolled away, the royalpower fell again and again
before foreign enemies and internal dissensions, but with every
restoration of the national independence and of the national rulers,
the old form was revived. There are variants upon it ; some

royal statues show Pharaoh

standing,others show him sitting and

endowed with the attributes of Osiris, but, speaking generally, the

favourite model of the kings and of the sculptorswdiom they
employed was that which is first made known to us by the statue
of him to whom we owe the second pyramid. The only
differences between it and the colossi of Amenophis III. at
Thebes are to be found in their respective sizes,in their original
condition, and in the details of their features.
The moulds in which the
thoughts of the Egyptians were to

receive concrete expression through so many centuries were

formed, then, by their ancestors of the Ancient Empire. All the

later revivals of artistic
activity consisted in attempts to compose

variations upon these earlythemes, to remodel them, with more

or less felicity,
according to the fashion of the day. Style and
technical methods were modified with time, but types, that is the

attitudes and motives employed to characterise the age, the

mental power, and the social condition of the different persons
represented,underwent little or no change.
This period of single-minded and devoted study of nature

ouofht also to have transmitted to later times its care and skill
in portraiture,and its realistic powers generally,to use a very
modern phrase. Egyptian paintersand sculptorsnever lost those

qualitiesentirely; they always remained fully alive to the

differences of conformation and physiognomy which distinguished
one individual,or one class, from another ; but as the models
furnished by the past increased in number, their execution
 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 22

became more facile and and

superficial, their reference to nature

became less direct and continual. Neither the art of Thebes nor

that of Sais seems to have produced anything so originaland

expressiveas the two statues from Meidoum or the Sheik-el-beled,
at Boulak, or the scribe in the Louvre.

Weeasilyunderstand
may what surpriseand admiration the
discoveryof this early phase of Eg\-ptian art excited among
When
archaeologists. of the Memphite necropolis
the exploration
revealed what had up to that time been an unknown world,
Nestor L'Hote, one of the companions of Champollion, was the

first to comprehend its full importance. He was not a savant ;

he was an and
intelligfent faithful draughtsman and his artistic
nature enabled appreciate, evenhim better than the illustrious
to

founder of egy'ptology, the singularcharm of an art free from

convention and routine. In his letters from Egypt, Champollion
showed himself impressedmainly by the grandeur and nobility of
the Theban remains ; L'Hote, on the other hand, only gave vent
to his enthusiasm when he had had a glimpse of one or two of
those mastabas which were afterwards to be exploredby Lepsius
and Mariette. Writing of the tomb of Menofre, barber to one
of the earliest IMemphite kings, he says : The sculpturesof "

this tomb are remarkable for their elegance and the finesse of
their execution. Their relief is so slight that it may be compared

to that of a five-franc piece. Such consummate workmanship in a

structure so ancient confirms the assertion that the hieher we

mount upon the stream of Eg)'ptiancivilization the more perfect

do her works of
By this it would appear that the
art become.
genius of the Egyptian people,unlike that of other races, was
born in a state of maturity." ^

Of
"
Egyptian art," he says elsewhere, we know only the "

decadence." Such an assertion must have appeared paradoxicalat

a time when the Turin Museum alreadypossessed,and exhibited,
so many fine statues of the Theban kings. And yet Nestor
L'Hote was right,as the discoveries made since his time have
abundantlyproved, and that fact must be our excuse for devoting
solarge a part of our examination of Egyptian sculptureto the
productionsof the Ancient Empire.
^
Journal des Savants, 185 1, pp. -.Tyi54-

VOL. 11. G G
2 26 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

" 3. Sculptu7'e under the First Theban Enipii'e.

After the
dynasty comes sixth an obscure and barren period,
whose duration and general character are still unknown to

egyptologists.Order began to be re-established in the eleventh

dynasty, under the Entefs and Menthouthoteps,but the ments

monu-

found in more ancient Theban tombs are rude and awkward

shown. ^ until
in an extreme degree,as Mariette has It was not

the twelfth dynasty,when all Egypt was again united under the

sceptre of the Ousourtesens and Amenemhats, that art made good

its revival. It made use of the same materials "
limestone, wood,
and the harder rocks " but their proportionswere changed. In
Fig. 206 a wooden statue attributed to this period is reproduced.
The leofsare longfer,the torso more flexible,
than in the statue of

Chephren and other productionsof the earlycenturies.

Compared with their predecessorsother statues of this period
will be found to have the same characteristics. It has been
asserted that the Egyptians,as a race, had become more slender
from the effects of their warm and dry climate. It is impossible
now to decide how much of the change may fairlybe attributed to

such a cause, and how much to a revolution in taste. Even

among the Empire there are examples to be

figuresof the Ancient
found of these slender proportions, but they certainly appear to

have been in peculiarfavour with the sculptors of the later epoch.

Except In this particular, the differences are not very great. The
attitudes are the same. See, for instance, the statue in grey
sandstone of the scribe Menthouthotep, which was found by
Mariette at Karnak and attributed by him to this epoch. Both

by its pose and by the folds of fat which cross the front of the

trunk, It reminds us of the figuresof scribes left to us by the

Ancient Empire. The nobler types also reappear. There is in
the Louvre a statue In red
graniterepresentinga Sebek-hotep of
the thirteenth dynasty (Fig.207). He sits In the same attitude,
with the same head-dress and the same costume, as the Chephren
of Boulak. There Is one difference, however, his forehead is

decorated with the urcsus, the symbol of royal dignity,which

^
Marieite, Notice du Musk, etc. Avant-propos,pp. 38, 39.
 Sculpture under the First Theban Empire. 22'

Chephren lacks. ^ The dimensions, too. are different. We do not

know whether the Ancient Empire made colossal statues of its

Fig. 206. " Wooden statue, Boulak. Drawn by Benedite.

kmgs or not, but this Sebek-hotepexceeds the stature of mankind

sufficiently
to make it worthy of the name.

See PiERRET. Dictiormaire d' ArcJuologie.

under the word Uraus.
2 28 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The Louvre possesses another

giving a high idea monument

of the taste of the sculptors belongingto this period,

we mean the red-

granitesphinx (Fig.41, Vol. I.), which was successively appropriated

by one of the shepherd kings and by a Theban Pharaoh of the
nineteenth dynasty : the ovals of both are to be found upon it.
Like so many other thingsfrom Tanis, this sphinx must date from
a Pharaoh of the thirteenth dynasty. This De Rouge has clearly
^
shown. Tanis seems to have been a favoured residence of those

princes,and most of their statues have been found in it. A leg in

black granite,now in the Berlin Museum, is considered the piece
master-

of these centuries. It is all that remains of a colossal statue

of Ousourtesen.^

According to Mariette, many of those fine statues in the Turin

Museum which bear the names of princes belonging to the

eighteenth dynasty, Amenhoteps and Thothmeses, must have

been made by order of the princesof the twelfth and thirteenth
dynasties. In later years they were appropriated,in the fashion

well known in Egypt, by the Pharaohs of the Second Theban

Empire, who substituted their cartouches for those of the original

owners. On more than one of the statues signs of the operation
may still be traced, and in other cases the usurpationmay be

divined by carefully studyingthe styleand workmanship."^

It was in the ruins of the same citythat Mariette discovered
a group of now famous remains in which he himself, De Rouge,
Deveria, and others, recognisedworks carried out by Egyptian
artists for the shepherd kings. These works have an individual

character which is peculiarto themselves.^ They differ greatly

from the ordinary type of Egyptian statues, and must have

preserved the features of those foreigninvaders whose memory

was so long held in detestation in Egypt. This suppositionis
founded upon the presumed identityof Tanis with Avaris, the

'
Notice des Moniunents exposes dans la Galerie d' AntiquitesEg)'pttennes,Sa/le dii

No.
Rez-de-chaussee^ 23.
'^
De Rouge, Notice, etc. Avant-propos, 6.
p.
^
Mariette, Notice du Musee, p. 86.
*
MARif:TTE, Lettre de M.
Aus;.Mariette a M. de Rouge sur les Fouilles de Tanis
{Revue Archeologique, vol. iii.1861, p. 97). De Rouge, Lettre a M. Guigniaut sur
les Nouvelles Explorationsen Egypte {RevueArcheologique, vol. ix.,1864, p. 128). "

Deveria, Lettre a M. Aug. Mariette sur quelquesMonurnents Relatifsaux Hyqsos ou

Ant'erieurs cl leur Domination {Revue Archeologique,

vol. iv. 1861, p. 251). " Ebers.
^-E^ypten,vol. ii.p. 108.
Fig. Sebek-hotep III. Colossal in red nine feet. Louvre.
207. "
statue granite. Height
Drawn by Saint- Elme Gautier.
230 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

strong placewhich formed the centre of the Hyksos power for so

many generations.
Confirmation of this theory is found in the existence of an oval

bearing the name of Apepi, one of the shepherd kings,upon the

shoulder of a sphinx from Tanis. The aspect of this sphinx,
and the features and costume of certain figuresdiscovered upon
the same site and dispersedamong the museums of Europe, are
said to have much in common with the ethnic peculiarities of the

Syrian tribe by w^hich Middle and Lower Egypt was occupied.

M. Maspero, however, who has recently devoted fresh attention to
these curious monuments, is inclined to doubt tlie justnessof this

conclusion. The positionof the cartouche of Apepi suggests that

it may be due to one of those usurpations which we have

mentioned. For the present, therefore,it may be as well to class

these monuments simply among the Tanite remains. Tanis, like
some other Egyptian cities,had a styleof its own, but we are

without the knowledge requiredfor a determination of its origin.

We shall be content with describingits most importantworks and
with calling attention to their remarkable originality.
The most important and the best preserved of all these
monuments is a sphinx of black granite which was recovered,
in a fragmentarycondition, from the ruins of the principal temple
at Tanis (Fig.208). Three more were found at the same time,
but they were in a stillworse state of preservation.The fore-part
of one of them is figuredin the adjoiningwoodcut.

"There is a great gulf," says Mariette, "between the energetic

power which distinguishesthe head of this sphinx and the

tranquilmajesty with which most of these colossi are endowed.

The face is round and rugged, the eyes small, the nose flat,
the mouth loftilycontemptuous. A thick lion-like mane
enframes the countenance and adds to its energeticexpression.
It is certain that the work before us comes from the hands
of anEgyptian artist,and, on the other hand, that his sitter
was not of Egyptian blood." ^

The group of two figuresupon a common base, which is such

a conspicuousobject in the Hyksos chamber at Boulak, seems
to have had a similar origin. We give a front and a side view of

^
Notice du Musk de Boulak, No. 869. Our draughtsman lias not thought it

necessai')' to reproduce tlic liieroglyphs

engraved u])on the ]ihnth.
 Sculpture u^der the First Tiiebax E.mi'ire. ^33

it (Fi"^s,2IO and 211), and borrow the fullowingdescription

from Mariette.^
"
Hiioe full-bottomed wigs,arranged into thick tresses, cover
the heads of the two figures.Their hard and strongly-marked
features much
(unfortunately broken) bear a great resemblance
to those of the lion-maned sphinxes. The upper lipsare shaven
but the cheeks and chins are covered with long wavy beards. Each
of them sustains on his outstretched arms an ingeniousarrange-
ment
of fishes,aquaticbirds, and lotus tiowers.
"
No monument can be referred with certaintythan
greater
this to the disturbed periodwhen the Shepherds were masters

of Egypt. It is difficult to decide upon its exact meaning. In

spite of the mutilation which

prevents us from ascertaining

whether they bore the urcrns

upon their foreheads, it cannot

be doubted that the of

originals
the two statues were kings. In
after years Psousennes put his
cartouche upon the group, which

assuredlyhe would never have

done if he believed it to sent
repre-
two privateindividuals. But
who could the two kings have
been who were thus associated Fu Head nnd .-boulders of Tanite
. 2C9. "
a

Sphinx in black granite. Brawn by

in one act and must therefore
G, Benedite.
"
have been contemporaries?
This explanationseems to carry with it certain tions.
objec-
grave
It is not, in the first place,so Mariette
necessary as

seems to think that we should believe them to be kines. Similar

objects fishes,and "

aquaticflowers and birds "

are grouped in
the same fashion upon works which, to our certain knowledge,
neither come from Tanisn or date from the Shepherd supremacy.
Their appearance indicates an oftering to the Nile, and we can

readilyunderstand how Psousennes claimed the merit of the

offeringby inscribinghis name upon it,even although he were

not the real donor.

Mariette does not hesitate to ascribe to the same series
a figurediscovered in the Faycum, upon the site of the city
'
Notici du Musie dc Boitlak. Xo. i .

VOL. IL II H
234 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

which the Greeks called Crocodilopolis

(Fig.212). He describes
^
it thus :
"

Upper part of a broken colossal statue, representinga king

"

standing erect. No inscription,

The
"
general form of the head, the high cheek-bones, the
thick lips,the wavy beard that covers the lower part of the

Fig. 210. "Group from Tanis ; grey sandstone. Drawn by Bourgoin.

cheeks, the curious wig, with its heavy tresses, are all worthy

of remark ; they give a peculiarand even unique expression

to the face. The curious ornaments which lie upon the chest

should also be noticed. The king is covered with panther skins ;

the heads of two of those animals appear over his shoulders.

this statue, which found Mit-fares in
"
The origin of was at

^
Notice d II A f usee dc Bcitlak, No. 2.
 Sculpture under the First Thehan Empire. -OD

of doubt. The kings who decorated

the Fayoum, admits no

with the fine sphinxes and of

the temple at Tanis groups

fishermen which I found among its ruins, must also have ported
trans-

vigorous fragments which

the we have before our eyes

to the other side of Eg}-pt."

work
Finally,Deveria and De Rouge have suggested that a
of the same school is to be recognizedin the fragment of a

\ iV
'SAi-iii
Fir,. 211. " Side view of the same group. Drawn by Bourgoin.

statuette of green basalt,which belongs to the Louvre and is

figuredupon page 22,7.^ They point to similarities of feature
and of race characteristics. The face of the Louvre statuette
has a truculence of
expression not unlike that of the Tanite
monuments, while the workmanship is purely Egyptian and of
the best quality; the flexibility
of body, which is one of the most
'
Deveria, Ze/fre i) A/. Aug. Manefte, p. 258. "
Pierret, Catalogue de la Salle
Historique,
No. 6.
236 A History of Art ix Ancient Egypt.

constant qualitiesin the productions of the first Theban

Empire, being especiallycharacteristic. The king represented
wears the klaft with the tircEus in front of it ; his schenti is

finelypleatedand a dagger with its handle carved into the shape

of a hawk's head is thrust into his girdle. The support at the
back has, unfortunately, been left without the usual Inscription

Fig. 212. "

Upper [art of a royalstatue. Grey gra-iite.Boulak. Drawn by G. Beiiedite.

and we have nO means of the

ascertaining age of the fragment
beyond the style,the the very workmanship, and peculiar
physiognomy. Deveria suggests that it preserves the features
of one of the shepherd kings,some of whose images Mariette
thought he had discovered at Tanis and in the Fayoum.^
^ M. Fr. 'L'E'^ok^w^t della
{Biilletino Coinmissioiie Anheologicadi Ro"na, fifth year,

January to June, 1877) believes tliat he has discovered in one of the Roman
 Sculpture under the First Thebax Empire. ^2"1

It cannot be denied that there are many strikingpoints of

resemblance between the different works which we have here brought
together, Mariette laid great stress upon what he regarded as

one of his most important discoveries. This is his definition

of the type which the Egyptian artist set himself to reproduce
with his habitual exactness :
"
The eyes are small, the nose

vigorous,arched, and flat at the end, the cheeks are large and
bony, and the mouth is remarkable for the way in which its
extremities are drawn down. The
face as a whole is in harmony
with the harshness of its separate

features, and the matted hair in

which the head seems to be sunk

adds to the singularityof its
^
appearance."
Both Mariette and Ebers clare
de-
that this type has been

preserved to our day with aston-

ishing

persistence.In the very

district in which the power of
the shepherds was greatest, in
the neighbourhood of that Lake
Menzaleh which almost bathes
the ruins of Tanis, the poor
and half savage fishermen who
form the populationof the district

possess the strongly marked

features which are so easilydis-
tinguished
from the rounder and
213. "Fragmentary ,-tatuette of a kiiig;
softer physiognomiesof the true heij^htseven inches. Drawn by Saint-
Lime Gautier.
Egyptian fellah. Ahmes must

have been content with the

expulsion of the chiefs only
of those Semitic tribes who had occupied this region for so
many centuries. The mass of the people must have been too

stronglyattached to the fertile lands where they dwelt to refuse

obedience to the and than
conqueror, more one immigration.

museums another monument belonging to the and

same period to the same
artistic group.
'
Lettres a M. de Rouge les FoiiiUes de Tanis,
siir
p. 105. {Revue Archeo/ogique.)
238 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

like that of the Hebrews, may have come in later times to renew

the Arab and Syrian characteristics of the race.-^

Whatever we may think of these conjectures and assertions,

the sculptors of the First Theban Empire and of the Hyksos
period took up and carried on the traditions of the Ancient

Empire. The processes are the same except that in a few

particularsthey are improved. More frequent use is made of

the harder rocks such as granite,basalt, and diorite, and a mencement
com-

is made in the art of gfem-cuttine-

Even the bas-relief carries on the themes which had been in

favour in the first years of the monarchy. We have already trated

illus-

two steles of this period (Figs.87 and 164, Vol. I.). In the

second, and especiallyin the woman, may

be noticed those elongated
proportions which characterize the sculpture of the first Theban

dynasties. Apart from the steles, which come mostly from

Abydos, we have few bas-reliefs which

may be referred to this

epoch. The mastabas with their sculptured walls were no longer

constructed, and the most interesting hypogea of the middle

Empire, those of Beni- Hassan, were decorated with paintings

only. The sepulchral grottos of El-Bercheh possess bas-reliefs

dating from the twelfth dynasty, and the quality of their manship
work-

be seen in our Fig. 43, Vol. II. The style is less free
may
and more conventional than that of the mastabas. The men

who haul upon the ropes

and those who march in front of them,
are all exact repetitionsone of another, causing an effect which

is very monotonous. The paintings of Beni- Hassan, which

are freer and more full of variety, are more able to sustain a

comparison with the decorations of the mastabas. Even then,

however, we find too much generalization. Except in a few

instances there is a less true and sincere feeling for nature,

and a lack of those picturesque motives and movements caught

flying,so to speak, by an artist who seems to be amused by
what he sees and to take pleasure in reproducing it, which are

so abundant in the mastabas.

'
Mariettr, ATofice dii Mi/sce, j). 259. -Eijers, .^gypten, vol. i. p. 108.
 Sculpture under the Second Theban Empire.

^ 4. Sculptureunder the Second Theban Empire.

The excavations at Tanis have helped us to understand many

things upon which our information had been and still is very

imperfect. We are no longer obliged to accept Manetho's

account of the Shepherd invasion. In his desire to take at least

a verbal revenge upon the conquerors of his country the historian

seems to have greatly exag"^erated their misdeeds. We know

now not only that the native princescontinued to reign in Upper

Egypt, but also that the interlopers adopted, in the Delta, the
manners and customs of their Egyptian subjects.So far as we
can tell,there were neither destructions of monumental buildings
nor ruptures with the national traditions. Thus the art of the
three great Thebandynasties,from Ahmes to the last of the
Rameses, seems a prolongation of that of the Ousourtesens
and Sebek-hoteps. There are no appreciabledifferences in their
styles or in their processes, but, as in their architecture,their
works of art as a whole show an extraordinarydevelopment, a
development which correspondsto the great and sudden increase
in the power and wealth of the country. The warlike kings who
made themselves masters of Ethiopia and of Western Asia, had
aspirations after the colossal. Their buildingsreached dimensions
hitherto unknown, and while their vast wall spaces gave great
opportunities
to the sculptorthey demanded efforts of invention
and arrangement from him to which he had previouslybeen a

stranger. These great surfaces had to be filled with historic

scenes, with combats, victories,and
triumphal promenades, with
religious scenes, with picturesof homage and adoration. The
human figurein its natural size was no longerin proportionto these
huge constructions. In order to obtain images of the king which
should correspondto the extent and magnificenceof the colonnades
and obelisks, the slightexcess over the real stature of human
beings which contented the sculptorsof the Ancient Empire was
no longer sufficient. Whether they were cut, as at Ipsamboul,
out of a mountain side, or, as at Thebes, Memphis, and Tanis
of a giganticmonolith, their all far beyond
out
proportionswere
those of mankind. Sometimes the mortals who frequentedthe
240 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

temples came nearly as high as their knees, but oftener they

failed to reach their ankle-bones. The New Empire had a mania
for these colossal
figures. It sprinkled them over the whole

country, but at Thebes they are more thicklygathered than

elsewhere. In the immediate neighbourhood of the two seated
statues of Amenophis III.,the savants of the French Commission
found the remains of fifteen more colossi.^
There were at least rightbank.
as On the avenue
many on the

leadingthrough the four southern pylons at Karnak, the same

explorersfound twelve colossal monoliths, each nearlythirty-five
feet high but all greatlymutilated, and the former existence of
others was revealed to them by fragments scattered about the
ground. They were able to reckon up eighteen altogetheron
this south side of the building.^
Similar stone giants peopled the other religiousor political
capitalsof Egypt Abydos, Memphis, Tanis, Sais, etc.
" The

largestof all,however, are the colossi at Ipsamboul representing

Rameses II. They are about seventy feet high. Among those
cut from one enormous block brought from Syene or elsewhere,
the best known are those of Amenophis III. at Thebes. They
are fifty-two feet high without the pedestal. But the statue of
Rameses II.,which stood in the second court of the Ramesseum,
must have been more than feet
fifty-six high,as we may calculate
from the fragments which remain. The head is greatlymutilated
but the foot is long.^
over thirteen feet
These statues were generallyseated in the attitude which we
have alreadydescribed in speaking of Chephren and Sebek-hotep.
Some, however, were standing,such as the colossal figureof
Rameses which stood before the Temple of Ptah at Memphis.
This figure, which is about forty-four is
feet high, cut from a single

block of very fine and hard limestone. It lies face downwards

and surrounded by palm trees, in a depressionof the soil near
the villageof Mitrahineh. In this positionit is covered by the
annual inundation. The Eno^lish, to whom it belonQ;-s,have
hitherto failed to take possessionof it owing to the of
difficulty
transport, and yet it is one of the most careful productionsof
'
Descriptio7i
de PJigypte,Autigiiith, vol. ii.p. 182.
"

Description^ vol. ii. p. 105.

Anti(]uitcs,
^
Ch. Blanc, Voya^i:^e
dans la I/aufe-Egypfe,p. 208. It has been calculated that
this colossus weiirhcd about 1220 tons.
 Sculpture under the Second Theban Empire. 241

the nineteenth dynasty. The head is full of and

individuality its

execution excellent.

spiteof their taste for these colossal figures,

In the Egyptian

sculptors of this periodrivalled their predecessorsin the skill and

sincerity with which they brought out their sitter's individuality.

It was not, perhaps,their religious beliefs which imposed this
effort upon them. The readiness
which successive kings showed
in appropriatingthe statues of
their ancestors to themselves by
simply placingtheir ovals upon
them, proved that the ideas which
were attached by the fathers of
the Egyptianrace to their
graven
images had lost their force.
Effiories which were brought
into the service of a king by
new

a merechange of inscription,
were

nothing more than monuments

to his pride, destined to transmit

his name and glory to future
generations. The early taste,
however, was not extinguished.
When the sculptorwas charged
with the representation of one
of those kincrs who had made
Egypt great, or of the queens
one

who were often associated in the

sovereign power, he took the
same pains as those of the early
Empire to make a faithful copy
of his
august model
Among the monuments of faith-
ful
Fig. 214." Thothmes III. Boulak. Granite.
which
portraiture this period
has left us the statues of Thothmes III.
conspicuous. The
are

features of this princeare to be recognizedin a standing fiaure

at Boulak (Fig. 214),but they are much more stronglymarked

in a head which was found at Karnak and is now in the British
Museum (Fig. 215). It formerlybelongedto a colossal statue
erected by that prince in the part of the temple built by himself
VOL. IL
II
242 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The features seem in no way Egyptian. The form of the nose,

the upturned corners of
the eyes, the curves of the Hps, and the

C^eneralcontours of the face are all sue^'estive of Armenian blood. ^

Others have thought it showed traces of negro descent. In the
first-named statue these characteristics are less conspicuous
because its execution as a whole is less careful and
masterly.
The same physiognomy is to be found in a porphyry sphinx
belonging to the Boulak collection."^
There is a strong contrast between the features of Thothmes
and those Amenophis of III. the founder of Luxor. Of this we

may judge by a head, as well preserved as that of Thothmes,

which was found behind one of the statues of Amenophis at
Gournah. It also is in the British Museum. The face is long
and finelycut, with an expressionand generalappearance which

we should call distinonisJicd ; the nose is loner and thin ; the chin

well chiselled and bold in outline.^

Obliged to draw the line somewhere we have not reproduced

this figure,but in Plate XI. we crive a female head, discovered
by Mariette at Karnak, and believed be that of Taia, the queen
to

of Amenophis III. Whether rightlynamed or not, this colossal

fragment is one masterpiecesof Egyptian sculpture.'^

of the
Mariette enumerates various reasons for believingTaia to have
been neither of royal nor even of Egyptian blood. She might
have been Asiatic ; the empire of her husband extended as far

as Mesopotamia. The point has little importance, but as

M. Charmes when stop in admiration before the head
"
says, we

of Taia, at Boulak, we feel ourselves unconsciouslydriven by her

charms forge a whole

....
history,an to historical romance,

of which her enigmatic personality is the centre and inspiration,

and to fancy her the chief author of these religioustragedies
which disturbed her epoch and left a burning trace which has not
=''
yet disappeared."
M. Charmes here alludes to the changes which Amenophis IV.

1
Gabriel Charmes, La Reorganisationdu Mitsk de Boulak.

Mariette, Notices du Musce, Nos. 3 and 4.

-

'"'"
T!ie head of Amenophis III. maybe recognizedin the bas-rehef reproduced
in our Fig. 33, Vol. I. The fine and largewell-opened eye strongly
profile resemble
those of the London statue.

"*
Mariette, Voyage dans la Haute- Egvpte,vol. ii.p. 31.
^
G. Charmes, De la Reorganisationdu Music de Boulak.
Fk;. 215." Thcthmes III. British Museiin\ Red -ir.nite. Drawn bv Saiiit-EIme Gautier.
244 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

wished to introduce into the nationalattempted reHgion when he

to destroy the name and images of Amen, and to replacethem

with those of a solar god, who was representedby a symbol not
previouslyencountered in the monuments (Fig.2). If Mariette's
hypotheses remain uncontradicted by later discoveries,we may
admit Taia to be the mother of Amenophis IV., and to her
influence in all probability would her son's denial and persecution
of the great Theban deitybe due. Our present interest,however,
is with the features of Amenophis. They have been faithfully
handed down to us by the artists employed at Tell-el-Amarna.^
By the help of these bas-reliefs a statuette in yellow steatite, now

in the Louvre (Fig.216), has been recognizedas a portraitof

this Pharaoh. Its workmanship is very fine.

Some have thought that in these bas-reliefs, and in the Louvre

statuette, the facial characteristics and the peculiarshapes of
"

breast and abdomen by which eunuchs are distinguished, are to

be found." ^ On the other hand, we know that while stillvery

young Amenophis IV. married the queen Nowertiouta, and that

he had seven daughters by her. "It is probable,therefore,that
if the misfortune alluded to really
befell him, it was during the wars
waged by Amenophis III. againstthe negro races of the south."
In any case, Amenophis IV. bore no resemblance to of
any one
the long processionof princeswhose portraitshave come down

to us, from the early dynastiesof the Ancient Empire to the

Roman conquest. Lepsius devotes a series of plates to the
iconographyof the Egyptian kings,and among them all we find

nothing that can be compared to the almost fantastic personality

of Amenophis, with his low, unintellectual forehead, his pendulous
cheeks, his feminine contours, and his generalexpressionof gloom
and melancholy. The fidelity with which all these unpleasing
features are reproduced is extraordinary,and can only be
accounted for by the existence of a tradition so well established
that no one thouorht of breakinof through it,even when the
of
portrait a semi-divine monarch was in question.
There are other works dating from this period which show the
same desire for truth at any price. One of the series of bas-
reliefs discovered by IMariette in the Temple of Dayr-el-Bahari
^
Deiikmceler,vol. vi. plates91-111. The curious uglinessof this king is most

clearlyshown in plate 109.

2 BuUeiin
Mariette, de
Archhlogi'jue r AtJicnmDti Francais, 1S55, p. 57.
 Sculpture under the Second Theban Empire. ^45

may be
given as an instance. The subjectof these reHefs is the

expeditionundertaken by the regent Hatasu againstthe country

of Punt.i
'*
In the most curious of these sculpturesthe savage chief
advances as a suppliant. His wife walks behind him. Her hair

:^""5.s

Fig. 2i6. " Statuette of Amenophis IV. Height twenty inches. Louvre. Drawn by
Saint-Elme Gautier.

is dressed
carefully and plaitedinto a thick tail at the back ; a

necklace of larore discs is round her neck. Her dress is a Iouq-

yellow chemise, without sleeves, and reachingto the middle of her
legs. Her features are regularenough, but virile rather than
Mariette, Notire du ^fusee, Xo. 902. and Dayr-d-Bahari. plates.
246 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

feminine, and all the of her

repulsive. Her arms,
rest person is

legs,and chest, are loaded with fat,while her person projectsso

far in the rear as to result in a deformityover which the artist
has dwelt with curious complacence." The legs,so far as the
chemise allows them to be seen, are so large that they suggest
incipientelephantiasis.The Egyptian artist was induced, no
doubt, to dwell upon such a monstrosityby the instructive contrast
which it presentedwith the cultivated beauty of his own race.^
Realist as he was when he chose to take that vein, the
up
Egyptian sculptorattained, however, to a high degree of grace
and purity,especiallyin his representations of historic and
religious scenes. When he had not the exceptional uglinessof an
Amenophis IV. to deal with, he gave to the personages in his

bas-reliefs a look of serious gravity and nobilitywhich cannot

fail to impress the greatest enthusiast for Greek models. He was

no longer content with the sincere imitation of what he saw, like

the artists of the Early Empire ; his efforts were directed to giving

everlasting forms to those superhuman beings,the Egyptian gods

and Egyptian kings,with their sons and favourites,who lived in

hourly communion with them. Egyptian art at last had an ideal,

which it never realized with more success than in certain bas-reliefs
of this epoch.
Mariette quotes, as productionsof the
one of the most learned

Egyptian chisel, a bas-relief at Gebel-Silsilis representing a

goddess nourishingHorus from her own breast. llie design "

of this composition is remarkable for its purity," he says, "and

the whole picture breathes a certain soft tranquillity which both
charms and surprises a modern connoisseur." ^
We have not reproduced this work, but an idea of its styleand
composition may be formed from a bas-relief of the time of

Rameses II., which we have taken from the speos of Beit-el-Wali

Vol. I.). The theme is the same. A scene of adoration
(Fig.255,
taken from a pier at Thebes (Fig. 176, Vol. I.)and, still more, a

fine bas-relief in which Amenophis HI. does homage to Amen, to

1
Mariktte, Dayr-el Bahari, p. 30, believed that Punt was in Africa,probably
in the region of the Somali. He cpiotes various passages from the writingsof

modern travellers to show that this strange obesity is rather an African than an

Arabian characteristic. See Spf.ke's of the favourite

description wife of Vouazerou,

Discovery of the Source of tJie Nile, and

chap, viii., Schwf.infurtu's account of the

Bongo women, Heart of Africa (3rdedition)

])p. 136 and 137.
^
Mariktik, Jtinl'roire,
p. 246.
 Sculpture under the Second Theban Empire. 247

whom he is presentedby Phre, may also be compared with the

work at Gebel-SilsiHs. The movements are free and elegant,
and nothing could be moreexpressivethan the gestures of the

two deities,than the attitude,at once proud and of

respectful, the

kneelingprince. The whole scene is imbued with sincere and

gratefulpiety (Fig. ^2"' Vol. I.).

We find the same theme, with some slightvariations,in the bas-
relief Abydos figuredon page 390,
at Vol. I. The sculpturesin
the temple with which Seti I. adorned this citymay be considered
the masterpiecesof Egyptian art in their own gejire. Their firm
and sober execution, and the severe of their conception,
simplicity
are well shown in our third plate. This royalfigure, which we were

compelled to detach from its companions in order that we might

give it on a scale largeenough to be of service, forms part of
a composition which has been thus described by M. Charles
Blanc :
"
Seated upon the round base of a column, we examined
the noblest bas-reliefs in the world. Seti in his
was present own

temple. His noble

head, at once heroic, mild andhuman and

proud,stood out from the wall and seemed to regard us with a

gentle smile. A wandering ray of sunlightpenetrated into the
temple, and, fallingupon the gentle salience of the sculptured

figures,gave them a relief and animation which was almost

illusive. A processionof young girls, whose gracefulforms are
veiled only by their chastity, advance towards the hero with as

much freedom as respect will allow. Their beauty attracts . .us .

while their dignityforbids all approach. The scene lives before

us, and yet the stone is but grazed with the chisel and casts but
the gentlestshadow. But the delicacyof the workmanship is
combined with such vigour of design and such true sinceritv of
feelingthat these young women, who represent the provincesof
Eg}'pt,seem to live and breathe before us.''^
The same qualities are found, though in less perfection, in those
bas-reliefs which ccmm.emorate the conquests and military exploits
of the great Theban Pharaohs on the pylons and external faces of
the temple walls. The space to be covered is larger, the scene to
be represented more complicated,than in the religious pictures,
which, as a rule,include very few actors. The artist is no longer
working a for narrow audience of gods,kings,and priests. His
productionsare addressed to the people at large,and he attempts
'
Ch. Blan'c. ]'oyagedans la Haute- Eioptt- p. 26:;.
248 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

therefore to dazzle and astonish the crowd rather than to please

the more fastidious tastes of their social leaders. His execution is

more rapidand less thoughtful,

as may be seen in our illustrations
taken from the battle scenes of Karnak, Luxor, the Ramesseum,
and Medinet-Abou (Figs.13, 85, and
173, 174, 253, 254, Vol. I.).
In each of these scenes there is a central figure to which our

attention is Immediatelyattracted. It is that of the king,and is

far largerthan those of
subjectsand enemies. his

Sometimes he is on foot, his threateningmace raised above the

heads of his prisoners, who kneel before him and raise their hands
in supplication, as in a fine bas-relief at Karnak (Fig.85, Vol. I.);
more often he is representedstandingin his chariot and dominating
the tumult about him like a demi-god, driving a panic-stricken
crowd before him sword in hand, or about to cleave the head
of some hostile' chief, whose relaxed members seem already to
have felt the mortal stroke (Fig.13, Vol. I.). Elsewhere we see

him bending his bow and launching his arrows againstthe flying
barbarians (Fig. 174, Vol. I.). "We could never look at this
beautiful figurewithout fresh admiration," say the authors of the
Description, it is the Apollo Belvedere
"
of Egypt." ^ Again
we see the king returningvictorious from his wars, long rows of

prisonersmarch behind and before him, their hands tied at their

backs and attached by a rope to the chariot of the conqueror.
The horses which, in the battle scenes, we saw rearingand trampling
the dead and dying beneath their feet,advance quietlyand under
the control of the tightenedrein,and their daintywalk suggests
that they too have a share in the universal satisfaction that follows
a war well ended.
In all these reliefs the principalfigure,that of the prince,is
free and bold in design,and full of pride and dignity. These
characteristics are also found in some of the secondaryfigures,

such as those soldiers of the enemy who still resist,or the

prisonerswho resignthemselves sovereign'smace (Figs.13 to the

and 85, Vol. wounded I.). But in
fugitives these battle
the and

pictures are curiouslyconfused in drawing and arrangement. If we

take these little figuresseparately many of them are drawn and

modelled well enough, but, taken as a whole, they are huddled up

into far too narrow a space, and seem heaped upon each other
in impossiblefashion. The Egyptian sculptorhas been fired with
'
Aniiguith.vol. ii.p. iio.
 Sculpture under the Second Theban Empire. 249

the desire to with his chisel the great deeds of his royal
emulate

master, and, in his ignorance,he has passed the limits which

an art perspective
innocent cannot ofoverleapwithout disaster.
The persistenttendency towards slightnessof proportion,
which we have alreadynoticed in speaking of the First Theban

Empire, is even more conspicuousin the figuresof these reliefs

than in the royalstatues (Figs.13, 50, 53, 84, 165, and 175, Vol. I.).
Neither in these historical bas-reliefs,
nor in those of the tombs,
do we ever encounter the short thickset figureswhich are so

common in the Ancient Empire.

In the paintingsand bas-reliefs of Thebes this slenderness is
more stronglymarked in the women thanin the men, and thing
every-
goes to prove that it beauty
was considered essential to
in the female sex. Goddesses
queens, dancing girlsand and

hired musicians, all have the same elongatedproportions.This

propensityis more clearlyseen perhaps in the picturesof the
Almees and Gawasi of Ancient Egypt than anywhere else. Look,
for instance, at our reproductionof a bas-relief in the Boulak
Museum {Fig.217). It represents a funeral dance to a sound of
tambourines, accompanied in all probability by those apologetic
songs, called Ophot by the Greeks, of which M. Maspero has
translated so many curious fragments.^ All these women, who are

practically naked in their long transparent robes, wear their hair

in thick pendent tresses. Two young girls, quitenude, seem to

regulate the time with castanets. A number of men, coming from

the right, appear to reprove by their gestures the energeticmotions
of the women. This bas-relief is an isolated fragment,and without
a date. It was found in the necropolis of Memphis and from its

style Prisse ascribes it to the nineteenth dynasty, a time when "

artists were mannered in their treatment of the female form,

combining great softness of contour with an impossibleslenderness
of build. The execution is careless,but the movements and
attitudes are truthful
enough."- Our Plate XII. shows figures
of the same generalproportions,
though rather better drawn.
^
Maspero, Etudes
quelquesPeintures Futieraires. Mariette,in describing
siir this
bas-relief{A^otice
diiMitsee,No. 903),observes that these funeral dances are still in
vogue in most of the villages of Upper Eg\-pt. The bas-reliefs from Sakkarah
could not, however, as he says, render the piercingshrieks with which these dances
are accompanied.
^
Prisse, Histoire de VArt Egyptien. Text, p. 418. This bas-relief has also been
reproducedby Mariette, Monuments Divers, pi.68.
VOL. 11. K K
250 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

This curious mannerism beoan to establish itself during

the first renascence of Egyptian art under the twelfth dynasty.
It was to last,and even to grow more conspicuous,until the
centuries of final decadence.
growing influence of conven- The
tionality

to is
be seen in other signs also. As art repeated and
multiplied its representations, and the spaces which it had to

decorate increased in number and size,it had at its disposal, as we

may say, a larger number of moulds and made more frequent

employment of certain groups and figureswhich were repeated
without material change. In the decorations of this period we
find long rows of figures which are practically identical with each
other. They look as if they had been produced by stencil plates.
With all their apparent richness and their wealth of imagery the
sculptureand paintingof Thebes show a poverty of invention
which is not to be found in the art of the earlydynasties.^
The gradual fallingoff in their powers of observing and

reproducing natural forms is singularlywell shown in their im- perfect

treatment of those animals which had been unknown to

their predecessors. The horse does not seem to have been

introduced into Egypt until the time of the shepherd kings,but

he soon conquered a high placeamong the servitors of the upper

classes of Egyptians. He became one of the favourite themes of

contemporary art. In all the great picturesof battle he occupies

a central position, and he is always associated with the prowess

of the sovereign. And yet he is almost always badly drawn.
His movement is sometimes not without considerable vigour and
even nobility, but his forms lack truth,he is generallyfar too thin
and elongated. His head is well set on and his neck and
shoulders good, but his body is weak and unsubstantial (Figs.
13 and 174, \^ol. I.). The bad effects of conventionality are here

stronglyfelt. The same horse, in one of the two or three attitudes

between which the Egyptian sculptor had to choose accordingto
the scene to be treated,appears everywhere. The sculptors of the

Memphite tombs saw with a very different eye when they set
themselves to surround the doubles of their employers with the

'
Some of our illustrations allow the justiceof this observation to be easily
verified (Figs.173, 253, and 254, Vol. I.).In one of these the ])ortersand in another
tlie prisonersof war seem to be multipliedby some meclianical process. A glance
tlnough the Dcukmccler of Lepsius leaves a similar impression. We mav mention

especially
plates34, 35, 175, 125, and 135 of the third Part.
p^
 Sculpture under the Second Tiieban Empire. DJ

imao-es of the domestic animals to whom they were accustomed

in Hfe.

The difference can be seen, however, without going back to

the Ancient Empire. Compare the great historical bas-reliefs of

the templesand royalcenotaphswith the more modest decorations

of certain priv-ate sepulchres,such as those which were found in the

tomb of Chamhati, superintendent of the royaldomains under the

eighteenthdynasty(Fig.218). The sculptors return with pleasure

to those scenes of country life of which the pyramid builders were

so fond. The fragment we reproduce shows the long row

of labourers bending over their hoes, the sower castinghis seed,

the oxen attached to the plough and slowly cuttingthe furrow

Fig. 218. "

Bas-relief from the tomb of Chamhati, Boulak.

under the whip and voice of their drivers. Neither men nor

beasts are drawn with as sure a hand as in the tomb of Ti, but
yet the whole appears more sincere than productionsof a more

official kind. The oldest and most faithful assistant to the

Egy^ptianfellah,the draught ox, is at least much more like nature

than the charger of the Theban battle pictures.

The dangers of routine and of a conventional mode of work
seem now and then to have been feltby the Theban artists.
They appear to have set themselves deliberately
to rouse attention
and interest
by introducingforeigntypes into their eternal battle
pieces,and by insisting upon their differences of feature, of
complexion, of arms and costume. They were also fond of
254 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

depictingother countries and the strange animals that inhabited

them, as in the bas-rehef which shows a giraffepromenading
among tropicalpalms.^ But in spite of all these meritorious
efforts,they do not touch our feelingslike the
primitiveartists of
Gizeh and Sakkarah, or even of Beni- Hassan. Try as they will,
they cannot conceal that soulless and mechanical which
facility is
so certain
fatiguethe spectator. If we turn over
to the pages of

Lepsius, we always find ourselves dwelling with pleasure upon

the sculpturesfrom the mastabas, in spite of their apparent

similarity,while we have soon had enough of the pompous and

crowded bas-reliefs from Karnak, Luxor, the Ramesseum and

Medinet-Abou.
These defects less
conspicuous in figuresin the round, and
are

especiallyin the statues of kings. I do not know that the

sculptorsof the Setis and the Rameses ever produced anything

equal to the portraitsof Thothmes, Amenophis, and Taia, but
there are statues of Rameses H. intact,which may be reckoned

among the fine examples

Egyptian art. Theof features of no

prince that ever existed were reproduced more often than those
of this Rameses, who built so much and reigned so long. These

reproductions, as might be supposed,differ very greatlyin value.

In the huge colossi which sit before the Great Temple at
Ipsamboul (Fig.248, Vol. I.), the limbs are not modelled with the
careful precision which would be requiredin the case of a life-size
statue. The arms and legsappear rather heavy on close inspection,
and in a photograph those parts which are nearest to the camera,

namely, the legsand the knees, seem too large for the rest of the
figure. But the heads are characterized by a breadth and freedom
of execution which brings out the desired expressionwith great
effect when looked at from a proper distance. This expression
is one of thoughtfulmildness and imperturbable serenity. It is
exactlysuited to the image of a deified king,sittingas eternal
guardian of the temple ^which his workmen had hewn out in the

bowels of the mountain.

