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ART IN EGYPT

ARS UNA: SPECIES MILLE
GENERAL HISTORY OF ART

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
Already Published: —
ART ~IN GREAT BRirAIN AND IRELAND.
By Sir Walter Armstrong
"We desire to recommend Sir Walter Arm
strong's book with all the emphasis at our
command." — Morning' Post.
ART IN NORTHERN ITALY.
By Corrado Kicci.
"An entirely lucid outline of the develop
ment of architecture, sculpture and painting
in Northern Italy," — Athenceum,
ART IN FRANCE.
By Louis Hourticq. Agrege1 de I'Universite.
Inspector of fine arts in the city of Paris.
"As an introduction to French art it will
long stand without a rival. " - Saturday Review.
For Immediate Publication ; — •
ART IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
By M. DlEULAFOT.
ART IN FLANDERS.
By Monsieur Max Rooses. (Director ofPIau-
tin Moretua Museum, Antwerp.)
In Preparation: —
BYZANTINE ART.-
THE ART OF INDIA.
GERMAN ART.
THE ART OF GREECE.
ART IN HOLLAND.
THE ART OF CHINA AND JAPAN.
ART IN NORTH AMERICA.
ROMAN ART.
THE ART OF SOUTHERN ITALY.

BUST OF THE PRINCESS NEFERET
(Museum, Cairo)

ARS UNA: SPECIES MILLE
GENERAL HISTORY OF ART

ART IN EGYPT

BY

G. MASPERO

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE SERVICE OF ANTIQUITIES OF EGYPT

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
MCMXII

This volume is published simultaneously in
America by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, New
York; in England by WLLLIAM HEINEHANN,
London; also in French by HACHETTE ET ClE.,
Paris ; in Gerynan by JULIUS HOFFMANN,
Stuttgart; in Italian by the ISTITUTO IT ALLAN O
D'ARTI GRAFICHE, Bergamo; in Spanish by the
Llbreria Gutenberg de Jose Ruiz, Madrid.

PREFACE
The art of Egypt, like all the rest of its civilisation, is the pro
duct of the African soil. If it occasionally took ideas or methods
of expression from the peoples with which it was brought into
contact by the Pharaohs, its levies were not important enough
in the first instance to exercise a durable influence upon its
constitution. In a few years , it had so completely assimilated
the substance of these as to leave us hardly sensible that any
alien influences had interfered, even momentarily, with its ho
mogeneity. It was only towards the end, when the race whose
mind it had so admirably materialised and translated began to
bow beneath the weight of over fifty centuries of existence, that
it too declined , lacking strength to defend its superannuated
traditions successfully against the new conceptions of beauty set
before it by younger races.
I have dealt briefly with the period of its infancy, thinking
the reader would forgive me, if I devoted as little as possible
of the limited space at my disposal to dubious origins. Besides,
unlike some of my confreres, I cannot accept as art the rude
images by which every new-born people seeks to reproduce the
objects or the beings it sees around it, and the ideas they evoke.
I have therefore dealt with it as almost adult, when it had left
v

PREFACE
its awkward age behind it. I have indicated the religious and
social principles by which it was governed at the time of the
Thinite dynasties, and I have then tried to determine the suc
cessive stages of its development during the following periods.
It has been very erroneously supposed that it presented a per
fect uniformity from beginning to end, and that its character was
identical in all the different regions of the land, save for certain
differences of handling which were the results of degrees of skill
in its artists. I have shown how, while drawing everywhere
upon a common fund of general ideas, it had so far varied their
manifestations in different districts, as to give birth to indepen
dent schools, the activity of which augmented or relaxed accord
ing to the varying fortunes of the cities which were their homes:
the Thinite School, the Memphite School, the Hermopolitan
School, the Tanite School, the secondary schools of the Said or
the Delta. The list is as yet imperfectly established, and I have
not been able to make it complete in architecture, for lack of
a sufficient number of provincial documents, but it is fairly
satisfactory as regards painting and sculpture. Not only is it
possible to determine their principal characteristics, but there
are some among them, the Theban School, for instance, whose
fortunes may be easily followed from the rise of the Eleventh
Dynasty to the rule of the Caesars. Its relics are to be counted
by thousands , and each day is marked by discoveries which
enable us to fill in the lacunas of our science in this connection,
and to give additional precision to what we already know.
I have put a good deal of my own into this little volume,
and much that I owe to others. We may set aside those who
wrote when Egypt was a sealed book to the modern world.
Although Champollion had from the outset very sound ideas
on the nature of Egyptian art, and thoroughly appreciated its
fine qualities, the admirable Emmanuel de Rouge was the
first to define its characteristics scientifically and to sketch its
history, in his Notice of 1854 on the monuments of the Louvre
(Oeuvres diverses, vol. Ill, p. 36 — 40) and in his report of 1854