Some discrimination must be exercised between the statues of

Rameses which approach the natural size. We do not look upon

his portraitwhen a child, which is now in the Louvre, as a

^
the
So, at Dayr-el-Bahari decorator has taken pains to giveaccurate reproductions
of the fauna and flora of Punt. See the plates of Mariette {Dayr-el-Bahari)
and

the remarks of Prof. Ebers vol.

{Aigypteti, ii.p. 280).
 SCULI'TURE UNDER THE SeCOND ThEBAX EmPIRE. 255

masterpiece(Fig.219). The noble lines of the profile,

recalling
his father Seti,are indeed his, but the eye is too large and the

Fig. 219." Pcrtra'.t of Rameses II. while a ctiki,acuial -ize. Limestone. In tbe Louvre.

hands are treated with an elegance which is more than little

a

mannered. The urcTus on his brow and the titles engraved bv

256 A History of Art in Ancient Egyj^t,

his side show that he was alreadyking,but we can see that he

was stillvery young, not so much by the juvenilecontours of his

body, as by the fingerin his mouth and the lock of hair hanging
upon his rightshoulder. A statue at Boulak (Fig.220) shows signs
of carelessness rather than of affectation. In it Rameses is still a

young man. The eyes, the small mouth, the calm and
smiling
visage, are all well modelled, but the legs are quiteshapeless.

Fig. 220. " Statue of Rameses II. Boulak.

Some, good bas-reliefs date from this reign. Among others

we may prisonersof war

name those bound together,which
Champollion copied from the plinth of a royal statue in the

Ramesseum (Fig. 221). The race characteristics are very well

marked. The prognathous negro, with his thick lips, short nose,
 Sculpture under the Second Theban Emtire. "D/

slopingbrow, and woollypoll; the Asiatic, an Assyrian perhaps,

with his regular,finely-chiselled profileand his knotted head- dress,
are easilyrecognized. The movement of these two figures
is also happy, its only defect is its want of variety. The same

remarks may be appliedto those sculptures on the external walls

of the small temple at Abydos, which represent the soldiers
belongingto the legion of the Chardanes or Sharuten, the supposed
ancestors of the Sardinians. Their picturesque costume and singular

arms have been described more than once. A metal stem and a ball
between two crescent- shaped horns surmount their helmets ; they
are tall and slender,with small heads and short round noses.
^

The finest statue of Rameses II. that has come down to our

time is,perhaps,the one in the Turin Museum (Fig.222). Its

Fig. 221. " Prisoners of war; Ramesseum. From ChampoUion, pi.322.

execution is most careful,and its state of preservationmarvellous.

The head is full of and
individuality distinction. One of the

king'ssons is shown, on a very small scale, leaningagainstthe

foot of his father's seat.

Boulak possesses the upper part of a broken statue of Rameses,

which is not inferior to this in artistic merit. The contours are

singularly
pure and noble.
Most of those who are authorities on the subjectagree that art

fell intodecay towards the end of Rameses the second's long reign
of sixty-seven years. Carried away by his mania for building, the

king thought more of working rapidly than well. In his impatience

to see his undertakingsfinished, he must have begun by using up
^
Ch. Blanc, Vbyage dans la Haute-Egypte, p. 74, pi.31.
VOL. IL L L
 ;58 A lilSTORY OF ArT IN AnCIENT EciVPT.

the excellent architects and decorative artists left to him by his

father. He left them no time to instruct pupils or to form a

school,and so in his old age he found himself compelledto employ
mediocrities. "
The and
steles,inscriptions, other monuments of

the last years of Rameses II. are to be recognizedat a glance by

their detestable style," says Mariette.^ With the fine bas-relief

at Abydos which is reproduced in our Plate III., Vol. I,, Mariette

contrasts another which is to be found in a neighbouring hall
and represents Rameses II. in the same attitude. In the former,
the figureof Seti is expressed in the most delicate low in
relief,
the latter the contours of Rameses are coarselyindicated by a

deeply-cutoutline.- So too M. Charles Blanc :

"
As we pass from

the tomb of Seti I. to those of Seti II. and Rameses lY., the
decadence Egyptian art makes itself felt,partlyin the character
of

of the which no longer displaythe firmness, the delicacy,

pictures,
or the significance,of those which we admired in the tomb of the
first-named monarch, partly in the exaggerated relief of the
^
sculptures."
Unless Mariette was mistaken in his identification of one of the

most remarkable fragments in the Boulak Museum, Thebes must

have possessed first-rate artists even at the death of Rameses.

M. Charmes thus speaks of the fragment (Fig.223) in question:
"
By a happy inspiration, Mariette has given the bust of Queen
Taia a pendant which equals it in attractiveness, which surpasses
it,perhaps,in delicacyof treatment it is the head of a king ....

surmounted by a huge cap which weights it without adding to its

beauty. It formerlybelonged to a statue which is now broken up.
The king was standing; in his left hand he held a ram-
young
headed staff. It is impossibleto give an
. . .
idea of the youthful,
almost childish grace, of the soft and melancholy charm in a

countenance which seems overspread with the shadow of some

did its author contrive from such

unhappy fate. How to cut

an unkindly material as these

granite, frank and fearless eyes, that

slender nose with its refined nostrils,and these lips,which are

so soft and full of that they

vitality, seem modelled in nothing
harder than wax. We are in presence of one of the finest relics

of Egyptian sculpture,and nothing more exquisitehas been

1
MARuaxE, Voyage dans la Haute-Egyptc,vol. i. p. 72. Plates 23 and 24.
2
Champollion makes the same remark d'Egy/'fcct de
{Lettres Nubie, p. 326).
?' Ch. Blanc, Voyage dans la Haiite-Egypfe,j). 17S.
KiG. 222. Statue of Rameses II. in the Turin Museum. Granite. Drawn
"

by Saint-Elmc Gautier.
2 6o A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

produced by the art of any other people. The inscription

is mutilated

by a fissure in the granite,but Mariette believes that the statue

represents Menephtah, the son of Rameses 11."^

Fuj. 223. " Head of Menephtah, Boulak. Drawn by Saint-EIme Gautier.

There is a colossal statue of Seti II.,the son of this Menephtah,

the material of which it
in the Louvre (Fig. 224). Although
1
Gab. Charmks, Dc la du
Reorganisation Miisce de Boulak. "
M.arifttf, Notice,
No. 22.
fiG. 224. Scti 11. Sandstone fifteen feet
"

statue, high. Louvre. Drawn by

Saint-Elme Gauticr.
262 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

consists,namely sandstone, is much less rebellious than granite,

the
features,which have a familyresemblance to those of Menephtah,

are executed in a much more summary fashion than in the Boulak

statue, and yet the execution is that of a man who knew" his
business. The modelling of the muscular arms is especially
vigorous.^
There are hardly any royal statues left to us which we can

ascribe with certaintyto the twentieth dynasty,but at Medinet-

Abou, both on the walls of the temple and in the Royal Pavilion
there are bas-reliefs which show that the sculptureof Rameses III.,
the last of the great Theban Pharaohs, knew how to hold its

own among the other gloriesof the reign. We have given a

few examples of the picturesin which the king is shown as a

warrior and as a high priest(Figs.172 and 173 Vol. I.);other

groups should not be forgottenin which he is exhibited during his
hours of relaxation in his harem, amonpf his wives and daughters.
Under the last of the Rameses Egyptians lost
the their mili-
tary

spiritand, with it, their foreignpossessionsin the South

and East. Inclosed within Its own frontiers,between the
cataracts in the South and the Mediterranean in the North, and
enfeebled by the domination of the priestsand scribes, the
country became divided into two kingdoms, that of Thebes,
under a theocratic dynasty,and that of Tanis in which the royal

names betray a strong Semitic influence.

That worship of Asiatic divinities which, though never tioned
men-

in official monuments, Is so often alluded to in the steles,

must then have taken hold
people of Lower of
Egypt. the

Among these were Resheb, the Syrian Apollo ; Kadesh, who

bore the name of a famous Syrian fortress, and was but one

form of the great Babylonian goddess Anahit, the Anaitis of

the Greeks. Kadesh is sometimes representedstanding upon

a lion passant (Fig. 225).
Exhausted by its internal conflicts,Egypt produced few monu- mental

works for several centuries. Many kings,however, of

this barren period,and especially Sheshonk, have left at Karnak

records of their military victories and of their efforts to re-establish

the national unity. After the twenty-fourthdynasty Egypt

became the vassal of that Ethiopian kingdom whose civilization

was no more than a plagiarismfrom her own. During the halt

'
Louvre. Ground-floor No.
gallery, 24.
 Sculpture under the Second Tiieban Empire. 263

century that
vassalage endured, the southern
this conquerors
gave full employment to such artists as Egypt had preserved.
The latter were set to reproduce the features of the Ethiopian
kings,but the works which resulted are very unequal in merit.
Sabaco caused the sides of the great door in the pylon of
Rameses Karnak
repaired. The execution of
at to be the figures
is by no means satisfactory. The relief is too bold ; the mus-
cular
"

development of the heroes representedis exaggerated to a

meaningless degree ; coarse vigour has taken the place of
^
o'raceful strenofth."
But although these bas-reliefs,the only ones of the period
which have been encountered, are evidently inspired by the
decadence, the Egyptian sculp-
tors
seem to have stillpreserved
much of their skill in traiture.
por-
Mariette believes that
a royal head in the Museum at

Cairo represents Tahraka, the

third of the Ethiopiansovereigns.
It is disfiguredby the loss
of the nose. The remaining
features strongly
are coarse and
marked and the general type
is foreignrather than Egyptian. -

However this may be, it cannot

be denied that in the alabaster
Fig. 225." The Goddess Kadesh ; fror
statue of Ameneritis, which was Wilkinson, Fig. 55.

found at Karnak by ^^lariette,

we

have a monument of this phase in Egyptian art remarkable

both for taste and knowledge (Fig.226).^
During the Ethiopian occupation Queen Ameneritis played
^
Ch Blan'C, Voyage dans la Haute-Egypte, p. 153.
-

Mariette, Notice, No. 20.

3
Mariette, Notice,No. 866. There is a cast of this statue in the Louvre, but.
like that of the statue of Chephren, which forms a pendant to it,it has been coloured
to the hue of fresh butter and the result is most disagreeable. Even when placed
cast from alabaster figurethis colour is bad
upon a an enough, but when the cast
is from statue in diorite,ike that of Chephren,
l it is
one a quite inexcusable. It
would have been better either to have left the natural surface of the plasteror
to have
given to each cast a colour which should in some degree recall that of the
originals
and mark the difference between them.
264 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

an important role in the affairs of Egypt. While her brother

Sabaco was yet aHve she

was with
dignified the title
of regent, later she brought
her rightsto the double
crown of Upper and
Lower Egypt to the

usurper Piankhi, whom she

married and made the
father of Shap-en-Ap,who
afterwards became the
mother of Psemethek I.
The head of Ameneritis
is covered with the full-
bottomed wig worn by
goddesses. She holds a
whip in her left hand
and a sort of purse in her

right; there are bangles

upon her wrist and ankles
and the contours of her

body are frankly played

dis-
beneath the long
chemise-like robe, which
falls almost to her ankles.
The features are resolute
and rather
intelligent than
beautiful, the squareness
of the lower jaw and the
firm line of the mouth

beingespeciallysignificant
We have, then, every
reason to believe this to

be good portrait.Both
a

form and expression are

just what might be ex-
pected

in a high-born
Fig. 226. -Statue of Ameneritis. Alabaster. Boulak.
Egyptian female sessed
pos-
Drawn by G. Benedite.
of sovereignpower.

The treatment of the body is rather conventional. The bust, so

 The Art of the Saite Period. 26;

far as it can be traced under the clingingrobe, is younger than the

head, which is that of a woman in middle life. With these
reserves the statue is very pleasing. The arms are a little stiff,
but figureas a whole is characterized by a chaste and sober
the

elegance. The modelling is not insisted upon too much, but its
undulatingcontours are discreetlyindicated under the soft though

by no means transparent drapery. The whole work is imbued

with the spirit of Saite art, an aftermath which was characterized

by grace and refinement rather than by freedom and power.

" 5. The Art of the Saite Period.

After the last of the Ramessids the decadence of Egypt was

continuous, but in the seventh century B.C. while the Ethiopians
and Assyrianscontended for the possessionof the country, it was
particularly rapid. Under Psemethek, however, there was a

revival. The foreigners were driven out, the national unitywas

re-established, and Syria was again brought under the Egyptian
An artistic coincided with this restoration of
sceptre. renascence

well being,and
political the princesof the twenty-sixth
dynasty set
themselves to restore the monuments which had perishedduring
the intestine troubles and foreigninroads. Their attention was

mainly directed to the architectural monuments of Lower Egypt ;

but littlenow remains of the buildingswhich drew so much praise
from the Greek travellers. Their sculpturedachievements have
been more fortunate. Their statues were sprinkledover the whole

country, and many of them have been found at Memphis, at

Thebes, and even amono- the ruins of cities which have lone aeo

disappeared. Thus we find that most Eg}ptian collections contain

figures which mav be assigned to this time, or rather to this
school, for the stvle held its own even as late as the first two or

three Ptolemies. Among them may be mentioned ^

t\\e pastop/ionts
of the Vatican, the ArsapJies'-
of the British Museum, the statues

of serpentine found at Sakkarah in the tomb of a certain

Psemethek. a high officer under the thirtieth and
d\-nasty,' the fine

1 the
For meaning of this word see Pif.rret, Diction Jiaire,
"c.
-

For illustrations of this statue and an explanationof the name here given to
it. see Birch, Gallery of Antiquities.
London. 4to.-" Ed.
3 Mariette. Notice dii Muste de Bculak, No. 3S5.
VOL. II. M M
266 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

bronzes of Osiris discovered at Medinet-Abou.^ All the bronzes

found in the
Serapeum belong to the same category.-
By means of secondary remains, such as sphinxes,steles,and
scarabs, we can just contrive to get a glimpse at the features of
those brilliant sovereigns who, after dazzling Egypt and the
surroundingcountries earlyin the seventh century B.C., fell before
the first attacks of the Persians.^ Many of their effigies must

have been destroyedby the invaders, either at their first conquest,

or during the three subsequent occasions when they were pelled
com-

to re-establish their ascendency by force. A similar fate

must have overtaken the statues of Inaros and Nectanebo, who
succeeded for time in
restoringthe independence of their
a

country. For the whole of this period the royal-iconographyis

much more scanty than for the two Theban empires.

We shall not dwell upon the figure green basalt which stands
in

in the middle of the Salle Historiqzie in the Louvre. We know

from the inscription upon its girdlethat it represents the king

Psemethek II. The execution is careful,but the work has suffered

great mutilation,the head and parts of the limbs being modern

restorations."* On the other hand, the two little bronze sphinxes
which stand chimney-piece in the same
upon the room are in

excellent condition. According to De Rouge their heads reproduce

the features of Ouaphra, the Apries of the Greeks (Fig. 227).^
In the ground-floorgallery there are several sphinxes which,

accordingto their inscriptions, should include portraits of some of

those princes who between 527 and 332 i^.c. temporarilyfreed
Egypt from the Persian yoke ; Nepherites,Achoris, Nectanebo, "c.
None of them, however, show enough individuality in their

features to suggest that they were copied from nature. Their

heads are all clothed indiscriminately in the same elegance of
contour, and in lookino- at them we find ourselves far indeed from

the admirable of
portraits the early empire, or even from that

statue of Ameneritis which closes the series of royaleffigies.

1
Notice, Nos. 196-7.
^
Ihid. Nos. 105-15.
^ The Boulak Museum ]:)Osscsses a very fine scarab which shows Xechao between
Isis and Neith, one of whom hands him a mace and the other a small figureof
Mentou-Ra, the God of Battles. Two chained prisonersare prostrate at the base
of the scarab. M.ariette, Notice, No. 556.
^
PiERRKT, de la Saile J/istoriqne,
Cataloi^i/e No. 269.
^
J3e Rouge, Notice So m moire, ]).59.
 The Art of the Saite Period. 267

The pre-occupatfonof
chief the Saite sculptorwas to obtain

supplenessof modelling and an apparent finish of execution, both

of which, in his opinion,were proportion as the
effective in

material used was His chisel was

hard and unyielding.^ employed
much more than in
formerly fusingtogether the various layersof
muscle which form the walls of the human structure. He did not

lay so much stress on the skeleton, or on the leadinglines of the

figure,as his earlypredecessors. His care was mainly devoted to
rendering the subtle outward curves and contours, and this he
often carries to such excess as to produce a result which is simply
wearisome from its want of energy and accent. There is a group
at Boulak upon which too much praisehas been lavished, to which
this stricture thoroughly applies. It represents one of the

Fir,. 227. " Bronze Sphinx, Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gauticr.

Psemetheks, clothed in a long robe, standing before the goddess

Hathor who is in the form of a cow. The head and torso are

finely chiselled,but, through an exaggerateddesire for elegance, the

arms have been made far too long,and the divine cow is entirely
without truth or expression. This defect is still more conspicuous
in the two figures of I sis and Osiris that were found with this

group. Their execution has reached the extremity of coldness

through the excessive use of file and sand-paper.-

1
It would appear that wood-carvingwas never so popular in Egypt as it was

under the Second Theban Empire. The numerous wooden statues which fill our
museums date from that period. We have given an example of them in Fig.50, Vol. I.
2
Mariette, Xotice du Musce, Xos. 3S6 and 3S7. Mariette seems
to^estimate
these two statuettes far too highlv.
268 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Sometimes the sculptorknows where to leave off,and the result

imm^f.(h",:t m nrrn
'^*-'

FlG. 228. "

Statue of Nekht-h.ir-helt,Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Eline Gautier.

is better. The sandstone statue of Kekht-har-heb, in the Louvre,

 The Art of the Saite Period. 269

is one of the best productionsof the Saite artists (Fig.228).^ The

execution of hands and feet is sketchy,and the countenance is

without much but

expression, the attitudes of the arms and legs,

Fig. 229. "

Statue of Horus, Louvre. Drawn by iJaint-Elme Gautier.

the modellingof the trunk, and the pose of the head, unite breadth

with and
facility dignityto such a degree,that we are reminded,
^ De Rouge, Notice des Mojiumc7its Exposes au No.
Rez-de-chaussee, 94.
270 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

for a moment, of a Greek marble. In spite of the singular

attitude there is much in the execution which recalls a much more

ancient work, the statue of Ouah-ab-ra, which dates from the

dynasty (Fig.51,
twenty-sixth Vol. I.)^
Not less remarkable is the headless statue of a personage called

Horus, which dates from about the same It is

period(Fig.229).'-^'
of black graniteand yet both limbs and torso are as delicately
modelled as if they were of the softest limestone. The attitude of
the arms is unusuallyeasy and natural,and the whole figureis
freer and anything we find in the ancient
less constrained than
statues. There of innovation
is,too, a certain spirit discoverable
in the feet. The toes are well separatedand slighty bent, instead
of being flat and close together.

;iS"5isSv"ffl:*;ijj;"

:Jl^[:J;M
i^jS^

Fig. 230. "

Bas-relief from Memphis. Length fortyinches,height ten inclies,Boulak.
Drawn by Bourgoin.

The same style,

taste, and generaltendency are to be found in

the steles and in the decoration sepulchral of the tombs. In a few

bas-reliefs we can detect a desire to imitate the compositionson

the walls of the mastabas. Such attempts were quitenatural,and
we need feel no surprise that the Egyptians in their decline should
have turned to the artistic form and motives which had been
invented in their distant and vigorous youth. The old age of
many other races has shown the same tendency in their arts
and literature.
The beautiful band of sculpturein low relief which was found,
'' De Rouge, Notice des Monuments Exposes an No.
Rez-de-chanssee, 91.
-
No.
ll'/deni. 88.
 The Art of the Saite Period.

togetherwith another very similar to it,at Mitrahineh, upon the

site of ancient Memphis, might easilybe taken at first sightfor a
productionof the earlycenturies (Figs.230 and 231). It formed
the lintel to the door of a house dating from the Greek or Roman

period,for which purpose it had doubtless been carried off from

some tomb.^ At one end a dignified individual is seated upon a

low-backed chair,in his left hand he holds the long wand of office,
in his righta ribbon. His name and titles are engraved in front
of him : he w^as a writer,and was called Psemethek-nefer-sam, A

scribe bends before

respectfully him and introduces a procession
of men, women, and children, who of various
bringofferings kinds,
coffers,flowers,birds,and
jarsof liquid, calves led by a string. It

is the favourite theme of the mastabas over aeain. The attitudes

Fig. 2^1. " Continuation of Fi'. 2^o.

are similar,but the execution is different. There is a lack of

firmness and
rotundityin modelling,and considerablymore
the

striving after elegance. The children especiallyshould be

noticed ; the fashion in which they all turn towards their elders

betraysa desire on the part of the artist to give freshness and

piquancy to his composition.
Most of those bronze figures of the gods, which are so plentiful
in the European museums, date from this period. We have repro-
duced
several of them in our chapterupon the Egyptian pantheon
(Figs. 34-37,'\'ol. I.). With the advent of Alexander and his
^
Mariette, Xoiice du Musce, Xos. 35-6.
272 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

successors, a number of Greek artists became domiciled in Egypt ;

they employed their talents in the service of the priests and scribes
without attempting- in any way to affect the religion, the institutions,
or the habits of the people. The Egyptian artists were heirs

to the oldest of all civilizations, their traditions were so firmly

established, and their professionaleducation was so systematic,
that they could hardly consent to modify their ideas at the first

contact with a race whom they secretly despised,althoughthey

were compelled to admit their political and militarysupremacy.

Many years had to pass before Egyptian sculpture, and with it the
written character and language,became debased as we find it in
certain Roman and Ptolemaic temples. Several generationshad
to come and go before a hybrid Egypto-Greek style, a style which

preserved the most unhappy forms and conventions of Egyptian

art while it lost all its native freshness and originality, imposed
itself finally upon the country.

The worst of the Saite statues are stillnational in style. It is

an Egyptian soul that inhabits their bodies, that breathes through

the features, and places its mark upon every detail of the

personalityrepresented. This is no longer the case with the

figureswhich, from the time of Augustus to that of Hadrian,

seem to have been manufactured in such quantitiesfor the
embellishment of Roman villas. Costumes, accessories, and
attitudes are all Egyptian, but the model upon which they are

is
displayed Greek. beginning of the present century
Until the

archaeologists were deceived by the masquerade, and were unable

to distinguish between pasticcios, many of which may not even

have been made in Egypt, and the really authentic works of the

unspoiledEgyptian artists. Such mistakes are no longerprobable,

but even now it is difficult to say exactlywhere the art of Sais

was blended into that of the Ptolemies. When there is no

epigraph upon which to depend the most skilful archaeologist

may here make mistakes.
There are, however, a few fienres in which the influence of the
Greek brought to Alexandria
works by the descendants of Lagus,

may be detected in an incipient stage. The motives and attributes

are still purelyEgyptian,but the modelling,the carriageof the
head, and the attitude are modified,and we see, almost by intuition,
that the Greek style is about to smother the Egyptian. This
evidence of transition is,we think, very marked in a bronze group
 The Art of the Saite Period. 27,

Horns in the Louvre and

(Fig.55, Vol. I.), in Horns
of Isis suckling
enthroned by lions (Fig.232).
supported And yet the difference

Fig. 232. "

Mora- enthroned. Bronze. Louvre.

between these things and those which are frankly Grsco-

Roman is great, and at once strikes those who come the
upon
VOL. n. N N
 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.
274

latter in the galleriesof Boiilak, where they are mixed up with so

creations of Egyptian genius. The distinction is equally

many
obvious produced by foreign sculptors established
in works in

Egypt, and in those by Egyptians working under Greek masters.

Eook at the head found at Tanis, which is reproduced both in

full face and profilein Fig. 233. It is of black granite,like so many

Egyptian statues, but we feel at once that there is nothing Egyptian

Fig. 233. "

Roman head, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.

about it but the material. It is obviously a portraitof a man of

mature age ; the face is beardless, the curlyhair cut short. During
the Greek and Roman period the temple of San was enriched by
the statues of private individuals, and doubtless this fragment
belonged to one of them. Tradition that the statue was
says

placed in front of a pier with which it was connected by the Ionic

moulding which is still to be traced upon the right side of the

head. With this exception the treatment is that of the best

Augustan period. The person represented may very well have

been one of the first Roman governors of Egypt. ^

Mariettk, Notice du M 11 see, No. 18.

 Thk Principal Themes of Egyptian Sculpture. 275

^ 6. The Principal Themes of Egyptian Sciilptnre.

When we come to study Greek sculpturewe shall find that

the masterpiecesin which its highest powers are displayed,

are

statues such
of divinities, as the Athene of the Parthenon and the

Olympian Zeus. In our review of the Egyptian works of the same

kind we have not had occasion to call attention to a singlegod or

goddess. Their representation

was not, as in Greece, the aim of

the hio-hest art. The fio-^res of deities were, indeed, numerous

enough in Egypt, but the national artist did not show such
in
originality conception as in those of kings and private
their

individuals. This phenomenon may seem inconsistent with what

we know of the pietyof the Egyptians and the placeoccupiedby

religion in their dailylife ; it is to be easilyexplained, however, by

the originof Egyptian sculptureand the part which the statues
of the gods played in it.

Egyptian art began with portraiture.As soon as it was capable

of carving and paintingstone it was realistic,not so much by
instinct and taste as bv dutv. After such a it found
beo^inninor
great difficulty in raisingitself above intelligent and faithful

reproductionof fact. Such inventive powers as it possessedwere

spent in creatinga type for the royalmajesty,and in that case
it had concrete realityas a startingpoint. When it came to

representingthe gods it had no such help. It could not fall back

upon fidelity to fact,and, unlike the Greeks of after ages, it was
unable to give them distinction by the superiornobility and dignity

of their physical contours and features. It was reduced to

differentiating them by the variety of their attributes. By such

a proceedingit obtained an almost infinite number of divine types,
but each type was only recognizableon condition that its pose
and accessories,once determined, should remain without material

change. There was none of the mobilityand elasticity which

distinguishes the dwellers on the Greek Olympus, as may be clearly

seen by comparing the poverty and want of varietyof a Horus

or a Bast with the infinite diversity of an Apollo or an Artemis.

When the Egyptian sculptorhad to endow the national gods
with concrete forms he found himself, then, in a condition much
2/6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

less favourable than that of his Greek successors. This position,

too, was affected by
materially the fact that the best site in the
temple,the centre of the naos, was reserved for a symbol, some-
times

living,
sometimes inanimate, which was looked upon as the
true representativeof the god. It was to this
symbol,jealously
hidden from all but the high priestand the king,that the prayers
of the faithful were addressed. It has been called a survival from
the earlyfetish worship. Perhaps it was so. But at present we
are only concerned with its unfortunate results upon artistic
development. His statues being excluded from the place of
honour, the sculptorwas not, as in Greece, stimulated to combine
all the qualities ascribed by the nation to its gods in one supreme
effort of his knowledge and skill ; he was not raised above himself
by the desire to produce a work which might give point to the
magnificenceof a temple and augment the pietyof a race.
Mariette was right in insistingupon this difference. The "

temples,"he says, hardly contain a statue which is not votive.

"

Sometimes these statues are found irregularly distributed about

the foundations or in the sand, sometimes they are of largesize
and are arranged along the walls, but they hardly ever exceed the
life-sizeof a man. I cannot say that each templehad a figu^'e which
could be specially called the statue of that temple. The divine
images were plentiful enough ; but each had its own particular
ministration. In the prayers addressed to it the name of its
consecrator always included.
was Such a thingas a statue forming
the cent^^al objectof a templeand representing its god without votive
did not, perhaps,exist I' ^
appropriation
Figures of Sekhet, the goddess with the head of a lioness,
have been discovered in hundreds in the buildincr at Karnak
known as the Temple of Mouth, or Maut. This mine of statues

has been worked ever since 1760, and all the museums of Europe
have shared the results. ^ these could
Being so numerous statues

not have reached great excellence of execution. They were

^
Mariktte, N'otice die Mitsce, p. 16. See also his CatalogueGeneral,c. i.
2 Mariktte this temple, whose
{Karnak, p. 15) calculated that major axis from
the to the sanctuary hardly exceeded
pylon 300 feet in length,must have contained
572 statues, all in black and
granite, differingbut little in size and execution. If

placed in rows againstthe walls,and here and there in a double row, their elbows
would almost have touched one another. The first and second courts, and the two

long corridors which bound

temi)le the to the east and west, were full of them. One
of these figuresis representedin our Fig. 39, Vol. I. .
 The Principal Themes of Egyptian Sculpture. '

devotional objectsproduced in mechanical fashion,and there is little

chance of findinga masterpieceof sculptureamong them. In an

inscription at Karnak we find Thothmes III. boastingof having

endowed the temple with a statue of Amen such that no other "

^
temple could show one equal to it." This Amen must have
excelled its rivals in richness of material and in perfectionof

polish. It is unlikelythat it was much superior to them in

nobility or true beauty.

The positionoccupied by the statue in the cella of a Greek

temple finds something like a parallel, however, in the rock-cut

temples of Nubia. We allude to these groups of three or four

figures, carved in the livingrock, which have been found seated in

the farthest recesses at Ipsamboul,Derri, and elsewhere. These

figuresare now so mutilated that their merit as works of art

cannot be decided.
We may safelysay that if the temples proper, such as those of
Karnak and Luxor, had contained master-statues corresponding
in any way to those of the Greeks, they would have been of
colossal size. But
although the soil of Thebes is almost paved
with the fragments of royal colossi, not a singlevestigeof any
gigantic statue of Amen has ever been discovered. All that we

know of those tew divine statues to which specialveneration was

paid excludes idea of size

exceedingthat of man.
any The statues
of Amen and Khons, at Thebes and Napata, which nodded their
approvalwhen consulted by the king as to his future plans,were
certainly not colossi.- And as for the figureof Khons, which took
a voyage into Syria to cure the sister-in-law of one of the latter
Ramessids, we can hardlybelieve it was more than a statuette."^
In spiteof their number the statues of the gods must have
attracted much less attention than those of the kines. The
Pharaoh who built
temple filled it with his own
a effigies; his
colossi sat before the gate, they helped to form those structural
units which we call Osiride piers,and figuresof smaller size were

ranged under the porticos. In that part of the Great Temple at

Karnak which dates from the eighteenth dynasty, statues of

'
Mariette, Voyage dans la Ifaufc-Eg\ph\ vol. ii. p. 25.
-

Maspero, Ajinuaire de V Association dt's Etudes Grecques,1S77, p. 133.

^
See the often-quoted story of a voyage taken by a statue of Khons to the
country of Bakhtan and its return to Egypt. De Rouge, Etude sur un Stele
Egyptienneapl-aitenanta la Bibliothique
Xatiotiale, Svo, 1S56.
2/8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Thothmes III. alone have been found to the number of several

dozens ; their broken fragmentsmay be
identified in every corner.
^

Anionic the countless votive offering'swith which a ereat

buildino;like that at Karnak was filled,there were a few statues

of privateindividuals. The rightto erect statues

"
in the temples

belonged (as we should say) to the crown. W'e find therefore

that most of the privatestatues found in the sacred inclosures are
inscribed with a specialformula : Granted, by the king'sfavour,'

to so and so, the son of so and so .' Permission to

. placea
.

statue in a temple was onlygiven as a reward for services rendered.

The temple might be either that of the favoured individual's native
town, or one for which he had peculiar veneration Civil and

foreignwars, the decay of cities,and the destruction of idols by

the Christians,have combined to render statues of privatepersons

from publictemples of very rare occurrence in our collections." ^

The tombs were the proper places for privatestatues ; we have
seen that at Memphis they were set up in the courtyardsand
hidden in the serdabs, that at Thebes they were placed,either
uprightor sitting, in the depths of the hypogea."

Figures in the round, whether gods, kings,or privatepersons,

were always Isolated. They were sometimes placed one by the
side of the other, but they never formed groups in the strict sense

of the word. In the whole of Egyptian sculpturethere Is but

one group, that of the father,mother, and children ; and this was

repeated without material change for thousands of years. The

Egyptian artist can hardly be said to have composed or invented

it it was,
; so to speak, imposed upon him by nature. Those

groups which became so numerous in Hellenic art as soon as it

arrived maturity,in which
at various forms and opposed or
complementary movements were so combined as to produce a
justequilibrium, are absolutely wanting in Egypt.
The Greeks were the first of the antique races to love the
human form for itself,for the inherent beauty of its lines and
attitudes. Certain traces of this sentiment are to be found in the

decorative art of Egypt, in which motives that are at once

ingenious and picturesqueare often met with, but it is almost

entirelyabsent from sculpture. Modelled forms are hardly ever

'
MARUiTTK, Kamak, j). 36. See also his Abydos, Catalogue General, " 2, p. 27.
""^
MASrERO, in the Monuments de P Art Antique of Rayet.
"'
vol.
Antiquites,
Deseription, iii.p. 41.
 The Principal Themes of Egvptiax Scui.ptlke. 279

anything more than from

skilful tracings reality.In the sepulchral
system the sculptorsuppliesrelays of bodies, stone mummies
which take the place of the embalmed corpse when it is
may
worn out ; in the temples his business is to set up concrete

symbols of an idea, emblems of one of the divine powers, or of

the majesty of Pharaoh.

The infinite number of combinations which may be obtained

by the association of several persons difterent ages

of and sexes

in one action,makesthe group the highestachievement of an art

at once such
passionateand scientific, as sculptureof Greece
the
and Florence. To such a height the Egyptians never soared,
but the)' well understood the
more or less conventional methods
which are at the command of
the sculptor. They produced
figures in the round by thou-
sands

; most of them were smaller

than nature, many were life-size,
while a few surpassed it with

an audacityto which no parallel

can be found elsewhere. Here

and there we find a figure,no

more than some three or four
inches high, to which its maker

has contrived to o-ive a freedom

of attitude,a breadth of execution,
Fig. Wcoden statuette belonging to
and anobilityof presence which 234. "

M. Delaroche-Vernet. Drawn by Saint-

are quite astonishing. Look, Elme Gautier.

for instance,at the reproduction

of a little wooden statuette which borders
this page (Fig. 234) ;
it is identical in size with the original. Its date is unknown, but

we should be inclined to refer it to the Ancient Empire. The

air of this littlepersonage is so proud and dignifiedthat he might
well be a reduction from a colossus.
What we call busts, that is, figures which consist of nothinof
but the head and
the upper part of the trunk, were not unknown

to the Egyptians. All the descriptions mention the existence in

the Ramesseum of two colossal busts of Rameses II., the one in
black, the other in a black
parti-coloured and red, granite.
It would seem that all the colossi were of stone, of
especially
28o A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

the harder kinds. Wood was used for Hfe-size figures and
statuettes, the
particularly latter. Terra-cotta coated with enamel
was hardly used for anything but
figures. It was thevery small
same with bronze, which was seldom employed in large figures.
We do not know whether the Egyptians in their days of
independence made bronzes as large and larger than life,as
the Greeks constantlydid. One of the largestpieces known is

the Horus in the Posno collection (Fig.44, Vol. I.). It is about

three feet high. It forms a singlecastingwith the exception

Fig. 235. " Bronze cat. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

of the arms, which were added afterwards. The finish of the head
is remarkable, and the eyes appear to have been encrusted with
enamel or some other precious material, which has since

disappeared. The hands seem to have held some vessel for

pouring libations which, being of silver or gold,must have been

detached at a very earlyperiod. The execution recalls the finest
styleof the eighteenthdynasty.
The highestuse to which sculpturecan be put is the rendering
of the human figure,but Egyptian sculptorsdid not disdain to
employ their chisels upon the portraiture of those animals which
 The Prinxipal Themes of Egyptian Sculpture. 28 i

were objectsof devotion in their country. We possess excellent

of most
representations of these ; the figureof a cat which we

take from the cases of the Louvre is an average specimen

(Fig, 235). The lion was equally well rendered. In the
bas-reliefs we sometimes find him turned into a sort of heraldic
animal by the addition of emblematic designs upon his tlanks and
shoulders (Fig. 236) ; but, even where he is most simplified,
his outlines and creneral movements are truthful in the main.
Sometimes we find him in full modelled
relief, with singularpower
and sincerity.This is the case with a bronze lion which must

once have formed a part of some kind of padlock,if we may

judge from the few links of a chain which are stillattached to it.^
Although this animal bears the ovals of Apries,and therefore
belongs to the lowest periodof Egyptian art, its styleis vigorous
in no common decree.

Fig. 236. "

Lion, from a Theban bas-relief;from Prisse.

The
Egyptians v,ere as much impressed as other eastern
peoplesby the strengthand beauty of these animals, which in
their days must have abounded in the deserts of Syria and
Ethiopia. They were chosen to be the emblems of roval

courage ; a lion's head was

-

placed upon the shoulders of Hobs,

and that of a lioness upon the shoulders of Sekhet. Finallyit
was from the lion that the first idea of that fictitiousanimal which
the Greeks called
sphinx,was taken.
a

"
At firstthe sphinx can have been nothing but a lion placed
to guard the entrance to a temple. The combination of a man's

^
Mariette, Notice du Musee, No. 10 10.

At Tell-el-Amama we find the lion marchingby the side of the king (Lepsius.
DenkmcEler, vol. vi. pi.loo).
VOL. n. 00
282 A History of Art in Anxient Egypt.

head, which was always that of

king,with a Hon's body, must
a

have been a result of the national love for symbolism. The king
himself, as represented by this association of physical with
intellectual strength,acted as guardian of the building which
he had founded. There was a radical distinction between the
Greek sphinx and that of the Egyptians. The latter propounded
no enigma to the passer-by, and the author of the treatise,U/"on
/s?s and Osiris was in sympathy with his times when he wrote :

'
There was nothing behind the mysteriesof the Egyptians but
their philosophy, which was seen as if through a veil. Thus they
placedsphinxes before the gates of their temples,meaning by that
to say that their theology contained all the secrets of wisdom

Fig. 237. "

Bronze lion, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.

under an Evidently, the Egyptians did not

enigmatic form.'
^
mean so much as is sometimes thought."
We have alreadyreproduced many examples of what may be
called the classic form of sphinx,his head covered with the klaft
and his paws extended before him (Figs.41 and 157, Vol. I.). But
the type included several secondary varieties. Sometimes the

forepaws are replacedby human hands holding symbolic objects

(Figs.227 and 238) ; sometimes the head of a hawk is substituted

for that of a man. The animals which form many of the dromoi

at Karnak are called crio-sphinxes

(Fig. 205, Vol. L), but the

^
Mariettk, Voyage datis la Haute-Egypte, vol. ii.p. 9.
 The Prinxipal Themes of Egyptian Sculpture. 28

name isunhappy one, because they have nothing in common

an

with a sphinx but the position. They are rams and nothing else.

The Greek word acfitj^is feminine. The sphinx with female

breasts is,however, very rare in Egypt. Wilkinson only knew of
one, in which the Queen Mut-neter of the eighteenthdynasty
was represented.^
The Egyptians were not content with confusingthe figures of

men and animals in their images of the gods,they combined those

of quadrupeds and birds in the same fashion. Thus we some-

tim^es find wings upon the backs of gazellesand antelopes,and

now and then a curious animal compounded of a hawk's head and
a nondescriptbody (Fig. 239). Whether such fantastic quad-
rupeds
were consciously and deliberately invented by the Egyptian

Fig. 23S. "

Sphinx with human hands. Bas-relief; from Prisse.

artists or not, we have no means of deciding. In a period when

there was none of that scientific culture which alone enables men

to the possiblefrom
distinguish the impossible,
they may well have
believed in winored and bird-headed animals with four lees. For
the Greeks of Homer's time, and even for their children's children,
the chimera and his kindred were real. They knew where they
lived, and they described their habits. In a pictureat Beni-

Hassan, these imaginarybeasts are shown flyingbefore the hunter,

and mixed up with the undoubted denizens of the mountains and
1
Upon the significance
of the sphinx and its difterent varieties, see Wilkinson,
Manners and Customs, vol. iii. pp. 308-312. Wilkinson
etc. bringstogether on
a singleplate (vol.
ii. p. 93) all the fantastic animals invented by the Egyptians.
See also Maspero, Memoire la Mosa'ique de Palestrine
sur {GazetteArcheologique,
1879).
284 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

deserts.^ Such
representations must have been common upon
those objects partly manufactured" in Egypt, partlyimitated in
Phoenicia" which the enterprising inhabitants of the latter country
distributed all over Western Asia, and the basin of the ranean.
Mediter-
They had a large share of that mystic and enigmatic

Fig. 230. "

QiKidruped with the head of a bird. From Champollion, pi.428 /'/.r.

character which has always been an attraction in the of the

eye
decorator. They may have helped to develop a belief that the
curious beings representedupon them existed in some corner of
the w^orld, and they certainlydid much to form those decorative

types which have been handed down through Greece to the

modern ornamentist.

" 7. The Techniqueof the Bas-reliefs.

Work in low relief held such an importantplacein the affections

of the Egyptian sculptorthat we must study its processes in some

detail.
In the first place,it was almost invariablypainted. Those
bas-reliefs which show no trace of colour may be looked upon
as unfinished.

Secondly,the depth of the relief varied as much as it could, from

the almost detached figuresof the Osiride piers to the delicate
salience of the carvingsupon the steles and tomb-walls. A few

works in very high relief have been found in the mastabas (Fig.
120, Vol. I.),"but they are quiteexceptional ; the depth is usually
^
Maspero, I.es Peititures des Toviheaiix Egyptiens et la ATosaupiede Pah'stri/ie,
p. 82 [Gazette 1879).
Archi'o/ogtqi/e,
2
See also Lepsius, Denkinaler, part ii.pi. 11, and a tomb at El Kab {Eiiit/iyia).
Marietik {Voyage dans la Hai/te-Egypte,plate6 and page 37) cites,
as a curious
 The Technique of the Bas-reliefs. 28;

from two to three millimetres. It is the same with the Theban

tombs. It is only in that the relief becomes

the life-size figures as

much as a centimetre, or a centimetre and a half in depth ;

articulations, the borders of drapery, and the bounding lines of
the contour, are indicated with much less salience.
The processes used Eg\-ptianreliefs were
in three in number,

one of those three, at least,being almost unknown elsewhere.

The commonest of the three is the same as That in favour with
the Greeks, by which the figuresare left standing out from a

smooth bed, which is sometimes sliehtlvhollowed in the neisfh-

bourhood of their contours. When limestone was used, this

method always preferred,

was almost
as that material allowed the
beds to be dressed without any difiiculty.

Sometimes, on the other hand, the figureis modelled in relief in

a sunk hollow, which is from half an inch to an inch and a half

deep (Fig.240). This method of proceeding,which is peculiar

to Egypt, was doubtless suggested by the desire to protect the

image as much as possible. For this purpose it was singularly
"
efficient,the hisJ'h "
bed of the relief o-uardinor it both from
accidental and
injury, from the eftects of weather and time. It
had one disadvantage, however, in the confusing- shadows which
obscured a part of the modelling. This process was used, as a rule,
for the carvingson graniteand basalt sarcophagi(Fig.195. \'ol. I.).
It would have cost too much time and labour to have sunk and

polishedthe surroundingsurfaces. This method, when once taken

up, was extended to limestone, and thus we find, among those

objectsin the Louvre which were discovered in the Serapeum, a

stele of extremelydelicate workmanship, representingAmasis in

adoration before an apis. The head of Amasis is damaged,
and we have preferredto give as a specimen the fine head of
Rameses II.,chiselled in a slab of limestone, which is also in
the Louvre (Fig.240).
In the third system the surface of the figuresand the bed. or

field,of the relief are kept on one level. The contours are

indicated by hollow lines cut into the stone. In this case there is

very little modelling. There is not enough depth to enable the

sculptorto indicate different planes,and his work becomes little

example of a bolder relief than usual, the scenes sculptured upon the tomb of
Sabou. especiallythe picture showing the of the defunct
servants carryinga
gazelleupon their shoulders.
286 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

more than a silhouette in which the outhne is shown by a hollow

instead of by the stroke of a pencilor brush. When more rapid
progress than usual had to be made the Egyptian artist was

content with this outline. Most of those vast historical and

biographical scenes which cover the walls of the Ramesseum and
jNIedinet-Abou (Fig. 173, Vol. I.),
were executed by it.

Tig. 240." Portrait of Rame. cs II., Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Elmc Gautier.

Most of our existingreliefs have come from tombs. In the

mastabas their productionwas easy enough. sculptorsimply The
carved the faces of their limestone walls. But in the hypogea the

difficulties were frequentlygreat, and yet they were always

surmounted. The bas-reliefs in such places were, as a rule,on a
small scale. Consequently,the knobs of flint and the petrified

shells with which the sculptor's chisel was continually coming in

contact, must have embarrassed him in no slightdegree. Where-
eYcr such unkindly lumps were found, they were extracted from
 The Technique of the Bas-reliefs. 2S7

the rock, the rough holes which they left were squared and filled

up either with a cement which became very hard with time, or

with piecesof stone adjusted. In the

accurately latter case, the

jointshave been made with such care that it is very difficult to

discover them. In some tomb chambers these insertions are so

numerous that they make up not less than a quarter of the

whole surface.^
As soon as the carvingsupon the walls were finished,the latter
were covered with a thin layer of stucco. This was hardly ever
omitted ; it was laid upon rock, cement, and limestone criminately
indis-
It afforded a better and a more tenacious ground for

coloured decoration than the naked stone. -

principalplace in these bas-reliefs is occupied by human

The

figures, and after them by those of animals. The accessories,such

as the landscapeand inanimate objectsare for the most part only
slightly indicated, all the labours of agriculture are illustrated,but
only so far as the action of man is immediatelyconcerned. There
is never more in the way of background than is absolutely
'^
necessary for the rightcomprehension of the scene. The Greeks
followed the same rule. In this respect the Egyptians were well
advised. Their artistic instincts must have warned them of the
true conditions of work in relief,which cannot, without the

greatest peril,attempt to rival the complex achievements of

painting.
To this practice we might suggest a few exceptions, in certain
chiselled picturesat Tell-el-Amarna, and even Thebes itself,in
which the artist seems to have amused himself by reproducingthe
beauties of nature, of groves and gardens surroundingpalacesand
humbler dwellings,partlyfor their own sake, partlyattracted by
some unwonted aspects of the scene which seem to have been
borrowed from neiehbourino- countries.
In most cases the Egyptian sculptormade man the centre and
7'aison d'etre of his work, and there, he shows
yet, here and himself
curiouslysolicitous as to the eftective arrangement of the scene

1
Descriptionde VEgypte,Antiqiiites,
vol. iii.p. 42.
-
Belzoni {Narrativeof the Operations^etc. pp. 343-365)mentions the presence
of this stucco the colossi of Rameses well the
upon at Ipsamboul as as on walls
of the tombs in the Bab el-Molouk.
3
This point is very well brought out by Rhixd {Thebes,its Tombs ami their
Tenants, etc., pp. 24-25).
 288 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

about him. It is not without reason, therefore, that some have

found in the Egyptian bas-rehef,the origin, the first rough sketch,
of those landscapesof which Hellenistic, or as some would say,
Alexandrian, art was so fond. One of the most famous of these
is the Palestr^ina mosaic, which presents us with an Egyptian
landscapeduring the inundation ; its
buildings, its animals, and the
curious scenes caused by the risingNile, are rendered with great
vivacity.^

" 8. Gems.

A highlycivilized societylike Egypt even that of

in the days

of the Ancient Empire, must have felt the necessity for some kind
of seal. The names and images engraved upon rings must have
been used as siQ:natureseven at that earlv date. We know that
from that time forward the impressionsthus made upon wax and

clay were employed in business and other transactions. No

engraved stones have come down to us from theearlydynasties,

and yet their productionmust have been easy enough to those who
carved the Chephren. Under
diorite the first Theban
statue of

Empire, the Egyptians practised the cutting of amethysts,

cornelians,garnets, jasper, lapis-lazuli,
green-spar and white feld-
spar,
obsidian, serpentine,steatite, rock crystal,red quartz,
sardonyx, "c.^ We do not know whether those early workmen

employed the lapidary's wheel or not,-^but we may safelysay that

they produced some of the finest works of the kind which are

known to us. The annexed Illustration of one of the rarest

treasures Egyptian collection in

of the the Louvre, will bear out

our words (Fig.241).

"
A gold ring with a movable square stone, sardonyx, upon
a

which a personage seated before an altar is engraved with extra-

^
M. Maspero was the firstto start this theory in his paper entitled Zcs reintures
des Tcviheaux Eoyptiens et la Mosa'iquede Palestrine.
-
Birch, Guide to (British)
Miiseiiin. pp. 70-74. "
Pucrret, Catalogue de la Salle

Histo}-ique,^o'a.
457, ^^(). passi/ii.
^ with the Mexicans, that
M. Soldi remarks, in connection they managed to cut

the hardest rocks and to engrave finelyupon the emerald with nothing but bronze
tools. Prescott and Humboldt bear witness to the same fact. The Peruvians also
succeeded in
piercing emeralds without iron. Their instrument is said to have been
the pointed leaf of a wild plantain, used witl; fine sand and water. With such

a tool the one condition of success was time {Lcs Arts Afccomuis, pp. 352-359).
 Gems. 289

ordinaryfinish. The altar bears the name Ha-ro-bes. The figure

is clothed in a schenti ; a thick necklace is about his neck : his
hair is in short thick curls : his legsare and firmlydrawn.
largely
"
We are helped to the date of this littlework by the engraving
on the reverse, which represents a king wearing the red crown and

armed with a mace, with which he is about to strike an enemy

whom he grasps by the hair. The name of this king is engraved
beside him: Ra-eii-nia,that is Amenemhat III. The ship
workman-

of this face is,perhaps,inferior to that of the obverse, the

forms are comparatively
meagre and dry ; it is however far from
^
being bad."
The cornelian statuette of Ousourtesen I.,which the Louvre has

unhappilylost,belonged to the same period. In the three days of

Fig. 241. Intaglioupon sardonyx,obverse.

"
Fig. 242. "
Reverse of the
Louvre collection. Twice the actual size. same intaglio.

July, 1830, a terrible fire was directed upon the crowd by the
Swiss stationed in the colonnade of the Louvre. The assailants
succeeded, however, in penetratinginto
palaceand invadingthe the
galleries.After their final retirement the only thing which was
ascertained beyond a doubt to be missing,was this littlestatuette,
which has never been heard of since. It was equallyvaluable for
its rarityand the beauty of its workmanship. -

The artists of the Second Theban Empire do not seem to have

excelled those of the but their works

first, have come down to us

in much
greater numbers. The Louvre possesses a considerable
number of ringsengraved with the Thothmes,
names Amenophls,

1
PiERRET, Cataloguede la Salle Historique,No. 457.
A description
of it wall be found in Champolliox, Notice Descriptivedes
-

Monuments Egyptiensdu Musee Charles X., 2nd edition,1S27, d. Xo. 14, p. 55.
VOL. II. P P
 290 A History OF Art in Ancient Egypt

and others belonging to the eighteenthand nineteenth dynasties.

Their character may be divined from two examples.
"In 1877 the Louvre obtained the stone of a ring finely
engraved on each side with of
representations the Pharaoh
Thothmes II. It is jasper,quadrangularin shape. On
a green
one side the Pharaoh, designatedby his name Aa-kheper-ra,has
seized a lion by the tail and is about to strike it with his mace.

Fig. 243."
Intaglioupon jasper. Fir,. 244. " Reverse of the same

Louvre. Actual size. intaijlio.

This scene is emblematic of the victorious and fearless strength of

the s'overeign.Its rarityis significance

extreme.is enforced Its

by the word kuen or valour (Fig. 243). On the other side

Thothmes is shown discharginghis arrows from the commanding
heieht of his chariot against the enemies who face him ; one falls

backwards, being trampled under

another is the feet of the king's
horses (Fig.244). Such a representation is comnion enough upon

Fjg. 245. " Seal of Anuais. Louvre. Actual size.

the outsides of the temples,but it is not often found upon little

^
objectslike these."
Sometimes the ring is all of one material,characters and figures
being cut in the metal of which it consists. It is so in the case of

^
P. PiERRET, Uiie Ficrre Gravce an Noin du Roi cV Egyptc TJioiitincs II.

ArcJieologique,
(^Gazette 1878, p. 41). This stone is
placed in Case P of the Salle
in
Historicpie the Louvre. M. Lenormant lias kindly placed at our disposal the
cliches of the double en"ravinf' which was made for M. Pierrot's article.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 291

the conspicuousobject among

most the Egyptian jewels in the
Louvre (Fig.245),an objectwhich can never have been intended
for the fmger ; it is too large: it must have been made for

use only as a seal. It is thus described by iSI. Pierret : Seal "

formed of a ring and movable bezel, both of gold. Upon one

face of the bezel the oval of King Armais, the last princeof the

eighteenthdynasty,is engraved. Upon the other a lion passatit,

the emblem of royal power ; it is surmounted by the words N'ep-
khopesch,lord of valour. Upon the third and fourth sides are
a scorpion and a crocodile respectively.The execution of this
little work is admirable ; the desig^n and action of the lion

are especiallyfine." ^
The ringgiven by Pharaoh to Joseph as a sign of the authority
delegated to him, may have been such as this."- The cheapest
rin^s had bezels of faience or schist covered with enamel. 1 he

scarabs were cut as a rule from soft stone.

In gem-cutting the Egyptians made use both of the intaglio

process and of but the greater fitness of the former
relief, for the

work to be done by a signet made it their especialfavourite.

They were ignorantof the process we call cameo, in which the

differently coloured layersof the sardonyx are taken advantage of

to produce contrast of tint between the relief and its bed.
A few Egyptian cylinders, in earthenware or soft stone enamelled,
are known. They bear royal ovals ; the British Museum has

one which seems to date from the twelfth dynasty. Their

employment seems never to have become very general.^

" 9. The PrincipalCoJiventioiis in Egyptian Sculpture.

Whether it were employed upon wood, upon limestone, or upon

the harder rocks, whether it were cuttingcolossi in the flanks
of the sandstone hills,or carving the minute images of its gods
and kings in the stone of a signetring,the art of Egypt never
shook itself free from those intellectual conceptionsw^hich were
impressed upon its first creations ; it remained true to the

^
Pierret, Catalogue
de la Salle Historiqiie,
No. 481.
2 Genesis xli. 42.
3
Birch, History of Ancient Pottery,p. 72. Pierret, Catahgue de la Salle
Historiquedu Louvre, Nos. 499, 500, 505.
292 A History of Art in Ancient Egyft.

tendencies of its infancy; it preserved the same fundamental

and defects ;
qualities it looked upon nature with the same eyes,
her in
and interpreted the same fashion,from the first moment to

the last.
These methods and processes, and the conventionalities of

artistic interpretation which maintained themselves through all the

changes of taste, have still to be considered. They are the

common features by which works which differ greatlyin execution

are brought into connection, and are to be found as clearlymarked
in a statue dating from the time of Amasis and Nectanebo as

in one from the Ancient Empire.

Some of the conventions of Egyptian art are to be explainedby
the constitution of the human mind and by the conditions under
which it works when it attempts plastic reproductions for the first
time ; others appear to spring from certain habits of thought
peculiarto Egyptian civilization. There is yet a third class
which must be referred to purely technical causes, such as the

capabilities of the materials and tools employed. The influence

which these exercised over the artistic expressionof thought has

been too often underrated. We shall endeavour to recognize

their full importance.
When we glance at an Egyptian bas-relief, we perceive in it
certain imperfections of rendering which we may have often

noticed before, either in the earlyworks of other races or in the

formless designswhich quiteyoung children scribble upon paper.

The infancyof art and the art of infancyhave much in common.

We are accustomed to processes which are scientifically exact.

Profitingby the accumulated learningof so many centuries even

the school-boy, among us, understands perspective.We are, there- fore,
at the awkwardness and inaccuracy
apt to feel too much surprise
which we find in the works of primitiveschools, in transcripts

producedby man in the presence of nature without any help from

the experienceof older civilizations. If we wish to do justice to

those earlyartists, we must endeavour to realize the embarrassment

which miust have been theirs,when they attempted to reproduce

upon a flat surface those bodies which offered themselves to their

eyes with their three dimensions of height,width, and depth,and with

all the complicationsarisingfrom foreshortening and perspective,
from play of light and shade, and from varied colour. Other

perplexities
must have arisen from the intersection and varietyof
 The Prin'cipal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 293

lines,from the succession of planes,from necessityfor render-

ing
the

or at least suggestingthe thickness of objects!

When the desire to imitate natural objectsbegan to make itseh

felt in man he received his first drawing lesson from the sun.

IMornino- and evening its almost horizontal ravs threw his silhouette

sharplyupon the white nothing was easier

rocks and walls, and
than to fix the outline of the image thus projectedwith a piece of

charcoal or burnt wood ; after

this beginning it was easy to imitate
such a sun-picture either in largeor in small. Such figureswere
of necessity profiles,as the silhouette given by a head viewed in

front would be very uncertain and indistinct.

The of
profiles men and of the lower animals must, then, have
played a chief part in these earlyefforts towards design. In this

there is
nothingat variance with our dailyexperience. The
back

view need hardlybe taken into account, and there are two lateral

positions, the rightand left profiles, againstone for the front face.

Finally, the fact that the front face consists of two parts which
have to be kept in absolute symmetry with one another, makes it

much more difficult of treatment by the novice. Even in the

productionsof skilful artists we often find that this symmetry has

been missed. It is the profilethat is first attacked by beginners

in the art of drawing,and it is the profile which always remains
most comprehensiblefor simple intelligences. The fellah who is

present at the opening of one of those tombs which were structed

con-

by his remote ancestors, at once recognizesthe animals

representedand the meaning of their attitudes and grouping.
Wilkinson noticed this on several occasions. But if an European
drawing be shown to the same man, he will be hopelessly
bewildered by the foreshortening, the perspective, and the play of

lightand shade. He will no longer be able to distinguish a bull

from a horse or an ass.

In their bas-reliefs,
and in their the Egyptian artists
paintings,
made almost exclusive use of the profile,^but, by a singular
compromise,we sometimes find it combined with an attitude of

*
In turningover the leaves of ChampoUion we have found but two exceptionsto
this rule. In the Temple of Seti,at Gournah, that king is shown, in a in
bas-relief,
the act of brandishing
his mace over the heads of his prisoners.The is the
group
usual one, but in this case tAvo of the vanquished are shown in full face (pi.274).
At the
Raraesseum, also,one man in a long row of is shown
prisoners in a similar
attitude (pi.332).
2 94 ^ History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

body which would

strictly requirea full, or at least a three-quarter

face. The silhouette in its integrity seems to have been thought

insufficient,and the desire to reproduce a more complete image
led them to invent the compromise in question.
In Egyptian profiles the eye is drawn as if for a full face.
It has been asserted that this is the result of profound calculation,
that, in spiteof facts,the Egyptian painterchose to give pre-
"

dominant
importanceto that organ in the human visagewhich is
the window of the soul." ^ We believe that the true explanationis
rather more simple. While the lines of the nose and mouth are
more clearly marked in the profile than in the front face,it is in the
latter only that the eye is able to displayits full beauty. When
seen from the side it is small, its lines are short and abrupt,and
the slightest change in the positionof the head affects its contours
in a fashion which is very puzzlingto the unlearned artist. When
a child attempts to draw a head it gives their true form to the lips

and the nose, but in nine cases out of ten it draws the eye as

if seen in full face ; and art in its childhood did as children

do still.
We find a similar want of concord between the trunk and the
limbs. legsare shown in profile
Feet and while the body to which

they belong stands squarelyfacing us. Both the shoulders are

seen in equal fulness, and the attachment of the arms is often

faulty(Fig. 246). Sometimes they seem to be broken at the

shoulder. Again, the hands are nearlyalways in such a position

as to exclude all doubt as to the number of fingers they possess.
It appears, therefore, that the artist chose the aspect which

seemed to him the most natural for each part of the body. It was

the resultingcontradiction that was feeling

againstnature. The

from which it sprang was identical with that which led Egyptian
"
artists .to make what we may call projections when they wished
"

to represent buildings. The fixed idea of the draughtsman was to

show all the sides of his objectat a glance,to exhibit details which
in reality were partlyhidden by each other. Thus we find that,in

certain bas-reliefs, both clothes and the nuditywhich those clothes

were intended to cover are carefully portrayed. In a bas-relief at

Tell-e4-Amarna, a queen who is waiting on Amenophis IV, is
dressed in a long robe reachingto her feet,and yet all her forms

^
Ch. IJlan'c,Gra//i!iiai?r des Arts du r"e$s!ii. \). 469.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 295

are rendered with as much care and detail as if there were no veil
between beauty and the eye of the spectator (Fig.247).
their
An arbitrarycombination of a similar character is employed by

the Egyptian artist when he wishes to show a number of persons

behind one another on a horizontal plane ; he placesthem vertically
one above the other. The great battle pictures at Thebes are an

instance of this (Fig.13, Vol.1.). Enemies stillfighting are mingled

with dead and wounded into one confused heap in front of Pharaoh's

car, and reach from top to bottom of the relief. The same vention
con-

is to be found in the ranks of prisoners,workmen, or

Fig. 246. " Bas-relief from Sakkarah. Fifth dynasty.

soldiers,marching over a flat surface they are arranged in

; a kind
of echelon upon the field of the relief (Fig.42).^

'
For other conventional methods, of a similar though even more remarkable
kind but of less frequentoccurrence, see Wilkinson, Mariners and Customs, etc.,
vol. ii. p. 295. The rulingidea is found in those in the
same groups funerarybas-
reliefs,
which show husband and wife
together. The wife's arm, which is passed
round the body of the husband, is absurdly long (Lepsius,Denkmceler,
part 11,
plates13, 15, 91, 105, etc.; and our Figs.164 and 165, Vol. I). This is because the
sculptorwished to preserve the lovinggesture in questionwithout givingup the full
view of both bodies to which his notions committed him. One could not be
allowed to part of the other, they could be
cover any not even brought too closely
together. They were placed, therefore,at such a distance apart that the hand
which appears round the husband's body is too far from th.e shoulder with which
it is supposed to be connected.
296 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Faulty though these conventions seem to us, they did not

disturb the Egyptian spectator. He was famihar with them by
long usage, and his intellect easily re-established the true relation
between the various parts of objectsso strangely distorted. Even

as art matured and as, in some respects, the skill of the Egyptian
sculptorincreased,he never felt himself impelledto abandon these

primitivemethods of interpretation.Graphic conventions are

;i';;:"!5?i;ii,:i;;;;i:..V]';;;ii;;!ij;nK;'li';'!''/'
^""*i;:fl;;!!;jiiil||ji;f;)'"l|ijfl|i

Fig. The Queen waitingon Amenophis IV. Tell-el-Amarna. From Prisse.

247." :

like those belongingto written and spoken language; when once

established,even those which seem most absurd to the stranger

are rendered acceptableby habit, and the native does not even

suspect the existence of anomalies which bewilder the foreign

visitor.
in
perspective
Speaking generally,we may say that there is no

Egyptian paintingsand reliefs. And yet we find sincere efforts

to render thingsin a less arbitraryfashion in certain works dating

 The Principal Coxventioxs ix Egyptiax Sculpture. 297

from the Second Theban Empire. Look, for instance, at the

attempt made by an artist in the tomb of Chamhati to show five

persons walking almost in line. Instead of being one above

another they are on one level (Fig. 24S). One of the five is
rather behind the rest ; the head and most of his body are visible.
The other four advance to their front. In order that they may
all be seen, the
sculptorhas shown them they would
as appear to

one standing on their rightand slightlyin front ; the relief,

j;

.
-^ 0

"Or %.^"-^^
y^^u 1
Ml,
1 '

4^
V
/A
i

Fig. 248. " Bas-relief from the eighteenthdynasty. From Prisse.

therefore,has four planes.

figuresare shownThe three farther
by the contours alone. This is perspective, although it is hardly
correct. The retreating line of pollssinks as it should,but so do
the elbows, and they ought to rise.
This relief givesevidence of considerable
progress and, suppos-
ing
it to be the first of its kind, the sculptorwho made it would
deserve the credit of havingbreathed a new life into Egyptian art.
But he was not the first; others had made use of the same

method, but always within defined limits. It

strictly was employed
VOL. it. o q
29^ A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

when a few persons had to be brought in who were all in one

attitude and
making the same it was never used gesture,^but
as a starting-pointfor modifications upon the traditional modes
of rendering either isolated figuresor groups of figures. The
Egyptians made use of these until the last days of their civilization
without ever appearingto suspect their childish character.
In the case of animals,
firmly-drawnprofilewas a enough to

make them easilyrecognizable.And yet, even in the time of the

Ancient Empire, we find distinct efforts to give some varietyto
these silhouettes. Sometimes the oxen turn their heads towards
the spectator, sometimes they swing them round to their flanks,as
if to chase away the flies : but even then the heads are shown in

profile.^At Beni- Hassan We find an advance upon this. In a

hunting scene, a lion, who has just brought down an ibex, is

shown full face,^but neither here or anywhere else has an attempt

been made to draw the body of the animal otherwise than in profile.
In his
family groups the Egyptian sculptor marked the
of the husband
superiority and father in a similarly
naive fashion.
He made him much taller than the persons about him. The
same contrivance employed to mark wasthe distinction between

gods or kings and ordinary men, and between the latter and
animals (Fig.57, Vol. I.). This solution of the problem is uni- versal
in the infancyof art. It was adopted by the Assyrians,the
Persians, the primitiveGreeks, and our own ancestors of the
middle ages. It is easier to give a figuredouble or threefold its

proper size than to add greatlyto the dignity and nobilityof

its character.

In their desire to evade the Egyptians slurred

difficulties, over

distinctions upon which a more advanced art would have insisted.

For them every prime of life,every woman
man was in the

possessed of the elegant contours of a marriageablevirgin. In

their work in the round they proved themselves capableof bring-
ing
out individuality, but they restricted their attentions to the
face and hardlyattempted to show how the passage of years affects
the contours and the firmness of flesh in both sexes. In their

^
Our Fig. 216 givesanother instance of the employment of this method, and

even in the time of the Ancient Empire the idea had occurred to the Egyptian
artists (Fig.200).
Lepsius, Denki/icskr,part ii. pi. 47 and 61.
"

^
Wilkinson, Manners and Cusioms, etc. vol. ii.p. 88.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 299

bas-reliefs and they employed

pictures, outline only. The stance
sub-

of their fioqjres was modelled neither materially nor in

colour. With such feeble resources as these the artist would

have had great in suggestingall
difficulty the differences of age.
He therefore took a middle course. To each sex he gave that

appearance which seemed best calculated to bring out its peculiar

beauties. The one he portrayed in the fulness of manhood, the
other as a young girl. When it was necessary to determine the
of his subject with some precisionhe
age
took refug-e in such conventional siofns as
the finorer in the mouth and the lonor lock
o o

of infancy(Fig.249).
The of
sculptors the Ancient Empire, who
laid such stress upon exact resemblance, seem

to have now and then attempted to mark the

advancing age of their models. The head

of the great of
Chephren is that of
statue

a man stillyoung (Fig.204) ; that of another

statue of the same king betraysthe approach
of old age. This example does not seem to

have been followed in later aofes. We are

tempted to think that each sovereign on his

accession to the throne employed some artist
of note to make his portrait. The latter
would set himself to work ; would study his
model at first hand, for Pharaoh would
perhaps condescend to sit to him ; would
bring out the of visagewhich
peculiarities he Fig. 249. " Horus as a child,
enamelled earthenware.
saw, and over the whole face and form of Actual size. Louvre.

the king would spread that air of flourishing

vigourand youth which is common to nearlyall the royalstatues.
An image would be thus elaborated which should combine both
the truth of portraiture with the conventional semi-divine type.
W ith the of time, the
passage according to talent of the artist,
and perhaps to the character of the royal features,one of these
elements would encroach the other. But established
upon once

thisimage become would

a kind of official and authentic standard
of the
royal appearance, and would serve as a model for all
who might be charged during the rest of the reign with the
reproductionof the king'sperson.
300 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

There are many facts which support this hypothesis. Among

the countless images of Rameses II. for instance there are some

which according to their inscriptions must have been executed

when he was at least eightyyears old ; and yet they show him
as young
a man.

Almost the same thing takes place in our own times. In

monarchical states the sovereign appears upon the coinage
as he was at his accession. His features and the delicacyof
his skin are unaffected by the years, for the die made in his youth
has to serve for his old age. We may almost say the same of the
statues and busts in which
royal features are the
repeated in
the publicbuildingsand public placesof the capital.A single
portraitwhich has once been moderately faithful is repeated to
infinity.We find it everywhere, upon paper, and canvas, and

plaster,and marble, multipliedby every process that science

has given to art. It keeps its official and accepted authenticity
long after age, care, and disease, have made its originalun-
recocrnizahle.^
There is one convention
peculiarto Egyptian art which is
not to be accounted for so easilyas the last named. So far as
we know, no reason has ever yet been given for the almost
invariable habit of making such figuresas are supposed to be
walking thrust their left legsforward. Almost the only exceptions
are in the cases of those figuresin the bas-reliefs which are
turned to the spectator's left. The right leg is then thrust for- ward

(Figs. 1 8, 24, "c.. Vol. I.). Among works in the round

there is hardlyan exceptionto the ordinaryrule. Are we to look

upon it as the effects of caprice? of accident confirmed into a

habit ? Or was it a result of a superstition analogous,or, rather,
contrary to that of the Romans ? The latter always took care

to cross a threshold with the right foot foremost ; in Egypt they

may have attached the same ideas to the left foot. gists
Egyptolo-
should be able to tell us whether there is anything in the

texts to suggest the existence of such a superstition.

Apart from its ethnic characteristics, the work of the Egyptian

sculptoris endowed with a peculiarphysiognomy by a certain

stiffness and rigiditywhich it hardly ever succeeds In shaking

^
M. liMU-E Soi-Di (La SculptureEgyptieune)tells us that during the reign of
Napoleon III. such representationsof the Emperor as were not taken from the

portrait
by Winterhalter were forbidden to be recognizedofficially.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 301

off,even when figuresin motion.

it represents A support in the
shape of a cohimn at the back is nearlyalways introduced ; the
arms are held close to the sides ; a huge head-dress often enframes

the head and hangs down upon the shoulders in two equal masses ;

a long and narrow beard springs from under the chin and lies

upon the chest.

Freedom and varietyof attitude equally absent
is from the
seated statues. The knees are brought togetherand the hands

supported upon them. We never find an arm raised, a hand

opened as if to give force to speech,or a leg stretched out to

relieve the stiffness of the lines. There is no strivingfor that
supplenessof limb and
varietyof pose which the Greeks contrived
to obtain ev^en in their Iconic figures. The face is often full of
animation and individual vitality,the modelling of the trunk and
limbs marvellously true and broad, but the body as a whole is too

symmetricalin action and entirely without abandon. The natural

movements which springfrom ease and libertyare never employed.
Forced and conventional attitudes are universal.
A reason for this has been
sought in the supremacy of the
sacerdotal caste. The priests,we are told, must soon have

adopted such a type, or rather several varieties of such a type,

as seemed to them expressiveof their own ideas of man when
deified by death, of the king as the son of the gods, of the gods
themselves as the protectors of the Egyptian race. They
imposed the
perpetuationand constant reproductionof this type
upon artists as a sacred duty, and thus the Egyptian stylewas
hieratic in its originand essence.
Such an assertion is easilymade. Hio'atic is one of those
convenient adjectives whose vagueness discouragescritical
examination. What evidence is there that ancient Egypt was
ever a theocracy, the proper sense
in of the word } Only once,

during so many centuries, did the Egyptian priestsattempt to

encroach upon the privilegesof the king. Towards the close
of the twentieth dynasty the prophets of Amen, at Thebes,
tried hard to substitute their own authorityfor that of the last
of the Rameses,^ but the success of their usurpationwas
very
shordived. In Ethiopiaalone, a people much less highly
among
civilized,sacerdotalism seems to have acquired an uncontested
pre-eminence. In Egypt the king was always the first of the
'
Maspero, Histoire Aiicietine,
p. 272.
302 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

priests.With the help of an army of scribes and officials he

governed the country and made war ; he initiated and carried

on great public works ; he developed the industryand commerce
of his subjects. Trade and conquest brought him into relation
with surroundingpeoples,and from them he recruited his armies
and obtained agents of every kind.
The active and warlike heads of a great empire like this were

never the slaves of a despoticclergy.Such a societynever allowed

the mechanical reproductionof orthodox types to be forced upon
its artists,until, indeed, its final decadence deprived it of all

power to invent new forms. We have seen how great was the

varietyof plan and decoration

Egyptian religious in
architecture,
from the marked simplicityof the temple near the sphinx, to
the sumptuous majesty of the Theban buildings and the elegance

of those of Sais. The style and taste of Egyptian sculpture

underwent a change at each renascence of art. Why, then,
did its practitioners remain faithful to certain conventional
methods of interpretation, whose falsitythey must have perceived,
while they modified their work in so many other particulars ?
No text has ever been put before us, I will not say from a

Greek, but from an Egyptian source, which suggests that their

hands were less free from religious than
prescription those of the
architects.
We agree with M. Emile Soldi, who was the first to throw
doubt upon accepted theories, that the explanationof the
the

apparent anomaly is to be sought elsewhere.^ The tyranny from

which the Egyptian sculptornever succeeded in completely
freeing himself was not that of the priests but of the material
in which he worked. Aided by his personalexperienceM. Soldi
has put this fact very clearly before us. Being at once a sculptor,
a medallist, and an engraver upon preciousstones, he is enabled
to judge at first hand of the influence which the material or tool
employed may exercise over the styleof a work of art. The

styleof such a work is the complex product of numerous and

very different factors. To determine the part played by each of

these factors is not always easy ; there are too many opportunities
for error. We believe,however, that certain of the most peculiar
and persistentcharacteristics of Egyptian sculpture are due

^
Emile Soldi, La Sculptia-eEg)'ptie?i?ie, illustrated.
i vol. 8vo, 1876, copiously

(ErnestLeroux.)
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 303

to the hardness of their material and the imperfectionof the

tools employed.
We know the connection between the funerarystatues of the

Egyptians and their second life ; while those statues endured,

the existence of the double was safe guarded. The more solid

the statue, the better its chance ; if the former was indestructible

the life dependent upon it would be eternal. It was under the

impulse of Egyptians of the Ancient Empire

this idea that the
attacked such unkindly materials as granite,diorite,and basalt.

Such statues were beyond the reach of private individuals.

They were reserved for royalty. Of all the works of the sculptor

they were the most carefullyand admirably wrought. They

set the fashion,and helped to create those habits which did not
lose their hold even when less rebellious substances came into

use. How did they contrive to cut such hard rocks ? Even in

our time it can only be done by dint of long and painfullabour

and with the aid of steel chisels of the finest temper. The man
work-
is obliged to stop edge of his
every minute to renew the
instrument. But it is agreed on all hands that the contemporaries
of Chephren had to do without steel chisels. Egyptologistsstill
discuss the question as to whether the Egyptians made use of
iron or not, but even those who believe that its name occurs

among hieroglyphsadmit that its introduction was

the late and
its employment very restricted.^ The weapons and tools of the

early Egyptians were of bronze when they were not of stone or

hardened wood ; and it has never been proved that either the
Egyptians or any other ancient people understood how to temper
that metal in such a fashion that its hardness approached that
of steel. Modern science has in vain searched for this secret."-
In any case it is only in a few rare instances,and remains
upon
from the New Empire, that the peculiarmarkings left by the
chisel have been discovered. Those statues and sarcophagi
which have been cut from igneous rocks still bear traces which

may be recognizedby the eye of the connoisseur, of the processes

which were employed by their makers.

'
See the note of ^L Chabas, ''
Sur k fiom dii fer chez les Anciens ^gyptiens."
{Comptes Rendus de VAcademie des Inscriptions,
January 21, 1874,)
-
Certain alloys,
however, have recentlybeen discovered which give a hardness
far above that of ordinarybronze. The metal of the Uchatius which has been
gun,
adopted by Austria, is mixed, for instance,with a certain quantityof phosphorus.
304 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

"
Granite," says M. Soldi,
easilyworked by ham-
mering
"
is most

its surface. To begin with, a heavy tool called a point is

brought into play. This is driven into the material by repeated
blows from the hammer, starringthe surface of the granite, and

drivingoff pieceson all sides. We believe that this point was

the habitual instrument of the Egyptians,not only in roughing out
their blocks, but even in modelling a head-dress or sinking a
hieroglyph. Such a tool could not trace clear and firm contours
like those of the chisel,and the peculiar character of its workman-
ship
is to be easilyrecognizedin the broken and irregular outline
of many of the monuments in the Louvre."
Another tool employed upon granitein these days is a kind of
hammer, the head of which consists of several points symmetrically
arranged. We may judge of its effects by the appearance of our

curb stones, which are dressed by it ; there is nothingto show that

it was used by the Egyptians. A kind of hatchet with two blades
is also used for the same work, and it appears to have been

employed by the Egyptians, "

who used it hammer fashion,
beatingthe surface drivingoff chipsof various
of the material,and
sizes according to the weight of the instrument. By these means
the desired form could be given with sufficient rapidityand
precisionto make the chisel superfluous."Most of the Egyptian
statues in hard stone seem to have been modelled by the help of
an instrument of this kind.
"
The produced by such tools as these had to be
surfaces

polished, the sketchy roughness left by the point had to be taken

down ; we find therefore that the Egyptians always polishedtheir

statues."
Egyptians do
The not seem to have known either the
fileor
the rasp, a varietyof file which is now greatlyemployed. The
dry markings left by those tools are nowhere to be seen. In the

case of broad surfaces it is probable that a polishwas given by

hand boards sprinkled with powdered sandstone and wetted

through a hole in the middle. Flat stones may have sometimes

replacedthese wooden disks. When a more brilliant polishwas

required, emery must have been used. This substance was found
in abundance in the islands of the Archipelago,and must have
been brought to Egypt by the Phoenicians. Without it the

Egyptian artists could not have produced their engraved gems.

By dint of continually retemperingthe bronze and renewing its
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 305

edge, the sculptorsof the New Empire succeeded in cutting

hieroglyphs
upon a certain number of works in the harder rocks.

Perhaps,too, iron may by that time have come into more general
use, and they may have learnt how to give it extra hardness by
tempering. But when graniteand kindred materials had to be

cut, the work was commenced with point and hammer as above
described. In the of those very largefigures
case of some which
had been rather roughlyblocked out in the firstinstance,the final
has
polishing not quite obliterated the hollows left by those rude
instruments in the stone, especially where the journeyman has
struck a little too hard. An instance this may
of be seen on

the red granitesphinx in the Louvre (Fig.41, Vol. I.).

M. Soldi is inclined to think that at one period at least the
Egyptians used stone weapons rather than metal ones in their
attacks upon the harder rocks. He tells us that he himself
has succeeded in cuttingforanites of various hardness with a

common flintfrom the

neighbourhoodof Paris. He has done the
same with diorite, both by drivingoff small chipsfrom it and by

pulverizing its surface with the help of jasper. This method," "

he adds, is excessively "

long and tedious,and the jasper,though

harder than the diorite, is greatlydamaged in the process. But

yet it proves that a statue may be produced in such fashion,by

dint of a great consumption of time and patience.'' ^
We must

also remember that the hardest rocks are easier to cut when they
are firstdrawn from the quarry, than after they have been exposed
for a time to the air.
The colours in the bas-reliefs are too much conventionalized to

be of any use in helpingus to determine the material of which

Eg)^ptianimplements were made. But the forms of all the tools
of which we have been speaking are to be found there. A bas-
relief in the tomb of Ti, in which the manufacture of sepulchral
statues is shown, is the oldest monument w^hich may be quoted in

support of our remarks (Fig.250). On the left two journeymen

areroughlyblockingout a statue. Each holds in his left hand ^
a

long and slender tool which cannot be other than a chisel ; this he
strikes with a hammer. Two more are at work another
polishing
statue, upon which the chisel has finished its work. It is im-
possible
to say whether the egg-shapedtools which they use are of
*
Soldi, Les Arts Afeconnus,
p. 492. (i vol. Svo, Leroux. iSSr.)
-
It has escaped M. Perrot's notice that one is left-handed." Ed.

VOL. II. R R
3o6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

stone or wood. As for the statues themselves they must be

Hmestone figuressimilar to those which were in actuallyfound

the tomb of Ti (Fig. 183). In the tomb of Obai, at Gournah,

we see a sculptormodelling the fore-paws of a lion (Fig. 251).

His blows are vertical instead of but
horizontal, his instruments

are identical with those shown in the tomb of Ti. From the fifth

dynasty to the time of the Rameses, the same bronze chisel and

pear-shapedmallet had held their own.^

Two paintingsat Thebes show us the process of executing a

royalcolossus in granite(Figs.252 and 253). Standing upon the

plinthand upon the planks of a scaffold,several workmen do their
best to hasten the completion of the work, which is alreadyfar

advanced. Seated upon the topmost pole of the scaffold one

Fig. 250. " Bas-relief from the tomb of Ti,

workman busy polishingthe front of the pschent; another

is
stands behind the image, and, holdinghis palette in one hand and
his brush in the other, spreads his colours upon its posterior

support. It may be asked what the man is doing who is engaged

with both hands upon the chest of the statue. For an answer to

that questionwe must turn to the second in which

picture, we are

shown a seated colossus under the hands of its makers. The

workman who kneels before its head is
making use of two ments.
imple-
With his left hand he appliesto the face of the statue a

pointed instrument, which he is about to strike with the object

^
Upon the different kinds of chisels used by the Egyptian sculptors,
see Soldi,
La Sculpture Egyp/ionie, pp. 53 and tii. He includes the toothed chisel and

the gouge.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 307

held in his right. This action will cause to flyfrom

splinters the

granite. These two instruments are the same as those wielded by

the workman who leans upon the chest of the standingcolossus.
The latter seems, however, to pause for a moment's consideration
before proceedingwith his work. One of these tools is the point
of stone or metal, the other acts as mallet or hammer. The same

tool is to be reco^fnised in the hand of the man who is at work

upon the seat of the statue ; he, however, uses it without any
hammer.^ Leaning upon one of the of the
cross-pieces scaffolding
he beats with all his force upon the stone. The work was perhaps

Fig. 251. "

Bas-relief at Thebes (Champollion,
pi,i8o).

begun in this fashion. In the same tomb the representation of a

sphinx receivingthe final touches which is figuredabove occurs
(Fig.254). In this paintingthe polishingtool is a disk, similar to
that in use by one of the workmen in Fig. 253. The figureon
the left carries in a saucer the powder used for polishing the

granite. In his righthand he holds a kind of brush which was

used for spreading the powder the surfaces to be rubbed.
upon
^
This man's attitude, the
shape of the tool in question,
and the general sig-
nificanc
of the composition, seem rather is
to suggest that he givingthe final
polish to the surface of the statue. Compare him with the pschent-polisherin
Fig.252." Ed.
;o8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Fig. 255 shows a workman fashioning

a tet with a kind of hatchet

or mattock, which he uses much as if it were a mallet.

The only doubt that remains is as to the material employed by
the Egyptian sculptorsin their attacks upon the granite. Were

Fio. 252. "

From a paintingat Thebes pi. 161).
(Cliampollion,

their mallets and points of stone They

or of metal ? could only
dispose of instruments which, with the exception of the chisel,
were incompatiblewith reallydelicate workmanship. With the
latter instrument the skilful carver can obtain any effect he
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 309

requiresfrom a material which is neither too hard nor too soft "

such as marble ; but the rocks from which the Egyptians struck
their finest work do not lend themselves kindlyto the chisel. To

Fig. 253. "

Paintingat Thebes (Champollion, pi. i6i).

obtain the effects requiredthey had to expend as much time and

patience upon them as upon their works of architecture. But in

spiteof the industryand skill of workmen who did not count

 ro A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

their hours, there must always have been a certain and

inequality
rudeness in works carried out by instruments that bruised and
shattered rather than cut. The stubbornness of the material,and
the defects of the tools employed, had a double consequence. In
order to avoid all danger of spoilinghis figurewhen roughing it
out, the artist was compelled to err on the side of over solidity
and heaviness ; he was obligedto multiplythe pointsof support,
and to avoid anythinglike delicacy or of parts. On the
slightness
other hand, he was forced to fine down and almost to obliterate
the suggestive
contours livingform by the of the final polish,in
order to correct the irregularities
due to the rude and uncertain
nature of his implements.

Fig. 254. "

Painting at Thebes (Champollion, pi. 161).

explainsthe absolute necessity

All this for the supportingblocks
reserved by the Egyptian sculptorat the back of his statues, and
for the great massiveness of their forms. To begin with, the com-
parative

slenderness of the attachment between the head and the

body was an element ofdanger. The repeated blows struck

by
the mallet upon the point might break it off unless precautions
were taken. We find, therefore,that the klaft head-dress was

introduced as often as possible. Its large ends fell down upon

each breast, and acted as buttresses to the head. When the klaft
was not used the hair brought togetherin a solid mass, and,
was

fallingto the shoulders,gave strengthto the neck. We may say

 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 311

the same of the long and thick beard, the shape of which was

modified under the pressure of the same necessity. It is never

disengagedand turned up at the end, as we see it in the paintings.

....
The head which
covering, is sometimes very tall and slender,
is always supportedat the back for nearlythe whole of its height
and width. The figureitselfis supportedeither at the back or the
side by a pier of varying thickness. ." ^ The stone is left . .

between the two legs when one is thrust forward, between the

arms and the side,and in the hollows above the hips. Nothing
could have been easier than to remove these masses, after the
work was otherwise complete,by means of the drill. But that

Fig. 255." Paintingat Thebes (Champollicn, pi. iS6).

instrument,by which the necessary holes could have been made

withoutdangerousshocks, was certainlyunknown to the Egyptians.

They could only have removed the masses in question by the

strikingprocesses we have mentioned, processes which mio-ht
result in the breakingof an arm or a leg. The hardest materials
are also,in a sense, the most brittle. If it was difficultfor the
sculptor to free the limbs statue and
from the rock head
in of his
which they were partlyimprisoned,how much more difficult,
nay,
how impossible,it must have been them
to give any energetic
movement that of running,for instance,or fighting.
"
The beauty
^ E. Soldi, Za SculptureEgyptienne,pp. 41, 42.
312 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

and of
expressiveness such movements did not escape his obser-
vation,
but a want of material resources compelled him to forego
their reproduction.
The truth of these observations is confirmed by the fact that
when the chisel came to be used upon less unkindlymaterials,the
Egyptian sculptorshook himself free of more than one of those

despoticconventions which tyrannized over the makers of the

royal colossi. The wooden statues have no supportingmass at

the back or side ; the legsare separatedand free ; the arms are

no longerfixed to the sides,but are often bent into easy positions

(Fig.7, Vol. I.,and Fig.1 78).We
may say the same of bronze (Figs.
179 and 180). We may judge
of the freedom which was often

given to works in the latter mate-

rial

by the beautiful littlestatuette

figuredupon this page (Fig.256).
The limestone figuresare not

so free. Convenient instruments

for ridding them of superfluous
stone were wanting, and, more-
over,

there was a certain tempta-

tion
to imitate those statues in the

harder rocks which were looked

upon highestachievements
as the
of the national art. The figures

w^ere often supported by a mass of

stone in which the posteriorsur-faces

Fig. 256. " Bi-onze statuette. Actual size.
Boulak. of the legs were imbedded.