PREFACE
(Ibid. vol. II, p. 213—246). Mariette, when in 1864 he compiled
his Catalogue of the Boulak Museum, pointed out many traits
which his master had not noted, but the rest of the school, ab
sorbed in deciphering texts, did not follow on the path thus opened,
and for many years only amateurs and classical archaeologists
made their way along it: Charles Blanc (Voyage dans la Haute
Egypte, 8vo, Paris, 1870, and Grammaire des Arts du Dessin, 6th
ed., Paris, 1886), Comte du Barry de Mervel (Etudes sur V Architec
ture Egyptienne, 8vo, Paris, 1873), Soldi (La Sculpture Egyptienne,
8vo, Paris, 1876), Marchandon de la Faye (Histoire de VArt Egyptien
d'apres les Monuments, 4to, Paris, 1878), Perrot-Chipiez (Histoire
de VArt dans I'Antiquite, YEgypte, 8vo, Paris, 1880), Goodyear
(Grammar of the Lotus, 4 to, New York, 1891), Liibke-Semrau
(Die Kunst des Altertums, 14th ed., 8vo, Esslingen, 1908), Springer-
Michaelis (Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, 9th. ed., 8vo, vol. I,
Leipzig, 1911), Sybel (Weltgeschichte der Kunst im Altertum,
2nd ed., 8vo, Marburg, 1903), Woermann (Geschichte der Kunst
aller Zeiten und Volker, 8vo, vol. I, Leipzig, 1904). Finally, how
ever, the Egyptologists took the field, Maspero in Rayet's
Monuments de VArt antique, fol. vol. I, 1879 — 1883, and Arche-
ologie Egyptienne, 8vo, Paris, 1887, Flinders Petrie in Egyptian
Decorative Art, 8vo, London, 1895, Georges Foucart in Histoire
de I'ordre lotiforme, 8vo, Paris, 1897. Naville insisted on the
part played by utilitarian considerations in the formation of
sculptural and architectural types (L Art Egyptien, 8vo, Paris, 1907),
while Bissing condensed the results of his prolonged studies in
a manual (Einfiihrung in die Geschichte der Agyptischen Kunst
von den dltesten Zeiten bis auf die Rbmer, 8vo, Berlin, 1908).
In the interval Steindorff had prepared for the curious who visit
the Nile each year a substantial resume of our knowledge on
the subject (Baedeker's Handbook, Egypt and the Sudan, Leip
zig, 1908) and Spiegelberg, reviving a theory propounded by
Rouge and Mariette , sought to demonstrate the existence of a
popular art less rigid than the official art (Geschichte der Agyp
tischen Kunst, 8vo, Leipzig, 1903). As a fact, there was never

PREFACE
any distinction between the two, but the same artists were allow
ed more or less liberty according to the nature of the subjects
they treated and the social condition of those they portrayed.
I have tried as far as possible to reproduce and to appreciate
only things I have myself seen and handled, and the good for
tune which made me twice the director of the Service of Anti
quities has greatly facilitated my task. I should, however, be
guilty of ingratitude no less than of injustice if I did not acknow
ledge my debt to those collections of engravings and photographs
in black and white and in colours, in which so many of us, and
I myself among them, have been able to study monuments to
which personal access was denied us. The architectural drawings
of the French Commission have lost little of their value, and it
would be difficult to over-estimate the works of Cailliaud, Gau,
Champollion, and Rosellini. Lepsius' Denkmaler has been of
greater service to archaeologists and philologists than to art-
historians. Weidenbach, who executed the plates for this with the
help of his pupils, conceived the unhappy idea of rendering bas-
reliefs and paintings by a series of stereotyped designs which he
copied and recopied with slight modifications throughout the
work. We can hardly be surprised therefore if critics, finding
the same persons treated in the same manner from the Memphite
period to that of the Roman domination, accused Egyptian art
of monotony. Prisse d'Avennes, though his drawing has more
warmth and flexibility, was also guilty of conventionalising his
models excessively in his Histoire de VArt Egyptien. We may
turn from these approximations to the more trustworthy facsim
iles of Champollion and Rosellini when we wish to form an
opinion of monuments now mutilated or destroyed ; for the others,
we may consult Maxime Ducamp's Voyages en Egypte (fol.,
Paris, 1852), the photographs Banville tock in concert with
Emmanuel de Rouge (fol., Paris, 1868), Bechard's L 'Egypte et la
Nubie (fol., Paris, 1887). the albums of Mariette (Album du
Musee de Boulaq, fol., Cairo, 1872), Borchardt (Kunstwe.rke aus
dem Agyptischen Museum zu Cairo, fol., Cairo, 1908), Capart

PREFACE
(L'Art Egyptien, 4 to, Brussels, 1909) and above all the incom
parable atlas which Bissing is completing for the firm of Bruck-
mann (Denkmaler dgyptischer Skulptur, fol., Munich, 1906 — 1911).
The Cairo Museum , in the volumes of its Catalogue General
(4to, Cairo, 1900 — 1911) has reproduced all the objects of its
collections which are of interest to artist or historian, and that
of Berlin has given us a valuable selection of its treasures
(Agyptische und Vorderasiatische Altertumer aus den Kbniglichen
Museen zu Berlin, fol., Berlin, 1897), but the riches of the British
Museum, the Louvre, Turin, and Leyden have hardly been ex
ploited as yet, and how many marvels Egypt herself displays to
tourists and even to scholars who pass them by indifferently!
Nevertheless, Egyptian Art is no longer the exclusive domain
of a privileged few. Artists — painters, sculptors, architects —
blind at first to its merits, have come of late years to perceive
and feel them keenly; the admiration it inspires increases with
closer study. Men of letters and the general public are still
disconcerted by the strangeness of some of its conventions, and
a certain time will no doubt have to pass before they appreciate
it at its true value. May this little book, in which I have follow
ed its fortunes as clearly and completely as lay in my power,
help those who misjudge it, to understand, if not to love it!

CONTENTS PART I PAGE
THE BEGINNINGS OF ART IN EGYPT

CHAPTER I

THINITE ART

CHAPTER II
MEMPHITE ART ...  26
PART II
THEBAN ART
CHAPTER I
THE FIRST THEBAN AGE FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE SEVENTEENTH
DYNASTY ... 95
CHAPTER II
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE FROM THE EIGHTEENTH TO THE TWENTY-
FIRST DYNASTY . . 124
PART III
THE SAITE AGE AND THE END
OF EGYPTIAN ART
INDEX . . .  305

FIG. i.— shOnet-ez-zebib, abydos. type oe thtnite fortress.
PARTI
THE BEGINNINGS OF ART IN EGYPT