Sometimes, however, this port

sup-
was absent, and in that case attitudes became extremely
various (Fig.48, Vol. Figs. 192, 194, 195, Vol. II.),
I., and
perfectease and supplenessbeing often attained. Further con-
firmation

of our theory is afforded by those little ornamental

articles which may be referred to the industrial rather than the
fine arts. In them we find the ficruresof men and animals intro-

duced with the most playfuland easy skill. The spontaneityof

their grouping and with which the
the facility most livelyactions
are pressed into the service of the artist,
are remarkable. The

and
graceful almost athletic which
figuresof swimming girls form
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 313

the handles many perfume spoons may

of so be given as instances
of this (Fig. 257). The quahtieswhich are so conspicuousin
these Httle works are absent from the
and monumental
official Egypt, be-
cause art of
the materials and tools employed
hindered their development and vented
pre-
the happy geniusof the Egyptian

people from reachingcomplete fruition.

This influence is to be recoo^nizedin
the modellingas well in the pose of
as

Egyptian statues : their generalforms

are well
fairly understood and expressed,
but there is none of that power to

suofSfest the muscles under the skin, and

the bones under the muscles, which tinguishes
dis-

sculpture. The sup-

Greekpleness
and elasticity of livingflesh are

entirelywanting. Everything is in its

but details are as much
place, suppressed
as if the work were to be seen at a tance
dis- L
at they would be invisible.
which
The admirable portraits which have
been unearthed in such numbers and
the skilful modellingof many an isolated
work, prove that it was neither the

power of observation manipu-

lation
nor that of
that was wanting. W'hy, then,
was it that the Egyptians failed to
advance farther upon the road that led
to mastery in their art ? It was due to
their infatuation for
granite.Even when
they worked in soft stone their manipu-
lation
was governed by the capabilities
of the more stubborn material. The
chisel alone can give those truthful and
delicate contours without which no ture
sculp-
can reach perfection,
and the chisel
could hardlybe used on any material but
limestone or wood. The graniteor basalt statue, roughlyblocked
out with tools which imperfectlyobeyed the hand, could only be
VOL. II.
314 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

brought to completionwith the sand or emery of the poHsher. No

refinement of execution could be hoped for under such conditions.
Every surface was flattened and every expressiveridgesmoothed
down, and the appearance of superficial finish thus obtained
involved many sacrifices.
The abuse of this latter process is one of the great defects of

Egyptian technique; but there was another, and, perhaps,more

potent cause of failure. The method writingadopted by the
of

Egyptians,and elaborated at a very earlydate, must have had a

greater effect upon their plastic

arts than has generallybeen sup-
posed.
The characters employed by them, at least in monumental
situations,were merely symbols of sounds, as the characters of
not

later syllabic
or alphabeticforms of writing became ; they were

direct images of objects. Practical requirementssoon led to the

simplificationof such objects,to the suppressionof all details

beyond those necessary for identification. The figures employed

were thus soon reduced to mere empty outlines. Shadow and
colour, all those details which distinguishthe speciesof a genus
and the individuals of a species,
were and systematically
carefully
eliminated. The sign which stood for a lion or a man, was the

same for all lions and all men, althoughbetween one man or one

lion and another there are differences of stature, of age, of colour,

of and
strength, beauty. of

Now, in the early ages of Egyptian civilization, when the

hieroglyphsin the Memphite necropolis were chiselled in relief, the

same hand must have been employed upon the portraits of any

particular inhabitants of a tomb and upon the inscriptions which

accompanied them. Thus we find upon the panelsfrom the tomb

of Hosi (Figs.174-6),that there is no appreciabledifference
between the technique of the figuresand of the accompanying
characters. The same firm and lively handling is visible in both.
The images which play the part of written characters are much
smaller than the three portraits, and that is all. The crafts of
^

scribe and sculptorwere thus combined in one man ; his chisel

traced indifferently funeraryportraitsand hieroglyphs. When
the use of papyrus led to much and rapid writing,the two
professions were separated. The scribe wrote sometimes with the
kalem upon papyrus, sometimes with the brush or the point upon
wood, stucco, or stone. But he always found enough to do in his
own professionwithout combining it with another.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 315

Sculptors and painters multipliedon their side with the

multiplication of the royaland divine images ; they represented

the king fightingagainst the enemies of Egypt or returning
thanks to the gods for their assistance,and the king'ssubjects

accompanying him to battle,or busied over the varied labours of a

civilized society. They had to observe life and to study nature.

By dint of so doing they created a style,a certain method of

looking at and interpreting natural facts which became common to

all the artists of Egypt. One of the most strikingfeatures of

this style is the continual endeavour to stripform of all that
is accidental and particular, to generalize and simplifyit as much
as possible, a tendency which finds a very natural explanationin
the earlyendeavours of the Egyptians to represent, in their writing,
the concrete shapes of every being in earth or sky. This habit of
making plastic epitomes of men and animals, and even of inanimate

things, was confirmed by the persistent use of ideographic characters

duringall the centuries of Egyptian civilization. The profession

of the scribe was in time separatedfrom that of the sculptor, but
the later preserved some of the marked characteristics which
it put on before this division of labour was finally established.
The Egyptian eye had become accustomed to see things repre-
sented
in that simpHfiedaspect of which the hieroglyphsare so

strikingan example, and to deprive individuals, by a kind of

unconscious abstraction,of those details by which they stood out
from their speciesas a whole.
The most original features of Egy^ptian sculpture and its arrested

development must, then, be referred,on the one hand to the nature

of the materials employed, and, on the other, to the habits con- tracted

during many centuries of ideographicwriting.^ It has long

been the fashion to attribute capitalimportance to what is called

a canon, in describingthe origin of the Egy^ptianstyle. The

ideas which have been published on this question seem to us

manifestlyexaggerated; we must examine them a littleclosely.

The word canon comes from the Greek kovmv, a rule. As

appliedto the arts it has been defined as a system of measure-

ments
'"'

by the use of which it should be possibleto tell the size of

any part by that of the whole, or the size of the whole by that of

*
M. Ch. Blaxc had
glimmering of the great influence
a exercised over the

plasticstyleof Egypt by the hieroglyphs; see his Voyage da /is la Kuute-E^ypk,

P- 354-
3i6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

^
any one of its parts." The idea of proportion,
upon which every
canon must rest, is a creation of the brain. A canon, therefore,is
the result of those searchingand comprehensive generahzations of

which only races with great intellectual giftsare capable. Each

of the arts may have its canon, or rule of establishing
proportion,
a proper relation between all the elements of its creations and

easilyexpressiblein figures.
The finest examples of a canon as applied to architecture are

furnished by the Greek orders. Given the smallest member of an

Ionic or Doric order, the dimensions of all the other members

of the column and its entablature may be calculated with almost

complete accuracy. There is nothing of the kind in Egyptian

architecture. There is no constant proportionbetween the heights
and thicknesses of the shaft, the and
capital, the entablature ;
there is no constant relation between their
shapes. In a single
and
building, in a singleorder, we find proportions
varyingbetween
one hall or court and another.
The word canon has an analogous sense when applied to

sculpture. We establish a canon when we say that a figureshould

be so many heads high,and that its limbs should bear a certain
proportionto the same unit. It would be the same if,as has
often been proposed,the medius of the hand were erected into the
unit of measurement, except that the figure
would then be divided
into largernumber
a of parts. Both ancients and moderns have
investigatedthis question,but we need not dwell upon the results
of their inquiries.The Greeks had the canon of Polycletus
;
the Romans that of Vitruvius, while Leonardo da Vinci set

an example to the numerous artists who have investigatedthe

questionsince his time.^
Had the Egyptians a canon ? Did they choose some one part
of the human body and keep all the other parts in a constant
mathematical relation with it ? Did their canon, if they had one,
change with time ? Is it true that,in deference to the said canon,
all the artists of Egypt living at one time gave similar proportions
to their ?
figures
It has sometimes been pretendedthat in each century the priests
decided upon the dimensions, or at least upon the proportions,
^
DictioJinaire de V Academie des Beaux-Arts, under the word Canon.
2
These researches are described in the chapter entitled Des Proportions dii
Corps Htwiain of M. Ch. Blanc's Grammaire des Arts du Dessin,p. 38.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 317

to given by artists to their figures.Such an assertion

be can

hardly be brought into harmony with the facts observed.

The often quotedwords of Diodorus have been taken as a text :

"
Egyptians claim as
The their the
disciples oldest of the Greek

especially
sculptors, Telecles and Theodoros, both sons of Rhsecos,
who executed the statue of the Pythian Apollo for the inhabitants
of Samos. Half of this statue, it is said,was executed at Samos

by Telecles, the other half at Ephesus by Theodoros, and the

two parts so exactly fitted each other that the whole statue

appearedto be the work of a sculptor.After having arranged

single
and blocked out their stone, the Egyptians executed the work
in such fashion that all the parts adapted themselves one to

another in the smallest details. To this end they divided the

human figureinto twenty-one parts and a quarter, upon which
^
the whole symmetry of the work was regulated."
We may ask what authorityshould attach to the words of
Diodorus, a contemporary of Augustus,in a matter referring
to

the Pharaonic period. But when the monuments began to be

examined it was proclaimedthat they confirmed his statements.

Figures were found upon the tomb-walls which were divided into

equal parts by lines cuttingeach other at rightangles. These, of

course, were the canonical standards mentioned by Plato and
Diodorus.
Great was the
disappointmentwhen these squares were counted.
In one picturecontainingthree individuals,two seated figures,
one

beside the other, are inscribed in fifteen of the squares ; a standing

figure in front of them occupies sixteen. ^ Another figure is
comprised in nineteen squares.-^In another placewe find twenty-
two squares and a quarter between the sole of the foot and the
crown of the head.^ In yet another, ^
twenty-three. As for the
division given by Diodorus, it never occurs at all,and in fact it is
hardlyto be reconciled with the natural punctuationof the human
body by its articulation and pointsof section.
^
Diodorus, i. 98, 5-7.
-
Lepsius, Denkmceler,part iii.plate12.
3
Ibid, plate78. It is in this division into nineteen parts that M. Blanc finds
his proof that the medius of the extended hand was the canonical unit
{Gram?tiaire,
"c. p. 46.)
*
At Karnak, in the graniteapartments. See Charles Blanc, Voyage de la
Haute-Egypte, p. 232. Two figuresupon the ceilingof a tomb at Assouan are

divided.
similarly '
Lepsius, Denkmaler, part iii.p. 282.
3i8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

To surmount the difficulty

the theory of successive canons was

started ; some declared for two,^ some for three.^ This theory
requiresexplanationalso. Do its advocates mean that in all the
figuresof a singleepoch there is a scale of proportionso constant

that we must seek for its cause in an external peremptory lation

regu-
? If, however, we doubt the evidence of our and
eyes
study the platesin Lepsius or the monuments in our museums,
measure in hand, we shall see at once that no such theory will
hold water. Under the Ancient Empire proportionsvaried appre-
ciably
between one figureand another. As a rule they were
short rather than tall ; but while on the one hand we encounter

certain forms of very squat proportions,amounting almost to

deformity(Fig.1 20, Vol. I.),

we also find some whose forms are very
lengthy(Fig.loi. Vol. I.). The artists of Thebes adopted a more

slender type, but with them too we find nothing like a rigorous
uniformity. Again, the elongation of the lower part of the body
is much more stronglymarked in the funerarystatuettes (Fig.50,
Vol. I.)and in the paintings(PlateXII.) than in statues of the natural
size (Figs.21 1, 216)and in the colossi. If there had been a canon
in the proper sense of the term its authority would have applied
as much to those statuettes and bas-reliefs as to the full-sized

figures. But, as a fact,the freedom of the artist is obvious ; his

conceptionis modified onlyby the material in which he worked.
He could not make a great statue in stone too slender below, as it
would want base and solidity
; but as soon as he was easy on that
score he allowed himselfby the temptationto
to be carried away
exaggerate what seemed to him an especially gracefulfeature.
We see, then, that art in Egypt went through pretty much the
same changes and developments as in other countries in which
it enjoyed a long and busy life. Taste changed with the centuries.

It began by insisting on muscular vigour,as displayedin great

breadth of shoulder and thickset proportionsgenerally. In later

years elegance became the chief object,and slenderness of pro-portion

was sometimes pushed even to weakness. In each of
these periods all plasticfiguresnaturallyapproached the type
which happened to be in fashion, and in that sense alone is it

1 ii. p.
Ebers, Algyptejt^
vol. 54. Prisse, Histoire de VA^-t Egvptien, text,

pp. 124-128.
2
Lepsius, Ueher einigeKuntsformen^'^. ^. Birch, in Wilkinson's J/rt';/w^^fl'"i

part ii.pi.9, p. 270,

Custo7ns,vol, ii. Lepsius, Denk?nceler, note 3.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 319

justto assert that Egyptian art had two difterent and successive

canons.

The questionas to the

Egyptians ever adopted a unit
whether
of measurement in their renderingof the human figureor not, is
different. Wilkinson and Lepsius thought they had discovered
such a unit in the lengthof the foot,Prisse and Ch. Blanc in that
of the medius. There is nothing in the texts to support either

theory,and an examination of the monuments themselves shows

that sometimes one, sometimes the other of the two units,is most

in accordance with their measurements. Between the Ancient

Empire and the New proportionsdiffered so greatlythat it is

impossibleto refer them to one unit. Among the works of a

singleperiodwe find some that may be divided exactlyby one of

the two ; others w^hich have a fraction too much or too little. It
has not yet been proved,therefore,that the Egyptians ever adopted
such rigoroussystem as that attributed to them.
a Like all races
that have greatlypractiseddesign,they established certain rela- tions
between one part of their figuresand another, relations
which graduallybecame more constant as the national art lost its
freedom and vitality; and they arrived at last at the mechanical
reproductionof a singlefigurewithout troublingthemselves to

calculate how many lengths of the head, the nose, the foot,or
the medius, it might contain. Their eyes were their compasses,
and they worked at least under " the New Empire and during the
Grseco-Roman period from models which representedthe expe-
"

rience
of the past. It is therefore unnecessary to search for an

explanationof the uniformitywhich characterises their w"orks in

the followingof a rigidmathematical system ; we must be content

to see in it the natural result of an artistic education into which, as

the centuries succeeded one another, the imitation of previous

types, and the applicationof traditional recipes entered more

and more.

As for the
designstraced within lines which cross each other at
regularintervals,they can be nothing but drawingssquared for
transferring purposes. Squaring is the usual process employed
by artists when they wish to repeat a figure in different dimensions
from those of the original.Having divided the latter by hori- zontal
and perpendicularlines cutting each other at regular
intervals,they go through the same operation upon the blank
surface to which the figureis to be transferred,makino- the lines
320 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

equal in number to those upon the original,but the resulting

squares largerif the copy is to be smaller
larger, if it is to be
smaller,than that original.Egyptian decorators often made use

of this process for the transference of sketches upon papyrus,

stone, or wood, to the wall. Of this
practicewe give two
examples. The firstis an elaborate compositionin which several
modifications and corrections of lines and attitudes may be traced

(Fig.258); the second is an isolated figure(Fig.259). In each

case the figuresextend vertically

over nineteen squares. The
first dates from the the
eighteenth, second from the nineteenth

dynasty.^

Fig. 258. "

Design transferred by squaring. From Frisse.

The same device is sometimes made use of to transfer heads,

and even animals, from a small sketch to the wall. In the tomb

of Amenophis III.,in the Bab-el-Molouk, there is a fine portrait

of a princethus squared j^ at Beni-Hassan we find a cow and an

antelopetreated in the same fashion.^

Traces of another and yet more simple process are to be found.
Before drawing the figures in his bas-reliefs the artist sometimes
marked in red on the walls the vertical and horizontal lines

which give the poise of the body, the height of the

would
shoulders and armpits,and of the lower edge of the drawers.
The positionsof secondaryanatomical pointswere marked upon

^
Prisse, Histoire de f Art Ei^vptien. Lepsius, Denkmcckr, joartiii.pi.70.
-

^ Ibid,
plate 152.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. ^21

these lines,and the whole formed a rough guide for the hand of

the designer/
The fact that these lines and squares are only found upon a

small number of paintingsand bas-reliefs does not prove that

their employment was in
exceptional. It is probable any way
that one of the two processes was generallyused, but that the
colour spread both upon figuresand ground hides their traces.
The few pictures in which they are now to be traced were never

completed.
Most of the painters and sculp-
tors
to whom the decorations of
tombs and temples were confided
must have had recourse to these
contrivances, but here and there
were artists who had sufficient
skill and self-confidence to make
their sketches directlyupon the
w^all itself. More than one stance
in-

of this has been covered

dis-

in those Theban tombs

whose decorations were left finished.

un-

In a few cases the

design has been made in red

chalk by a journeyman and wards
after-
corrected, in black chalk,
by the master.
-

As the bas-relief was thus

preceded by a sketch which

Fig. 259. "

Design transferred by squaring.

was more or less liable to fication,
modi- From Pri-se.

it would seem probable

that a similar custom obtained in the case of the statue. It pears
ap-
unlikelythat
especially those great figuresin the harder

^
Prisse, Histoire de F Art Egyptien,text, p. 123. Lepsius, Denknmler, pi.65.
Upon the
-

preparation of the bas-relief,see Belzoxi, Narrative of the

Operation';,
etc. p. 175.
Prisse givesseveral interesting
examples of these corrected designs,
among others
a fine portrait
of Seti I. {Histoire,
etc. vol. ii.)
"
Examples of these corrections are to be found in sculptureas well as in painting.
Our examination of the sculpturesat Karnak showed that the artist did not always
follow the firstsketch traced in red ink, but that as the work progressedhe modified
it, and allowed himself to be guided,to some extent, by the effects which he saw

VOL. If. T T
32 2 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

rocks which represented such an enormous outlay of manual

labour, would be attacked without some guide which should serve
pre-
them from the chance of ruin by some ill-considered blow^
Did the Egyptian sculptor begin, then, with a clay sketch ?
There is no positiYeinformation on the subject, but in all those

numerous bas-reliefs which represent sculptorsat work, there is

not one in wdiich the artist has before him anything in the shape
of a model or sketch to guide him in his task. It is possible
that the sameness of his statues, especiallyof his colossal figures
in graniteor sandstone, enabled the Egyptian to dispense with
an aid which the infinite varietyof later schools was to render

necessary.
The Egyptian sculptor was contented with a few simple
attitudes which he reproduced again and again. He doubtless

began by marking the salient points and relative heights of the

different parts upon his block. The rock was so hard that there
was littlerisk of his journeymen spoilingthe material by taking
away too much, supposing them to be carefullyoverlooked.
Marble would have been far more liable to such an accident.
Even Michael Angelo, when he w^orked the marble with his own

hands, spoiltmore than one fine block from Carrara.

Although w^e have no evidence to show that the Egyptians

understood the use of clay models, we have some idea of the

process by w^hich they were enabled to do without them, and of

the nature of their education.
professional The chief Egyptian
museums possess works recognizedas graduated
which have been

exercises in the technique of sculpture. They are of limestone,

and of no great size from four to ten "

inches high. The use of

these littlemodels is shown to have been almost universal by the

fact that Mariette found them on nearly every ancient site
that he excavated. Their true character is beyond doubt.^ At

Boulak there are twenty-seven sculpturedslabs which were found

at Tanis. One is no more than a rough sketch, just begun. By

its side is a completed study of the same subjects. Some of these

slabs are carved on both sides ; on others we find one motive

growing under his hands. The. western wall of the hypostylehall contains many

instances of this. It is decorated with sculptures on a large scale,in which the

lines traced by the chisel differ more or less from those of the sketch. {Description,
Ant. vol. ii. p. 445-)
1 N'oticr die Miisir, Nos.
M.^RiE'i'T]-:, 623-6SS.
 The Prin'cipal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. ^2-^

treated twice, side by side, once in the state of first sketch, and

again as a finished study. The plaques which bear the heads of

cynocephah, of lions and Honesses, are remarkable for the free-
dom
of their execution (Figs. 260, 261, and 262).^ The same

Fig. 260. " Head of a Cynocephalus.

be said of fifteen
royal heads found at Sakkarah.
may They
should be examined together.They range- in order from Xo. 623,
which is a roughly-blocked-outsketch, to 637, a finished head.

Fig. 261. " Head of a Lion. Fig. 262. Head of Liones^.

"
a

One ot these models is divided down the middle, so as to give

accent to the profile. A few of them in order
are squared to test
the proportions. But here of
even no canon proportion is to be
1
Xos. 652-654 of the Xo/h-e Ju Miisce. -
In the Boulak catalogue.
324 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

found. "If the squares were based upon some unchanging unit,
they would identical in every model
be in which they occur. But
in one of these heads we find three horizontal divisions between
the uraeus and the chin ; in another four. In most cases the

number of the squares seems to have been entirelydue to the

individual capriceor convenience of the artist. There are but
two examples in which another rule seems to have been followed ;
in them the proportionsof the squares are identical,and their
intersections fall upon the same points. All that may be

fairlydeduced from this, however, is that they are the work

"""
of the same hands." A second series of royal heads was found

at Tanis ; others have been discovered in the Fayoum. Boulak

also possesses models of the ram, the jackal, and the uraeus, of

arms, legs,hands, "c. Upon a plaque from Tanis the figureof

Isis appears twice, once as a sketch and once as a finished studv.
From the styleof these remains
disposed to think Mariette is

that they were not earlier than the Saite epoch. As the Egyptian
intellect graduallylost its inventive powers, the study of such
models as these must have played a more and more important
part in artistic education ;
but we have no reason to believe that
their use was confined to the later ages of the monarchy. As
artists became accustomed
reproduce certain fixed types, they
to

graduallylost their familiarity with nature, and their works became

ever more uniform and monotonous. This tendency is to be

easilyrecognizedin Egyptian work long before the days of Amasis
and the Psemetheks ; in some degree it is found even in the

productionsof the Ancient Empire. The use of the models in

questionmay have become generalat the beginningof the Middle
Empire. But their introduction was not due to the priests, but to
the masters in the arts, who saw that they offered a sure and rapid

method of instructing their scholars.

Yet one more cause of the monotony of type which distinguished

Egyptian art after its first renascence remains to be noticed. The

Egyptians were fullyconscious of the great antiquityof their

civilization. They thought of other nations much as the Greeks
and Romans of a later age thought of those whom they called
barbarians. When the scribes had to speak of foreignersthey
'
MARn":TiK, La Gaicrie dc V Egypte Ancienne a P Exposition du Trocadero,
pp. 69, 70.
 The Principal Conventions in Egyptian Sculpture. 325

made complete vocabulary of contemptuous

use of a terms, and,
as always occurs, the pride of race upon \Yhich they'were based

long survived the condition of thingswhich formed its justification.

The Greek conquest was necessary to cure the Egyptians of their

disdain, or, at least,to compel them to hide it. Now the visible

signof their superioritywas the beauty of the national type, as

elaborated by judicious selection and representedin art since the
earliest days of the monarchy. The Egyptian was proud of him-
self
when he compared the refined features of his gods and kings,
their graceful attitudes and smilino;looks,with the thick and heavy
lines of the negro or the hard and truculent features of the Libyan
and the Syrian nomad. In attempting to innovate, some danger
of lowering the nobilityof the type would be incurred. The

pressure of neighbouring races ended by throwing back the

Egyptian frontiers. At one time they were forciblycurtailed
by victorious invasion ; at others they were weakened here and
there,allowing the entrance of the shepherds, of foreignmerchants,
and of mercenaries of various nationalities. The purity of the
Egyptian blood was menaced, and at all hazards it was necessary
to preserve without alteration the ideal image of the race, the
concrete emblem of its gloriouspast and the pledge of its high
destinies. It was thus that in Egypt progress was hampered
by fear of retrogression.Perfection is impossibleto those who
fear a fall.
Another obstacle that helped to prevent the Egyptians from

reaching the perfectionwhich their early achievements seemed

to promise,was their love for colour. They did not establish a
sufficientlysharp line of demarcation between painting and
sculpture.The}' always painted their statues, except when they
carved them in materials which had a rich natural hue of their
own, a hue to which additional vivacitywas given by a high
polish. By this means varied tints were obtained which were

in harmony with the polychromaticdecoration which was so near

their hearts. Their excuse is to be found in their iofnorance of

statuary marble and of the clear and flesh-like tones and texture

which it puts on under the sculptor

s chisel.
The Egyptians,however, never committed the fault of colouring
their statues in an imitative fashion,like those who make wax

figures. Their hues were always conventional. Moreover, they

were never either broken or shaded, which is sufficient to show
 26 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.
o

that no idea of realistic imitation was implied in their use.^

Sculpture is founded upon an artificial understanding by Avhich

tangibleform and visible colour are dissociated from each other.

When the sculptor looks to the help of the painterhe runs great
risk of failing to give all the precision and beauty of which form
by itself is capable,to his work. Even the Greeks did not grasp
this truth at once. The Egyptians had at least a glimmering of
it, and we must thank them for having employed polychromy
in their sculpturein a discreet fashion.

" 10. The General Characteristics of tJie Egyptian Style.

We jiave attempted give an

to idea of the originof Greek

sculpture,of its development and its decadence. We have

noticed those slow changes of taste and style which sometimes

required a thousand years for their evolution, for a century in

Egypt was hardlyequal to generationelsewhere.

a After proving
that Egypt did not escape the universal law of change, we studied
the methods and conventions which were peculiarto her sculptors
and impressed their works with certain common characteristics.
The union of these characteristics formed the Egyptian style.
We must now define that and attempt
style, to make its originality

clear to our readers.

In its commencement Egyptian art was entirelyrealistic. It
was made realistic both by the conceptionswhich presided at its
birth and by the wants which it was called upon to satisfy.The
task to which it applieditself with a skill and conscience which are
littleless than marvellous, was the exact representation of all that

met its vision. In the bas-relief it reproduced the every-day

scenes of agricultural life and of the national worship ; in the

statue it portrayed individuals with complete fidelity.But even

in those earlyages imaginationwas not asleep. It was continually
seeking to invent forms which should interpret its favourite ideas.
It figuredthe exploitsof the king,the defender of the national

civilization, in the form of a warrior brandishinghis mace over the

heads of his enemies. In the royalstatues everythingcombined to

mark the gulfbetween the Pharaoh and his subjects, their materials,

'
Ch. JjLANC, ]^oyagedt la /Iaiih'-J\tQ'/'f(\
p. 99.
 The General Characteristics of the Egyptian Style. ^27
o-/

size, attitude,and expression,although in natural life there can

haYe been no such distinction. Finallythe Great Sphinx at Gizeh
is sufficient to proYe that the Egyptians, in their endeaYour to

make the great deities whom they had conceiYed Yisible

to the eye, had attempted to create composite types of which the
elements were indeed existent in nature, but separate and distinct.
After the first renascence their
imaginationsplayed more freely.
They multipliedthe combinations under which their gods were
personified.They transformed and idealized the human figure
by the giganticproportionswhich they gaYe to it in the seated
statues of the king, and in those upright colossi in which the
majesty of Pharaoh and the diYinityof Osiris are combined in

one indiYidual. The sculptorsportrayed the king in attitudes

which had ncYer been seen by mortal eyes. Sometimes he is
seated upon the knee of a goddess and drawing nourishment from
her breast ; sometimes he bends, like a respectful and loYing son,
before his father Amen, who blesses him, and seems by his gesture
to conYey to him some of his own omnipotence and immortality.
Again he is presentedto us in the confusion of battle,towering so
high aboYe his adYersaries that we can only wonder how they had
the temerityto stand up againsthim. EYents hardlypassed thus
in those long and arduous campaigns against the Khetas and the
Peopleof the sea, in which more than one of the Theban Pharaohs

spent their Hycs. Victory,when it was YictorY, was long and

hotly disputed. Superiorityof discipline and armament told at
last and decided the contest in faYour of the Egyptians,who were

inferior in strengthand stature to most of their enemies, especially

to those who came from Asia Minor and the Grecian islands.
It is
hardly just,therefore, to say, as has been said,^ that
"
Egyptian art had only one aim, the exact rendering of reality ;
in it all qualities of obserYation are dcYeloped to their utmost
capabilities, those of imaginationare wanting." Egyptian art is
not like the sensitized plate of the photographer. It does not
confine itself to the faithful reproductionof the objectsplaced
before it. Painters and sculptorswere not content, as has been
pretended,with the art that can be see;/, as opposed to the art that
be imagined,and an injustice is done them
can to by those who
would confine the latter to the Aryan race. The apparent
precision of such an assertion makes it all the more misleading.
^
E. Melchior de VoGrE. Chez hi Pharaons.
328 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Egyptian art was realistic in its inceptionand always remained

so to a certain
degree,but with the passage of time the creative,
intellect began to play a part in the productionof plasticworks ;
it added to and combined the elements which it took from nature,
and thus created
imaginarybeings which differed from natural fact
by their proportions,their beauty,and their composition. The
Egyptian artist had his ideal as well as the Greek.
In saying,then, that the art of Egypt was realistic,
we have
only laid the first stone of the definition we wish to establish. Its
original character was, perhaps,still more due to another feature,
namely to its elimination or suppression detail. This elimina-
of tion,
far from diminishingwith time, went on increasingas the
country grew older.
It may be traced to the action of two causes.

In the first place,the influence of the ideographic writingupon

the national
style can hardly be exaggerated. The concrete

images of things could only be introduced into it by means of

simplification and generalization.In such a school the eye learnt

to despoilform of all those details which were merely accidental,
of all that made it particular.It sought for the species, or even

the genus, rather than the individual. This tendency was increased

by the peculiar propertiesof the materials upon which the

Egyptians lavished their skill and patience. The harder rocks

turned the edges of their bronze chisels,and compelled them to
choose between roughly-blocked-outsketches and a laborious
Dolish which obliterated all those minor details of modellinfrwhich
should vary according to the sex, the age, and the muscular
exertion of the
represented. We
persons see, then, that the
rebellious nature and the imperfectmethods
of the granite, which
it imposed,completed the lessons begun by that system of figured

writing which dates from the remotest periods of Egyptian

civilization.
There is an obvious contradiction between the tendency which
we justnoticed,and those habits of realistic imitation whose
have
existence has been explainedby the desire to secure a posthumous

existence for the dead. The historyof Egyptian sculpture, is,in

fact,the historyof a contest In the mind of the artist between

these two opposing forces. In the earlyyears of the monarchy,

his first duty was to supply a portraitstatue, the chief merit of

which should lie in the fidelityof its resemblance. Of this task
he acquittedhimself most skilfullyand conscientiously, reproducing
 The General Characteristics of the Egyptian Style.

every individual deformity of his model.

and
peculiarity, even

His chief attention was given to the face,as being the member by
which men are principallydistinguished one from another. Even

then, and in the funerarystatues, the body was much more general
in its forms than the head. In the course of succeedingages
the sculptorwas able, whenever he wished to make a faithful

portraiteither of an individual man or of a race, to bring this

facultyinto play and to clearlymark the differences between races

or between the individuals of a race, by the varying character of
the head. But yet his art showed an ever increasingtendency to
follow the bent which had been given to it by the practice of

glypticwriting, and by the long contest with unkindly materials.

After the close of the Ancient Empire Egyptian art became
ambitious of a higher style. Under the Theban Pharaohs it
worked hard to attain it, and it knew no better means to the
desired end than the continual and generalization
simplification of

form.

This is the great distinguishing characteristic of the Egyptian

style. The uniformity, and restraint of the attitudes,the

stiffness,
over-rigorous
symmetry of the parts and of the limbs, and the close
alliance of the latter with the bodies,are only secondaryfeatures.
We shall find them in the works of every race compelled to make

use of materials that were either too hard or too soft. Moreover,
these are the constant characteristics of archaic art, and it must

not forgottenthat even

be in
Egypt many wooden and limestone
have been unearthed
figures which surpriseus by the freedom of
their attitudes and movements. The true originalityof the
Egyptian styleconsists in its deliberately epitomizingthat upon
which the artists of other countries have elaborately dwelt, in its
lavishing
all its executive powers upon chief masses and leading
lines,and in the marvellous judgment with which it seizes their
real meaning, their and
proportions, the sources of their artistic
effect.
As figures
increased in size this tendencytowards the suppression
of detail increased also,and so too did their fitness for the archi-
tectonic
role they had to play. The colossi which flank the
entrances to an Egyptian temple have been often criticised from an
erroneous standpoint. They have been treated as if they were
meant to be self-sufficient and independent. Their massiveness
VOL. II. \j \:
T,T,o A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

and want of vitality have been blamed it has been said that the
;

seated fig-urescould not rise, nor the standing- ones walk. To

form a just estimate of their merit we must take them with the

monuments of which they formed a part. We must rouse our

imaginations, and picture them to ourselves with their flanking

colonnades about them, with the pylons at their backs, and the

obelisks at their sides. We must close our eyes

for a moment and

reconstruct this combination of architectural and sculpturesque

lines. We shall then readily perceive how entirely these colossi

were in harmony with their surroundings. Their vertical and

horizontal lines echoed those of the monument to which they were

attached. The rhythm of the long colonnades was carried on by

their repetition of a single attitude, while their colossal dimensions

and immovable solidity brought them into complete accord with

the huge structures by which they were surrounded. It has been

said that, more than of its rivals, "

the architecture of Egypt
any

impresses us with the idea of absolute stability,of infinite duration."

Could anything be in more complete harmony with such an art

than the grave

and majestic attitudes of these seated Pharaohs,
attitudes which from every line breathe a profound calm, a repose

without chanofe and without end.

 CHAPTER IV.

PAINTING.

^ I. Te clinical Processes.

Most of our observationsEgyptian sculptureare applic-

upon able
to the sister art of painting. The conventions which form

the characteristic originalityof the Egyptian stylewere established

by the sculptor; but when the artist had to draw the outline
of a form, and to fill it in with colour instead of cutting it upon
the naked surface of the wall the difference of process did not

affect his method comprehending and interpretinghis models.

of

We find the same qualitiesand the same defects. The purity of

line, the nobility of pose, the draughtsmanship at once just and
broad, the ignoranceof perspective, and the constant repetition of

traditional attitudes are found in both methods. Painting,in fact,

never became an independent and self-sufficing art in Egypt. It

was commonly used to complete sculpturesqueeffects,and it never

freed itself from this subordination. It never attempted to make
use of its own peculiar resources for the expression of those

things which sculpturecould not compass the depths of space, "

the recession of planes,the varieties of hue which passionspreads

over the human countenance, and the nature and intensity of the

feelingswhich are thus betrayed. We may say that it is only by

some abuse of terms that we can speak of Egyptian painting at
all. \o people have spread more colour upon stone and wood
than the Egyptians ; none have had a more true instinct for colour

harmony ; but yet they never attempted to express, by the grada- tion
of tone, by the juxtaposition or superposition of tints, the real

aspects of the surfaces which present themselves to our eyes,

aspects which are unceasinglymodified by the lightor
amount of

shadow, by distance and the state of the atmosphere. They had

332 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

not the of what

least orlimmering;' we call chiaroscuro or of aerial

perspective.
Their paintingrests upon conventions as audacious as those of
their sculpture. In it every surface has an uniform and decided
value though in nature everythingis shaded. A nude figureis all

one colour dark"

for a man, lightfor a woman. A drapery has
but one tone, the artist never seeming to trouble himself whether
it be in lightor shadow, or partlyin one partlyin the other. In

a few platesin Lepsius,and still more in Prisse,^there are gestions

sug-
that an artist here and there, more skilful than his rivals,
understood that values differed,and
distinguishedin his more
careful work between colour in shadow and colour in light. One

or two contours appear to hint at the rotundity of chiaroscuro .

In acceptingsuch a suggestion, however, we should be making a

mistake againstwhich we have been warned even by such early
travellers as the authors of the Description? The effects in

question must placed to the credit of the sculptor. The

be

images in which they appear are paintedbas-reliefs, and the slight

shadow thrown by their salient grounds gives an appearance of
half-tint to their contours. Wherever picturesare without relief
there is no such .appearance, and yet changes of value would in

them be more useful than elsewhere.

To place unbroken juxtapositionto each other
colours in

without transitions is to illuminate ; it is not paintingin the true

sense of the word, and its practitioner is an artisan rather than

an artist. The artist is he who traces the design upon the walls ,

who, chalk in hand, sketches the forms of men and women and

the lines of the ornament. Many of these sketches are admirable

for the freedom and breadth of their outline. The portraitof
Amenophis III. which is to be seen in his tomb in the Bab-el -

MoloLik good example of these master-studies (Fig.263).

is a

When nothing interfered to prevent the completionof the work,

the paintercame with his paletteand brushes to spread colour
over the spaces enclosed by these lines. Nothing could be easier
than his task. He was only requiredto lay his colours smoothly,
and to avoid overpassingthe boundaries laid down for him. The

hues of the flesh and of the draperieswere fixed in advance

as well as those of the various objects which were repeatedly

introduced in such works.

^
Vol. ii. plates41, 66, and 70.
"- vol.
Antiquitcs,
Description, iii.p. 45.
 Technical Processes. \33

At Beni-Hassan, and in several of the Theban tombs, there are

representations of the painterat work. When he had to spread

a singletint over a largesurface brown, for instance,upon the "

whole of
superficies a limestone
upon statue "
we see him seated

a of
kindstool,his pot of colour in his left hand, his brush in his

unsupported right(Fig. 54 Vol. I.,). Sometimes his work was

more complicatedthan this. There are a few and

royal portraits,
a few scenes with numerous actors, in which the whole scale of

Fig. 263. "

Outline for a portraitof Amenophis III. ChampoUion, p!. 232.

tints at his command required. He then makes

must have been
use of a palette. Specimens of these palettesare to be seen in

every museum. They are rectangular piecesof wood, of alabaster,

or of enamelled earthenware. They usuallyhave seven littlecolour
cups, but few have eleven twelve. Small
a as many as or styles,
as large as a have
crow-quill, been found with these palettes.
The use of these has been much discussed. Prisse cut one and
steeped it in water. It was then discovered that the reed of
OJ^
A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

which it composed became

was a brush when its fibres were
thus softened by moisture^ None of the large brushes which
must have been used to spread the colour over considerable faces
sur-

have been discovered,but Prisse believes that they too must

have been made of fibrous reeds, such as the sarmentose stems

of the Salvadora pei^sica. Others think that for such purposes

the hair pencilmust have been employed.
Cakes of colour have sometimes been found in the tombs,
togetherwith earthenware mortars and pestlesfor grinding them.
The tints usuallyemployed \nq.xq' yclloio,red, blue, green, brown,
white, and black. These correspond to the seven cups hollowed
in most of the palettes. They each included several varieties.
Some of these colours were vegetable,such as indigo; others "

and these more numerous "

-were mineral. Among- the latter is
a certain blue, which has preserved all its
brilliancy
even after so

many centuries. Its merits were extolled by Theophrastus and

Vitruvius, It is an ash with wonderful power of resistingchemical

agents, and neither turning green nor black with exposure to the
air. It must have been composed, we are told, of sand, copper-
and
filings, subcarbonate of soda reduced
powder and burnt in
to

an oven. Copper is also the colouringprinciple,

at least in our

days, of those greens which are more or less olive in tone.

Different shades of red, yellow,and brown, were obtained from

the ochres. Their whites, formed of lime, of plaster,
or of dered
pow-
enamel, have sometimes preserved a snowy whiteness
beside which our whitest papers seem grey.^ As for violet,
Champollion tells us that no colour used by the ancients had

that value. In those few bas-reliefs in which it is now found, it

is a result of the changes which time has spread over surfaces

^
Prisse, Histoire de V Art Egyptien,text, p. 289.
2
Fuller details as to the composition of these colours given in Prisse,
are

Histoire de l'Art Ef^yptien, text, pp. 292-295. A paper written by the father of

Prosper Me'rimee printedby Passalacqua

and at the end of his Catalogue(pp.258,

ct scq.)may also be consulted with profit ; its full title is Dissertation sur /'Emp/oi
des Couleurs, des Vernis, et des E/naiix dans PAticienne Eii;ypie, by M. Merimee,
Secretaire Perpctuelde r Ecole Royale des Beaux-Arts. This paper shows that

M. Merime'e added taste and a love for erudition to tlie talent as a painterwhich
he possessed. Belzoni
is said to have shows that the manufacture of indigo must

have been practised by the ancient Egyptiansby much the same processes as those

in use to-day {Narrative of the Operations,etc. p. 175). See also Wilkinson,

Manners and Customs, etc. vol. ii.p. 287.
 Technical Processes, 335

gilded. The
originally question is caused, we are tol^,by
hue in

the mordant or other preparationupon which the gold was laid.^

In the Theban tombs the figuresare first drawn and then painted

a fine coat which has all the polish of stucco. It seems

upon
to consist of a very fine plasterand a transparent glue. It is

still white where no tint has laid uponbeen it ; here and there

its shiningsurface is still undimmed.- When the pictureswere

executed upon wood or, as in the mummies, upon linen laid down

upon layer of plaster,a preparatory

a thin coat of white was

always spread in the first instance. The tints became more

brilliant over such a coat, the most opaque being in some degree
transparent.'^
The paintingsare, as a rule, free from cracks. The colours

seem to have been mixed with water and some flexible gum
like tragacanth.^ M. Hector Leroux, who took impressionsof
many bas-reliefs during his visit to Egypt, is inclined to beheve
that the Egyptians sometimes mixed honey with their colours,
as the makers of water-colours do now. In some of the tombs
the paintingbecame stickywhen he laid his moistened paper upon
their surfaces. In others no amount of wetting affected the
surface of the colours, which remained as smooth and hard as

enamel. Some Egyptian paintingsare covered with a resinous

varnish which has blackened with time and spoiltthe colours

upon which it is laid.'' The same varnish was used for the

mummy cases and gives them the dark hue which they now
present. A few exceptionallywell preserved examples permit
us to suppose that their colours when fresh must have been much

lighterin tone and more brilliant than they now appear. Xo

such precautionwas taken, as a rule,in the case of the frescos.
Their surfaces were left free from a substance that could so ereatlv
alter with time, and thanks partlyto this,partlyto the equality
of temperature and to the dryness and tranquillityof the air,

they have retained an incomparable freshness. The centuries

1
Champollion, Lettres d' Egypte et de Xiibie,
\". 130.
-
Ant.
Description, vol. iii.p. 44.
3
Merimee, Dissertation sur T Emploi des Coideurs, p. 130.
*
Merimee, Dissertation,etc. Champollion uses the term gouache,body colour,
in speakingof these paintings,
but as the characteristic of that process is that every
tint is mixed with white, there is some inaccuracyin doing so.
'"
Prisse, Histoire de F Art Egyptien,text, p. 391.
336 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

have passed gently over them, but since all the world has taken
to visitingEgypt, includingeven the foolish and ignorant,they
have suffered greatly from the barbarity tourists. Of this the
of

state of those beautiful decorations in the tomb of Seti which

have excited the admiration of all cultivated travellers,is a

painfulinstance.
Several mummy masks are in existence which prove that
encaustic painting,in which naphtha and wax were used, was
employed by the Egyptians ; ^ but this process does not seem

to have been developed until after the Macedonian conquest.