CHAPTER I
THINITE ART
Primitive Art in Egypt before Menes — Thinite Art and its Remains: Architecture, Fortresses.
Palaces, Temples, Tombs — In it we may trace the Principles and Forms which, de
veloping in the course of centuries, gave to Egyptian Art its characteristic aspect —
Memphite Art was developed by contact with it.
THE most ancient tombs, those of the prehistoric period, have
so far yielded nothing which indicates any extraordinary
development of the artistic sense among the early Egyptians. The
objects found in them bear witness to a taste for personal adorn
ment, and for decorated arms and utensils, equal, but by no means
superior to that of most semi-civilised nations. They consist of
coloured pottery, either glazed or unglazed, plain, or covered
with incised or painted ornament, furniture of wood or stone,
jewelry of variegated pebbles, of shells, rough or carved, of bone,
ivory, glassy pastes, and precious metals; finally, figures of men
and animals, some designed for personal use, such as receptacles
for cosmetics, others reserved for funerary rites. The persons
and things represented on vases are not grouped methodically
in superposed rows, but are scattered irregularly over the sur
face at the will of the designer, here a house, there an animal,
1 B

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. - — THE a:
(Museum, Cairo.)

ff"farf. £. Bragsch-i

a palm-tree, a boat, a few fish. They reveal facility in
living forms, and a natural skill in translating attitudes and
movement by drawing and
modelling. But there h
nothing to compare witt
the sculptures and paint
ings that contemporaries
of the Reindeer Period
were executing in the
regions now known a
France and Spain.
Nevertheless, when we
pass from these produc
tions to which no exact
date can be assigned, to
those of the historic dynas
ties , we are confronted
by thousands of objects and buildings , the execution of whidi
secures a high place for the Egyptians among the nations of
the East in the realm of art Where we had found only the
rude essays of laborious apprentices , and the rudiments of a
craftsmanship as yet uncertain of itself, we come suddenly,
and almost without transition, to the works of masters, and
to a highly accomplished technique. Must we conclude that
between the two stages,
alien races from withoof
had dominated the na
tives, bringing them a con
ception of beauty and i
power of realising it whui
they had lacked hereto
fore? It seems improbable
that a su dden efflorescence
of art should have followed
on a foreign invasion; bo?
if there are no extari
monuments by which we
may gauge the natural
evolution of the EgyptHi
genius, we are compelled
to recognise among tk
artisans of the Thinite age, the inspiration and even the processes
of preceding generations. Their jewelry had preserved the earfia
2

FIG. 3. — IVORY FEET OF A BED AXD A STOOL.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THINITE ART
tradition, and their happiest effects were inspired by it. I may
cite the four bracelets discovered bv Petrie in the necropolis of
Abydos (Fig. 2). with their alternating plates of graver, gold and

:f.:n~> :y an:

.key. ucn.
S-- ;;-". )

of turquoise or light blue glass, their beads or pendants of carved
amethvst, and the chased floral ornament, the delicacy of which
might be envied bv our modern goldsmiths. The same might
be said of furniture and domestic utensils, feet of bedsteads or
stools in wood and in ivorv (Fig. 3). tigurines of lions, monkevs.
and dogs (Fig. 4). stone
or crystal fish, statuettes
of prisoners or slaves, bone
tablets on which the prin
cipal episodes of royal
sepulture were traced with
the stvle (Fig. 5), cvlinders
bearing hieroglvphic le
gends or divine emblems.
club-heads, etc In all
these we recognise the
early ideas and conventions.
with this difference, that
what was the result or pure
instinct in the beginning
has become that of deliber
ate intention. Craftsmen
or artists, the experience
of an unknown number o:
generations had taught
them gradually to bring out the principal lines of the
to fix their contours, to 'Amplify their relieis. to co-ordinate the
"3 b 2

FH= = —THE

(Phz

' _:? AHA.

ART IN EGYPT

movements and their postures. They took pleasure in slow and
tranquil gestures; if the nature of their subjects, religious
processions, hunting and
battle - scenes , assaults
on cities, the pursuit of
enemies , forced them to
express violent or rapid
action, they did their utmost
to minimise its hard ab
ruptness. It will be readily
supposed without much
insistence on the point,
that an art so well regulated
implies a long period of
preliminary effort and ex
periment. In spite of ex
ternal divergences , the
elements are those chosen
and employed by the ancestors of its practitioners from the
beginning; but the workman had handled them so often and for
so long that by dint of practice he had at last reduced them to
a system, and had replaced the direct observation of nature by the
constantuse of decorative schemes

FIG. 6. — GROOVED FACADE OF THINITE
TOMBS AND FORTRESSES.
(After Garstang.)

or of formula? accepted in the
workshop. The impression made by the
industrial arts is confirmed by the
rarer survivals of the higher arts,
architecture, sculpture, and paint
ing. Very little has come down
to us of the military and civil or
indeed of the religious archi
tecture; we have the ruins of a
fortress at Hieraconpolis, in Aby-
dos (cf. Fig. 1) and in one or
two small townships of the Said,
while in some of the ritual tablets
and the hieroglyphic writings we
find incidental renderings of se
veral very ancient temples (cf.
Fig. 8). The fortresses, or rather
castles in which the kings and nobles lived, are vast parallelograms
of sun-dried brick, the walls of which are sometimes perfectly

!<¦• 7 —PLAN OF THE FORTRESS CF
KO.U-EL.-AHMAR (After Ouibell )

THINITE ART
smooth and unadorned from one angle to the other, sometimes
divided into panels, the beds of which are alternately horizontal

FIG. 8.— VARIOUS TYPES OF ARCHAIC CHAPEES AND TEMPLES.

and concave, and sometimes finally present a series of vertical
prismatic grooves (Fig. 6). The principal doorway is generally
relegated to the end of one of the lateral walls, and is set in a
block of masonry solid enought to defy sap and ram (Fig. 7).
Private persons inhabited buildings of beaten earth or dried brick
similar to those of the modern fellahin, and like these, generally
of a single storey. The temple was an isolated cell, of variable
dimensions, but always of
small extent, raised upon
an artificial mound at the
end of a rectangular enclosure
bounded by a low wall or
rows of piles; two posts
were set up in front of the
entrance, and the emblem of
the god crowned the roof, or
was raised on a pole in the
middle of the enclosure
(Fig. 8). The cella consisted
at first of four wooden
uprights, connected by wicker-
work plastered with mud;
the doorway was closed by a
wooden panel or a hanging
mat. In some cases, the
roof was flat, with or without
a cornice; but in general, it described a peculiar curve from
front to back, the form of which persisted after the little build-
5

FIG g.— WOODEN' NAOS.
(Museum Turin ) (Phot. Lanzone.)

ART IN EGYPT

ing of slight materials had become a naos of wood (Fig. 9) or
of stone covered with inscriptions and hieroglyphic scenes (Fig. 10).
To this cell other cabins were soon added for the accommodation
of auxiliary gods, priests, and offerings, and the whole, symmetrically
arranged in an enclosure, constituted a divine palace, analogous
to the royal dwelling. At a later stage the gods, dissatisfied
with so poor a dwelling, demanded thicker walls made of bricks,
and stone for thresholds,
lintels , architraves , and
the bases of columns; then
limestone or sandstone
was substituted for brick,
with granite to surround
the bays, and the perish
able huts of an earlier
age became houses of
eternity, without, however,
changing the main lines
of the primitive plan.
The fragments which we
possess of the temple
dedicated to the gods of
Hieraconpolis prove that
the transformation was
already far advanced under
the Third Dynasty. They
formed part of a doorway
of pink granite, the exterior
faces of which were decor
ated with royal legends
(Fig. 11), and with bas-
reliefs which were effaced during one of the reconstructions of
the building; the patterns made by the hammer-strokes enable us
to divine that these reliefs represented the sovereign adoring the
divinity with the ritual familiar to us on the monuments of- the
Theban era.
Like the temples, the tombs of the Thinite age retained the
principal features of those of the earlier period at Abydos, at
Nakadah, at Hieraconpolis, and in all places where they have
been discovered hitherto. The most famous, that of Nakadah
(Fig. 12), did not belong, as might have been supposed, to the
Menes who founded the Egyptian Empire, nor to some other
Menes almost contemporary with him; it guarded the mummy of
6

FIG. 10.— SIDE OF NAOS OF SAFT-EL-HENNEH.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. L. Brugsch.)

THINITE ART

some nameless lord, who ruled a portion of the Theban plain.
Imagine a rectangle some 176 feet long by 88 wide, running
diagonally from north to south. It is
composed entirely of unfired bricks
cemented and plastered with clay,
without either limewash or painting.
The exterior surfaces were originally
decorated with the usual vertical grooves,
and the plan of the interior included
a large hall, separated from the enclosing
wall by a narrow passage, and divided
into five compartments ranged in a
line on the main axis. The corpse was
laid in the central compartment, and
his household goods were arranged partly
on the ground around him, partly in the
four other chambers. When these were
full , they were walled up , and the
adjoining passage was parcelled into
cells for the reception of surplus provi
sions, after which the entrance was
blocked, and the external decorations
were masked by a facing of bricks,
whitewashed over. The tombs of the
Thinite Pharaohs excavated by Ame-
lineau to the west of Abydos, and by
Garstang at Rekaknah and at Bet-Khallaf (Figs. 13, 14) were
not all exactly similar in arrangement; one was shaped somewhat
like a shuttle, wider in the
middle than at the two
extremities; another was
floored and panelled with
wood, and their outer
surfaces showed neither

FIG. IT. — DOOR-JAMB OF THE
TEMPLE OF KO.M-EL-AHMAR.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot.L.Brugsch..

projections nor recesses.
None the less are they of
the same type as that of
Nakadah, and if we con
sider them as a whole,
we are struck by their
general resemblance to the
fortresses of Abydos and Hieraconpolis. Like these, they have
in some cases walls with prismatic niches; they have their store-
7

FIG. 12. — PLAN OF THE TOME AT NAKADAH.
(After De Morgan.)

ART IN EGYPT
rooms and their lodging reserved for the chief; their doors are
hidden away at the least accessible point, and they were blocked
up after the deposition of the corpse, just as those of the

FIG. 13.— ROYAL TOMB AT BET-KHALLAF. (Phot Garstang.)

fortresses were barricaded in the hour of danger (Fig. 14).
Thus the same intention governed the construction of each.
Just as the fortress was the residence of the living lord or
sovereign, the castle in which he held his court in peace, and
in which he awaited behind barricaded doors the attacks of his
enemies in war , so the tomb was looked upon as the castle
of the dead lord or sovereign, in which he intrenched himself
for all eternity, safe from the outrages of men and of years. If
we remember that the temple was also a palace, the palace of
the god, we shall be driven to admit that identity of terms here
denotes identity of con
ception, and that the
manner of life of the lord
or the Pharaoh before and
after interment, was ident
ical with that of the gods.
Originally, the monumen
tal tomb had been the
privilege of those powerful
enough to procure it, chiefs
of clans, princes of Nomes,
great officers of the crown,
and kings ; later, with the
growth of wealth in the
nation, the privilege was
extended, and was conferred, under the conditions we shall
presently note, on those of the people whose fortunes or the
8

FIG. 14.— PLAN OF THE TOMB (After Garstang.)

THINITE ART

favour of the master encouraged to aspire to the luxury of an"
independent future life.
The internal walls are generally speaking bare, but the priests
or the relatives of the defunct stored up in the vault or in the
chambers adjoining it the funereal trappings, furniture, provisions,
and simulacra more or less rude of the dead man and of the
servants who were despatched with him to the next world; they
were there in numbers, each in the attitude proper to his rank
or function; the master seated, or standing to receive offerings,
the servants engaged in
preparing or serving these,
grinding corn (Fig. 15),
kneading dough, brewing
beer, plastering a jar (Fig.
16) before putting wine in
it, busied with all the
duties of the household,
apparently inanimate, but
impregnated with the
latent life breathed into
them by virtue of the
rites. Gradually, however,
the instinct which had
moved the primeval Egyp
tians to decorate their
potters', led those of the
archaic age to cover their
walls with scenes intro
ducing the persons whose
figures had heretofore lain scattered on the ground. These were mute
at first; later, they were accompanied by short inscriptions setting
forth their deeds, their speeches, their names, the titles which
constituted their civil status, and authenticated their rights to
posthumous life. The earliest example is that discovered by
Quibell at Kom-el-Ahmar. The motives were not as yet arranged
in rows with methodical precision, but like those on the vases,
they are scattered almost at random over the surface. The first
essays are rude figures careless of form and proportion, awk
wardly drawn with red ochre, like those \rith which our children
adorn the margins of their books. With these we find the camp
or the village on the edge of the desert, gazelles and oryx
browsing, running on the plain, or keeping watch on some rocky
peak, men armed with darts or clubs, following a trail or fighting
9