Speaking generally, may say
w e that the Egyptian method was

distemper.
The Egyptians produced easel picturesas well as wall paintings.
In one of the Beni-Hassan tombs two artists are represented
painting animals upon a panel.^ Herodotus tells us that Amasis

presented his portraitto the people of Cyrene.^ Supposing it

to be the work of a native artist,
we may fomr some idea of its
character from the Egyptian portraits,
dating from the Roman

epoch, which are now in the Louvre. Doubtless

portrait the
of Amasis was very different in style from these productions
of the decadence ; but it is probablethat,like them, it was painted
upon a cedar panel.
We have no reason to believe that the Egyptians ever ceeded
suc-

in crossingthe line which separates illumination from

painting. The only single flat tones

convention which saw

on every surface being once adopted, it was sometimes pushed

to extraordinary lengths. Not content with ignoring the varieties
of tone and tint which nature everywhere presents, the Egyptian
artists sometimes adopted arbitraryhues which did not, even
faintly, recall the actual colours of the objectsupon which they
were used. As a rule they representedthe female skin as a

light-yellow, and the male as a reddish-brown. This distinction

may be understood. Besides its convenience as indicative of

sex to a distant observer, it answers to a difference which social

habits have established in every civilized society. More

completely covered than men and less in the open air, the

women, at least those of the upper classes, are less exposed to

^
Prisse, Histoire,etc. text, p. 291.
-
Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, etc. vol. ii. p. 294.
^
Hr.RODOTrs. ii. 182.
 Technical Pkocesses.

the eftects of sun and wind than men. Their skins are

usuallyfairer. In northern climates they are whiter, in southern

less brown.surprisedtherefore to find that in the
We are

small temple at Ipsamboul the carnations of male and female,

whether they be kings and queens or gods and goddesses,are
all alike of a vivid yellow, not far removed from chrome,^
Those divinities who have the limbs and features of man, such as

Amen, Osiris, Isis,and Nephthys, should, we might think, be

subjectto the same rule as the images of men and women, and

in most cases it is so. But, on the other hand, the painteroften

endows them with skins of the most fanciful and arbitraryhue.
At Ipsamboul there is an Amen with a blue skin,- and, again,an
Amen and an Osiris which are both o-reen.-^ At Philae we find

numerous examples of the same singularity.^ At Kalabche, in

Nubia, there are royalfigures coloured in the same fashion.^

Exceptionalthough they may be, these curious representations

help us to understand the Egyptianmethod of lookingat colour.

They did not employ it like the modern painter, in order to add to
the illusion ; they used it decoratively,partlyto satisfy that innate
love for polychromy which we have explainedby the intensity of a

southern sun, partlyto give relief to their figures, which would

stand out more boldlv from the white orround when brilliant with
colour than when they had to depend solelyupon their slight
relief. In the interior of the figure colour was used to distinguish
o o

the flesh from

draperies, the
and to indicate those enrichments in

the latter which made up the eleganceof the Egyptian costume.

A good example of this way of using colour is seen in the tomb of

Amenophis III., which contains the portraitof Queen Taia

reproducedin our Fig. 264.^

^
There exceptions
are to other
the ordinaryrule. In a fine bas-relief in the
Seti
LouvTe, representing I. before Hathor, the carnations of the goddess are similar
to those of the Pharaoh ; they are in each case dark red (basement room, B, 7).
2
Champolliox, Monuments VEgypte de et de la Xiibie, pi. 11.
was the Blue
regularcolour for Amen when representedwith a complete human form ; when he
was ram-headed he was generallypainted green (see Champolliov, Pantheon
Egyptieru^o. i; Pif.rret,Didionnaire ; and
Archeologiqiie pi. 2, vol. i. of the
present work). Ed. "

3 Ibid.
pi.59. 4
Ibid, plates71, 76, 78, 91. ^ /^/^_
pi j-^.
"
We place this portraitof Taia in our chapteron painting because its colour is
exceptionally delicate and carefullymanaged (see Prisse, text, p. 421). The
i s,
original however, veryin low relief,
so low that it hardlyaffects the colour values.
VOL. IL XX
22S A History of Art in Axciext Eovrr,
vD J

We find,too, that in
picturesin which people of different races

are brought together,the artist employs different tones to mark

their varied hues. In a tomb at Abd-el-Gouriiah, in which the
construction buildingis represented,
of a the workmen, who are

doubtless slaves or prisonersof war, have not all skins of one

colour ; some are lightyellow,some lightred, while others are

reddish-brown. We are led to believe that this is not merely the
result of capriceon the part of the painter, by the fact that the
men with the lightyellow skin seem to have more hair on their
chests and chins than the others. They come, no doubt, from
northern latitudes,whose inhabitants are more hairy than the
southerners.^ The negroes are made absolutely black,^ the
Ethiopiansvery dark brown. -'^
But although the Egyptian paintermade no attempt to imitate
the hues of nature in their infinite variety, we find a curious effort

in certain Theban paintingsto reproduceone of those modifications

of local tone which were to attract so many artists of later times.
The flesh tints are brown
they are uncovered, and light where

yellow where they are veiled ; the painterthus attemptingto show

the warm skin shining through the semi-transparenceof fine
linen,'*
This is,however, but an isolated attempt, and it does not affect
the truth of our descriptionof Egyptian painting,and of its

conventional methods of usinofcolour. The observations we have

made apply equallyjustlyto coloured bas-reliefs and to paintings
properlyspeaking. The latter are only found in the tombs. In

the temples the figures which compose the decoration are always
engraved upon the walls in some fashion before they are touched
with colour, and the office of the painterwas restricted to filling in

the prepared outlines with colour. It is the same, as a rule, with

the steles ; but a few exist upon which the painterhas had the

field to himself. The papyri,too, were illustrated by the artist in

colour. Those elaborate examples of the Ritual of the Dead,
which come from the tombs of princesand of rich subjects, are

full of carefully executed vignettes(Eigs.97 and 184, Vol. I.). .

It is easy to understand why the painterreserved himself for

1
Lepsius, Denkmceler, part iii.pi.40, cf. pi. 116. -
Ibid. pi. 117.
^
Ethiopiansin the painting from
See the the tomb of Rekmara, which is

Wilkinson, vol. i. plate 2.

re])roduced.in
""
Lepsius, Denkmcrlei; part iii.pi. 216.
 Technical Processes. 339

the tomb. The picturesupon the external walls of the temples

and upon the pylons were seen in the full glareof a southern sun ;

so too, at least for a part of the day, were those upon the w^alls of
the and
courtyards, upon the shafts of their surroundingcolumns.
Even in the interior many of the decorations would receive direct

Fig. 264. " Portrait of Queen Taia. From Prisse.

sunlightfrom the claustra of the attic,others w^ould be subjectto

friction from the hands and garments of visitors. Painting by
itself would be unfitted for such situations. It would either have
its effect
destroyedby the direct light, or its colours dulled and

damaged by constant touches. Figures carved in the substance of

340 A History of Art in Anxient Egypt.

the walls would have a different duration. When their

very
colours paled with time, a few strokes of the brush would be
sufficient to renew their youth, and the combination of colour with
relief would inve a much more telling result than could be
obtained by the use of the latter alone.
With the tomb it was very different. In its case neither violent
changes of temperature, nor friction,
nor the rays of a dazzlingsun
were to be feared. Its doors were to be ever closed,and the
scenes which were entrusted to its walls to have
were no spectator
but the dead man and his protectingOsiris. To out the
carry
whole work with the brush was quicker than to associate that
instrument with the chisel,and we need therefore feel no surprise
that many tombs were so decorated.
These paintingsare in no way inferior to the sculpturalworks
of the same period; the outlines of both must, in fact,have been
traced by the same hands. The wielders of the chisel and brush

must have been nothing more than journeymen or artisans ; the

true artist was he who traced upon the wall the outline which had
afterwards to be filled in either in relief or in colour.
We should have liked to have reproduced the best of these

paintingswith all their richness and varietyof tint,but we had no

studies of which
original we could make use, and, as in the
painted
architecture,we saw no great advantages to be gained by copying
the platesof Champollion,of Lepsius,or of Prisse. The processes
which they were compelled to employ have in many cases visibly
affected the fidelity of their transcriptions. We have therefore
felt ourselves compelled,much to our disappointment,to trust
almost entirelyto black and white. W^e have, however, been
careful to preserve the relative values of the different tones.

Those who have seen Egyptian paintingsin the original,

or even

in the copies which hang upon the staircase of the Egyptian

museum in the Louvre, will be able to restore their true colours
to engravings without difficulty
our ; the flesh tints,light
or dark

accordingto circumstances,the blackness of the hair,the whiteness

of linen cloth and of the more brilliant colours,the reds and blues
which adorn certain parts of the draperiesand certain details of
furniture and jewellery, may all be easilydivined.
Our plates,though less numerous than we could have wished,
will help the reader to restore the absent colour. Plate II.,in the
first volume, gives a good idea of the scale of tints used in the
 The Figure. 341

paintedbas-reliefs of the temples; we have every reason to believe

it accurate.^ The platewhich faces page 334 is a faithful duction
repro-
of a fraofment in the Louvre. It comes from a Theban
tomb, and shows the elegance and refinement of the contours

which painterhad to fill up.

the The colour has faded, but the
most interesting pointin all these picturesis the outline,in which
alone real artistic talent and inv-entive power are displayed.
Finally, our Plates III. and IV., drawn and coloured from notes
and sketches made upon the spot by M. Bourgoin,represent the

polychromaticdecoration of the Ancient Empire as it was left by

those who decorated the tomb of Ptah-hotep. In this case at least

we know that we possess the true value of the tones brought

togetherby the artist,for the mastaba in is
question one of those
which the desert sands have most completelypreserved.

The Figure.

In the mastabas colours areappliedto figuresin relief. It is

not tillwe reach the first Theban Empire, in the tombs at Beni-
Hassan, that we find real paintingsin which the brush alone has
been used.

Fig. 265 "

Paintingat Beni-Has.=an. Champollicn, pi. 374.

We have already described the style and character of the

paintingsat Beni- Hassan. In most cases the outlines prepared

for the painterdo not differ from those meant for the sculptor.

1 The materials for this platewere borrowed from the de FEgypte.

Description In

the complete copiesof that work the

plateswere coloured by hand, with extreme
care, after those fine water-colours the
most important of which are now in the

Cabinet des Estampes of the Nationale.

Bibliotheque The colours thus appliedare
far nearer the truth than those of the chromo-lithographs in more modern

publications.
;42 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

We have already reproduced many works in outline in which

there is nothing to show whether they are paintingsor bas-reliefs.

Their execution is almost identical (seeFigs. 2, 5, 25, 98, 170,
Vol. I. ; Figs. 25, 26, 31, Vol, II). It is the same with the two

Fig. 266. "

Paintingat Bcui-IIaspan. ChampoUion, pi.371.

wrestlingscenes which we take from the frescos in which all the

gymnastic exercises then in vogue are repre.sented (Figs.265 and

266),and with the charming group formed by an antelope and
a man strokinghis muzzle (Fig. 267).

Fig. 267. "

Painting at Lcni-IIassan. Cliampollion,pi.359.

Even at Beni-Hassan, however, there are a few paintingsin

which the peculiarand characteristics of
distinguishing that art are

to be found. The group of singers and musicians figuredon

 The Figukk. 'A3

this page is an instance in point. Two of the heads are shown

in full face, a view which we hardly ever meet with in the bas-

reliefs. The hair and the draperiesare also treated in a fashion

Fig. 268. "

Paintingat Eeni-llassan. Champollion, pi. 377 tcr.

quite different from that of

at least in the
sculpture, case of the
two musicians on the right. Their twisted tresses seem to be
thrown into disorder by the energeticmovements of their heads,

,^

"-f=fr'

iMLMf^Slili
I'lG. 269. "

Paintingat Thebes. From Horeau.

which they seem to sway in time to the music of the flute,which is

also marked by the hands of two members of the party. The deep
shadows cast by their hair give a strong relief to the oval contours
144 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

of the two faces which look out of the picture. The execution of
the drapery is governed by the same idea, its numerous small folds

are suggested by lines at slightintervals.

In the whole series of Egyptian wall-paintings I know of nothing
which is more trulypictorial in character than this picture. A

=:r--^=i^jr""Trzir

Fig. 270. "

Paintingat Tiiebes. From Prisse.

carefulstudy of it might well lead us to believe that its painter

deliberately
set himself to cast off traditional methods, and to

obtain all the effect that the skilful give. But

use of colour can

the seed thus cast did not spring up. Theban paintingis not
advance that of Beni-Hassan. It hardly ever attempts
an upon
the full face. It is only here and there that we can point to
a work in which the brush seems to have dwelt upon a few details
 I'lG. 271. "

Harpist. From the Des'.ripu.

VOL. n. V ^-
 Tin; FicJURE. 347

that would be rendered in a more summary fashion by the chisel.

The mandore player in Fig. 270, who comes from the same

hypogeum at Abd-el-Gournah as the Amenophis III. upon the

knees goddess in Fig. 24, is one
of a of these rare instances.
The hair, plaitedinto narrow tresses and retained in place by

a long comb, is carried out with quite unusual care. The areolae
of the breasts are very clearly marked, a detail which Prisse says

he never met with elsewhere.^

I IG. 272. European prisoner. 1-IG. Head of the

"

273. "
same prisoner.
Frcm Champollion.

The slender
proportionswhich we have already noticed as
characteristic of this period are here stronglymarked. They are
also conspicuous in the figuresin Plate II. This is a funerary
scene. Three women stand before the defunct ; one hands the
cup for the libation,
the two others play upon the flute and the
harp respectively.
This fragment must have formed part of funerary scene
a

similar to that put before us in full by a paintingin one of the

tombs in the Valleyof Queens at Thebes. We there see women

^
Prisse, Histoirc de fArt Egyptien,text, p. 424.
 'A^ A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

with offeringsand others playing musical instruments,

upon
advancing towards the deceased, who has his
daughter upon his
knees and his wife seated righthand
at his (Fig.269).
The two often reproducedplayersupon the harp in the tomb of

Rameses III. {longcallQd Bruce s Tomb, after its discoverer)

belong
to the same class of representations(Fig.271). Robed in a long
black mantle, the musician abandons himself
entirely to his music.
The draughtsmanship of the arms is
faulty, but the pose of the

figureis natural and life-like. The harp is very richlyornamented ;

Pig. 274. "

Ethiopian prisoner. Tig. 275. " Head of the same prisoner.

Champollion, pi.932.

its base terminates in a royal head risingfrom a circlet of ample

necklaces. The wood seems to be inlaid with colour.

Among the interesting

most of the painted figuresin the royal
tombs are the prisoners of war and other representations of foreign

and conquered races. We reproduce two of these figuresfrom the

tomb of Seti I. In order that the care expended by the artist
both on the costumes and upon the peculiarcharacteristics of the

physiognomies may be appreciated, we have given their figures

at full length, and also their heads upon a larger scale.
The first of these two prisonersmust have been a European,
 Tin. Fi(iLRi:. 349

accordingto Champollion. His white skin, his straightnose, and

the tattooing upon his arms all help to prove this (Figs.272 and

273). He is dressed in a long robe, bordered with a rich fringe

and covered with ornaments. This robe is held up by a large
knot over the left shoulder, but it leaves one half of his body with-
out

a covering. His profileis very curious ; the nose is largeand

Fig. 276.
"

Winged vol.
figure. Desctiplicn. ii. pi.92.

aquiline,his beard curled and wavy, and down by his right ear
hangs one of those side locks which were, in Egypt, the peculiar
property of infancy. Long tresses hanging down on each side of
the brow, and two fringe-likebands passing round the head
complete this strange head-dress.
The individual in the second figureappears to be an Ethiopian
OO O A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

(Pigs. 274 and

275). His costume comparativelysimple. It
is
consists of a pairof drawers kept in place by a wide band like a
baldrick,which is passed over the left shoulder and tied round the
loins. The end of this baldrick hangs down between the legs; it
is decorated with rosettes and

edged with a band upon which

circular ornaments are scattered.

The almost negro features are

similar to those represented in

the bas-relief at the Ramesseum
which isreproduced in Fig. 221.
The shape of the head-dress,
too, is
similar. The artist has had some

difficulty with the woolly hair,

and has attempted to render its

appearance by a series of knots

strung together. In this part of
the picture, as in Fig. 273, there

is some conventionality, but in

the outline of the figure and

especially of the face,we find the
characteristic genius of Egyptian

art, the power to create types

which are at once life-like and

general,to epitomize all those

attributes which constitute a

speciesand allow it to be defined.

The scenes representedupon
the walls of the tomb may be

divided into two groups : those

which are more or less historical,
and those which
purely are

Fig
religious or mystical.Among tke
277.
"

Winged figure,
vol. ii. pi.87. latter the figures of winged g^-

desses, of Isis and Nephthys, are

frequendy encountered. They are either seated or standing,
carved upon the sarcophagior painted upon the wooden mummy
cases. One wing is always raised,the other lowered (Figs.276
and 277). The artists of other Oriental races, and even of the
Greeks themselves, loved to endow the figures of men and
 Caricature. 351

animals with
wings. Egypt was the first to carry out this idea,

and the winged figures which had a definite meaning when used

in the tombs, came at last to be employed as mere decoration upon

the industrial productswhich she exportedthrough the Phoenicians.

Fig. 277 comes from a royal tomb, and it shows how these

winsed o-oddesses were sometimes combined with motives, which

were either purely decorative easily used tor decorative
or

purposes. Like sphinxes and griffins, these composite forms

amused the eye and were soon seized upon by the ornamentist,
while their wings, which could be either closed or expanded,
were useful for covering large spaces and helping to "furnish"
the decoration.

^ 3. Caricature.

We have shown the artists of ancient Egypt making naive and

sincere transcripts of reality

; we have shown them, in their religious
and historical scenes, inventingmotives, creatingtypes, and even
aspiringto the ideal ; we have yet to show that the^^understood
fun and could enjoy a laugh. Without this last qualitytljeirart
would hardly be complete. In the royaltombs at Thebes we find
a lion and a donkey singing to their own accompaniment on the
harp and lyrerespectively.^This particular bent of the Egyptian

artist is seen at its best, however, in a group of remains which are

called the SatiricalPapyri,and apparentlydate from the nineteenth

dynasty. The Egyptians, like the Greeks after them, seem to

have understood that sculptureproperly speaking, the art that

produces figuresof large size from such materials as bronze and

marble, does not lend itself to the provocationof laughterby the
voluntary production of ugliness and deformity. They also
perceived that such subjectswere equally ill-adaptedfor wall
paintings, whether in tombs or palaces. Among them, as among
the Greeks, the grotesque was only allowed to appear where the
forms were both very much smaller than life and considerably
generalized. The designs traced with a lightand airyhand upon
such papyri as that of which the Turin Museum possesses an

importantfragment are examples of this treatment.

The drawings in this papyrus are not caricatures as we now

understand the word. Caricature is an exaggerated portrait

; it
^
John Kenrick, Ancient Egxpi itndn- the Pharaohs, vol. i. pp. 269. 270.
 :52 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

founds itself upon realitywhile turning it into ridicule by the

accentuation of its most laughable features. But the drawings in
this manuscript are inspiredby the same ideas and the same

intellectual bent as our modern caricatures. They respond to

the universal taste of mankind for the mental relaxation afforded

by parody, for the relief from the serious business of life which is

to be found in comedy and burlesque. Ancient Egypt was a

merry country. Its inhabitants were as pleased as children over

the simplest and most homely jokes; jests,fantastic tales,and
fables in which animals acted like men and women, were as

popular with them as with their successors in civilisation. Their

comic artists were fond
especially of treatingscenes of this last
and
description, their works often remind us of those produced in

much later times for the illustration of /llsopor La Fontaine.

7 r\A\' "'

'^mm^'^

Fig. 27S." Battle of the Cats and Rats. From rrisse.

Prisse reproduces the most interestingpart of the Turin

papyrus, and we have copied a fragment of his plate(Fig.278).
"
In the first group, four animals "
an ass, a lion,a crocodile,and a

monkey" make up a quartette, playing on such musical ments

instru-

as were then in fashion. Next comes an ass dressed,

armed, and sceptredlike a Pharaoh ; with a majesticswagger he
receives the offeringsbrought to him by a cat of high degree,to

whom a bull is proud to act as conductor. At the side a corn

uni-

seems to threaten a kneelingcat with its harp The

scenes drawn below, and on a smaller scale,are no more coherent

than these. In the first place we see a Hock of geese in open

rebellion againstits conductors " three cats, one of whom has

fallen under the blows of the angry birds. Next we come to a

 Caricature. 353

sycamore in which anhippopotamus is perched ; a hawk has

climbed into the tree by means of a ladder and proceeds to

dislodgehim ; finally,we have a fortress defended by an army of
cats, w'ho are without other arms than their claws and teeth,
againsta stormingparty of rats provided with arms offensive and
defensive,and led by one of their own who
species, is mounted on

a chariot drawn by two greyhounds.

"'
The artist's idea " at least in the lower
part of the picture "

seems to have been to paintthe cats defeated by the animals upon

which they prey. It is the world turned upside down, or if the

paintermust be credited with a deeper meaning, it is the revolt

^
of the oppressedagainstthe oppressor."
The lower part of the platecontains a scene of the same kind
taken from a papyrus in the British Museum. A flock of geese
are being driven along by a cat, and a herd of goats by two
wolves with crook and wallet ; one of the wolves is playingon
the double flute. At the other end there is a lion playingdraughts
with an antelope.
One of the tombs has upon its walls pictureof a humble
a

and timid cat attempting to propitiatea lion by the oft'ering

of a goose.
-

In the opinionof some these scenes are satires upon royalty

and religion. This is an evident exaofo^eration. We have no

reason to suppose that the

Egyptian intellect ever arrived at the
maturity required for scepticism. Neither the authority of
Pharaoh nor that of the priestsseems to have ever been called
in question. But although their anger was not stirred by the

government of the world, they could find something to laugh at in

it. In the cat presentedto an ass we cannot fail to see a parody

of Pharaoh receivingthe homage of some vanquished enemy.

Still more personalis the cat oftering a goose to a lion. The cat
can only be that unlucky fellah who, in the Egypt of the Pharaohs
as in that of the Khedives, has never succeeded in keeping clear
of the bastinado and the corvde except by giving presents to the
sheikh of his village or the niudir of the neiehbourine town. In

layingthis scene upon the wall the artist was writinga page of his
own biographyand of the historyof all the people about him.
He revenged himself in his own way upon the greedy functionary
1
Prisse, Histoirc de F Art Egyptieiutext, pp. 143, 143.
-
Ibid. p. 144.

VOL. II. Z Z
354 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

to whom he had been compelled to offer the of

fatlings his own

farm-yard.

Fk". 279. "The soles of a pair of sandals. From Cliampollioa.

Traces of this mocking spiritare to be found in other ductions

pro-
of Egyptian art. Thus the soles of those leathern or

wooden sandals which have come down to our times often present

Figs. 280, 28 1. " The god Bes. From the Louvre. Actual size.

a group of two prisoners,the one a negro, and the other a native,

perhaps,of Libya or Syria. There can be no mistake as to the
 Ornament. ODD

intentions of the artist. The Egyptian seems to have enjoyed a

laugh at the expense of his Not content with
trembHng enemies.
thus treadingupon them at every step he took, he added insult to

injuryby making them grotesque (Fig.279).

The same spiritmay be recognized in those figuresof Bes
which are so numerous in our museums. It was by mere

exaesreration of certain not uncommon features that the fio^ure of

this paunchy dwarf was arrived
grin,beady eyes, at. His animal

flat nose, and pendent tongue, his short legs and

thick lips, salient

buttocks, make up a sufficientlydroll personality (Figs.2 So and

281). The comic intention is ver}* marked in a compositionrepro- duced
by Prisse, in which a person of proportionsrather less
curtailed than those of the ordinar)- Bes, but endowed with the
features,the head-dress, and the lion-like tail of that god, is shown
playingupon a cithara.^
These productions were not always decent. The Turin

papyrus contains a long priapicscene.

^ 4. Ornavicnt.

In the painted decorations with which the

Egyptians covered
every available surface, the figureplayed a more important part
than in the case of any other people. But yet the multiplication
of historical, and
religious, domestic scenes, the countless groups
of gods, men, and
animals, the lower had their limits. However

great their development might be, these traditional themes could

only supply a certain number of scenes, which required,more-

over,

to be framed. Again, there were certain surfaces upon

which the Egyptians did not, as a rule, place figures, either
because they would be seen with difficulty,or, as in the case of

ceilings, because taste warned them that it would be better to

treat such a surface in some other fashion. Between the loftv
roofs of the
hypostylehalls and the sky which covers our heads
the Egyptian decorator established a relationship which readilv
commends itself to the mind. The ceilingsof the temples at
Thebes had generallya blue ground, upon which vultures with
their great wings outspread,floated golden stars (Figs.
among
192 and 282).
'
Prisse, Histoire dc f E^^yptc.
text. p. 146.
356 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Side by side with the which

paintings deal with Hving form we

find those painted ornaments which cover with their varied tints
all the surfaces which are not occupiedby the figure.This system
of ornament went througha continual process of enrichment and

complication. Its appearance in the earlycenturies is well shown

in our two Plates, III. and IV. ; the first shows the upper, the
second the lower part of the western wall in the tomb of Ptah-

hotep at Sakkarah. They confirm the ideas of Semper as to the

originof ornament.^ That writer was the first to show that the
basket-maker, the weaver, and the potter, originatedby the mere

play of their busy hands and implements those combinations of

line and colour which the ornamentist turned to his own use when
he had to decorate walls,cornices, and ceilings.The industries
we have named are older
certainly than the art of decoration,and

^f^w^T^ ^n^ ^- jKc=-jn"r^^^sg

J'lG. 282. "

Vultures on a ceiling.

the forms used by the latter can hardlyhave been transferred from
it to mats, woven and earthen vessels.
stuffs, In the with
regularity
which the lines and colours of earlydecoration are repeated it is

to recognizethe enforced arrangement of rushes, reeds, and

easy
flaxen threads, while chevrons and concentric circles are the
obvious descendants of the marks traced by the fingeror rude

implement of the potter upon the soft clay.

In these examples the intentions of the decorator are easily
grasped. He has begun with a ground of rush- work, like that

which is also found in the tomb of Ti.- In the compartments

^
Semper Der
(G.), Stilin den Technischen und Tektonischen Kmisiefi,
oder Praktische

Aisthetik. Munich, 1860-3,2 vols. 8vo, with 22 plates,

some coloured, and numerous

in
engravings the text.
^
Prissk, Histoire de rA?i Egyptien.text, p. 418.
 B " B B

b\"
B B B
B B B E
B B B B
B B B_E
B B B
B B B
B B B
B B
B B B B
B B B .

B B B B
B B B E
B B B B
~

B B E
B B B
B B B E
B B B
B B B E
B B B B
B Q B E

rso-jrgom ae.
 Ornament. 357

between the vertical bars he has imitated the appearance of mat

walls, and of windows closed by the same contrivances (see

Fig. 165). As if to prevent mistakes, he has been careful to

introduce the cords, rings,and lath, by which the lower ends

of the mats are kept in place. The design of the ornament is

quite similar to those produced to this day by the basket or

mat-

maker. They are squares, lozenges, and chevrons. In the middle

of the lozengeswe find littlecrosses or circles of a different colour,

which help to lightenthe effect. Each mat has a red border at

its lower end, which forms a satisfactory tailpiece, and unites it

with the straightlath. There are narrow grooves between the
mats in which the chains for drawing the latter up and down seem

to be imitated. In any case, this latter detail is 'copiedfrom the

productionsof one of the oldest of civilized industries " that of the

blacksmith.

\-^-'\\ \ \
v^:-\^^

^\Ai.

Figs. 283, 284. " Details from the tomb of Ptah-hotep.

Six colours are used in this decoration : black,white, red, yellow,

green, and blue. The result is sober, well-balanced, and by no

means without harmony.

tomb find this for literal
In other parts of the same we taste

imitation another theme. As interpretedby the

applied to

ornamentist, lotus and papyrus were sure in time to put on

conventional forms, but here those vegetablesfound are duced

repro-
with a feelinpffor truth that could not be excelled by a

modern flower painter (Fig.283).^ In Fig. 284 a bird among

the lotus-stalks is in the grasp of a human hand.

'
Du-MISCHEV, Resultate der Expfdition.
Archdolo^^isch-pliofo^raphischcn Berlin,

1869, folio, part i. plate8.

35" A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The ornamentist also borrowed motives from those robes and

carpets of varied colour, which are preserved for us in the

paintings(see Fig. 285). But with time and experience his

hand became more skilful,his imaginationmore active,and he
was no longer contented to convey his ideas wholesale, from
nature on the one hand, and on the other from those humble
arts which jBourish even in the earliest ages of every civilized

society. He learnt to create designsfor himself "

designs which
can certainly
not be traced to the mats and tissues which formed
his first models. Our Figure
286 will give some idea of the

variety of motives to be found

upon the panels and ceilingsof

the tombs and other buildingsat
Thebes. The chess-board pattern
which was so much used during
the Ancient
Empire, is found
here also ; but by its side ap-
pear
patterns composed of frets,
meandering lines, and rosettes.
Below these, again,are designsin
which lines twist themselves into

volutes and spirals,

crossing each
other and enclosinglotus flowers,
rosettes, and forms like the shafts
of columns. The flowers are in

no way imitative ; their motives

have been suggested, not plied,
sup-
by nature. The papyrus
Fig. 2S5. "
Carpet hung across a pavilion.
may have given the first idea for

designs,while the sixth of these

in the last we find a motive which afterwards played an important
part in Greek and Roman ornament namely, the skull of an ox. "

The two specimens of this last-named motive given by Prisse,are

taken from tombs of the eighteenthand twentieth dynasties.'
These tombs and the mummy cases they contain are often
decorated with symbolic ornament, as well as with geometrical
designsand those suggested by the national flora. The ments
compart-
of ceilingdecorations have scarabs in their centres, and

'
Prisse, Ilistoire de r Art Ei^xpiioi.
text, p. 369.
Fig. 283. "
Specimens of ceilingdecoiaticns. From Pnsse.
 i^XiOOOOOOOOOOOOC i^mAmm^mmmlbmam

\9SSSff^

"

"

"

"P"^^
^"^^^^^

"

to

^r^main^m
^^
 Ornament. ;6i

upon the mummy cases substituted for the

it is
occasionally
urseus-crowned disk in the centre of a huge pair of extended

wings. Beneath of Isis or Nephthys, the guardians of

it,figures

Fig. 287.
"
Paintingon a
mummy ca?e. vol.
Description, ii. pi.58.

the tomb, are found (Fig.287). The effect is similar to that of

the winged globeswhich are found upon cornices. In the latter
the disk which represents the sun is red, and stands boldlyout
from the green of the two wings. The latter,
again,are relieved

(' I
,
II II \ I
IIK'llllli
'i'Kf
iil'lil]
II II l',\|ilil"|il|lJtiT,lii

Fig. 288. "

Winged globe. From Prisse.

againsta stripedground,on which bands of red,blue, and white

are laid Thanks
alternatively. to the happy choice of these
colours,the result is excellent from a decorative point of view,
VOL. II. 3 A
vD
62 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

and that in spiteof its continual and

repetition the simplicity
of
its lines.

Among the originalmotives to be found in these paintings,

there is yet another which deserves to be named for its uncommon
character, we mean those tables for offeringswhich are shown
loaded with vases and
objectsof a like nature. other
As if to
mark the importanceof the funerarygifts, the stems of these
tables are made so lofty that they rise high above two trees,
apparently cypresses, which grew right and left of their feet
(Figs.289 and 290).
The Egyptians made use of the afterwards common decorative
motive of alternate buds and open blooms of lotus,but they

entirely failed to give it the lightnessand elegancewith which it

was endowed by the Greeks. Their buds were poor and meagre,
their flowers heavy, and the generaldesignnot without stiffness.^
The colours are often well least in parts, and, as
preserved,at
one combination^is repeatedseveral times,it is easy to restore the

missingparts by reference to those which are intact. The gilding,

however, has disappeared, and left hardly a trace behind. Gold
was used pretty generally in order to give warmth and brightness.
The obelisks,those of Hatasu for instance,were gilded upon all
four faces ; the winged globe was sometimes gilded,^and so
were the bronze plateswith which the temple doors were covered.
The important part played by the gilders, some of whose books
of gold have come down to our time,^ is chieflyknown to us

by the inscriptions.Their employment may also be divined here

and there by the fashion in which the stone has been prepared,
sometimes by the peculiarcolour effects in certain parts of the
bas-reliefs.
In some tombs gold is found in Its pure state. During the
excavations at the Serapeum, Mariette opened the tomb of Ka-

em-nas, a son of Rameses II. When the mummy chamber was

entered, the lower parts of the walls and of the mummy cases

shone with gold in the candle-light.The floor was strewn with

of the same metal,and as many as four books of gold leaf
scraps

1
Lepsius, De7ikma:Ier, part iii.plate 62. Prisse, Histoire de V Art Egyptie?!,
atlas,platelettered Frises Fleiironnces.
2 vol.
Antiquitcs^
Description^ ii.p. 533.
2 There is one of these books in the Louvre {SalleFtineraire,
case Z) ; the gold
leaf which it contains differs from that now in use only in its greater thickness.
 Ornament. 3^3

were found in the tomb. Mariette was then in want of funds, and
in order that the excavations might proceed, he obtained authority
from the French consul to sell this gold, to which of course, no

scientific interest was attached. The thick gold mask of the

prince and the fine jewelry which adorned his mummy are now

in the Louvre.

The mummy's toe-nails, bracelets, and lips, and the linen

mask over its face, were often gilt. The feet are sometimes
very
entirely gilt. So too is the shroud. Those of princes and great
are sometimes covered with gold from head to foot.
personages

"^ATfrfTcmrifft. -
-

Figs. 289, 290. "

Tables for offerings ; from the paintings in a royal tomb.

The Egyptian artisans understood these delicate operations at a

very early date. Even in the tombs at Beni-Hassan we find the

process of gold-beating illustrated in full. We need hardly say

that a decorative industry which disposed of such complete
resources, thoroughly understood what we call graining, the
imitation of the veins and textures of wood, and also those of the
different kinds of granite, upon other substances. In more than

one instance we find the commoner kinds of stone thus made to

look like rarer and more costly materials.

 CHAPTER V.

THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

" I. Definition and Charactej^istics of Industrial Art,

The expression, industrial art, has sometimes been severely

criticised, but yet it answers to a real distinction founded the
upon

nature of things, and we do not see that it could be dispensed

with. When the artist sets about making a statue or a picture his

only aim is to produce a fine work. He does not take zttility,in

the unphilosophic sense of the word, into account. The task

which he sets before himself is to discover some form which shall

truly interpret his own individual thoughts and feelings. This

done, his end is accomplished. The resulting work of art is self-

contained and self-sufficient. Its raison d'etre is to satisfy one of

the deepest and most persistent desires of the human mind, the

cesthetic sentiment, or instinct for the beatttiful.

In the industrial arts it is different. When a cabinet-maker or

sets to work to produce chair, his first

a potter an easy or a vase,

idea is to make a
chair in which one
sit comfortably, or a
may

vessel to v^^hich liquids be safely entrusted and from v/hich

may

they be easily poured. At first, the artisan does not look

may

beyond fulfilling these wants, but a time comes,

and comes very

when he feels impelled to ornament the furniture or pottery

soon,

which he is at work. He is no longer content to turn out

upon

that which is merely useful he wishes everything that comes from

;

his hands to be rich and beautiful also. He begins by adding

ornament made of dots and geometrical lines ;
this he soon
up
follows with forms borrowed from organic life, with leaves and
up

flowers, with figures of men and animals and from an artisan he

;

springs at once to be an artist. But his productions are strictly

works of industrial art, and although they may
deserve a high
 Definition and Characteristics of Industrial Art. 365

placein rightof beauty,that beauty is only in some

their sort an

excrescence, it does not affect the primary objectof the matters to

which it is applied,although it may greatlyincrease their value

and interest.
In view of this definition, be that
asserted^ architecture
^tjnay
itself is one of the industrial,
arts^ The first duty_ofthe structor
con-

is to make his buildingwell fitted for jhe object it has

to serve. The house must afford a proper shelter for its in-
habitant

the tomb must preserve the corpse entrusted to it

from all chance

profanation, the temple must
of shield the statue

or the symbol of the god from curious glances,and afford con- venient

space for ritual celebrations. These requirements may

be fulfilled by edifices which have no pretensionsto beauty.
With a roof and a certain number of naked walls, it is always
possible
to cover and enclose a given space, and to divide it

into as portionsas may be desired. Such a process has

many
nothing in common with art. Art steps in when the builder

attempts to endow his work with that symmetry which does not

exclude variety, with nobility of proportion, and with the charm

of a decoration in which both painter and sculptorplay their
parts. The constructor then gives place to the architect. The
latter,of course, always keeps the practical end in view, but it
is not his sole preoccupation. The house, as he builds it,has
to respond to all the wants, intellectual as well as corporeal,of
civilized man ; the tomb must embody his ideas of death and a
future life ; the maofnificentdimensions and the goro^eous decora-
tions of the
temple must give expression to the inexpressible,
must symbolizethe divine majesty to the eyes of men, and help
to make it comprehensibleby the crowds that come to sacrifice
and pray.
In all this, the role played by art is so preponderant that it
would be unjust to class architecture among the industrial arts.

The ambition of those who

temple of i\men, at Karnak, built the
or that of Athene, on the Acropolis,was to produce a work
which should give faithful.expression_to the highestthoughts
which the human mind can conceive. In one sense, ture
architec-
ma)r be called"tTie first~of the 'arts. In those great positions
com-

whose remains we study with such reverence, whose

arrangements we endeavour with such care to re-establish,it

was the architect who determined what part the painterand the
366 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

sculptorshould take in the work, who laid out for them the

spaces they were called upon to fill.

Although we shall not include architecture among the trial
indus-

arts, the distinction which we have established loses none

of its practicalimportance. We must acknowledge, however,

that there are certain classes of objectswhich lie upon the border-
line
between the two categories,
so that we have some difficulty
in deciding whether they belong to fine or to industrial art.

The work of some Cellini of ancient times, or of our own day,

may be classed,for instance, by its general form and ostensible

use, among the more or less utilitarian productionsof the smith

gold-
or silversmith ; but, on the other hand, it may be adorned
with figuresexecuted in such a fashion that we are tempted
to place it among works of sculpture. Rigorous and inflexible
definitions have, in fact, to be confined to the exact sciences,
such as geometry. In the complexity of life,definitions and

classifications can only be adhered to with a reservation. They

help the historian to find his way amid the infinite diversityof
phenomena, but he is the acknowledge that
first to they are far
from having an absolute value. They must be taken for what

they are worth, simply as methods of exposition,as tions

approxima-
which are useful and convenient, though more or less

imperfect.
We have no intention of writing a historyof Egyptian in- dustry.

We refer those who require an account of it to the

voluminous work of Sir Gardner Wilkinson, where they will

find abundant details upon the trades of Egypt and the materials
which they employed. We shall be content with selecting a few

examples from the chief industries upon which the wealth of

Egypt depended, in order to show how her artisans,like those

of Greece, soueht to eive a certain amount of artistic value to

objectthat left their hands. Forms and motives which we

every
have encountered in the higher branches of art are there again to
be found. When civilization is in its first and
infancy, the plastic
instinct juststruggling it is from
into life, those handicrafts which

be called elementaryor primitivethat art borrows its first

may
combinations of line and colour. But afterwards, when art has

developed itself and created a styleexpressiveof the national

is reversed, and the handicraftsman borrows

genius,the process
in turn from the artist. In our modern societythe use of
 Glass and Pottery. 367

machines and the division of labour have put a great gulfbetween

the workman and the
Among the ancients
artist. it was very
different. The workman was responsiblefor his work from in- ception

to completion, and he expended upon it all the inventive-

ness,

taste, and skill, that he possessed. He was not the slave of

a machine turningout thousands of repetitions of a singleobject

with inflexible regularity. Every day he introduced, almost
without knowing it, some variation upon his work of the day
before ; his labour was a perpetualimprovisation. Under such
conditions it is difficult to say where the artist began and where
the handicraftsman left off. In spiteof the richness and subtlety
of their idioms, the classic lanofuao-eswere unable to mark this
distinction. In Greek, as in Latin, there was but singleterm
a

for two which

positions seem to us by no means equal in dignity.

" 2. Glass and Pottery.

The is,perhaps,the
potter's oldest of all the crafts. Among the
relics of the cave-men and lake-dwellers of the West, the remains
of rough pottery, shaped by the hand and dried either by the sun
or in the neighbourhood of the domestic hearth, have been found.
The Egypt of the earliest dynastieswas already more advanced
than this. The vases found in the mastabas show by their
symmetricalshapes that the potter's wheel was alreadyin use, and
by their quality,that, althoughthe Egyptians were content to

dry their bricks in the sun, they fired their pottery in kilns and
thoroughlyunderstood the process.^
Egypt afforded an abundant supply of excellent potter'searth,
and her inhabitants, like those of ancient Greece and Italy,
employed terra-cotta for purposes to which we should now apply
glass,wood, or metal. A good idea of the varied uses to which
the material was put may be obtained from the early chapters
of the work in which Dr. Birch has traced the historyof ancient

pottery, with the help of numerous illustrations.-

We shall not dwell upon common earthenware. It is represented
^
The oldest representation
of the potter'swheel yet discovered is in one of the
paintings at Beni-Hassan. It is reproduced in Birch's Ancient
Pottery,p. 14.
-
S. Birch, A History of Ancient Pottery,Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Etruscan,
and Roman, i vol. 8vo, 1873. London, Murray.
368 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

by numerous vessels from the most ancient tombs Memphitein the

necropolis ; they are of a reddish or yellowishcolour,and, in spite

of the absence of all glaze,they hold water well.
perfectly Like
Greek vessels of the they have sometimes
same three ears
kind

or handles (Fig.291). Examples of coupled vessels,like those

found in Cyprus, have also been discovered. They communicate
with one another by a tube and are kept togetherby a common

Fig. Pitcher of red earth. British Museum.

291. "

handle (Fig.292). Of all the

representative specimens of earthen-
ware
from the mastabas given by Lepsius,there is but one which
does not seem to belong to the category of domestic pottery. It
is a kind of aryballus,and is gracefully ornamented with inter-
lacing
circles.^ In later times many of these unglazed vases were

decorated with the brush, but they were not remitted to the oven
^ The colour therefore without
after that operation. was lustre

or and
solidity, the designs were always very simple. To this
^
^
Lepsius, Denknuelcr, part ii.pi. 153. Birch, Ancieiit Pottery,
p. 37.
 Glass and Pottery. ;69

group belong the vases shaped in the form of men, women, or

animals, which are common enough in museums.^ Sometimes

a that of the
head, recalling god Bes, is sketched in low relief upon

a vase, and in a few instances a pair of small arms complete the

fanciful design(Fig.293).
kind of pottery, that known
Another as Egyptianp07relain, must

is inexact. The proper

be noticed in greater detail. This designation
name Egyptianfaience.It consists of white sand, gently
would be

fused,and overspreadwith a glazeof coloured enamel. This enamel

is composed of flint and soda, with the addition of a colouring

Fig. 292. " Red earthenware. British Museum.

matter. This faience has been fired with such care that it is able
to support the high temperature of a porcelainkiln without damage.
Vases of many different kinds, enamelled tiles,
statuettes (Fig.294),
sepulchral figurines(Figs.96 and 97, \"ol. I.),neck ornaments
and other articles for decoratingthe person, amulets (Fig.295),
scarabs,rings, a nd many other articles were made in this material.
Vases were generallyeither blue or applegreen. A very small
number of them were ornamented with figures of men or animals,
always treated in a purelydecorative fashion. No vase has yet
1
Birch, Ancient Pottery,
Figs.23 and 25.
VOL. 11. ^ B
 ,7o A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

been discovered with any attempt to portray an incident upon it.