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FIG. I? -WOMAN" GRIXDCsG CORN".
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot L. Brugsch.)
ART IN EGYPT

with hyaenas, all the details, in short, which make up the
hunter's ideal of a happy life and a desirable Elysium. The noble
who ordered the paintings and the artisan who daubed them
had no conception of a life of the manes differing in any respect
from that of the living, and they believed that the surest way
of facilitating access to it was to introduce paintings of it
in the tomb_riear the corpse. This belief was the logical con
clusion of a dogma familiar to all semi-
barbarians : he who invents or reproduces
a figure, no matter what, immediately
creates a being, and if he afterwards
gives it the name of a man, an ani
mal, or an object, he endows it with
a portion of soul stolen from that of the
original. The life of the simulacrum
ceases with that of its prototype, but
the latter can prolong it and himself
by means of incantations; and by virtue
of these it may even be transmitted
to all portraits of an individual executed
after his death. Stone or wooden images
took the place of the fleshly bodies of
master and servants if these were missing,
and thus assuming the function of a
double, they guaranteed its perpetuity
as long as they were preserved. The
decoration of the tomb produced an
identical effect; it prevented the annihi
lation of the servants and the objects
represented, and obliged them to minister
to the comfort of the master, as long
as substantial traces of what it had reproduced remained upon
the walls.
Briefly, all forms of art, architecture, sculpture, and painting,
tended not to the disinterested search after beauty, but to the
realisation of the useful. The three categories into which reason
able beings were divided, the living, the dead, and the gods,
shared an intense desire for duration; they had bent all the most
powerful springs of their minds in this direction, and the effort
they had made to achieve it had given a special character to the
arts. In the first place, it had determined the choice of materials.
Men, whose years, however numerous, are but as a moment
compared with the innumerable centuries of the dead and the
10

FIG. lu.
SERVANT TARRING A JAR.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot L Brugsch.)

THINITE ART

FIG, 17.— PAINTINGS AT KOM-EL-AHMAR. (After Quibell.)

gods, were content with slight materials: earth, wood, and freestone.
If they made use of metals, it was less for their indestructibility
than for the charm
of their colour, the
fineness of their
texture, their ducti
lity and their value.
The richest of the
Pharaohs did not
disdain to dwell in
houses of sun-dried
bricks, under roofs
of beaten mud sup
ported by wooden
columns , between
ceilings and pave
ments bedaubed
with fragile paint
ings; if their palaces lasted as long as they lived, they cared
little that they should fall into ruin as soon as they themselves had
disappeared. The case was very different when the dwelling was
destined for the dead or for the gods; then its longevity had to
rival theirs, and this result was only to be achieved by the help of
the most solid materials. Tombs and temples were accordingly
built of limestone or sand
stone of the best quality,
and even of granite or
the breccia of the Arabian
mountains, which, however,
was generally reserved
for the doors, the thres
holds, and such portions
of the structure as the
frequent passage of the
faithful and the perfor
mance of religious rites
tended to wear away
rapidly; panegyrics upon
the Pharaohs extolled them
for having erected houses
of eternal stones for their
divine fathers. But as the density and durability of the blocks
themselves was not sufficient to ensure the longevity of the
11

FIG. 18.— TEMPLE OF KHONSU AT KARNAK
(Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

• JiYn m

, ¦ •

(1 %

1 I
\

my i

1 I s^
J - ]

gd ; (l.( S

y As

I'd ::/:.

( - ,

FIG. 19.— THE SERVANTS OF TI BRINGING OFFERINGS.

building, care was taken to choose those architectural forms
which promised the greatest stability, such as the pyramid, the
mastaba, the rect
angular temple, set
firmly upon the soil
under such cond
itions of equilib
rium that only the
hand of man or
the attacks of the
river could over
throw them; time
has proved power
less against them.
The reliefs with
which they were
adorned were kept very low, or "left" on sunk surfaces, which
diminished the risk of damage from concussion, and protected
them from accidental mutilations. It was permissible for persons
of modest means to employ wood for statues, and for divine or
funerary groups; but if economy was not essential, limestone or
sandstone, alabaster, schist, granite, serpentine, and diorite
were preferred, and he
who had none of these
' to hand sent into the
desert to fetch them. Even
then, statues were given
one of the three or four
attitudes which seemed
least fragile ; figures were
seated upon a complete
cube or on a seat with
a straight back, or they
stood with legs pressed
together, arms adhering
to the body , back and
head engaged in a vertical
slab. The care for solid
ity prevailed over every
other consideration both
with sculptor and architect.
This gave their works a unity, and also, we must frankly admit,
a constant uniformity of invention and execution- the very
12 3

£•=?-. 'JS

\ -. ¦; '¦-'¦'• a r

:v vxl. -: '.:.

FIG. 20.— HARVEST SCENES IN THE TOMB
OF TI.

THINITE ART

-:. S / ¦ -.-.ill-/ \ \.