The figuresare never subject. Bouquets of lotus

united by a

around some central motive are of most frequent occurrence

(Fig.296). Sometimes these flowers are combined with mystic

symbols, like the eyes in Fig. 297. These designs,which are

in black,are produced by inlayingcoloured enamel.
Two of the vases which we reproduce (Figs.296 and 297)
are similar to those shown in the in scenes
bas-reliefs, of libation

Fig. 293. "

Gray earthenware. Fig. 294. " The God Bes. Enamelled
Boulak. earthenware.

to the Qfods or to the dead. Their form is that of the Greek

and
j}id\'r) the Latin patera. Numerous bottles have also been

found generalshape exactlyresemble

whose that of the Greek

apv^aWos (Fig.298).
The blue with which these objects are covered has often

preserveda brilliance and transparency which could not even

now surpassed. Yellow, violet,and white glazes are

be also met

with, but less frequently.The hieroglyphs which many of them

bear prove that the manufacture of these little articles was in full
 Glass and Pottery. 371

swing under the three great Theban that

dynasties, it continued

through the Saite period,and that under the Ptolemies, and even

later still,
it was not extinct. To the same branch of industry
belongthose tiles of enamelled faience which seem to have been

Fig. 296. " Enamelled earthenware. British

Museum.

used by the Egyptians from very early times. They were also
used by the Assyrians,as we shall see hereafter. These tiles "

were used very extensivelyin eastern and southern countries,

and are found both in palacesand in privatedwellings.In the

Fig. 297. " Enamelled earthenware. British Museum.

towns of Turkey and of INIodern Egypt, in the towns and villages

of Algeria and of all the African coast as far as the Straits of
Gibraltar,thousands of examples are to be found. The freshness
which seems to result from their use and the enduring brilliancy
 72 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

of their colours make these tiles very popularwith the inhabitants

-^
of hot climates."
We do not know whether these tiles were used for the floors

and walls in the of

dwellings rich Egyptians or not, but it appears

certain that their manufacture early as

was understood even as

the Ancient Empire. The doorway of a chamber in the stepped

pyramid of Sakkarah is enframed with enamelled plaques. A

sketch of Perring's, which we reproduce,gives a good idea of
this arrangement (Fig. 299).^ Some of these plaques are now

in London, but a still largernumber are in the Berlin Museum,

Fig. 298." Enamelled faience. British Fig. 299. "

Doorway in the Stepped Pyramid

Museum. at Sakkarah.

where the
doorway as a whole has been restored, the missing
parts being replaced by copies. Our Figures 300 302 show "

the back, the front, and the profile, of a singleplaque. The

obverse is slightly convex, and covered with a greenish-blue glaze;
the reverse has a salient tenon which was held securelyby the
mortar. Through a small hole in this tenon a rod of wood or

metal may have passed which, by unitingall the plaques in each

horizontal row, would give additional solidity to the whole arrange-

1
Brongniart, Histoire Ceramique,vol. ii.p. 95.
de la
^ See also Lepsius, part ii.pi.2, and the Verzeiclmiss
DeiikmcBler, der yEgyptischen
AltertJiiiiitcrof the Ijcrlin IMuseum, 2879, p. 25.
 Glass and Pottery. 37

ment.' On the backs of several plaques there are marks which

seem to be rotation numbers. They are figuredin the centre of

sketch.
Perring's Other bricks from the same doorway are covered
with an almost black enamel. They form the horizontal mouldings
between the rows of uprightbricks,and are decorated with a sort

of arrow-head pattern.
This fashion endured throughoutthe Theban period. The
most important relic of it which we now possess is from the
decoration of a temple built by Rameses III. to the north-west
of Memphis, near the modern Tell-el-Yahoudeh, upon the railway
from Cairo to Ismailia. The buildingitself w^as constructed of
crude brick, the walls being lined with enamelled tiles. The

^^''^''^Wiipl

WMMM
Figs. 300 "

302. "
Enamelled plaque from the Stepped Pyramid.

royal ovals and titles were cut in the earth before it was fired,
and filled up with
afterwards an enamel so tinted as to stand

out in strong relief from the colour of the brick. Other tiles

represent African and Asiatic

prisoners. The figuresare in relief;
the enamel is parti-coloured, the hair of the prisonersbeing black,
their carnations yellowish-brown,and certain details of their
costume being accentuated by other hues. Dr. Birch reproduces
some of these paintedreliefs and compares them to the figurines

rustiqties of Bernard Palissy.^The principalfragments of this

1 We owe our ability
to givethese curious details to the kindness of M. Conze
and the ofificersof the Egyptian museum at Berlin. One of the original
fragments
brought home by Lepsius was lent to us.

-
Birch, Ancient Pottery,
p. 50.
374 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

decoration are in the store-rooms of the Boulak Museum. They

deserve more publicitythan they have received. Most of them

are purelydecorative in character and bear designs of which an

idea may be gained from three pieces of faience which are now
in the British Museum. Two have gracefulrosettes, while the
third is covered with a pattern resembling a spider'sweb
(Figs.303"305).^
Certain buildingsin Memphis seem to have been decorated
in the same thing brought by me
fashion. "
The most curious
from Mitrahineh," writes Jomard, "is a fragment of enamelled and

sculptured terra-cotta, which probably belonged to a wall lined

with that fine material. It is remarkable for the brilliant blue,
the blue of the which
lapis-lazuli, covers it The outlines

of the hieroglyphs
are as firm, and their edges as sharp as if they
were the work of a skilful carver, and had never been subjected

to the heat of a furnace. They are of blue stucco, inlaid into the

Figs. 303 "

305. " Enamelled earthenware plaques in the British Museum.

body of the enamel. I look upon this kind of decoration as

analogous to that of the Cairo divans, in which we see walls

covered with earthenware tiles which are painted with various
^ Now that attention
ornameaits and subjects." has been attracted
to this kind of decoration, traces of it will no doubt be found
at many other pointsof Ancient Egypt.^
^
I am told that a circular base, like that of a column of a table for offerings,
was

discovered in the same building. It is covered

entirely with this same faience.
2 vol.
Aiitiquitcs,
Descriptio7i^ v. p. 543, and Atlas, vol. v. plate 87, Fig.i.
^ The collection of M. Gustave Posno, which will,we hope, be soon absorbed
into that of the Louvre, contains many enamelled bricks from decorative compositions
like those in the
stepped pyramid and the temple of Rameses III. (Nos. 8, 9, 11,

20, 58, 59, 60, 61 of the Catalogue publishedat Cairo in 1874). One of these,
which has a yellow enamel, bears in relief the oval and the royal banner of Papi,
of the sixth dynasty. Another has the name Seti I. ; others those of Rameses III.
and Sheshonk. The reliefs upon which heads
prisoners' appear must have come

from Tell-el-Yahoudeh.
 Glass and Pottery. 375

These enamels were not always used upon stone or faience ;

theircharming varieties of tone are also found upon wooden

grounds. M. Maspero mentions as an example of this the

fragmentsof a mummy case in the Turin Museum. An inscription

upon the wood is surrounded by faience ornament of a very rich
colour. Mariette also mentions bronzes in which the remains of
enamel and oipietradtira inlaysare yet to be seen.^
Enamel is glass coloured by means of a metallic oxide and

spread thinlyover a surface,with which it is combined by means

of heat. The Egyptians must therefore have understood the
manufacture of glass at a very early date. It is representedin
the paintingsat Beni-Hassan.^ Workmen are shown crouched

by a fire and blowing glassbottles by means of a hollow cane,

exactly as they do to this day. This industry continued to

flourish in Egypt down to the Roman epoch. The glass

manufacturers of Alexandria told Strabo that Egypt possessed
a peculiarvitrifiable earth, without which the magnificentworks
in many-coloured glasscould not be executed.'^ It is generally
"
supposed that this earth "
was soda. The Venetians of the
middle ages imported the soda required for their glass-making
from Alexandria. It is said that Egyptian soda is the best
known. It comes from the ashes of a plant called by botanists
Alesevi Bryanthernum coptiaim.^
Vessels of Egyptian glass are to be found in most museums,
which recall those of Venice by their bands arid filletsof brilliant
colours. As for ordinaryglassit seems never to have been quite

transparent and colourless ; it was always tinged with green and

slightly opaque. It was upon their productionsin colour that the
fame of the Egyptian glass-makersdepended. They produced

vases, cups, paterse, goblets,beads and other ornaments for

necklaces and bracelets,amulets and everything else that the
material would allow, in prodigiousquantities, both for domestic
consumption and for exportation.At one time mummies were

covered with a kind of garment composed of multitudinous strings

of beads.
Statuettes,such as the two figuredbelow, were also made of

^
Mariette, Notice du Musee de Boulak. p. 69.
-

Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, vol. ii.p. 140.

3
Strabo, xvi. ch. ii. " 25.
"*
Prisse, History de C Art Egyptien^text, p. 313.
 76 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

glass. The largerof the two, which stillhas the hook, by which it
was suspended,in its head, is entirelycovered with parti-coloured
ornaments similar to those shown upon its right shoulder. Our
drauo^htsman at Boulak had no time to finish the drawing^ he had
begun, and we have
reproduced it in its actual condition rather
than omit it or have it completed in any degree conjecturally.
The details given afford a sufficiently
good idea of the motives

Fig. 307. -Glass statuette. Boulak.

-Glass statuette. Boulak.
Actual size.
Actual size.

ornamentation of the
employed by the Egyptian artist. The
is the
other figureis more simple (Fig.307), but the attitude
There colours the well modelled head
same. are two on very
the Iiitrodttction in first volume.
which acts as tail-piece
to our

The the eye and its

globeof contours stand out in black against
the yellow of the flesh. The wig is also black.

Nothing can have been more surprisingto the ancient traveller

who set foot upon the soil of Egypt for the first time, than the
 Metal-work and Jewelry. 377

vast number of these objectsin coloured glass and in green or

blue faience. They appeared everywhere; upon the walls of

buildingsand upon the persons of their inhabitants,upon every

article which helped to furnish tombs or temples, palaces or
privatehouses. Everythingshone with the brilliantcolours of this
enamel, whose unchanofinofbriofhtnesswas so o^rateful
to a southern

eye. It harmonized perfectionwith the whiteness of

to the fine
linen worn by the richer classes of Egyptians,and formed happy
combinations with the rich red and blue fringes which bordered
their robes and girdles. Enamel easilycleaned was much more

than cloth. When it was tarnished by dust or dirt,a few drops

of water would restore all its brightness. The lavish employment
of such a material doubtless did much to give the persons of the
Egyptians and their dwellingsthat neat and smilingaspect which
.so charmed foreisfnvisitors. Herodotus tells us that one of the
features which most stronglywarned the traveller that he was in

the presence of a very ancient and refined civilization,

was the
national passionfor a cleanliness that was almost too fastidious,for
fine linen constantlyrenewed, frequent ablutions,for the for

continual use of the razor. A nation dressed in spotlesswhite,

shaved, circumcised and continuallywashed, afforded a curious
contrast to shaggy barbarians clothed in wool that was dirty
with longf usao^e. Even in the time of Herodotus more than
one tribe of Greek mountaineers was stillin existence,that hardly
differed in habits and costume from those early ancestors of the
Hellenes w^ho, as Homer tells us,
"
sleptupon the bare ground
and never washed their feet."

" 3. Metal-work and Jewelry.

Egypt had, perhaps, her age of stone. MM. Hamy and

Francois Lenormant have called attention to the cut and polished
flints which have been found in Egypt, and INIariette brought a
whole series of them to the Universal Exhibition of 1878.
Mariette, however, was careful to remark that some of these flint
implements,exactlysimilar in appearance to those found in the

open air, were discovered in the tombs, among the mummies.^

^ De Galerie
Mariette, la de F Egypte Ancieiine a F Exposition Retrospective
du
Trocadero, 1878, pp. in, 112. Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the

Andent Egyptians, etc. vol. ii. p. 261.

VOL. ir. ^ C
3/8 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

These flint knives, therefore, are necessarilyanterior to the

not

commencement of Egyptian history,that is to say to the first

dynastiesmentioned by Manetho. Moreover, Herodotus tells us
that it was with a flint knife that the Egyptian embalmer made
his first incision upon the corpse entrusted to him.^ It would,
then, be difficult to distinguishbetween flint objects
prehistoric
and those which belong to the civilization whose remains we are

now studying,while our examination of the latter leads us quite

as deeply into the past as we desire to go.
Even under the earliest dynasties the Egyptians were workers.
metal-

Several bronze objectsare in existence which date at least from

the end of the Ancient Empire,^ and in the bas-reliefs of the
tomb of Ti, we see smiths directingthe flame, by means of long

tubes, upon the block of metal which they are forging(Fig.21,

Vol. I.). This is a kind of elementary blow-pipe, such as those
stillused by certain savage tribes.
The Egyptians began by making use of pure copper, which

they could obtain from Sinai and other mines within easy reach.
Various indications allow us to conclude that they were long
ignorantof the fact that by mixing it with a little tin its hardness
could be enormously increased.^ In any case, they had certainly
discovered the secret during the fifth,or, at latest,the sixth,
dynasty. As to where they found the tin, we can say nothing
positively.No deposit of that metal is known either in Egypt

or in the neighbouring countries. It may possiblyhave come

from India, passingthrough various hands on its way. In later

years the Phoenicians brought it from Spain and the southern

shores of Britain. The metal must then have become common

enough, and it was used in large quantitiesby the Egyptian

founders. Thus when the pavement of the room in the
north-western corner of the Temple of Rameses III. at Medinet-
Abou was raised,nearlya thousand bronze statues, all representing
Osiris,were found. The existence of this depositbears witness
to the Egyptian habit of the
sanctifying site of a new temple by
sowinsf it broad-cast with sacred imap"es.^

^
^
Herodotus, ii.86. See page 197.
^
See Birch, notes to Wilkinson's Matiners and Customs, vol. ii. p. 232, edition
of 1878.
*
Mariettk, Itineraii-e, p. 210.
 Metal-work and Jewelrv. 379

Bronze was employed for all kinds of domestic purposes. The

gracefulmirror-handle reproduced below (Fig. 308) is in the

Boulak Museum. So hair-pin(Fig. 309)
too, are the bronze
and the curiously designed dagger (Fig.310).
The analysisof various specimens of Egyptian bronze shows
that the proportionof tin which it contained was not constant. It

varies from about five to fifteen per cent.^ Traces of iron are

also found in it.

Fig. Bronze hair-pin. Fig. Bronze dagger.

Fig. 308." Mirror-handle. 309. "
310."

The date at which this last named metal was introduced into

the is still matter of dispute. Various facts

brought
country
togetherby Dr. Birch, lead us to think that the Egyptians were
the of the
acquaintedwith iron at least as soon as commencement

Theban but it would seem that they always made a

supremacy,-
o-reater use of bronze.
o

1
Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, etc. vol. ii. pp. 232 and 401.
-
Ibid. vol. ii.pp. 250, 251.
380 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

The signifies
word gold appears in the oldest inscriptions,
that
and in the picturesat Beni-Hassan contemporary with the twelfth

dynasty the whole process of making gold ornaments is

represented.^From that time onward the Egyptian Pharaohs

caused the veins of quartz in the mountains between the Nile

and the Red Sea they also obtained largesupplies

to be worked ;

of the preciousmetal from Ethiopia. Silver came from Asia. It

seems to have been rarer than gold, at least during the last
centuries of the monarchy. As Belzoni remarked, while gold is
lavished upon the mummies and upon all the sepulchral furniture

about them silver is only met with in exceptional cases.^ In 1878.

Mariette exhibited in Paris five massive patera-shaped silver

vases, which, from the style of their ornaments, he attributed to
the Saite epoch.
The finest specimens of Egyptian jewelry now extant belong
to the three great Theban dynasties. We may give as instances
the jewels of Queen Aah-hotep, which are among the most

precious treasures of the Boulak Museum,^ and those found in

the tomb of Kha-em-uas, son of Rameses II. These are in the

Louvre. The splendid breast ornament figuredon the opposite

of them. It is made and
of lapis-lazuli
page (Fig.311),is one

gold,and is thus described by M. Pierret : Jewel in the form

"

of a naos, in which a vulture and an urseus are placed side by

side ; above them floats a hawk with extended wings ; in his
claws are seals,the emblems of eternity. Under the frieze of

the naos an oval with the prenomen of Rameses II. is introduced.

frame." ^ These
Two tet are placed in the lower anglesof the

jewelswere They consist of a littlechapel

funeraryin character.
in the middle of which there is usually a scarab emblem of "

transformation and immortality adoring the goddesses Isis and "

Nephthys. They are called pectoralsbecause they were placed

the bosoms of the dead. Great numbers of them have been
upon
^
Wilkinson, Ma^inej-s and Ciistoms,vol. ii.pp. 233-237.
2
Belzoni, Narrative, etc. vol. i. p. 277.
"
Mariette, Notice dn Miisee de Boulak, Nos. 810-839. Coloured reproductions
of them are publishedin M. Cesar Daly's Revue de V Arcliiiecture,
a sequel to the
Monuments (published in i860) of M. Ernest
Histoire d'Egypte d'afrh les

Desjardins.
4 -la Salle Historiqtie,Louvre, No. This jewel is
Pierret, Catalogue de 521.

reproduced,with many others from the same tomb, in two fine coloured plates in
Mariette's unfinished work, Le Seraphim de Memphis. Folio, 1857.
 Metal-work and Jewelry 33 1
y
found in the tombs, in metal, in wood, and in earthenware ; few,
however, are as rich as that of Kha-em-uas. Each compartment
of the golden frame-work is filled in either with coloured glass
or with a pieceof some pietraduj'a with a rich hue of its own.

In the same case as this pectoralthere are two golden hawks

incrusted in the same fashion, which mav have belonged to a

Fig. 311. "

Pectoral. Actual fize. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

similar jewel. The larger of the two (Fig.312) has a ram's

head.^ There is a necklace about its throat, and in its talons it

grasps a pair of seals, the symbols of reproductionand eternity.

The same emblem is held by the smaller hawk (Fig.313),whose
form ^
wings a largecrescent.
1
PiERRET, Cataloguede la Salle Historique,
Louvre. Xo. 535.
-
Ibid. Xo. 534.
;82 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

Living forms are in

interpreted a less conventional fashion in the
little monuments which are known as (Fgides^
on account of their

Fig. 312." Golden Hawk. Actual size. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

shape. This may be by reference

seen to one acquired
recently
by the Louvre (Fig.314). The name of an Osorkhon of the

Fig 313. " Golden Hawk. Actual size. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

twenty-seconddynasty and that of Queen Ta-ti-bast are on the

back. At the top appears the lion-head of the goddess Sekhet,
 Metal-work and Jewelry. 38,

modelled and supportedon each

with great skill and freedom,
sideby the head of a hawk ; below these comes aplateof gold,
entirelycovered with fine engraving, A seated figure with
expanded wings forms a centre for numerous bands of ornament

in which the open flower of the lotus is combined with its buds
and circular leaves.
Necklaces are also very rich and various in design. Fig. 315 is
the restoration of one which exists in a dislocated state in one of
the cases of the Louvre. It is formed glassbeads in four
of

rows, below which hangs a row of pendants, probablycharms.

The tet, the god Bcs, the oudja or symboliceye, "c., are to be
distino-uished amone them.

Fig. 314. "

^-Egis. Lou\Te. Actual size. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier

The beautiful group of Osiris, I sis, and Horus deserves to

rank as a work of
sculpture(Fig.316). These little figuresare
of gold. Osiris is crouching between the other two deities on a
pedestalof lapis-
lazuli, which bears the name of Osorkhon II.
The inscriptionupon the base consists of a religious benediction
upon the same Pharaoh. These little figuresare finelyexecuted,
and the base which the stands is incrusted with
upon group
coloured glass.
We have already reproduced specimens of finger rings
(Figs.241 and 243),and the additional examples on page 3S7 will
help to show how varied were their form. Many of these litde
articles have moveable rotating stones which
or
upon figures
 584 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

or inscriptions
are engraved.
merely upon a Some have this
flattened or thickened part of
the ring, which, again, is some- times

double (Fig. 318). Ear-rings of many different forms

have been found ; they are ornamented with little figures in relief

(Figs.319 and 320).

Some writers have spoken of the cloisonne enamels of Egypt.
This expressionis inaccurate,as Mariette has observed.^ There
are certainly cloisons in many of the jewelsabove described such "

as the pectoral and the two hawks cloisons made up of thin ribs of "

silver or gold,but these compartments are not combined by firing

with the material used to fillthem. place Where the Chinese
enamel the Egyptians inserted fragments of
glass or of coloured
such stones as the amethyst, cornelion, lapis-lazuli, turquoise,
jasper,"c. The work was not passed through an oven after the
insertion of these colouringsubstances ; it was therefore rather a
mosaic than an enamel in the proper sense of the term. By an

analagous process bronze was damascened with gold and silver,

threads of these two metals being inserted in prepared grooves
and hammered Into place. Mariette has called attention to

several bronzes at Boulak thus Inlaid with gold,^and In the

Louvre there is a gracefullittle sphinx marked with the cartouche
of Smendes, which is damascened with silver.
TheEgyptians were also workers in ivory, which was

obtained in large quantitiesfrom Ethiopia. Sometimes they

were content with carvingIt (Fig.322),sometimes they engraved
upon it with the point and then filled in the design with black,
giving it a forcible relief (Fig.323). The ivory plaque from
Sakkarah reproduced in Fig. 321, deserves to be studied for its
technical method, although it dates from the Greek period. The
blacks shown in our woodcut are produced in the original by
filling up with mastic the hollows made with the point.
Famous sculptorswere especiallyfond of working In Ivory.
Irltesen speaks as follows upon a stele translated by M. Mas-

pero : "
"
Ah I there is no one who excels at this work except
myself and the eldest of my legitimate sons. God decided that

he should excel, and I have seen of his handiwork

the perfection

1
Mariette, Notice du Musee de Boulak, No. 388. Galerie dc VEgypte Ancienne

an Trocadero, pp. 114, 115.

-

Marie'itk, Notice du Muscc, Xos. 107, 108, 131.

VOL. II.
 Metal-work and Jewklrv. jo/

as an artist,as the chief of those who work in preciousstones, in

^
gold,silver,ivoryand ebony."

Fig. 316. "

Osiri",Isi",and Horus.

No traces of amber have been discovered in Egypt, and

tell
egyptologists us that no word for it is to be found in the
lancruacje.

Figs. 317, 318. "

Ring". Fcuvre. Fig?. 319, 320. "

Ear-rings. Lcuvre.

A complete idea of Egyptian jewelryand work in the precious

metals cannot be given without colour ; without its assistance the
brilliance,softened into completestharmony by the action of time,

1 Transactions of (he of
Society Biblical Arclucolcg}-,
v. part ii.1S77.
3^^ A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

which distinguishes the objectsof which we have now been

speaking, can only be guessed at. Our best advice to those
who wish to thoroughly appreciate their beauty, is to examine
them in the museums where they are exposed. But even in the
black and white of our draughtsman the excellent taste which
animated the Egyptian jewellermay be fairlyestimated. Other

races, the Greeks, for instance, gave more lightnessand a more

refined grace to their trinkets, but our familiarity with their

productionsdoes not prevent us from recognizingthe nobility

Fig, 321. "

Ivory Plaque. Boulak.

and amplitudeof these designs. Their originality, too, is strongly

brought out by their affinity to the style and decoration of the

great national buildings; we might almost be tempted to think

that their designs and colour compositions were supplied by
architects.
The same characteristics are to be recognizedon the vases
figuredin the royaltombs at Thebes.^ They are coloured yellow
1
See two platesof Prtsse entitled: "
Ar/ Indiistriel. Vases en Or Emaille ;
^'

Rhytons et aut?'es Vases.

 Metal-work and Jewelry. ;89

and blue, and both their form and tint forbid us to suppose that

Fig. 322." Ivorv Castanet. Lc

they were of any material but metal, of giltbronze or gold,or of

390 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

silver. Incrustations in enamel or (loXowx^A pietradura relieve the

monotony of the metal surface. Some of these pieces seem to

have been very large. Their decoration and design is rich and

complex. Flowers and half-openedbuds, lions' heads, masks of

Bes and of negroes, birds,sphinxes,etc., are introduced. We may

presume that such objectswere made for presentation to the gods

and in treasure-houses
preservation ; few of them could have been

put to any practical

use. The great men Egypt followed the
of

example of Pharaoh in enriching the temples. The stele of

Neb-oua, chief prophet of Osiris in the reign of Thothmes III.,

runs thus :
"
I have consecrated numerous giftsin the temple of
my father' Osiris ; in silver,in gold,in in copper,
lapis-lazuli, and in
^
all kinds of precious stones."

" 4. Woodwork.

The Egyptians made great use of wood. Under the Ancient

Empire it furnished the material lighter for all their

constructions,
to which, by the help of colour, great varietyand cheerfulness was
imparted. Even in those earlyages the cabinet-maker or joiner
endeavoured to make his work artistic. Various articles of
furniture had their feet carved into the shape of lions' paws, or the
hoofs of oxen.^ To judge from certain objectspreservedin
stone

the mastabas, wood, which was comparativelyeasy to work, must

have afforded the material for those skilfully-made and complex
piecesof furniture whose forms are preservedfor us by paintings
^
from the Theban
epoch.
In picturesthe labours of the carpenter (Fig.324),and
these
those of the cabinet-maker (Pig.325) are often represented. The
specimens of furniture in our modern museums are mostly of a
commonplace character,but they are interesting from the lightthey
throw upon the methods of the Egyptian joiners(Fig.326). The
richness and elaboration of Egyptian furniture under the great

^ Notice
Mariette, du Alusee, No. 93.
^
Lepsius, Denkmcekr, part ii. plates36 and 90.
"'
Among such objects is a table for libations,whicli was found in a tomb at

Sakkarah. It is supported by two lions, whose pendent tails are twisted round a

vase. Mariette, Notice du Aiusee, No. 93.

 Woodwork. 391

Theban dynastiescan only be estimated from the paintings. We

Fig. 323. "

Fragment of an Ivory Castanet. Louvre.

have alreadyseen that their musical instruments were elaborately

392 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

decorated ; the harp of the famous minstrel figuredon page 345

is entirelycovered with incrustations,and its foot is ornamented
with a bust of gracefuldesign. In this luxurious age the arts of

Fig. 324. " Workman splitting

a piece of wood. Gournah. From Champollion.

the cabinet-maker must have been carried to a great height. The

interior of an ancient Egyptian house must have been very
different from the bareness which greets a visitor to the modern

Fig. 325. "

Joinermaking a bed. From Champollion.

East. Chairs with or without arms, tables of varied form, folding

seats, brackets
foot-stools, supportingvases of flowers,cabinets in

which objectsof value were locked up, filled the rooms. The
 Woodwork. 393

classes of Egypt lived a life that was refined and elegantas

upper
well as civilized. A great lord of the time of a Thothmes or a

Rameses was not content, like a Turkish bey or pacha,with a

divan, a few carpets, and a mattress which, after being locked up

in a cupboard during the day, is spread upon the floor for his
accommodation at night. He had his bedstead, often inlaid with
metal or ivory,and, like a modern European, he had other articles
of furniture besides.
Several
picturesare extant in which Egyptian receptions "

Eg}-ptiansalons are represented. The "

company is not crouched

upon the earth,in the modern Oriental fashion. Both men and

women are seated upon chairs, some of which have cushioned

^
seats and backs.

^':

F.G. 326. " C' ffer for sejulchralstatuettes. Lou\Te.

The
elegance of these seats may be guessed from the two

examples on the next page, one from the tomb of Rameses III.

(Fig.327),the other from that of Chamhati (Fig.3-^)- They

are both roval chairs, or thrones. The smaller chair figfures
among a number of
thingspresentedby Chamhati to his master.
Pharaoh, and we need feel no surprise that among the supports of
both these piecesof furniture,those crouchingprisoners which came
be-
about this time such a common motive in Eg}ptian ornament,
are to be found. In the one example,they are incorporated with
the carved members which support the seat, in the other they are
inserted between the legs, which are shaped respectively like the
^
See the illustrationwhich Ebers calls A Receptionin Ancient Egypt. {JEgyptitt,
vol ii.p. 276.)
VOL. II. t E
394 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

fore and hind quarters of a lion. Each arm terminates in a lion's

head. A crowned, winged, and hawk-headed urseus, some lotus-
flowers,and a sphinx with a vanquished enemy beneath his paws,
are carved upon either side of the chair. The scheme of decoration
as a whole is a happy combination of sesthetic beauty with allusions
to the power and success of the king.
These elaborate piecesof furniture are only known to us by the
but
paintings, when we turn to articles of a less ambitious tion,
descrip-
such as toys and what are called 6im5eloterie in French, and,

Fig. 327. "

Chair. From the Description. IG. ^28.
"
Chair. From Prisse.

rather helplessly,"fancy articles" in English,we have many fine

specimens to turn to. Of these the most conspicuousare those
perfume spoons whose handles so often embody charming motives.
The more simple examples are ornamented merely with the buds
or open flowers of the lotus (Fig. 329). Others, however, have

beautifully carved figures. In Fig. 330 we see a young woman

picking a lotus bud. Several stalks crowned with open flowers

support the bowl, which is shaped like that of a modern spoon,

except that its narrow end is turned towards the handle. The
 Woodwork. (95

attitude and expressionof this little figureare very good. The

rightfoot,which ground by the

is thrust forward, only touches the

toes. The water in which she is about to step may hide sharp

flints or unkindly roots, and, with commendable prudence, she

begins by testingthe bottom. Her legs are bare, because she
has raised her garment well above the knee before descending

into the marsh. Her carefullyplaitedhair and her crimped

petticoatshow that her social condition is good.
Another spoon shows us a musician tween
be-

stems of papyrus. She stands upright

one of those boats which were used in
upon
the papyrus-brakes(Fig.331). Her instru-
ment

guitar.The musician
is a long-handled
herself seems to have been one of those

dancers and singers whose condition was

pretty much the same in ancient as in modern

Egypt. Her only garment is a short petticoat

knotted about her waist. The bowl of this

spoon is rectangular.
Another common motive is that of a girl
swimming. She is representedat the moment

when her stroke is complete; her upper and

lower limbs are stretched out to their full
extent so as to offer the least
possiblere-
sistance

to the water (Fig. 257). There is

a perfume-box in the Louvre which is sup-

ported
on a figurecontrastingstronglywith
the last described. The box is shaped like a

heavy sack,and is supported upon the right

shoulder of a slave, who bends beneath its
Fig. Perfume
weight. By the thick lips,flat nose, heavy Boulak.329.Draw by Bourgoin.
spoou. "

jaw, low forehead, and closely-shaven, sugar-

loaf head, we may recognizethis as yet another of those caricatures
of prisoners which we have alreadyencountered in such numbers.^
A perfume-box at Boulak should also be mentioned. It is in the

shape of a goose turningits head backwards. Its wings open and

Q-'ive
access to the hollow of the box.
This desire to ornament even the most insignificant
apparently
^
This figureis reproduced in Rayet's Monuments de V Art Atitiqiuand described
by M. Maspero. de Toilette
{Cuillers en Bois.)
196 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

objects of domestic use was universal. The sticks which are

Figs. Perfume Spoons. Louvre. Drawn by Saint-Elme Gautier.

330, 33[."

shown in the bas-reHefs in the hands of almost every Egyptian

 Woodwork. 397

of good social position,

were generallyprovided with a more or

less richly ornamented head. The simplest terminate in a

handle which appears to be modelled after the leaf of the lotus,as

it rises above the level of the water, and, before opening to the
full expansion,forms an obtuse anglewith the stalk which ports
sup-
(Fig.332).
it Other sticks of a similar shape have an eye
paintedupon them (Fig.333). Sometimes the handle
shaped is
like a lotus-flower surmounted by an oval knob (Fig. 334).
Wooden pins have been found with the head of a jackalor some
other animal carved upon them (Fig. 335).
Wooden articles were often entirelygilt. A Hathoric capital
in the Louvre (Fig.336) is an instance of this. The outlines
of the eyes and eyebrows stand out in black upon the dead gold
which covers the rest of this little monument.

Figs. 332" 334." Walking-stickhandles. Boulak.

The coffin-makers were large consumers of wood. Some

mummy cases were of that material,others of a very thick board

made of many
up layersof linen glued togetherwith such skill
and firmness that the resulting
substance had all the hardness and
resonance of wood. Cases of both kinds were covered with a thin
coat of plaster,
varnished, and decorated with designsin colour.
The thickness of the plastercoat easilyseen in the be
may
numerous cracks which these coffins display.
All the decorative motives which we find traced by the brush
or engraved by the chisel upon the walls of buildingsand upon
works in terra cotta, in metal, and in wood, must have been peated
re-

the stuffs of the those

upon woven
country, and upon
398 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

needle embroideries with which they were ornamented. There is

nothing in which the of Egyptian manufactures
superiority is
better shown than in linen cloth. Linen has been recovered from
the tombs which is as fine as the best Indian muslin. Some has
been found which feels like silk to the touch, and equalsthe best
French batiste in the perfectionof its weaving. We know from
the bas-reliefs and paintingsthat some Egyptian stuffs had the
transparency of gauze. Body-linenwas usuallyof a dazzling

U'

Fig, 335. " Wooden pin or pee

Fig. 336.
" jiathoric capital. Louvre.
Boulak.

white, but in some instances it was dyed red, and in others it had

borders made up of several bands of red indigo blue. The

and

designswere either woven in the stuff or appliedto it by a process

which effects not unlike those of our printed cottons.
gave
Golden threads were introduced into speciallyfine tissues. But

the great excellence of Egypt in such matters as these was in her

needle embroidery. Even during the epoch of Roman supremacy
after.^
her productionsof that kind were eagerlysought
^
Martial, Epigram /n a ta, xiv. 150. Lucan, X. v. 141,
 The Commerce of Egypt. 399

"5. The Commerce of Egypt.

When, under the great Theban Pharaohs, Egypt found herself

impelled,either by force or by inclination,to emerge from her

lone isolation, her vast internal commerce and her industrial

development must have had a greater effect over the foreigners

with whom she came into contact than
giganticbuildings,
or her
the colossal statues, bas-reliefs,and paintingswith which they
were adorned. During the Middle Empire she opened her gates
to some extent to certain tribes of Semites and Kushites, who
dwelt close to her frontier. After her conquest by the Hyksos,
and the establishment, some centuries later,of her own supremacy
in Syria,she never ceased to hold intercourse with her neighbours.
Her foreign relations were, however, peculiarin character.
During many centuries it never occurred to the worshipper of
Osiris that it was possible to live and die out of the sacred valley
of the Nile. Thrown by some accident outside those limits which
for him coincided with the frontiers of the habitable world, he
would have felt as helplessas a Parisian stranded upon some

cannibal island. later years,

In after about the seventeenth

century b.c. the separationbetween the Egyptians and the people

of Western Asia became less complete. The time arrived when
Babylon and Greece were in advance of Eg}^pt; but even then
the Egyptians shrank from changing their ancient habits. Their
well-beingin the valleywatered by their sacred river was too

complete, their pride of race was too great, to allow of their

minglingreadilywith those whom they looked upon as barbarians.
Still more effectual was their unwillingness,
their fear, to confide
their mortal bodies to any other soil but that of Egypt. There
alone could they count with certaintyupon the care and skill
which would preserve it from final destruction. Nowhere but
in the Western Mowitain could they be sure of receivingthe
necessary and homage.
offerings The gods who watched over

the mummy, who guided the soul in its subterranean and

voyage
shielded it during'the exposed
tests to which it was after death,
dwelt in
Egypt alone.
INIilitar)-
expeditionswere pushed into
Syria,and even as far as the Euphrates,but no Egyptian crossed
the Isthmus of Suez without longingfor the day of his return.
400 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

He brought back the phinder of his successful combats to the

crowded cities of his own country, with their countless monuments

and their memories of a glorious past ; he could enjoy life only

where the tombs of his ancestors and his own happy dwelling
marked the spot where he should repose when that life had

ceased.

By taste, then, the Egyptian was no traveller. But in time the

men of other nations came to seek him ; they came to buy from

him the countless wonders which had been created by his skilful

and patient industry. The Phoenician, especiallyafter the ning

begin-
of the eighteenth dynasty, took upon himself the useful office

of middle-man ; in later days, under the Psemetheks and their

successors, the Greek came to dispute that office with him. Like

the Portuguese and the Dutch in China and Japan, first the

Phoenicians and afterwards the lonians had their factories at

Memphis and in the cities of the Delta. Thanks to these adroit

and enterprisingmiddle-men, Egypt had a large foreign trade

without either ships,sailors,or merchant-adventurers. Upon this

point much valuable information has been obtained from the texts,

but the discoveries of modern archaeologyhave been still more

efficient in enabling us to form a true and vivid conception of the

trade carried on by the inhabitants of the Nile Valley.

Ever since attention was first drawn to the wide distribution of

such objects,not a year has passed without articles of Egyptian

manufacture being discovered at some distant point. Syria and

Phoenicia are full of them ; they have been found in Babylonia and

in Assyria,upon the coasts of Asia Minor, in Cyprus, in the islands

of the Grecian Archipelago, in Greece itself,in Etruria, in Latium,
in Corsica and Sardinia, in the neighbourhood of Carthage ; they
are, in fact, spread over all Western Asia and the whole basin of

the Mediterranean. At the moment when the Phoenicians began

to secure the monopoly of this trade the Egyptian workshops had

no rivals in the world ; and when, after many centuries, other

nations began to pour their manufactures into the same markets,
they had long to compete in vain against a prestige which had

been built up by ages of good work and well earned notoriety.

 CHAPTER VI.

THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN ART. AND THE PLACE

OF EGYPT IN ART HISTORY.

In the study which we have now almostcompleted,we have

made no attempt to reconstitute the historyof Egypt. We are

without the
quahfications necessary for such a task. We do not

read the hieroglyphs,and are therefore without the key to that

in stone
great library and wood, in canvas and papyrus "
a library
which could afford material for thousands of volumes " which
has been left to the world Egyptians. by the ancient
Our one objecthas been to make Egyptian art better known ;
to place its incomparable age and its originality in a clear light,

and to show the value of the example set by the first-born of

civilization to the peoples who came after them and began to
experiencethe wants and tastes which had long been completely
satisfied in the \"alley of the Nile. The importance and absolute
originality of the national forms of art were hardly suspected
before the days of Champollion ; he was something more than
a philologist of genius; his intellect was too penetratingand his
taste too active,to leave him blind to any of the forms taken

by the thoughts and sentiments of that Egypt which was so dear

to him. "
I shall write to our friend Dubois from Thebes," he
says in one of his letters, after having thoroughlyexplored
"

Egypt and Nubia. I can say beforehand, that our Egyptians

will cut a more importantfigurein the future,in the historyof art,
than in the past. I shall bring back with me a series of drawings
from thino-s fine enoug-h the most obstinate." ^
to convert

The forecasts of Champollion and Nestor L'Hote have been

confirmed by the excavations of Lepsius and Mariette. The

^
Champollion. Lettres (T Egxpte et Jc Xubie, p. 113.

VOL. 11. : F
402 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

conclusions by the former from their examination

deduced of the

remains in the Nile Valleyhave been indirectly corroborated by the

discoveries which have successively revealed to us ancient Chaldaea,

Syria, Phoenicia,Asia Minor, primitiveGreece and Etruria. No

one contests the priorityof Egypt. It is recognized that its

origindates from a period long antecedent to that of any other

race which, in its turn, played the leadingrole upon the stage of the
ancient world. Justicehas been rendered to the richness of its
architecture,to the skill of its paintersand sculptors, to the inven-
tive

fertilityof its handicraftsmen and the refinement of their

taste. And yet no one had attempted to do for Egypt what such
men as Winckelmann and Ottfried Miiller did for Greece, Etruria,
and Rome. The methods of analysisand critical description
which have long been employed with success upon another field,
had never been applied to her art as a whole ; no one had

attempted to trace the steps of Egyptian genius during its long

and slow evolution. The difiiculties were when
great, especially
architecture was concerned. The ruins of the Pharaonic buildings
had never been studied at first hand w^ith such care as had been
lavished upon the classic monuments of Italyand the Eastern

Mediterranean. The works to which we have had to turn for

information have many plateswhich make a fine show, which are

accompanied with a luxury of detail which is very but

reassuring,
when we examine them closelywe are. amazed to find the most

unforeseen omissions in their materials both for restorations,and

for the reproductionof buildingsin their actual condition.
When we attempt to make use of two separate works for the
restoration of a temple,we are met with an embarrassment of another

kind. Differences, and even actual contradictions,between one

author and another are frequent,and that without any new tions
excava-

having taken place between-times to account for the

inconsistency. Both observers had the same facts under their

eyes, and it is often difficult to decide which of the two has

observed badly. For one who does not wish to admit pure fancy
into his work, all this causes doubts and hesitations which add

greatlyto difficultyof his task.

the
The deeper we penetrate into such studies,the more we regret
the insufficiency of the materials, and yet we have thought it
imperativethat we should fillin the framework of our history. It
has one peculiaraspect which distinguishes it from all others :
 The General Characteristics of Egvi'TIan Art. 403

the Egyptians gave much to their neighboursand received nothing

from them, at least, during that periodduring which the character
of their art as a whole was established. The features which are

distinctive of Egyptian sculptureand architecture were determined

at a time when there were no races in her neighbourhood
advanced
sufficiently to have influence upon them. This was not

the case with Chaldsea and Assyria,at least,to anything like the

same extent. Their work, moreover, has come down to us in a

very fragmentarycondition. Egypt is,then, the only country in

which a completedevelopment,begun and carried on solelyby the

energy and aptitudeof one giftedrace, can be followed through all

its stages. Everywhere else the examples of predecessorsor of
neighbours have had an influence upon the march of art. They
may have accelerated its progress, but at the same time they
diverted it in some degree from its natural channel ; they may

have helped men to do better, it is certain that they led them to

do what they would not otherwise have done. The goal may
have been reached more quicklyby those who had a guide,but it
was reached by a path different from that they would have taken
had they been left to their own devices. In the \'alleyof the

Nile there was no guide, no precedent to follow. There, and

there alone, did the evolution of the plasticfacultypreserve a

normal organic character from the commencement of its activity

almost to its final decease.
From all this it follows that the art historyof Egypt may be
reviewed in terms more definite,and that the conclusions drawn
from it are more certain or, at least,more probable,than that of

any other nation. It is,if we may be allowed such a phrase,more

transparent. Elsewhere, when we find a new decorative form

introduced, or stylebecome prevalent,
a- new it is always open to

us to ask whether they may not have been foreignimportations.

When such borrowing is suspected we have to trace it to its

originalsource, and often the search is both slow and painful. In

the case of the Egyptians such problems have to be solved ently.
differ-
There is no need to extend one's inquiries beyond the happy
valleywhere, as in an inaccessible island surrounded by a vast
ocean of barbarians, they lived for ages whose number can never

be guessed. Other civilizations

partlyexplained by are to be
those of their predecessorsand their neighbours; that of Egypt is
only to be explainedby itself,by the inherent aptitudesof its
404 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt,

people and physicalsurroundings. Every element of which

their
the national genius made use was indigenous; nowhere else can
the fruit be so easilytraced to the seed, and the natural forces
observed which developed the one from the other.
Another point of attraction in the study of Egyptian art is that
extreme antiquitywhich carries us back, without losingthe thread
of the story, to a period when other races are stillin the impene-
trable
darkness of prehistoric times. A glance into so remote a

past affords us a pleasurenot unmingled with frightand bewilder-ment.

Our feelingsare like those of the Alpine traveller,who,
standing upon some loftysummit, leans over the abyss at his feet

and lets his eye wander for a moment over the immeasurable

depths,in which forests and mountain streams can be dimly made

out throuorh mist and shadow.

Long before the earliest centuries of which other nations have

preserved any tradition,Egypt, as she appears to us in her first

creations,alreadypossesses an art so advanced that it seems the

end rather than the beginningof a long development. The bas-
reliefs and statues which have been found in the tombs and

pyramids of Meidoum, of Sakkarah and of Gizeh, are perhaps the

masterpiecesof Egyptian sculpture, and, as Ampere says, "the
pyramid of Cheops is of all human monuments the oldest, the

simplest, and the greatest."

The work of the Eirst Theban Empire is no less astonishing.

"
Twenty-fivecenturies before our era, the kings of Egypt carried
out works of publicutility, which can only be compared, for scale
and ability, to the Suez Canal and the Mont Cenis Tunnel. In
the thirteenth century B.C., towards the presumed epoch of the

Exodus and the Trojan war, while Greece was stillIn a condition
similar to that of modern Albania, namely, divided up Into many
small hostile clans, five centuries before Rome existed even in

name, Egypt had arrived at the point reached by the Romans

under Ca^^sar and the Antonines ; she carried on a continual

struggleagainstthe barbarians who, after being beaten and driven

back for centuries, were at last endeavouring to cross all her
^
frontiers at once."
The whose
princes, achievements were sung by Pentaour, the

Egyptian Homer, had artists In their service as great as those of

^
Rhone, L' Egypte Antique,extinct from I: Art A/wien a V Expositionde 1878,
 The Gexekal CnAkACTEKisrics of Egyptian" Art. 405

the earlydynasties,artists who raised and decorated the Great

Hall of Karnak, one of the wonders of architecture.
It is not only by its and
originality age that the art of Egypt
deserves the attention of the historian and the artist ; it is

conspicuous for power, and, we may say, for beauty. In study-

ing
each of the great branches of art separately we have
endeavoured to make clear the various qualitiesdisplayed by
the Egyptian artist, either in the decoration of the national

monuments or in the of livingform

interpretation by sculpture
and painting. We have also endeavoured to show how closely
allied the handicrafts of Egypt were to its arts.

Our aim has been to embrace Egyptian art as a whole and to form

a judgment upon it, but, by force of circumstances, architecture

has received the lion's share of our attention. Some of our

readers ask why an equilibriumwas not better kept between

may
that art whose secrets are the most difficult to penetrate and

whose beauties are least attractive,not only to the crowd but even

to cultivated intellects, and its rivals.

The disproportionis justified
apparent by the place held by
architecture in the Egyptian social system. We have proved
that the architect was socially superiorto the painterand even to

the sculptor. His uncontested pre-eminence is to be explained

by the secondary role which sculptureand painting had to fill.
Those arts were cultivated in Egypt with sustained persistence ;

rare abilities were lavished upon them, and we may even say that

masterpieces were produced.

plasticimages were less But
admired -in themselves, their intrinsic beauty was less keenly

appreciated, in consequence of the practicalreligious or funerary

office which they had to fulfil. Statues and pictureswere always
means to an end ; neither of them ever became ends in selves,
them-
as they were in Greece, "
works whose final objectwas to

elevate the mind and to afford to the intellectual side of man

that peculiarenjoyment which we call aesthetic pleasure.

Such conditions beinggiven,it is easy to understand how painters
and sculptorswere subordinated to architects. It was to the
latter that the most pious and, at the same time, the most
magnificentof kings,confided all his resources, and his example

was followed by his wealthysubjects; it was to him that every one

employed had to look as the final disposer; the other artists

4o6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt.

were no more than agents and translators of a thought which

was grasped in its entiretyby the architect alone. His work,

embellished with all the graces of a decoration which reckoned
neither time nor materials,formed
homogeneous and well-balanced a

w^hole. It was in inventing,in bringing to perfection, and in

contemplating such a work that the Egyptian mind gave itself

up most completelyto love for beauty. If we take an Egyptian

building in its unity, as the product of a combined effort on
the part of a crowd of artists labouring under the directingwill
of the architect,we shall no longer feel surprise at the space
demanded by our study of his art.
The Egyptian temple of the Theban period,as we know it

by our examination of Karnak and Luxor, the Ramesseum and

Medinet-Abou, gives us the best and highestidea of the national

genius. We have had nothing more at heart than the restoration

of these edifices by the comparison of all available materials ; we

have endeavoured to re-establish

general arrangements, their

to describe their distinctive features,and to grasp their original

physiognomies as a whole. But while making this effort we

could never succeed in banishing the Greek temple from our
minds. In vain we may try to judge the art of each people
entirelyon its own merits ; such comparisons are inevitable,
and without dwelling upon the question we shall devote a few
words to it.
The differences are considerable and- are all to the
advantage
of the Greek creation. Its nobilityis more intimate and smiling;
the genius of man has there succeeded better in giving to his

work that unity which nature imprintson its highest productions,

an unitywhich results from the complete alliance between different

and allows neither the subtraction of any part nor the
organs,
addition of any novel element.
These contrasts may be explained to a certain extent by the
of
religion Greece and its social system. At present it is enough
to pointout their existence.
This superiority of the Greek temple will hardly be contested,
but after it that of Egypt is certainlythe most imposing and
majestic product of ancient art. The religiousbuildings of
Chaldsea, Assyria,Persia,Phoenicia,and Judaea,have left but slight
remains behind them, and the information which we possess as to
 The General Characteristics of Egyptian Art. 40;

their proportionsand general arrangements is obscure and plete.

incom-

But we at least know enough to sketch out a which

parallel
is all to the honour of Egypt. Some of these eastern temples,
being entirelycomposed of inferior materials, never had the rich-
ness
and varietypresentedby the monuments of Memphis and

Thebes. Others were but more or less free imitations of Egypt-

ian
types. Suppose that temple of Bel, which was one of the
wonders of Babylon, still standing upon the great plains of

Mesopotamia ; it would, in spiteof its heightand its enormous mass,

in spiteof the various colours in which it was clothed, appear cold

and heavy beside Karnak in its first glory,beside the imposing

splendoursof the Hypostyle Hall.

Until the rise of Greek art, the artists of Egypt remained,
then, the great masters of antiquity. Her architecture, by the
beauty of its materials, by its proportions,by its richness and
variety,was without a rival until the birth of the Doric temple.
Her sculptors betrayed a singular aptitude in grasping and
interpretingthe features of individuals or of races, and they
succeeded in creating types which reached general truth without
becoming strangers to individuality.Their royal statues were

great, not so much by their dimensions as by the nobilityof their

style,and their expression of calm and pensive gravity. The
existence of a few child-like conventions, from which they never
shook themselves free, cannot prevent us from feelingdeep
admiration for the insight into life, the purity of contour, the
freedom and truth of design which distinguish their bas-reliefs and

paintings. Egyptian decoration is everywhere informed by a

fertile invention and a happy choice of motives, by a harmony of

tints which charms the eye even now, when the endless tapestry
with which tombs and houses, palacesand sanctuaries, were hung,
is rent and faded. The smallest works of the humblest craftsman
are distinguishedby a desire for grace which spreads over them
like a reflection from art and beauty,and they helped to carry some
knowledge of the brilliant civilization of Egypt to the most distant
coasts of the ancient world.

During the earlier ages antiquity, of

this civilization exercised

upon the nascent art of neighbouring,and even of some distant

people,an influence analogous to that which Greece was in later
davs to wield over the whole basin of the Mediterranean. For
4o8 A History of Art in Axcikxt Egypt.

many a long century the style of Egypt enjoyed an unchallenged

and offered a forecast of that universal acceptance which
supremacy

was to be the lot of Grecian art, when after two or three thousand

of fertility, of and of prestige, the work of Egypt

years power,

would be done, and the time would arrive for her to fall asleep
her laurels.
upon
 APPENDIX,

VOL. II.
 APPENDIX.

The discovery of some royal mummies

thirty-eight with their sepulchral
furniture, which signalized the accession of Professor Maspero to the

Directorship of 'Egyptian Explorations, was the result, in some degree,

of one of those inductive processes of which M. Perrot speaks as

characteristic of modern research. For several years previously those

who kept account of the additions to public and private collections of

Egyptian antiquities had suspected that some inviolate royal tomb had

been discovered by the Arabs of Thebes, and that they were gradually
dissipating its contents. Early in 1876 General Campbell bought the

hieratic ritual of Pinotem I., " or Her Hor, a priest king, and founder

of thetwenty-firstdynasty from them ; and in 1S77 M, de Saulcy showed

"

M. Maspero photographs of a long papyrus which had belonged to

Queen Notemit, the mother of Pinotem. About the same time the

funerary statuettes of that king appeared in the market, "

some of them
^
very fine in workmanship, others rough and coarse." The certainty of a

find and of its nature became- so great that, in 1879, Maspero was enabled

to assert of a tablet belonging to Rogers-Bey, that it came from some

sepulchre "belonging to the, as yet, undiscovered tomb of the Her Hor

family." -
The mummy for which this tablet was made has been discovered

in the pit at Deir-el-Bahari.

The evidence which gradually accumulated in the hands of M. Maspero,

all pointed to two brothers Abd-er-Rasoul, as the possessors of the secret.

These men had established their homes in some deserted tombs in the
western clifi",
at the back of the Ramesseum, and had long combined the
overt occupation of guiding European travellers
providing and them with

donkeys, with the covert and more profitable profession of tomb-breakers

and mummy-snatchers.3 M. Maspero caused the younger of these
brothers, Ahmed Abd-er-Rasoul, to be arrested and taken before the
Mudir at Keneh. Here every expedient known to Eg}-ptian justice was

^ La
Maspero, trntzaille de Deir-el-Bakari, Cairo, 1SS2. 410. -
Ibict.
* B.
See Miss A, Edwards's account of these gentlemen in Harper's Magazine ior July, 18S2.
Her paper is illustrated with wocdcuts after some of the more interestingobjectsfound, and a plan
of the locale.
412 Appendix.

employed to open his lips,but all in vain. His reiterated examinations

only served to prove, if proof had been needed, how thoroughly the
Arabs of Thebes sympathized with tVe conduct of which he was accused.

Testimony to his complete honesty and many other virtues poured in from
all sides ; his dismal dwelling-place was searched without and finally
result,
he was released on bail. No sooner had Ahmed returned home, however,
than quarrels and recriminations arose between him and his elder brother

Mohammed. These quarrels and the offer of a considerable reward by the

Egyptian authorities at last induced Mohammed to betray the family

secret, in this instance, a material skeleton in the cupboard. He went

quietly to Keneh and told how Ahmed and himself had found a tomb in

one of the wildest bays of the western chain in which some fortycoffined
mummies, mostly with the golden asp of royalty upon their brows, were

heaped one upon another amid the remains of their funerary equipments.
This story was taken for what it seemed to be worth, but on being graphed
tele-

to Cairo,it brought Herr Emil Brugsch and another member of the

Boulak staff to Thebes in hot haste. They were conducted by Mohammed

Abd-er-Rasoul up the narrow valleywhich lies between the Sheikh-abd-

el-Gournah, on the south, and the spur forming the southern boundary
of the valley of Dayr-el-Bahari, on the north, to a point some seventy
yards above the outer limits of the cultivated land. There, in a corner,
bare and desolate even in that desolate region,they were led behind a heap
of boulders to the edge of a square hole in the rocky soil,and told that

down there was the treasure for which they sought. Ropes were at hand,
and Emil Brugsch was lowered into the pit with his companion. The

depth was not great, some thirty-sixfeet,and as soon as their eyes became

accustomed to the feeble light of their tapers, they saw that a corridor led

away from it to the west. This they followed, and after a few yards found

it turn sharply to the right, or north. The funeral canopy of Queen

Isi-em-Kheb, which we shall presently describe, was found in the angle
thus made. The explorers advanced along this corridor for more than

seventy yards, stumbling at every step over the debris of mummy cases

and funerary furniture,and passing on their right and left,first up piled

boxes of statuettes, bronze and terra-cotta jars,alabaster canopic vases, and

.other small articles,

and then some twenty mummies, a few in nests of two

or three outer cases, others in but a single coffin,and at least three without

other covering than their bandages and shrouds. Finally they arrived at a

mortuary chamber about twenty-four feet long and fourteen broad, in which
some eighteen more huge mummy cases were piled one upon another,
reaching almost to the roof. The distance of this chamber from the outer

air was rather more than 280 feet,and its walls, like those of the corridor

which led to it,were without decoration of any kind.

The European explorers felt like men in a dream. They had come

expecting to find the coffins and mummies of one or two obscure kinglets
 Appendix. 413

of the Her-Hor family, and here was the great Sesostris himself, and
his father Seti,the conquering Thothmes III., who
"
drew his frontiers where

he pleased,"and, like other great soldiers since his day, seems to have been

little more than a dwarf in stature, together with several more Pharaohs of

the two great Theban dynasties. The coffins of these famous monarchs

were in the corridor, some standing upright,others lying down, while the

chamber was occupied by the mummies of the twenty-first

dynasty, such as

those of Queen Notemit, Pinotem I., Pinotem II., Queens Makara and

Isi-em-Kheb, and Princess Nasikhonsou. Isi-em-Kheb seemed to have

been the last comer to the tomb, as her mummy was accompanied by
a complete sepulchraloutfit of wigs, toilet bottles and other things of

the kind, besides the canopy already mentioned and a complete funerary
repast in a hamper.
Preparations were immediately commenced for the removal of the
"
whole "
find to Boulak. Steamers were sent for from Cairo, and several

hundred Arabs were employed in clearing the tomb and transporting its
contents to Luxor for embarkation. Working with extreme energy, they
accomplished their task in five days, and in four days more the steamers

had arrived, had taken their remarkable cargo on board, and had started
for the capital. And then apparently the native population became

alive to the fact that these mummied Pharaohs were their own ancestors,
that they had given to their country the only glory it had ever enjoyed,
and that they were being carried away from the tombs in which they had

rested peacefully,while so many Empires had come and gone, while the
world had grown from youth to old age. For many miles down the

river the people of the villagesturned out and paid the last honours to

Thothmes, Seti, Rameses, and the rest of the company. Long lines of

men fired their guns upwards as the convoy passed, while dishevelled
women ran along the banks and filled the vibrating air with their cries.
Thus after more than three thousand years of repose in the bosom of their
native earth, the Theban Pharaohs were again brought into the light,to go

through a third act in the drama of their existence. This act may perhaps
be no longer than the first,
as their new home at Boulak has already been
in danger of destruction ; it is sure to be far shorter than the second, for
long before another thirtycenturies have passed over their mummied heads,
time will have done its work both with them and with the civilization
which has degraded them into museum curiosities.
The appearance of this burial place,or cacJiette as ]\Iasperocalls it,the
nature of the things found in it and of those which should have been found
there but were not, prove that its existence had been known to the Arabs
and fellaheen of the neighbourhood for Miss Edwards
many years.
believes that the mummy of Queen Aah-hotep, which was found in the
sand behind the temple of Dayr-el-Bahari in 1859, came out of the
Her-Hor vault. The contrast between the magnificence of that mummy,
414 Appendix.

the beauty of its jewels,and the care which had evidently been expended
upon it on the one hand, and the rough and ready hiding-place in which it

was found, on the other,i ^v^s so great that it was difficult to believe that
it had never had a more elaborate tomb ; and now the discovery of the
outer coffin of the same queen in the pit at Dayr-el-Bahari, goes far to

complete the proof that Aah-hotep was disposed of after death like other
members of her race, and that the exquisite jewels which were found upon
her, were but a part of treasures which had been dispersed over the world

by the modern spoilers.^ The tomb contained about six thousand objects
in all,of which but a few have as yet been completely described. Among
those few, however, there are one or two which add to our knowledge
of Egyptian decoration.
Not the least important are the mummy cases of the Queens Aah-hotep
and Nefert-ari. Originally these were identical in design, but one is now

considerably more damaged than the other. The general form is similar

to that of an Osiride pier,the lower part being terminal and the upper
shaped like the bust, arms, and head of a woman. The mask is encircled
with a plaited wig, above which appear two tall plumes, indicatingthat
their wearer has been justifiedbefore Osiris,while the shoulders and arms

are enveloped in a kind of net. The whole case is of cartoimage, and the

net-like appearance is given by glueing down several layers of linen, which

have been so entirelycovered with hexagonal perforationsas to be reduced
to the condition of a net, over the smooth surface beneath. The interior

of each hexagon has then been painted blue, so that in the end we have a

yellow network over a blue ground. Both colours are of extreme brilliancy.
The plaiting of the wig and the separate filaments of the plumes are

indicated in the same w^ay as the network. These mummy cases are, so

far as we can discover, different from any previously found.

The funerary of Queen Isi-em-Kheb is also a thing by itself.
canopy
Its purpose was to cover the pavilion or deck-house under which the

Queen's body rested in its passage across the Nile. It is a piece of leather
patchwork. When laid flat upon the ground it forms a Greek cross,

22 feet 6 inches in one direction, and 19 feet 6 inches in the other. The

central panel,which is 9 feet long by 6 covered

wide,''' the roof of the

pavilion, while the flaps forming the arms of the cross hung down

perpendicularly the sides.^ Many thousand pieces of gazelle hide

upon
have been used in the work.

^
See page 29, Vol. I.
^ of them in their actual
Forde.-cription
a of these jewels by Dr. Birch, and reproductions
colours, see Facsimiles of the Egyptian Relics Discovered in the Tomb of Queen Aah-hotep. London :

1863, 4to. See also above, page 380, note 3, of the present volume.
^
These measurements are taken from Tlie Funeral Canopy 0/ an Egyptian Queen, by the lion,
H. ViLLiERS Stuart: ":urray, 1882. 8vo.
"*
Mr. ViLLiERS Stuart gives a facsimile in colour of the canopy, and a fanciful illustration of it
in place, upon a boat copied from one in the Tornbs of the Queais.
 Appendix. 415

The central panel has an ultramarine ground. It is divided ally

longitudin-
into two equal parts, one half being sprinkled with red and yellow
stars, and the other covered with alternate bands of vultures, hieroglyphs,
"
and stars. The "
fore and aft flaps of the canopy are entirelycovered
with a chess-board pattern of alternate red and green squares, while the

lateral flaps have each, in addition, six bands of ornament above the

the most important band consistingof ovals of Pinotem, supported

squares,
by uraei and alternating with winged scarabs, papyrus heads, and

crouching gazelles. The colours employed are a red or pink, like a

pale shade of what is now called Indian red, a golden yellow, a pale
yellow not greatly differing from ivory, green, and pale ultramarine.

The latter colour is used only for the ground of the central panel, where
it may fitlysuggest the vault of heaven ; the rest are distributed skilfully
and harmoniously, but without the observance of any particular rule,
over the rest of the decoration. The immediate contrasts are red (or
pink) with dark grass-green, bright yellow with buff or ivory colour,
and green with yellow. The bad effect of the juxtaposition of buff'
with red was understood, and that contrast only occurs in the hieroglyphs
within the ovals.
The arrangement of the ornamental motives is characterized by that

Egyptian hatred for symmetry which is so often noticed by !M. Perrot,

but the general result is well calculated to have a proper effect under

an Eg"^ptian sun. The leather, where uninjured,still retains the softness

and lustre of kid.

The Osiride mummy case of Rameses II. is of unpainted wood, and
in the style of the twenty-first dynasty. It has been thought that the
features resemble those of Her Hor himself,^ and therefore that it was

carved in his reign ; they certainly are not those of Rameses. and yet
the iconic nature of the head
strongly is very marked.
Besides these important objects,the vault contained, as we have said.
an immense number of small articles, no description of which has yet
been published.
An explanation of the presence of all these mum.mies and their

belongings in a single unpretentious vault, is not far to seek. In the

reign of Rameses IX., of the twentieth dynasty, it was discovered that

many tombs, including those of the Pharaoh Sevek-em-Saf and his queen
Noubkhas had been forced and rifled by robbers, while others had been
more or less damaged. An inquiry was held and some at least of the
delinquents brought to justice. The "Abbott"' and the "Amherst"

papyri give accounts of the proceedings in full, together with the confession
of one of the criminals.'- These occurrences and the generally lawless
condition of Thebes at the time seem to have led to the institution of
1
Miss A. B. Edwards, Lying in State in Cairo, in Harper's .Va^aziiie
for July, 1SS2.
'
.See Masfero, Ufw Enjuite Judiciare a Thebes, Paris, 1871, 410.
4i6 Appendix.

periodical inspections of the royal tombs, and of the mummies which

they contained. Minutes of these inspections, signed by the officer

appointed to them out and two witnesses besides, are

inscribed
carry

the shrouds and cases

of the mummies. At first the inspectors
upon

shifted the deceased kings from tomb to tomb, the "house" of Seti I.

being the favourite, apparently from its supposed security, but as the

of the monarchy declined, disorders became frequent

power as more

and discipline difficult to it to have been at

more preserve, appears

last determined to substitute, as

the burial-place of the royal line, a

single, unornamented, easily concealed and guarded hole for the series

of subterranean palaces which had shown themselves so

unable to shield

their occupants from insult and destruction.

The Her-Hor family therefore were

buried in one vault, and such

of their predecessors had escaped the ghouls of the Western

great as

Valley were gathered to their sides.

 INDEX,

VOL. II.
 INDEX.

Alcamenes, i. VI. XI T.
Alexander the Great, i, L. 21, 430.
Aah hotep, i. 291. Alexandria, i. 55.
Aa-kheper-ra,see Thothmes II. Aimees, ii. 249.
Abbeville,i. Prehistoric remains near, Amasis ; his elevation
throne, to the
xxxix. i. 33 ; his deliveranceEgypt, 78, of

Abd-al-latif,i. 223, 225 ; monolithic 292 ] body insulted by Cambyses,

tabernacle at Memphis called the 309 ; his monolithic chapel, 353 ;
chamber, 353 ; obelisk of dimensions of the monolithic chapel,
green
Ousourtesen, ii. 172. ii- 75) 97 stele discovered in the
;

Abd-el-Gournah, ii. 53. Serapeum, 285.

Abouna, i. 34. Amada, temple of, ii. 168.
Abou-Roash, i. 165 ; pyramid of, 204. Ambulatory of Thothmes, ii. 135.

Abousir, i. 2125 construction of mid

pyra- Amenemhat III., i. 347; Amenemhats,
at, id. the, ii. 227, 333.
Abydos, i. 6, 16 ; foundation of the Amenemheb, i. 279.

great temple at, 28; the earlycapital Ameneritis, statue of, at Boulak, ii.
in the nome of A., 68 ; origin there 263.
of the worshipof Osiris,id. ; ture
Sculp- Ameni, tomb of, i. 34.
more refined than that of Amenophis III. i. 166; his colossi at

Thebes, 76 ; portraitof Seti at A., Thebes, 267 ; do. 289 ; builder of

123 ; entrance to the Egyptian Luxor, 371 ; builder of the great
Hades near A., 128, 134; situation temple at Napata, 385 ; temple at
of the necropolis, 136; do. 156; El-Kab, 400 ; ii. 66 ; the colossi at
situation of doors and steles in the Thebes, 240 ; portrait head in the
tombs at description
A., 157, 241 British Museum,
; 242 : painted por-
trait
of the tombs at A., 243 ; temple in the Bab-el-Molouk, 2,^2,
337,
has two hypostyle halls, 385 ; de-
scriptions347-
of Mariette, 434 ; ii. tress Amenophis
for- IV. ; his attempt to augurate
in-
at A., 41 ; necropolis, 241 ; the worship of Aten, the
tomb of Osiris at A., 242 ; other solar disc,i. 69 ; ruins of his capi-
tal,
tombs, 295. ii. 5 ; his statues, 244 ; curious
Acacia, Nilotica,ii. 54 ; Lebhak, id. characteristics of his person, id.,
Acacia doors, i. 252. 289.
Achjeans, i. 162. Amenophium, i. 268, 289, 376.
Achoris, ii. 266. Amenoth, i. 159.
Addeh, speos ar, i. 406. Amen-Ra, may be identified with
^gina, i. YII. XI. Indra, i. 50, 6t,; hardly mentioned
^gis, ii. 382. earlier than the eleventh dynasty,
Agra, ii. 13. 68, 113 ; offerings
to him as master
Ahmes, i. 34, 168, of Karnak, 155, 268; the chief
Alabaster, i. 105, 325. person of the Theban triad, t^t,;^;
Alberti, L. B., ii. 82. chapel at Abydos, 389 ; possibly
420 Index.

symbolizedin the obelisks,ii. 170; orders, 85 ; their arrangement, 133 ;

his statues not colossal,277. doors and windows, 156; the fession
pro-
Ament, the EgyptianHades, i. 157. of architect,176; the remacy
sup-
Amoni-Amenemhai't, i. 156. of A. over the other arts in
Amoni, his inscription
at Beni-Hassan, Egypt, 405-
i. 39- ArchceologicalSiirvex of India.,i. LIII.
Amosis, (seeAmasis). i. XVIII.
Aristophanes,
Amulets, i. 159; ii. 371. Armachis, i. 326.
Anahit ii. 262.
(Anaitis), Aromati, the, i. 434.
Ancyra, expeditionto, i. 41. Arsaphes,statue in the British Museum,
Animals, sacred, i. 54. ii. 265.
Animals, worship of, i. 54-64 ; mified,
mum- Artemis, i. 406.
314 ; figures of, ii. 281. Aryballus,ii. 368.
"Answerers," or i. 146.
"respondents," Ass, the, ii. 217.
Anta, use of, ii. 141. Assassif,El, ii. 79.
Antinoe, ii.66, 72. Assouan, i. 105 ; Turkish governor of
conventional
Antiquity, meaning of the A., his vandalism,396.
word, i. XLV. Asychis,i. 347.
Antony, tomb of, i. 161. Ata, i. 207.
Anubis, i. 143, 287. the supre-
Aten, attempt to inaugurate macy
Apelles,i. XIV. XVI. LI. i.
of, 69.
Apis, i. 54, 67 ; the oldest tombs of A. Athene' Polias,temple of,i. XIII.
contemporary with i8th dynasty,295 ; Atta,j.
145.
new rites inauguratedby a son of Avaris,reconquest of, i. 33 ; ii. 228.
Rameses II. 305; Serapeum, 306 ;
dwellingfor A. constructed by Pse-
methek, 429. B
Aplou, i. 159. Ba, i. 285.
Ap-M6tennou, i. 144. Bab-el-Molouk, i. 255.
Apollo Elpicurius,i. XII. Babylon, ii. 13.
Apries,helped to deliver Egypt,i. 78 ; Baedeker ; guide to Egypt, tion
construc-

description given by Herodotus of of the Pyramids,i. 201 ; theory

his tomb, 306 ; supposed head of, ii. as to the pyramid of Meidoum, 214 ;
266. edited partly by Dr. Ebers, id. ;
Arch, the ; extreme antiquity
of the A. casing of the second pyramid,233 ;
in ii. 77 ; true
Egypt, A. in the traces of a door in the tomb of Ti,
necropolisof Abydos, 78 ; circular
semi- 290.
A. the most frequent, 79 ; Baehr, i..III.
A.
elliptic 80 ; A. in the Ramesseum, Bahr-Yussef, i. 165.
81 A. in foundations, 82 ;
; inverted Bakenkhonsou, ii.177-8.
offset A. at Dayr-el-Bahari, 83 ; do. Ballu,i. XIII.
at Abydos, 84. Bari, i. 352.
Architecture ; generalprinciple of form, Basalt, statues of, ii. 221, 235.
i. 97; do. of construction,103; Bassa^, i. XII.
materials,103 ; masonry, 107 ; vaults, Battlements, ii. 153.
in; concrete and pise,113; sembled
as- Beds, ii. 393.
construction, 115; tion
restora- Beggig, obelisk of,ii. 175.
of a wooden building,117; Beit-el-din, ii. 20.

sepulchral A. 126; conditions posed

im- Beit-el- VVali,speos at, i. 407, 418, 421 ;
by the national religion,134 ; bas-reliefsat, ii. 246.
civil A. ii.i ; must be judged almost Bellefonds, Linant de, site of Lake

entirely from representationson Moeris,ii. 25.

papyri and bas-reliefs, id. \ the Belzoni ; his discovery of the tomb of

house, 26 ; militaryA. Seti I. i. 278, 280; crowded tombs

palace,8 ; the
examined in detail, for the lower classes,314; fied
mummi-
38 ; construction
55; motives taken from earlywork animals, 315 ; porticoin the
in wood, id. : arch, 77 ; the Egyptian temple of the second pyramid,330.
 Index. 421

Benfey, i. 10. the Serapeum, 266 ; figuresfrom the

Beni-Hassan, i. 136
; great inscription, Saite epoch, 271.
143, 160, 156-7, 249-252 ; so-called Brosses, the President de, i. 57.
proto-doriccolumns, ii. 95, 10 1 ; Brugsch, Bey, i. 21 ; the Egyptian
paintings,333-344; the potter's character, 41 ; translation of the
wheel represented at B. H. 367 ; great inscription at Beni-Hassan,
glassmaking, do. 375 ; the manufac-
ture 143 ; origin of the word pyramid,
of gold ornaments, do. 380. 190 ; topographicalsketch of ancient

Berbers, the, i. 13. Thebes, ii. 29 ; epitaphof Una, 75 ;

Bercheh, El, ii. 72, 238. metal on the
capitals of columns,
Bernhardy, i. III. 116, 176 ; social position of Egyptian
Bernier, i. XIII. architects, 177, 178, 197.
Bes, i. 434; ii. 354. Brune ; plans of Karnak, i. 363, 367 ;
Beschir, ii. 20. of Medinet-Abou, t^t^; of Dayr-el-
Beule',i. 305. Bahari, 419 ; his restoration of Dayr-
Birch, S. ; his translation of the great el-Bahari,422, 425 ; slightdiffer-
ences
inscription
at Beni-Hassan, i. 143 ; from that here given,425.
do. 159 ; his translation of the in- Bubastis,i. 18 ; house
scription in,ii. t^t^.
upon the London obelisk, Bunsen, i. XXIII. 10, 18.
ii. 171; t.\\QArsaphes of the British Burnouf, Eugene, i. IX.
Museum, 265, 291 ; in
cylinders the Busiris,ii. 30.
British Museum, 291 ; figurinesriis-
tiqitesof Palissycompared to some
works of Egyptian potters,373; thinks C
iron was known at the commencement
of Theban period,379. Caillaud, i. 341, 384, 385.
Birds, worshipof, i. 65. Cairo, i. 105, 163 ; ii.66.
Blanc, Charles, i. XIV.; characteristics Cambyses, i. 309, 430.
of Egyptian landscape and archi-
tecture, Camp, Ma.xime du, ii. 76, 147.
98 ; modification of colour Campania, i. XIII. 162.
under a southern
sun, 121; ii. 174; Campbell's tomb, i. 311.
description
of bas-relief of Seti I. at Canephoriis,ii. 202.
Abydos, 247 ; decadence of art tween
be- Canon ; had the Egyptiansa C. of pro-
portion,
Seti I. and Rameses IV.
258; ii. 315.
Sabaco's restorations at Karnak, 263, Canopic vases, i. 305.
294 ; his ideas upon the Egyptian Capitals, lotiform,ii.86 ; campaniform,
canon., 319. loi ; hathoric,106 : secondary forms

Blant,M. E. Le, i. 159. of the bell-shaped capital,112; C.

Blemmyes, i. 55. plated with copper, 116.
Blouet, i. XIII. Caricature, confined to small objects,
Blow-pipe,the, li. 378. ii. 351 ; battle of cats and rats, 352 ;
Boats found in the tombs, i. 184. Turin papyrus, id; in the
papyrus
Boeck, i. XXI. British Museum, i-,i ;,the God Bes,
Boeotia,i. XLI. 162. 354-
Boissier,
i. XV, Cartonnage,ii.397.
Bonomi, i. 9. Caste, i. 31.
Bossuet, i. I. Cat, the, li. 219.
Botta, i. VIIL, XXVI. Caviglia, the clearingof the Great
Brackets in Royal Pavilion at Medinet- Sphinx, i. 321.
Abou, ii. 23. Caylus, Comte de, i. XVI.
Bramante, i. 105. Cesnola, Palma di,i. V., X.
Bricks, manufacture of, ii. 53. Chairs, ii. 393.
Brongniart,ii. 372. Chaldffia, i. IV., XXVI., XLIX.
Bronzes ; technical skill shown in cast-
ing Chamhati, bas-relief on his tomb, ii.
bronze, ii. 202 ;Pasiop/iorusof 253-
_

the Vatican, 265 ; Arsaphes in the Chamitic race, i. 13.

British Museum, 265 ; bronzes from Champollion, i. VI. VIII. first
4, 89 ;
422 Index.

to the importance of
appreciate Beni- ordonnance of C,
133 ; spacing,
137 ;
Hassan, 249 ; the valleyof the kings, no rule governingintercolumniation,
263 ; Saite cemeteries discovered by
him, 301 ; his impressions of Karnak, Constantinople,ii.13.
365 ; gave its proper name to the Construction, architectural, ii. 55 ;
Ramesseum, 376 ; carelessness of imitation in stone of wooden C.,
Egyptianmasonry, ii.65 ; his supposed 59 ; huge stones only used where
discoveryof the origin of the Doric necessary, 65 ; want of foresightin
order, 96 ; distinction made in texts Egyptian C, 70 ; carelessness, id. ;
between pylon and
propylon, 156; machines used, 72.
mainly impressed by the grandeur of Conventions in Egyptian art, ii.291.
the Theban remains, 225 ; his fore-
cast Copper, ii. 378.
of the important positionnow Coptic,study of,i. VII.
held by Egpytian art, 401. Copts, i. 13.
Chardanes, ii.257. Corinth,i. XV.
Charmes, Gabriel, i. 235 ; ii. 212, 219; Corvee, the, i. 25 ; its influence upon
his opinion on the bust of Taia, Egyptianarchitecture,27, 30.
242. Coulanges, M. Fustel de, La cite
Cheops, i. 201 ; his
pyramid,201 ; do. antique,i. 130.
227; stele commemorating his restora-
tion Crane, the, in the bas-relief,
ii.219.
of a temple, 319 ; doubts as to Crimaea, i. XV.
its date, id. Crocodile, the, in the bas-reliefs,ii.
Chephren, i. 24, 86 ; his statues at 218.

Boulak, 89; do. 139; discovery of ii. 234.

Crocodilopolis,
statues in the temple of the sphinx, Crown, the red crown, i. 1 6 ; the white
193, 227, 221 ; detailed account
of do., 16; the pschent, 16.
the basalt and diorite statues at Cunningham ; his descriptions
of the mains
re-

Boulak, ii. 221-223. of Graeco Buddhic art, i. LIII.

China, i. IV., XLVIIL, LIX. Curtius, Dr. ; historyof Greece, i. III.
Chinbab, i. 165. Grseco Buddhic
art, LIII.
Chisel, ii. 303-328,/rt'.wz;//. Curtius, Quintus, ii. 33.
Chnoumhotep, i. 143. "Cutting, the," i- 435-
Choephoroe, i. 130. Cyclopean walls, ii.64.
Choubra, ii. 20. earthenware
Cylinders, and soft stone,
Choufou (Cheops),inscribed upon the ii. 291.
stones of the Great Pyramid,i. 222. Cynta, ii. 153 ; do. reversa, ii. 153.
Chounet-esZezib, fortress at Abydos, Cyprus, i. X., XXVI. ; painted vases,
ii. 41. 78, 161.
i. XXXVIII. Cv
Christy, yrus, 1. 79.
Cicero, i. 129.
Clemens Alexandrinus, i. 56.
Cloisonne Enamels, unknown to the D

Egyptians in the proper sense, ii.384.

Clusium, i. XXXVII. Darius, i. IX.

Cockerell, Prof, i. XI. Darmesteter, James, i. 69.

Colossi, upon pyramids,i. 226 ; trans-

port Dashour, i. 165, 206.
ofC, ii. 72; multiplication of Dayr, i. 407.
C. under the New Empire, 239, i. 265, 268
Dayr-el-Bahari, ; temple or

241. cenotaph of Hatasu, 421-434.

Colours, used by the Egyptian i. 264.
Dayr-el-Medinet,
ii. 334, 336,
painters, 340. Delbet, Jules,i. 42.
Columns, ii.85 ; metal ; C, 88
proto-
"
Delhi, ii. 13.
doric "
do. 96 ; polygonal do. 99 ; Denderah, i. 326, 351, 434 ; ii.67, 69 ;
do.
faggot-shaped 99 ; at Medinet- pluteusat, 149.
Abou, 102 ; in the Hall at Karnak, Derri,i. 40S.
id. ; at Philffi,
104 ; comparisonbe-
tween Desjardins,M. E., i. 302.
Greek C, Deus Rediculus,temple of the i. 104,
Egyptianand 121 ;
 Index. 423

Ueveria,his belief that he had found a Elephantine; peripteral temple at, i.

portraitof a shepherdking,ii. 177. 396 ; quarries at, ii. 75, 149.
Diocletian,i. 55. Empires, classification of the Egyptian,
Diodorus Siculus ; his assertion that i. 17.
the first man was born in Egypt, Enamels, ii.375.
i. 4; Pyramids, 191; height of Great Encaustic painting known to the
Pyramid, plateau on its mit,
sum- Egyptians,ii.336.
225 ;
226; Pyramid of the
Laby-
rinth, Entef, i. 38, 156, 217.
227 ; Tomb of Osymandias Epochs of Egyptian history, i. 18.
(Ramesseum), 266, 375 : tombs in Era, Eg}-ptwithout one, i. 20.
the Bab-el-Molouk, 279 : ttuXcov, Erectheum, i. LVII.
341 ; Moeris (Amenemhat III.), Erment, ii. 66.
347 ; labyrinth, 25 ; population Esneh, i. 351.
ii.
of Egypt, 26 ; extent of Thebes, 30 ; Ethiopia; its civilization an offshoot
the epithet"Ka-o/LA7n,v\o?,
40. from that of
Egypt, i. 20; its mids,
pyra-
Diorite,statue of Chephren in,ii.221 ; 217; its
temples, 404; opian
Ethi-
the influence of such a material upon supremacy in Egypt, ii. 265;
style,303-305: Ethiopians in pictures,348.
Djezzar Pacha, ii. 20. Etruria,i. XLII., 131, 162.
ii. 219.
Dog, the, in the bas-reliefs, Euripidesquoted, i. 130.
"
Doors, ii. 156. Evandale, Lord," i. 136.
Dordogne, i. XLII., ii. 78.
"Double," the, i. 128, 135.
Doum (palm),ii. 50.
Drah-abou-l'Neggah,i. 217, 253, 291,
315- Faienxe, i. 146 ; ii. 369.
Droinos, i. 336, Fayoum, the pyramids in the,L 226;
Duck, the, in the ii.219.
bas-reliefs, statues discovered in the, ii.233.
Fellowes,Sir Charles,L X., XXVII.
Feraig,speos of, i. 406.
Fergusson,James, ii. 8.
Festus, i. XXII.
Fetishism,i. 47-9, 56-8.
Ebers, Georg. ; extent of the Mem- Ficus Syconiorus,ii. 54.
phite necropolis,i. 165 ; cenotaph in Figure,the, ii.341 ; colouied reliefsin
the temple of Abydos, 264 ; his the mastabas, 341 ; Beni-Hassan,
opinion upon that temple, id. ; his 341 ; Thebes, 344; mandore player
discoveryof a tomb at Thebes, 279 ; at Abd-el-Gournah,
347 ; harpersin
his opinion upon the Ramesseum, Bruce's tomb, 348 ; Prisoners,348 ;
381 ; the funerary character of the winged figure,349 : difterent races
temple at Abydos, 391'; his tures
conjec- distinguished,
350.
upon Dayr-el-Bahari,426; pa-
vilion Flamingo, the, in the ii.
bas-reliefs,
of Rameses III. not a palace, 219.
ii. 16; pyramid of the labyrinth, Flandrin,i. IX.
25 ; originof the quadrangular pier, "Foundations," for the service of a

90; uses of papyrus, 126; his tomb, i. 144-6.

opinion upon the columns in the Fox, the, in the bas-reliefs,
ii. 218.
Bubastite court, .Karnak, 146 ; pro- Friedrichs, Carl, i. W.
pylons of Karnak and Denderah, Funeral feasts,i 143.
157 ; his belief in the persistenceof Funeraryfigures,
i. 145-147.
the Hyksos type, 237.
Edfou, i. 351, 353; peripteral
temple,
396 ; foundations of temple at, ii.
69.
Egger, ii.126. Gailhabaud, M., ii.36.
i. 157;
Eilithyia, ii. 400; temple of Gartasse,i. 433.
Amenophis III. at, id. Gau, i. 353, 421.
424 Index.

Gautier,Theophile, i. 136; ii.174. Height of principalbuildingsin the

Ga7uasi,ii. 249. world, i. 225.
ii. 218.
Gazelle,in the bas-reliefs, Helbig,M. W., i. XV.
Gebel-Ahmar, i. 104. Heliopolis;its walls, ii.41 ; its obelisk,
Gebel-Barkal, 1. 218, 407.
i. 105, 403;
Gebel-Silsilis, bas-relief at, Hemispeos, i. 253.
ii.246. Heracleopolis,i. 17.
Gerhard, i. XV., XVIII. Hermopolis, i. 15.
Gherf-Hossein, hemispeos, i. 407; Herodotus ; Egypt a present from
ii. 138. the Nile, i. 2 ; Amasis, 33 ; religious
Gircheh, i. 421. observances, 44 ; Isis and Osiris the
Glass, its manufacture represented at only gods whom all the Egyptians
Beni-Hassan, ii. 375 ; glass-ena worshipped,68 temples in Delta,
;
melled statuettes, 376. 93 ; Scythians,145 ; Pyramids, 191,
Globe, winged,ii. 151, 152. 202, 219; P. in Lake Moeris, 226,
Goat, in the bas-reliefs, ii. 219. 229 ; do. of the Labyrinth, 227 ;
Gods, age of the Egyptian,i. 321. construction of the Great Pyramid,
Goethe, i. 121, 153. 233 ; tomb of Apries, 306 ; Cam-
Goose, in the bas-reliefs, ii. 219. byses' treatment of the body of
Gorge, the Egyptian,ii. 149. Amasis, 309 ; obelisks of Sesostris,
Gournah, temple of, i. 267, 268, 391 ; 347 ; Rhampsiniteand Asychis,id. ;
ii. 140. propylons and Apis pavilion of
Gournet-el-Mourrai, ii. 21. Psemethek L, tb.;monolithic chapel
Grseco-Buddhic art, i. LIII. of Amasis, 428 ; avXr] built by
i. XV.
Grasco-Scythians, Psemethek for Apis, 429 ; Labyrinth,
Granaries, ii. 37. ii. 25 ; level of towns raised
Granite-chambers, Karnak, ii.52. artificially,
27 ; flat roofs, 36; XevKov
Graphic processes, ii.i. Tet;i(os of Thebes, 40 ; monolithic
Grebaut, M., i. 52. chapels in the Delta, 75 ; Egyptian

Group, unknownin its proper sense in beans, 125.

Egyptianart, ii. 278. Hesiod, i. 133.
ii. 169.
Gifglie, Heuzey, i. XVII., 130.
Guillaume, Edouard, i. 42. Hippopotamus, the, in the bas-reliefs,
ii. 218.
Hittorf, i. XIV. 121.

H Hobs (agod),ii.281.
quoted,i. 129, 130; "Hundred-
Homer;
Hamilton, W. J.,i. X., XXVII. gated Thebes," ii.40.
Hamy, M., ii. 377. Horeau, his plan of the hemispeos of
i.
Hapi-Toufi, 144. Gherf-Hossein, i. 408.
Zraraw-^/-A'^"5'i^a^("the false pyramid"), Hor-em-khou, i. 321.
i. 215. Hor-Khom, inscription, i. 157.
Hare, the, in the bas-reliefs, ii.218. Hor-Schesou, i. 196.
Harmachis, i. 237, 389. Horse, introduced into Egypt about the
Harm-Habi, i. 178. time of the shepherd invasion,ii.
Ha-ro-bes, ii.289. 250 ; his characteristic features in
Hatasu, Queen, i. 105 ; her obelisks at Egyptianart, id.
Karnak, 122, 265, 268; height of Horus, i. 63, 69; ii.273, 383; do. a
her obelisk, 343; Dayr-el-Bahari, privateindividual, 270.
the cenotaph of H., 425 ; height Hosi, panels from the tomb of, ii.189.
of her obelisk from more recent Hoskins, his plans of the temple of
measurement, ii. 171; her favourite Soleb, i. 384-5.
architect, 178; her bas-reliefs at House, the Egyptian,ii.26 ; its situa-
tion,
Dayr-el-Bahari,
245. 27 ; foundation, id. ; restoration
Hathor, i. 58, 69. based upon a plan found by Rosel-
Hecuba quoted,i. 130.
(Euripides), hni, 33 ; models of houses, 34 ;
Hegel, i. XXXIII. materials and arrangement, id.
 Indkx. 425

Howara, El, i. 217 : ii. 25. Kalabcheh, i. 407 ; ii. 107.