.i^.t..^r..i.'£A /-Vr>.r~:-/7li ^H

FIG. 21.— BRINGING CORN TO THE GRINDER,
TREADING AND WINNOWING, IN THE TOMB OF TI.

derogations from the
determining principle
which we seem to note
in them prove to be a
result and a confirmation
of it, when we study them
attentively. If indeed the
tomb and the temple,
supplying the same de
mands, consist on the
whole of the same ele
ments as the palace, it
was nevertheless essen
tial that they should be
arranged to suit the indi
vidual conditions of posth
umous existence and of
divine life. Each contain
ed a personal dwelling,
rooms for guests or slaves, store-rooms, and audience-chambers;
but whereas the god consented to receive his priests and to show
himself sometimes to the people, the dead person was wholly
inaccessible, and never again appeared in public, when the
hour of his entry into his
private apartments was past.
The sanctuary was accordingly
so placed that it communicated
with the outside world, and
that the living could enter it
easily on prescribed occasions;
the vault, on the other hand,
was never opened again after
the corpse had been placed
in it, and soon, to render the
dead more completely inac
cessible, the body was placed
underground , at the end of
a passage or at the bottom
of a well which was subse
quently filled up to the level of
the soil. Thenceforth, whereas
the temple, inhabited by a
being whose nature did not

13

-SLAUGHTER OF CATTLE, IN THE
TOMB OF TI.

ART IN EGYPT

23.— THE XOMES BRINGING OFFERTNGS
(Phot. Beato.)

debar him from official intercourse with the world, tended to
increase in size and to expand in the sunlight, the tomb, shunning
the light of day,
gradually diminish
ed its points of
external contact,
and ended by dis
playing only a
narrow facade, a
roughly hewn
panel, the bay of
a door, or a rect
angular orifice in
the rock. During
the process of this
change, the common plan was modified. As the princely dwelling
was converted, on the one hand into a sanctuary, on the other
into a vault, the guest-
chambers, store-houses, and
reception-rooms were modi
fied and adjusted to
circumstances. Some of
the store - rooms were
relegated to the sides, and
assimilating to some extent
with the guest-chambers,
they became, jointly with
these, depots for daily
offerings, or chapels for
the paredri. The reception
rooms were then trans
formed into hypostyle halls
or courts echeloned in a
line on the longitudinal
axis of the building, and
increasing in size in propor
tion to their distance from
the Holy of Holies. Thus
the worshippers of the god
no more enjoyed equal
., L. , ™ , , facilities of approach than
the courtiers of Pharaoh; a few were admitted to the presence,
many entered halls more or less close to him, as determined by
14 ;

WALL LN" THE TEMPLE OF I.SI^. AT
PHILIP.. (Phot Beato.)

THINITE ART

the hierarchy, and the rest advanced no farther than the outer
courts or the platform before the temple. A dead person of
non-royal race, who had not a nation to adore him, but whose
family and dependents were necessarily restricted , would have
had no use for such vast spaces; a simple chapel sufficed for
him, and three or four little rooms, rarely more, and often less,
served him for storehouse, reception-rooms, and guest-chambers,
without endangering his chances of immortality.
When this point had been reached, the diversity
between tomb and temple was so great, that
all traces of a common origin seem to have
been effaced, what likeness is there at a first
glance between a monument such as that cf
Khonsu (Fig. 18) or of Edfu, and the Theban
hypogea of the Sai'te period? To perceive
the analogy clearly, a long series of deductions
and analyses would be requisite.
The difficulty is hardly less when we attempt
to refer the decorations of these buildings
to a single type; but here again the most
extravagant divergencies may be explained by
the nature of the personages concerned.
Whether gods or mummies, they were incapable
of subsisting by their individual energy, and
they would have died of starvation but for
the daily intervention of the living. The latter
accordingly endowed them with appanages, or,
if we prefer the term used in Mussulman
jurisprudence, dukaf, which kept them in good
case, as long as the revenues were applied
to them. It was not very often, however,
that they profited long by their endowments.
Their descendants took them away after a certain number of
years, or the family became extinct, and its heritage fell to
strangers who repudiated the charges on the property; the founder,
despoiled of his dues, suffered the slow tortures of starvation,
before finally succumbing to that second death which definitively
annihilated that remnant of vitality his first death had respected.
The statuettes scattered in the rooms, and the scenes represented
upon the walls of the tomb averted the danger, and the greater
their number, the more certain he was to lack nothing, even if his
actual possessions had been taken from him. Interminable
processions of men and women simulated his houses, his ponds,
15

VUi. 25. — K1ILL KAClfi
STATUK, TIIK FEET
JOINKJ).
(Museum, Cairo.)
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

iG. -.-i.— FCXL FACE
iMjseum. Cairo.)
,PAo(. E Bmglth-j

his woods, his meadows, and brought the
rents of their farms to him (Fig. 19), while
the serfs and servants of his household,
each occupied with his special work,
manufactured its products for him eternally.
Did he want bread? The field was ploughed
before his eyes in simulacrum; the ripe
grain fell under the sickle (Fig. 20); the
corn was trodden out winnowed, measured,
and poured into the granary (Fig. 21);
then the bakers ground it, baked the
loaf, and presented it to him. Did he
desire to eat meat? In other pictures, the
bull was coupled with the cow, the calf was
bom, grew up, became an ox, fell into
the hands of the butchers who cut its
throat, caught the blood, skinned and divided
the carcase, choosing the best pieces for
him (Fig. 22). The gods were less in danger
of that complete ruin which resulted in
annihilation; when once their appanage had
been apportioned, if some impious person appropriated it in the
course of time, a benefactor duly appeared
to repair the injury. Nevertheless, it was
considered prudent to assign to them
as to the dead, a fictitious domain to
supplement the real one if needful; the
Nomes were accordingly represented
bringing their tribute (Fig. 23) , and
sometimes even barbarous peoples sub
ject to Egypt. And as the gods could
only be served by the Pharaoh or one
of his family, on every occasion when
the help of an inferior was not indispensable,
we see around them on the walls only
kings and queens, princes and princesses;
these noble personages, however, were
not obliged to perform the vulgar tasks
imposed on the kinsfolk of dead persons.
It appears that no effort was necessary
to obtain all that was required in the
sphere in which they moved; objects
presented themselves all ready for use,
16

FIG 27— SEATED STATUE OF
THE PHARAOH MVCEKDfCS.
(Museum, Cairo.)
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THINITE ART

the ox decked for the holocaust, water,
wine, milk, and oil poured for libation,
the incense lighted for sacramental fumi
gation. Nothing could be less like the
varied episodes of human life which
abound in the hypogea than these monoto
nous functions of divine life; and yet
the god who might have been suddenly on
the verge of starvation by reason of
some accident would only have had to
cast his eyes around, and the imagery of
the walls would have nourished him with
delectable realities; in the temple as in
the tomb the decoration had an important
utilitarian function, and if the elements
which composed the two differed materi
ally, the intention which co-ordinated them
and the conception from which they were
deduced were one and the same.
This insistence on a utilitarian purpose
weighed heavily upon the independence
both of art and artist. The artist, obliged
to think above all of the welfare of those

FIG. 28.— STANDING STATUE
BEARING ENSIGN.
(Museum , Cairo.)
(Phot. E. Brugsc/i.J

FIG. 2Q. — GROUP OF PERSONS,
STANDING AND SITTING.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugscli.)

for whom he was working, was
not free to abandon himself to
his inspiration, nor to diverge
from the rules in which religion
imprisoned him. Seeing that the
statue was the body of a double,
it was necessary, in order to
attach this double to it, to repro
duce not only the physiognomy
and features of the model, but
the bearing and the costume of
his profession, to the end that
in his state of death he should
remain what fortune had made
him here below; it had to be at
once the portrait of an individual,
and a type of the class to which
he belonged. Scribes, artisans,
nobles, priests, Pharaohs, and
gods had each their prescribed
17 c

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. JO.— STATUE WITH
BODY IN A SHEATH.
(Museum, Cairo.)
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

kind, in the tomb
things, and the number of the
participants had no other limits
than those of the surface to be
covered. The result in the bas-
reliefs of the temple was a uni
formity of composition and attitude
almost equal to that of the statues.
Nothing was modified in the course
of ages but the distribution of
the pictures and the degree of
skill of the execution. In the
tombs, neither the moments of
rustic or industrial toil, nor those
of funereal offerings are so
inflexibly treated. Up to a cer
tain point, the artist was free to
introduce additional motives, to
intermingle and disconnect his
episodes, to alternate and break 18

formula, to which sculptors and painters were
' required to adhere faithfully, without, however,
modifying the characteristic lines of the indi
vidual; some thirty positions were permitted:
standing still (Fig. 25) or walking (Fig. 26),
sitting (Fig. 27), kneeling, crouching, crawling,
lying, with a hundred variations of costume,
head-dress and insignia. Persons were re
presented facing the spectator squarely, so
that a line drawn perpendicularly through
the body always divided it into two equal
portions , and this law of frontality was
rigorously observed down to the last days
of pagan Egypt. Mural decoration, by the
nature of the episodes proper to it, admitted
greater diversity; but here it is necessary to
distinguish between that of tombs and that
of temples. It both cases the moment chosen
is that of the performance of the act which
was to produce the result enjoined by dogma;
but whereas in the temple the scene, enacted
by gods and Pharaohs, rarely required more
than three or four persons, always of the same
all Egypt played its part, men, beasts and

FIG. 31.— THE DOG NIBU.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsdi.)

THINITE ART

r
' '
EL:
v ;
FIG. 32. — THE LADY NETIR.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phol.E.Brugsch.)
them up; but this freedom only stood
him in good stead in the somewhat rare
cases when the extent of the walls
allowed him to give the decoration the
necessary breadth. Nine times out of
ten, lack of space compelled him to
confine himself to those themes which
contributed most to the happiness of
the dead person, and to condense his
material as much as possible. By a
progressive series of eliminations, the
work became at last an abbreviated
panorama of Egyptian life, the motives
of which, blurred or decomposed slowly
by the lapse of centuries , impress us
in each epoch with a sense of monotony
hardly less than that which we experience
in the temples. It has not yet been
very definitely ascertained where this
system arose and was developed. It is probable that its materials
were evolved spontaneously at first in every quarter, but that
they were revised, subjected to a process of selection, and co
ordinated at Heliopolis, in the regions where the popular religions
were welded into a body of theology which
the whole nation accepted. The Heliopolitan
doctrine unquestionably governed the in
stallation of the temples, with its Enneas,
its insistence on the predominance of the
solar divinities, its ritual of prayers and
offerings. And if we pass in review the
illustration of the tombs, we shall see that
the great number of fishing and hunting
scenes in the marshes included in it are
more in keeping with the ancient conditions
of the upper parts of the Delta and of
the marshy districts adjoining the Fayum
than with those of the Said.
It would seem then that it was in the
Heliopolitan plain and in the region about
Memphis that the convention of the tombs
was instituted, and its northern origin will
explain why it has not so far been met
with in the Thinite cemeteries of Abydos;
19 c 2
FIG. ??.— THE DWARF
HAFT'. (Museum, Cairo.)
(Phot E. Brugsdi.)
ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 34. — THE SOLDIER ABUNI.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

it had not had time to impose itself
upon the reigning dynasties and their
subjects, even if it had penetrated
into the region. The most richly or
namented sepulchres here admitted
no elements of plastic art other than
stelae, or perhaps statues of the dead
and their servants. None of the latter
have survived, but there is no lack
of stelae, both royal and private.
The private ones, which are by far
the most numerous, generally consist
of a simple limestone slab, roughly
shaped, sometimes rounded at the top,
sometimes rectangular , sometimes
irregular in shape, on which the figure
of a man or animal with an ins
cription has been hastily carved. It
may be the dog Nibu with his straight
ears and pointed muzzle (Fig. 31) ; the dwarf Hapu standing
and presenting his misshapen profile to the spectator (Fig. 33);
the lady Nutir crouching on the ground (Fig. 32); the soldier
Abuni, also crouching, but grasping a bow (Fig. 34). Their lumi
nous doubles were as surely attracted by
these rudimentary bas-reliefs as by statues,
and as they were much less costly, they
were a great saving to the family; thanks
to them, the doubles followed the sovereigns
on whose mastabas they were placed, and
by serving them, secured a share in their
happy destinies. These stelae were executed
by workmen, with small pretensions to art,
yet the technique is already so refined
that it almost compels us to assume the
existence of a more skilful class of crafts
men for aristocratic patrons. An exami
nation of the royal stelae justifies this
hypothesis. They are regular in form,
rounded at the top either in a semi-circle,
or a slightly curved outline, in imitation,
I believe, of the vaulted chambers or corri
dors found in the hypogea of the Said.
As they were set up on the summit of
20