Huber, M., i. LVI. Kala^oka, i. L.

Hyena, the, in the bas-rcHefs, ii.218. Karniik, i. 25, 28, 105, 155, 263-70,
Hyksos, i. 68, 404; ii. 228-38. 362-69 ; the granite chamber*;, ii.

"Hypsethra, the Great," at Philae,i. 52 ; stele f'iers,94, 97 ; columns,

33- 102 ; decoration, 104, 130, 132.
Hypogea, generalcharacter of, i. 188. Ker-Porter, Sir R., i. IX.
Hypostyle Hall, i. 357; ii. 145-7 : of Klia-em-uas, jewelryof, ii.3S0.
Karnak, i. 365-9; ii. 163; of Luxor, K In tut, i. 14.
i. 371; of the Ramesseum, 376-7; Khetas, i. 266 ; ii.327.
of Ivledinet-Abou, 382-3 ; of Soleb, Khnumhotep, i. 160.

385 ; at Napata, 385 ; at Abydo.*;,Khons, i. 54; temple of, 123, 26S,

389; at Gournah, 391; of temple 348 ; ii. 136.
of Khons, ii.166. Khoo-foo-ankh, i. 182 ; sarcophagusof,
ii. 59.
I Klaft,ii. 222.
Kuyler, i.,V.
ii.218.
Ibex, in the bas-reliefs, Kummeh, i. 4 ; ii.45.
ii. 219.
Ibis, in the bas-reliefs,
Ictinus,i. 444.
Illahoun, pyramid of,i. 204.
Illumination ; methods of lighting
the Labyrinth, the. i. 226; li. 25.

temples,ii. 162-7; methods of light-

ing Lakes, sacred, in the temples, i. 344 ;
the palaces and privatehouses, ii. 6.
168. Language, the Eg}'ptian,i. lo-ii.
Incas, the, i. 22. Larcher, his notes to Herodotus, i. 307.
Indra, i. 50. Lartet. i. XXXVIII.
Ipsamboul, i. 22 ; little temple at, Layard, H. A., i. VI I L

405 ; great temple at, 407-8. Lenormant. Fr., i. 25, 377.

Isaeus,i. 130. Leopard, the, in the bas-reliefs,ii.218.
Isis,i. 68, 69, 301, 389, 430. Lepsius ; the Egyptiansa proto-semitic
Ismandes, i. 376. race. i. 10 ; inferiority
of Ethiopianto

Ivory,ii.384. Eg}ptian art well shown in his

Denknueler, 21 ; Berlin Museum
J enriched by him, 89 : tombs to the
Japan, i. IV. number of 130 examined by him in
Jewelry,ii.377 ; pectorals,380 ; aegis, Middle and Lower Egypt, 164; rangement
ar-

382 ; true cloisonne enamels known,

un- of the mastabas. 167 :

384; necklaces, uf. ; rials

mate- portraitsof defunct in public hall
amber
used, //'.; unknown, 387. of tomb, 178; sixty-sevenpyramids
JoUois,i. 123. examined by the Prussian commis-
sion,
Jomard, i. 152; description
of the theory of pyramid con-
198: struction,

necropolisof Gizeh. 152, 16S, 223; 201 ; pyramids at Drah-

his analysisof the impressionpro-
duced abou'l-neggah, 217; paintings at Beni-

by the Pyramids, 237 ; his Hassan figuredby L., 249; Rames-

seum.
descriptionof the temple of the 376 ; great temple at Medinet
third pyramid, 330-4, 397, 400; ii. Abou, 3S2 ; temple of Soleb. 384 ;
Egyptian cement, 71. temple of Thothmes III. at Semneh,
Josephus,quoted, ii. 26. 400; Ethiopian templesin DenkmcBlcr,
Joubert,Leo, i. XXI. 401 : speos of Silsilis.and hemispeos
jourdes viorts,an i. 239.
Eg}-ptian, of Redesieh, 406: Gebel- Barkal,
Judgingthe Dead, i. 237. 407 ; fortress of Semneh. ii. 45 ;
i. 55.
Justinian, Egyptianmethods of preparingfor a
siegesuggestedby a plate in Denk-
t/Uchr, 49 : building operations
Ka, the, i. 128. figuredin Venkmcpkr, ^T) supposed "

Kadesh (or Qadech), goddess,ii.262. discover}- 66 : origin

of the labyrinth,
VOL. II 3 I
426 Index.

of quadrangularpiers,90; campar;i- positionof the stele,157 ; tombs con-

structed
form capitjls in a hypogeum at during lifetime, 160; his
Gizeh, loi ; capitalsin the ambu-
"
latory theory of the mastaba," 1 64 ;

of Thothmes at Karnak, 115 ; derivation of the word Sakkarah,

old form of winged disc at Beni- 166; boats found in mummy pits,
Hassan, 152 ; monuments in Wadi- 184 ; pyramids always in a necropolis,
maghara figuredin Denkiuceler, 184 ; 191; Alastabat-el-Faraoun,215; mids
pyra-
thick-set forms discovered in a tomb Drah-abou'1-neggah,217 ;
upon
dating from the fourth dynasty, 190 ; openingof three unexplored pyramids
l)overty of invention in Theban art at Sakkarah, 234 ; tomb of Osiris,
seen by glancingthrough Denkmceler^ supposed site,243 ; tombs at Abydos,
250 ; works in high-relieffrom the 244; steles from Abydos, 249; temples
mastabas in
figured DeukmcEler, 284. of the left bank, Thebes, 264; method

Leroux, Hector ; his sketch of Philse,i. of closing tombs in the Bab-el-

433 ; his opinions on Egyptian paint-
ing, Molouk, 278; mummy of Queen
ii- Aah-hotep, 291 ; tombs of Apis,295 ;
335;
Letronne ; his researches, i. 224, 232. the little Serapeum, 302 ; temple of
Lion, the, in Egyptianart, ii.281, 323. the Sphinx, 326; Sphinxes at the
Longperier,de, his opinionon the age Serapeum of Memphis, 336; Sphinx
of Egyptian bronzes, ii. 197. avenues ornamental rather than
Loret, M. Victor, ii. 135. religious,
337 ; walls of Karnak, 338 ;
Lotus, the, ii. 125. extent of the temples at Karnak,
Lycian remains, i. XXVIL 362 ; sanctuary in the great temple,
Lucian (pseudo),i. 323. 384 ; temple of Dayr-el-Bahari,
425 ;
Lutzow, Carl von, i. IV. excavations at Sais,433 ; character-
istics
lAixor, temple of, i. 270, 370 ; ii. 133 ; of the Egyptian temple, 434 ;
obelisk of, 171. contrast between it and the Greek
temple,the Christian church, and the
Mahommedan mosque, 435 ; planation
ex-

M of its elaborate tion,

decora-
id. ; Royal Pavilion of Medinet-

Mod, i. 354. Abou not a palace,ii. ; building

16

Maghara (Wadi),ii. 95, 184. materials, 53 ; brick-making,id. ;

Mahsarah, i. 105. carelessness of the Egyptianbuilders,
Mammisi, i. 433. 70 ; true vaults in the necropolisof
Mandore, ii. 344. Abydos, 77 ; inverted arches, 81 ;
Manetho, i. 18 ; his account of the lotiform capitalsin the tomb of Ti,
shepherd in\ asion not to be relied on, 86 ; origin of the faggot-shaped
ii.239. column, origin of the campani-
99 ;
Marchandon-de-la-Faye,M., i. 95. form capital,128 ; proposal that it
Mariette, Auguste ; formation of Egypt, should be called /(7/'rr/y^r;//,
id.;dis-
cards
i. 2 ; accession of Menes, 18 ; the notion that the columns in
Egyptian chronology, 20 ; bad work-
manship the Babastite court, at Karnak, bore
of Egyptian temples, foun-
dations architraves,145 ; his assumption that
of great temples at Abydos, they once enclosed a hypaethral
28 ; house in the desert, 41 ; protest temple, ib. ; first apj)earance of the
againstM. Renan's conception of winged disc, 152 ; obelisks in the
ancient Egypt, 71 ; excavations, Z() ; Theban necropolis,170 ; obelisks of
ancient art chieflyknown through Hatasu gilded, 174; statues in the
his exertions and his contributions tomb of Ti, 181 ; statues of Rahotep

to the Louvre and the French hibition,

Ex- and Nefert, from Meidoum, 187 ;
89; M. on the arch, 113; panels from the tomb of Hosi, 188 ;
obelisk of Hatasu gilded, 122 ; the Scribe of the Louvre, 192 ;
sepulchral formula, ; ^ffttarrypto, brought figures
135 from Ancient Empire
in the tomb of Ti, 143 ; objects for to Paris in 1878, 211; Nemhotep,
the support of the Ka sometimes 212 ; picture of geese, 220 ; statues

modelled "in the round," 145; of Chephren discovered in the temple

 IXDFX.

of the Sphnix, 213; early Thcban his translation of fumrary songs,

works rude and awkward, 226; 249 ; formula by which the right of
Menthouthotep, id. ; groups from erecting a statue in a temple was
Tanis, 228; figurediscovered in the "
granted to a privateindividual,278 ;
Fayoum, 233 ; definition of the type on the Palestrina mosaic, 2 88.
of these Tanite remains, 237 ; head Mastaba, i. 164; in the Memphite
of Taia discovered, 242 ; Amenophis necropolis, 165, 189; materials of
IV. perhaps a eunuch, 243 : expedition the, 168; Mastabat-el-Faraoun, 169;
to Punt, illustrated at Dayr-el-Bahari, Mastabas of Sabou, 171; Haar, id. ;
245 ; belief that Punt was in Africa, Ra-en-mar, id. ; Hapi, 171 ; general
246 : detestable styleof the remains arrangements, 172.
from the last years of Rameses II., Mastabat-el-Faraoun, i. 169, 214, 326.

258 ; Menephtah, son of Rameses Maury, Alfred, i. 286.

II., statue at Boulak, 260; head of Maut,i. 63, 268.

Tahraka at Boulak, 263 ; opinion as Medinet-Abou, i. 22, 102 ; the great
to the character of the statues in temple, 260, 267-8, 375; tlie little
Eg}'ptiantemples, 276; origin of the temple, 376; iL 169; the royal
Sphinx, 281 ; tomb of Sabou, tures,
sculp- pavilion,i. 375; ii. 16; t!ie great
285 ; models for sculptors at temple, method of lighting,384 ;
Boulak, their probable date, 324. brackets in royal pavilion, 22)-
Mariette, Edouard, ii. 28, 55. Medinet-el-Fayoum, ii. 25.
Maspero, G. ; our guide to the history Medledk, i. 159.
of Egypt, i. 8-9 ; his opinion upon Megasthenes, i. L.
the Eg}ptian language, 13; periods Meh, house of, I. 156.
of Egjptianhistory, 1 7-18 : Ethiopian Meidoum, i. 35, 89, 165 ; construction
kingdom, 21 ; affiliation of the king of the pyramid of M., i. 200.
to the gods, 22 ; mildness of rule in "
Memnon," statues of, i. 267, 290,
Ancient Egypt, 37 ; prince EntePs 376-
stele, 38; Eg}ptian devotion, 39; "
Memnonium," i. 267 ; ii. 30.
do. 43 ; the number of their de- Memphis, i. 6 ; discoveryof the Sheik-
votional
works of
art, id.; character el-Beled, 9, 16; political
centre of
of sacred animals, such as the Apis, the AncientEmpire, 17, 27; our
66 ; his
theory as to the ka, or knowledge of the early period all
double, 126, 137-8, 140-6, 148-153, derived from the necropolisof M.,
155-7 ; translation from Papyrus IV. 34 ; the early Egyptians not oi"-
at Boulak. 161 ; tomb of Harmhabi, pressed,37 ; worshipof Ptah at M.,
178 ; pyramid of Ounas, 194 ; com- of apis,67 : situation
55 ; sigriificance
mentar)- on the second book of of necropolis,136 : doors of the
Herodotus, 227 ; opening of pyramid tombs turned eastward, 157 ; masta-
bas,
of Ounas, 235 ; opinionon the tombs 165 ; statue of Rameses II. on

at Abydos, 242 ; the staircase of the site of M., ii. 240.

Osiris, 243 ; discoveryof remains Mendes, i. 22.
belonging to royal tombs of the Menephtah, head of,at .Boulak, ii. 258.
eleventh dynasty at Drah abou'l- Menes, i.,X. XLVIIL, 15, 17, 22, ^S.
neggah, 253 ; ascription of power of Menkaura i. 326.
(Mycerinus),
speech and movement to statues, Menthouthotep, ascribe,ii. 226.
289 ; proof that the gods existed Mentou-Ra, ii. 266.
in the time of the Ancient Empire, Menzaleh, Lake, fellahs in the neigh-
318; translation of the stele of hoodof their race, ii 237.
Piankhi from Gebel-Barkal, 353 ; Merenzi, i. 234.
Hatasu's expedition to Punt. 426 ; Merime'e, M., materials employed by
translations of Egyptian tales, ii. Egyptian painters,ii. 334.
30 : symbolism of papyrus and lotus, Meroe, i. 20, 217.
126; translation of stele C. 14. in the Mer\^al,du Barry de, ii. 11.
Eouvre, 176 ;. cause of the Iconic Mesem Bryanthemum Copticum,ii. 375.
character of Egyptian statutes, 181 ; Metal-work, ii. 377 ; blow-pipeknown,
fnaterialsfor wooden statues, 197 ; 378 : iron,379 ; damascening, 384.
428 Index.

Metopes, ii. 155. girls,249 ; Rameses II., 256 ;

Mexico, i. V. bronze statuettes, 312 ; models for
Michaelis,i. XIX. sculptors,322 ; Grgeco-Roman mains,
re-

Michelet,i. 64. 274; glass,376; bronze

Midas, i. XXVII. ornaments and weapons, 379 ;
Minutoli, i. 213. jewels, 380 ; ivory-work, 388 ;
Mit-fares,ii. 234. wood-work, 395-8.
jSIitrahineh, bas-relief at, ii. 271. British ; boats found in tombs, i.
IMnevis, i. 54. 185 ; mummy case Mycerinus,
of
Models for ii.322.
sculptors, 234, 319; Ritual of the Dead,
Modulus, its absence from Egyptian ii. 287 ; sceptre of Papi, 198 ;
architecture,i. 102. head of Thothmes III., 241 ; do.
Moeris (Pharaoh),i. 347 ; Lake M. i. of Amenophis III., 242 ; bronze
7, 216, 228 ; ii. 25. statuette oi Aisaphes, 265 ; comic
Mokattam, i. 105, 201, 204. papyrus, 353; pottery, 368; en-
amelled

Monolithic columns rare in Egypt,ii.

66. faience 371 ; aryballiis,
Mosel i. XVII. 372 ; enamelled bricks from
MliUer, Ottfried,i. III., V., XXL, Stepped Pyramid,372; enam elled
XXV, XXXL, LIV. plaques,374.
Mummies, i. 135 ; m. pits,181 ; method Liverpool; boat from tomb, i. 185.
of closingm. pit,183; do. of phagus,
sarco- Louvre; i. 38, 89, 122, 127 ; boats
182 ; furniture of m. bers,
cham- from tombs, 185 ; tabernacle,353 ;
183; decoration of the m. models of houses, ii. 33-4 ; the

cases, ii. 335. "Scribe," 183-192; statues from

Mycenae, i. XLIL, 162. Ancient Empire 181-192 ; Cane-

Mycerinus,pyramid of, i. 205, 227, p/iorus, 202 ; Sebekhotep, 226 ; red
329 ; the sarcophagusof
his daughter granitesphinx,228;Taniteremains,
as described by Herodotus, 307 ; his 235 ; statues from New Empire,
own sarcophagus,ii. 55-59. 244-260; works in bronze, 270-
INIuseums "
281 ; bas-relief of Amasis fromSer-
Berlin ; i. 89 ; papyrus narratingthe apeum,285 ; gems,288; signsof im-
perfect
dedication of a chapel by an tools used, 304-5 ; portraits
Ousourtesjn, 334; funeraryobelisk, from Roman epoch, 336 ; jewelry,
ii. 170 ; leg in black granite,228 ; 382-387 ; woodwork, 395-8.
enamelled bricks from stepped Turin; stele, i. 301; tabernacle,
pyramid,372. 353 ; statues of the Theban raohs,
Pha-
Boulak ; i. 10, 41 ; the drt of the ii. 225 ; Rameses II., 257 ;
pyramid builders only to be fully satirical,papyrus, 351 ; priapic
seen at B., 86, 89, 90, 139; pyrus
pa- scene in ^t*.,
355 ; enamel on wood,
IV., 161 ; stele with garden 375-
about a tomb, 301 ; statues of Vatican ; ii. 265.
Fastop/ion/s,
gods, 319 ; sphinxes in courtyard,
ii- 337 \ statue of the architect
Nefer, 177 ; statues in tomb of N
Ti, 181 ; Rahotep and Nefert,
183-7 ; Sheik-el-belcd,183, 194; Naos, i. 353.
panels from tomb of Hosi, 189 ; Napata, i. 21 ; pyramids at, 217, 218 ;
statue of Ra-nefer, 203 ; do. of Ti, great temple at N. 385 ; speos at N.
of with
203 ; wooden statue a man 404-7-
long robe, 204 ; kneelingstatues, Naville,E., i. 22 ; ii. 176.
204 ; Nefer-hotep
and Tenteta, Nectanebo, i. 17, 77, 86, 353, 430.
207 ; domestic and agriculturalNefer (architect),
statue of, ii. 177.
figures,209 ; Nemhotep, 212 ; Nefer-hotep,ii. 207.
painting of Nile geese, 219; Nefert Ari, i. 410. "

statues of Chephren, Nefert, statue of, from Meidoum, ii.

great 221 ;
Tanite remains, 230-5 ; Thothmes 187.
III., 241 ; Taia, 242 ; dancing Neith, i. 69, 301.
 Index. 429

Nekau, i. 24, 78. Ovolo (egg moulding),ii. 154.

Nekheb i. 63.
(goddess), Ox, faithful treatment of, in Egyptian
Nem-hotep, ii. 202. art, ii. 253.
ii. 266.
Nepheritis,
y
Nephihys, i. 54, 301 ii. 350, 361.
;
Niebuhr, i. XXI.
Nesa, ii. 185. Paccard, L XI I L
Nestor L'Hote, i. 4 ; ii. 15; his en-
thusiasm Painting; Egyptian paintingreallyillu-
mination,
for the art of the early ii. 332 ; how a picturewas

dynasties,
225. begun, id. ; complete absence of
Nile, the creator of Egypt, i. 2, 3 ; shadow, id. ; tools employed, 2,2)1 :
inundations,4, 5
its ; homage to the colours 334 , their chemical
known.
N. as a god, 233. composition,id. ; good condition of
Nowertiouta, ii.294. Egyptian painting,
335 ; procedures.
Num-hotep, i. 35, 251. id. : treatments of fiesh tints. 336 :

distemper the true Egyptian method,

id. \ portrait
of Amasis. 336; easel
O pictures unknown,
not id. ; colours
of the of Queen
gods, 337 ; portraits
Obelisks, the, method of erection, Taia, id. ; decorations of tomb of
ii. 75 ; 169 ; 6/ScAos,
170 ; 6/3"ki"rKo";, Ptah-hotep,341.
id.; O. of Hatasu, 170; do. of Palace, the Egyptian,ii. 8.
Luxor, 171 ; do. of Ousourtesen, Palestrina mosaic, the, ii. 288.
id. ;heights of obelisks, id. ; O. Palettes,painters",ii. 2,SZ-
figured in bas-relief at Sakkarah, Panels, grooved, i. 115 : carved do., ii.
174; ovals of Ousourtesen I. on O. 189.
Beggig,i75-
at Papi, i. 235.
.

funerary,i. 139-45;
Offerings, ii. 384; Papyrus; the plant, ii. 125; Papyrus
tables for offerings,
143-4; ii. 362. Afiasfasi III., ii. 22 ; Papyrus Ca-
Oliphant, Laurence, ii. 175. sati, i. 159; Papyrus IV., i. 161;
Opisthodomos,i. 354. Satirical
Papyri,ii. 351.
"
Orders," the Egyptian, ii.85 ; asserted Passalacqua; his descriptionsof mies,
mum-

derivation from the national flora, i. 136, 143 ; his discoveryof a

128. tomb, 293.

Orientation of the tomb, i. 157. Pastophorus,of the Vatican,ii.265.
Ornament, importance of the human Pat, ii. 185.
figure,ii. 355 ; vultures, id. ; origin Patera, ii. 370.
of ornament, 356 ; various motives, Pausanias,i. 26S.
357; ceiling decorations, 359; Pectorals, ii.380.
winged globe, 361 ; mummy cases, Pega, i. 128.
id. ; colour well preserved,362 ; use Peiho, i. 172.
of gold, id. ; graining,363. Pekh-hesi,on panels in tomb of Hosi,
Osarvaris,i. 159. iu i8g.
"
Osymandias, tomb of," or Rames- Penrose, F. C, i,XIV.
seum,i. 266, 375, 378. Pentaour, a scribe,i. 5 ; the poet. 266.
Osorkhon, ii. 362. Peripteraltemples.Elephantine,i. 396-
Ouaphra, ii. 266. 398 ; Eilithyia,Medinet-Abou and
Oudja, ii. 383. Semneh, 402.
Ouenephes, or Ata, i. 207. Persigny,F. de, his notions about the
Ouna, i. 151. pyramids, i. 191.
Ounas, Pyramid of, i. 194, 215 ; Perring,J. L. ; his great work upon the
mummy chamber of O. 235 ; the pyramids,I 195 ; his perceptionof the
opening of the pyramid, 235. object of the discharging chambers
Oushebti, or ^//t'^//
(answerersor respon-
dents), in the Great Pyramid, 221; his
i. 146.
drawings of the sarcophagus of
Ousourtesens, the, ii.45, 50, 72. Mycerinus, ii. 56.
Overbeck, history of sculpture,i. V. Perspective, ii. 5.
430 Index.

Petamounoph, tomb of, i. 296, 313. 368 ;

"
Egyptian porcelain," 369 ;
Petenef-hotep,i. 159. should ba
Egyptian faience, id. \
Petronius, i. 44. colour of designs,370 ; doorway in
"
Phamenoph," i. 268. Stepped Pyramid, 372 ; tiles,id.
Phiale, the Greek, ii.370. Priene, i. XIII.
Philipthe Arab, i. 55. i. 31.
Priests,
Philse,the great temple at, i. 351 ; the Prisoners, Eigures of,under brackets at
island and its ruins, 433 ; arches at, Medinet-Abou, ii. 24, 94; upon
ii. 82 ; columns at, 104-112. frie/.es,154 ; in the tomb of Seti I.,
Philo, i. 224, 232. 348 ; upon the soles of sandals, 354.
Philostratus,i. 268. Prisse d'Avennes, his History, i. 26;
Piankhi, i. 22 ; married to Ameneritis, his papers, 95, 249, 356, 408; ii.54,
ii. 264; father of Shap-en-ap, id. 66, 80, 94, 146, 155 ; his ideas upon
Pier, ii. 85 ; originof the quadrangular the so-called canon, ii. 319.
P. 90 ; the Hathoric, 91 ; the Osiride, Processions, i. 435.
92 ; the stele,93 ; the octagonal,94 ; Profile, its almost exclusive use by*
the sixteen-sided, 94-8 ; the poly- gonal, painters,
and in bas reliefs,
ii. 293.

95 8 ; with a flat vertical band, Pronaos, i. 351.

98 ; do. with mask of Hathor, id. Propylon, i. 341-4; ii. 156.
Pierret, Paul, i. 47 ; his study of the Proto-doric columns, i.418 ; differences
dogma of the resurrection,i. 135, 147, between them and doric, ii. 97.

152, 436; ii.63, 76, 107, 126, 170, Proto Semitic races, i. 10.

227, 235, 278 ; jewelryin the Louvre, Provincial art in Greece, i. XII.

289. Psemethek I., i. 19, 38, 77, 92, 347,

Pietschmann, i. 57, 147. 389, 430 ; group of, with Hathor,
Pig, in the bas-reliefs,
i. 219. ii. 267; II., ii. 266; Nefer-sam,
"Pipes" (Theban tombs),i. 255. 271.
Piranesi, i. VII. Pschetit.,i. 16.
Piroli,i. VII. Psousennes, ii. 233.
Pisani,ii. 202. Ptah, i. 22, 51, 54, 55, 67, 389, 430.
Pise',i. 105. Ptah-hotep,tomb of, i. 174.
Plans, Egyptianground-, ii. 6. Ptah-Osiris, i. 68 ; Ptah-Sokar-Osiris,
Plato, quoted,i. 70, 71, 84. id.
Pliny,quoted,i. 224, 321 ; ii.76. Ptolemaic art, ii. 272.
Plutarch, pseudo-,quoted, i. 242, 327. Ptolemy, Philopator,i. 264 ; Euergetes,
Pluteus, ii. 149 ; at Denderah, id. ii. 407.

Polishingstatues, the methods of, ii. Punt, the land of,i. 260.
307-10. Pylon, i. 341-4; ii- 156-
Polychromatic decoration ; of the Pyramids, i. 189; derivation of the
Greeks, i. XIV. ; of the Egyptians, word, 190; originof, 195; parative
com-

in their sunlight,126; its sizes, 199; mode of structing,

con-
necessary
influence their sculpture, ii. 201 ; cubic contents of
upon
Great Pyramid, 202 ; Pyramids of
325-..
Pompeii,ii.89. Gizeh, 206; of Dashour, id; the

Population of Egypt under the Roman Stepped P., 207-212; German theory
Empire, ii. 26. as to the construction of the mids,
Pyra-
Porcelain, Egyptian,i. 146. 208; construction of the

Porcupine, the, ii. 218. Blunt Pyramid, Dashour, 210; mid

Pyra-
Portcullis stones, i. 220. of Abousir, 212; of Meidoum,
Portraiture,the foundation of Egyptian 214, of Righa, 216; of Hawara,

art, ii. 275. of

id. ; of Illahoun, /./.; proportions
Posno, collection of M. Gustave, Nubian pyramids,218; methods of

bronzes, ii. 200 ; enamelled bricks, preventingintrusion,219; ing

discharg-
chambers in Great Pyramid, 221 ;
374-
wheel
Pottery; potter's in use during colossi on pyramids, 228; Pyramid
the Ancient Empire, ii. 367 ; Dr. Mycerinus,329.
of
Birch's illustrations,
367 ;
i. 226; ii. 174.
arybalius, I'yramidion,
 Index. 431

'Rhone, Arthur, i. 205, 291 ;his Egypte

h petitesjoiirnees,305 ; plans lent,
Qadech "
see Kadesh. 316, 328.
i. 105.
Quarries, Righa, Pyramid of, i. 216.
Quintus Curtius" see Curtius. Rings, ii. 289.
Ritual of the Dead, i. 39, 146; cap.
cxxv., 286.
R Rouge, de, his Memoire surrinscription
d'Ahmes, i. 33 ii. 170; his opinion
Ra, i. 25. ;

Ra-en-ma ii. 289.

(Amenemhat III.), upon the statues of Sepa and Nesa,
Ra-hesi, ii. 189. 185, 194, 228, 235.
Ra-hotep, ii. 187. i. 406.
Rosellini,
Rameses I.,commences the hypostyle
hall at Karnak, i. 378; honoured at

Gournah, 392.
Rameses II.,i. 19, 22, 27, 76 ; his tomb,
282; completes Luxor, 370; pletes
com- S.ABAco, ii.27; the great door at Karnak
the hypostylehall at Karnak, repairedby him, 263.
378 ; builds the 378-81 ;
Ramesseum, Sabou, mastaba of, i. 167.
the temple of Abydos completed, Sais, 18, 309 ; its walls, ii. 41.
i.

386 ; the temple of Gournah ^t'.,395 ; Sakkarah, i. 35, 38, 42, 135. i43, 146,
causes hypogea to be excavated in i66 ; stepped pyramid, 204-15; ii.

Nubia, 405 ; also in Egypt, 406 ; 372 ; pyramids recentlyopened at S.

his colossi at Ipsamboul, 410-15 ; his i. 234.
family,ii. 13 ; his obelisks at Luxor, Salzmann, i. X.
Sardinians,supposed of the,
17 1-2 ; his portrait-statues,
240, 255- ancestors

8 ; decadence of art towards the close ii. 257.

of his reign,257. Schasou, ii. 200.
Rameses III.,i.22, 267 ; his tomb, 281; Schenti,ii. 185, 200.
histempleatMedinet-Abou, 381-384; Schliemann, Dr., his discoveries at

ii.16 ; bas-reliefs in which

his pavilion, Mycenae, i. 162.
he is represented in his gynecseum, Schnaase, Carl, i. III.,IV., Y.

21-22. Scribes,the, i. 30.

Ramesseum, i. 266, 376, 377 ; ii. 97. Sculpture,ii. 180 ; the originof statue-
167. making, 180 ; S. under the Ancient
Ra-nefer, ii. 203. Empire, 184 ; process of making a

Rannu, i. 64. wooden statue, 197 ; groups in the

Raoul-Rochette, his false idea of proper sense unknown, 205 ; animals
Egyptianart, i. 71. in S. 217, 280; extreme fidelityof
Rayet, ii. 182. royal portraiture,
223 ; S. under the
Redesieh, i. 406. Theban Pharaohs, 226; first ap-
pearance
Regnier,Ad, i. 341. of colossi,
239; the "Apollo
Rekmara, i. 296 ; ii.;^^8. Belvedere of Eg}-pt,"
248 ; over slight-
Renan, Ernest, his opinion on the ness of proportionscharacteristic of
Egyptianlanguage,i. 13 ; on Egyptian the Middle and New Empires,249 ;
civilization,
ig; do. 71. the worst of the Saite statues national
Resheb, ii. 262. in style,272 ; work under the Roman
Revillout, Eug., i. 309 ; ii. 29. domination, 273 ; absence of gods
Rhaecos, ii.317. from larger works, 275 ; religious
Rhampsinite, i. 347. statues purelyvotive,276 ; statues of
Rhind, Henry, his Thebes,8cc.,infiltra-
tion Amen and Khons not colossal,277 ;
in mummy pits,136 ; a Burial the right to erect statues in the
place of the poor, 160 ; his dis- covery temples, 278 ; busts not unknown,
of a tomb, 166; substitution 279 ; technical methods in the bas-
of a late tenant for an earlyone, /"/., reliefs,284 ; tools used in S., 303 ;
extreme length of some of ihe. pipes, their influence and that of materials
296. upon st)le,303. 306-314.
432 Index.

Sebek-hotep,ii. 226. Stark,Carl B., i. XXV., LV.

Sebennytos, i. 18. Stele,i. 155-6.
Secos,the (o-tjkos,
or i. 352,
sanctuary), StepjjedPyramid measurements, i. 197,
357, 375, 384, 406. 207, 212.

Sedeinga, i. 402. Stereobate, ii. 149.

Sekhet, i. 54, 58, 354, 406. Stern, Ludwig. i. 334.
Seleucus Nicator,i. L. Steuart, i. XXVII.
Selk, i. 301. Stob^eus, i. 307.
Semneh, ii. 45 ; cornice of temple at, Stork, the, in the bas-reliefs,
ii.219.
'53- Strabo pyramids, i. 191 ; passages to

Semper, Gottfried,
his theories upon the mummy chamber, 192 ; pyramid of
origin decoration,ii. 356.
of the Labyrinth, 227 ; Memnonium
Sepa, ii. 184. (Amenophium), 267; do. 279; Saite
Serapeum, i. 305-8 ; tlie bronzes covered
dis- worship of Athene', 307 ; "
barous
Bar-
"
in the S. ii.266. temple Heliopolis,323 ;
at

Serdab, originof the word, i. 177, 187. 341 ; description of the

TrpoTTuXwv,
Sesebi, ii. 130. Egyptian type of temple, 347 ; iden-
tification
Sesostris, i. 19, 347 ; ii. 27. of Ismandes and Memnon,
Scti I.,i. 29, 123, 278 ; his tomb, 280, 376 ; the Memnonium close to the
389 ; carries on the Hypostyle Hall colossi of Memnon (Amenophis),id. ;
at Karnak, 378; begins the temple labyrinth,ii. 25 ; monolithic supports
at Abydos, 392 ; do. Speos-Artemidos in labyrinth,66; uses of the lotus,125;
and Redesieh, 406 ; bas-reliefs at description of do. id. ; height oi do. id.
Abydos, ii. 247. Style,distinguishingfeatures of Egyp- tian,
Seti II.,ii. 260. ii. 329.
Shap-en-ap,ii. 264. Supports,generaltypes of architectural,
Sharuten, ii. 257. ii. 91.
Sheik-el- Beled, i. 9 ; ii. 194. Susa, ii. 13.
Sheshonk, i. 19; ii. 262. Suti and Har, architects at Thebes, i.
Silco,i. 55. 436-
Siout, i. 144, 249; necropolis
of, 252. Syene, i. 7, 105.
Siptah,tomb of, i. 281.
Snefrou, ii. 95, 184, 187.
Socharis, i. 166. T
Soldi, Emile, ii. 288 ; his tion
explana-
of the influence exercised over Tabernacle, i. 352-5.
Egyptiansculptureby the tools and Tahraka, i. 385 ; hyp?ethral
temple of
materials employed, 304. T. ii. 145, 263.
Soleb, ii. 102, 130, 404. Taia (Queen),bust of,at Boulak, ii.242 ;

Solon, observation of a priestof Sais painted portraitof, the in tomb of

to, i. XXXIII. Amenophis III.,337.

Somalis,i. 260. from, i.
Tanagra, terracotta statuettes

Soudan, i. 218. XVIL, XVIIL, 162.

Soutekh or Set, i. 68 ; ii. 93. 7\inis,i. 18; sculptured remains from
Spencer, Herbert, upon the conception T., ii. 230-8 ; Roman head from T.,
of the double,i. 128; upon "primitive 274 ; sculptors'models from T., 322.
ideas," 132 ; upon the hole piercedfor Ta-ti-bast (Queen),ii.362.
the-double to pass through,178. Tegsa, i. XVIIL
Speoiand He^fii-speoi, i. 402. Telecles ii.317.
(sculptor),
Sphinx, types of, i. 58-9 ; the great S., Tell-el-Amarna, scene of a. new cult
2378, 323 ; the temple of the S., under Amenophis IV., i. 69 ; its ceme-
tery

323-7 ; controversy as to its true on the right bank of the Nile,

'

character, 327-9 ; of S. 336-

avenues 157 ; domestic architecture of Egypt

7 ; the S. of the Louvre, 61 ; ii. 228 ; may be well studied in the paintings
S. from Tanis, 230-3. and bas-reliefs at T., ii. 5 ; the
Squaring,for transference and ment
enlarge- Egyptianhouse, 28 ; palace,2,3i ^55 ',

of drawings,ii.320. painted landscapesat, 287.

 Index, 4'"
-"

Tell-el-Yahoudeh, ii.373. U

Temple, funerarytemplesof Thebes,

the
i. 264-275 ; the T. under the Ancient Uggkri, the Abbe, i. 104.
Empire, 318-333 ; under the Middle Una, high official under the sixth
do., IZyZZ'i; under do.,
the New dynasty,ii. 75.
335-433 ; generalcharacteristics,
434 ; Ur?eus, ii. 151, 227.
distinction between the T. in Egypt
and in Greece, 435-7.
Tenteta, statue at Boulak, ii.208.
71'/,the, ii.383.
Teuffel,i. III.
Texier, i. IX., X., XXVII. Vases, found in the mastabas, i. 171,
Teynard, Felix, ii. 157. 183; ii. 367; domestic V., 367-8;
Thebes, i. 6, 16-18, 27, 65-8, 77, 89, ornamented do.,368-372.
122, 134-6, 15 1-7 ; its necropolis, Vault, i. no ; ofT-set vaults,in; ii.83 ;
255-317; its temples, 333-84; the centred V., i. 112; V. in pise,113 ;
meaning of the theory
epithet"/"aTd/i,7n,'Xo9, as to symbolism of the
the
ii. 40. V. in the hypogea,id. ; antiquityof
Theodorus ii.317.
(sculptor), the V. in Egypt, ii. 77; (see also

Theophrastus quoted, ii. 125. Arch:)

Theseum, i. VII. Vedas, poetry of, i. XLIX., 50.
Thorwaldsen, i. XI. Verde-antique,i. 224.
Thoth, i. 63. ii. 1 1.
Versailles,
Thothmes II.,ii.381, 400; Thothmes Villeroi,Charles, his work upon the
III., i. 19, 70, 268; Hall of T. at columns in Greek temples,i. 96.
Karnak, 369, 381, 400, 406 ; his Vinet, Ernest, i. XIV., XIX.
statues, 241 ; head in the British VioUet-le-Duc, his theory as to the
Museum, id. ; his portraitscon-
spicuous originof the Egyptiancornice,ii.56 ;
for id. ; his porphyry
fidelity, upon the employment of inverted
sphinx at Boulak, 242. archesin basements, 80-2.
Thucydides, ii.40. Visconti,E. Q., i. VII.
Ti, his tomb, i. LX, 89, 143, 148, 177, Melchior
Vogiie', de, i. 73 ; his descrip-
tion
180 ; ii. 86 ; his offices of state, 177 ; of the Boulak Museum, 90: ii.45
his statue at Boulak, 203. his definition of the Egyptian style
Tiberias,kiosque,or summer-house of, 327.
at Philae,i. 433. Volute, ii. 90.
Tiele,Prof, his manual of the history Vyse, Colonel Howard, his great work
of religions,
1. 57. upon Pyramids, i. 195 ; his dis-
the coveries
Tiryns,ii.64. in do.,221 ; his discoveryof
To-deser, i. 135. the Sarcophagus of Mycerinus,234 ;
Tomb, the, under the Ancient Empire, his discovery and explorationof
i. 163-241 ; under the Middle do., Campbell's tomb, 311.
241-254; under the New do., 255-

Tomb of Osymandias',i. 375.

To- rah, or To-meh, i. 15.
me W
To-res,i. 15.
Toum, i. 68. W.ADij-Siout,i. 105 ; -Seboua, 407-8; ii.
Tourah, i. 204. 65 ; -Halfah, ii.42 ; -Maghara, ii. 95,
Triglyphs,ii. 155. 184. ;
Tuaregs, the, i. 13. ii.397.
Walking-sticks, '

Turbehs, tombs of Saite kings pared

com- Wallon, M., i. LX.
to, i. 309. Welcker, i. VII., XXV.
Typhon, ii. 93 ; Typhonia, 407, 434. Whitehouse, F. Cope, his theory as to
the construction of the pyramids, i.
201 : his theory as to Lake Moeris
,

ii. 25.
VOL. II. \ K
426 Index.

Wigs, ii. 203. not scanty, 393 ; perfume spoons and

Wilkinson,Sir G. ; his opinionupon the other smaU
articles,
394.
coating Egyptian works with stucco, Worship of the dead, i. 128.
i. 122; ii. 33, 38, 72; his theory of
the Egyptian ca/ion, 319, 366; con- X
stituents of Egyptian bronze, 379. "
^- i ^i
\\r 1 f TT ^t-It v\- X(nrE dymstv, the, 1.
^
17.
1
Winckelmann, 1. 11., ^Tv., XV., XX., ^ -' ' '

XXV., LVI.
y
Witte, de, on the weighing of souls,1.
286. Zeus, i. XII. 69, 133.
Wolf, the, in the bas-reliefs,
ii. 218. Zeuxis, i. XIV., XVI.
Woodwork, ii. 390; wooden furniture Zoega, i. VII.

THE END.

LOXUON : R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PI:INIERS.

 /// a Handsome IiiipcrialSvo Volume, },6s.

RAPHAEL:
N/S LIFE. JVORKS. AXD TIMES.

From the French of EUGENE MUNTZ.

Edited by W. ARMSTRONG.

Illustrated with 155 Wood Engravings and 41 Full-Page Plates.

"We have already noticed at some length the originalFrench edition of the

important work of '

Raphael, his Life, Works, and Times,' of M. Muntz, the

Librarian of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and we are glad now to welcome an English
translation. A translation is never quite the same thing as the original,
but for

those "
and they are many "
who prefer an English version of a book to a French

one, this volume may be recommended as, on the whole, a sound and adequate":
rendering of ^L Muntz's work. The type and paper are excellent, and the volume

appears in a substantial Roxburgh binding, suitable to its bulk and in good taste.

yi. Muntz is a real authority on the historyof Art, and is by no means to be ranked

the bookmakers, who abound in that department of literature ; and his

among

volume, while intended for popular reading as well as for students, is an advance on

anything that has been done before in the biography of Raphael." " Times.

''This splendid work deserves a cordial welcome. Its paper, type, and

engravingsleave little to desire. It was a hazardous undertaking to represent the

Madonnas of Raphael by wood engravings; and yet it has proved successful in no

ordinary degree. . . .
With regard to the literar)-
portion of the work, we can

say that it is accurate, catholic in tone, and written with admirable lucidity." "

Daily Xeivs.

""
The compendious and profusely illustrated volume forms a valuable addition

to the history of art. Passavant's work on the subject, though excellent in its way,

cannot be considered exhaustive, many important facts concerning the great master
and those who influenced his career having been brought to Hght since it was

written. The present work, accordingly, is not superfluous, and no probably,

man,

could have accomplished the task more successfully than M. Muntz, who, it should

be mentioned, is the Librarian of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Paris. Having

diligently studied the documentary records of Italian history,and being familiar

with the various Italian schools of painting,he is especially qualified for work of the

kind. His book presents consequently a complete, and apparently trustworthy

record of Raphael's career, from his birth in Urbino in 1483 to his premature death

in Rome, thirty-sevenyears later, and in it may be clearly traced the and

progress

development of his art and the influences which modified it. The author's remarks

moreover, on the works of Raphael and of the other painters he has occasion to

mention are thoroughly critical and appreciative, and never dogmatically expressed.
'J'he illustrations, of which there are nearly two hundred, form a important
very

feature of the work ; they include, besides engravings from nearly all Raphael's

existingpictures,and views of the localities in which he sojourned, a considerable

number of faithful copies of his original studies and drawings. These being
accurate reproductions of the master's own handiwork, will be regarded with great
interest by students of art, the more so that the originals of many of them are in

"

private collections inaccessible to the public "

Globe.

"A work of such vast importance and interest as this cannot be adequately
treated in the short scope of a notice like the ])resent. It is so perfectly and

elaborately carried out that a study of its pages can alone do it any degree of

justice. M. Muntz has been enabled to correct in many notable particulars the

great work of Passavant, and his biography of Raphael Sanzio is unquestionably

the best in existence. The illustrations comprise nearly every work of importance

by the master." "

Whitehall Revieiv.

"
Taken altogether the volume is one of great merit, both literaryand artistic.

Before from it we must a tribute to the general excellence of

we pass pay

the translation, which has all the spiritand vigour of an originalwork . . .

the

and eloquent language of the original has, rule, been rendered with
vigorous as a

like vigour and eloquence, which make the present beautiful volume as pleasant

to read as it is attractive to look at "

thus fittingit alike for the libraryand the

"
drawing-room. "
John Bull.

k: CHAPMAN " HALL, Limited.

p
 '-'J

not remove
Kease do

OR SUPS FROMTHIS POCKET

,,,P|")S
TORONTO LIBRARY
UNWERSITY OF

Perroti
Georges "

m
of art
A history
ancient EgyP*

";-"*-
^,

V
"^^
oFnoc-spcnAi.TY
'Htmvmso^mmmmK

~''' la^-wsBgaa" KMo"aaM I IIHWIIIIII I II I II 1 1 II