FIG. 35- — STELE OF QA-AU
(Museum, Cairo.)
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

THINITE ART

the tombs, they both simulated the entrance door of the sepulchral
vault, and served as indications to posterity of the identity of
the Pharaohs buried behind them. Thus on all of them we find
the same symbol, the falcon of Horus, perched upon the
conventional plan of the eternal abode, a rectangle, the lower
division of which simulated the facade or doorway of a house,
while the upper space bore the name of the inhabitant. The
Qa-au stele (Fig. 35) suggests the
sculptor's struggle with a dark gray
schist over which his triumph was not
altogether complete; the outline of
the falcon is carved with amazing
precision; and its specific character
istics, the roundness of the head,
and its attachment to the body, the
curve of the back, the vigour of the
wing, the grip of the claws, are
rendered with all the accuracy of a
naturalist, but he handling is still
somewhat heavy. This is no longer
the case in the stele of King Serpent
(Fig. 36). Here the artist has mastered
his material, rendering it so supple
that we are tempted to believe we
have before us not the archaic
original, but a replica of the time
of Seti I. If the work is really of
the First Dynasty, as is possible, we
may conclude from this solitary instance
that in the treatment of animals at
any rate, the Thinite masters had
attained a degree of perfection occasionally equalled by their
successors, but never surpassed.
The same cannot be said of the rare bas-reliefs of Sinai', nor
of those figured schist tablets the purpose of which is still uncertain,
though it has been alternatively suggested that they were more
elegant variants of the toilet palettes of the archaic age, bases
for statuettes or divine emblems, or conventionalised imitations
of the rams' heads which ornamented the tombs of great personages.
The Sinai bas-reliefs prove that the triumphant attitudes of the
Pharaohs familiar to us from later works of art were already
stereotyped at this period, but they have suffered so much from
exposure to the weather that it would be hazardous to pronounce

FIG. 3(3. — STELE OF KING
SERPENT.
(The Louvre, Paris.)

ART IN EGYPT

on their style or artistic merit (Fig. 37). Some fifteen of these
tablets, perfect or mutilated, are in the museums of Cairo, Paris,
Oxford and London. One of the best preserved of these, that
of Pharaoh Neter-baiu (Betchau), bears on its summit on either
face the royal name enclosed in its triangular cage and flanked
by two human heads of Hathor, with the ears and horns of a
cow, the latter very much twisted. The principal face is divided
into three tiers (Fig. 38). In the first, Pharaoh (on the left),
crowned with the red diadem, clad in the short skirt from which
hangs the fox-tail, his feet bare,
the scourge and club in his hands,
advances, followed by his groom
bearing vase and sandals, and
preceded by four little figures to
whom the standards of the four
quarters of the world have been
confided, towards two rows of
the corpses of his enemies, on
the right; they are laid flat on
the ground, in fives, their wrists
loosely bound with a cord, their
heads neatly arranged between
their legs after the Oriental fashion.
The central compartment is occu
pied by two leopards, confronting
each other; their necks, which are
extravagantly elongated, curve and
interlace round the central hollow,
and are crowned by grimacing
heads opposed one to the other; their two keepers, in short
skirts, round wigs, and pointed beards, strain on their leashes to
prevent them from biting each other. At the bottom, a sturdy
bull, the symbol of the Pharaohs, demolishes with his horns a
brick fortress, and tramples on a naked barbarian who tries in vain
to escape. The reverse (Fig. 39) has only two compartments, instead
of the three of the principal face. In the centre Baiu, this
time mitred with the high white cap and escorted only by
his groom, strikes down with his club a chief crouching on the
ground before him, and surmounted by a strange group : the
hieroglyph of a papyrus marsh from which the head of a man
emerges, and a falcon poised with one foot on three of the
stems; with the other, which terminates in the arm and hand of
a man, the bird holds a cord passed through the nose of the
22

FIG. 37

-BAS-RELIEF AT SINAI.
(Phot. Petrie.)

THINITE ART

head; the meaning of the whole is that the god Horus delivers
six thousand Northern prisoners into the hands of the king. Two
naked figures, running at their utmost speed, represent the rest
of the defeated tribes and their flight. On the other tablets
episodes of war and of the chase are represented, lists of towns
taken by sap, troops of domestic animals, oxen, asses, sheep,
goats, birds, advancing in superposed rows towards a wood
(Fig. 40). Though there are differences in these works due to the
individuals who executed them, they are all marked by a real
sense of composition and design, and
by thorough familiarity with the tool
used, but also by a stiffness and awk
wardness of which there is no trace
in the stele of King Serpent; they
belong rather to industrial art than
to Art pure and simple. Yet they
are interesting, for in them we may
discern the chief characteristics of
the great sculpture of later ages, the
systematic deformation of the human
figure, the bust and eyes confronting
the spectator while the head and legs
are in profile, the dry and angular
rendering of the shoulder and the
arm, the stiff, almost benumbed bearing
of many of the persons, and at the
same time, their gravity and their
purity of line, the truth and spirit of
some of their movements, the firmness
of the modelling and its learned
simplicity, the systematic practice of keeping the relief low, and
of indicating the planes by light touches. All this is purely
Egyptian, without any foreign admixture.
It would seem then that the art of Egypt, having arisen and
developed in the centuries which preceded Menes, reached its
consummation under his descendants; when the Memphite dynasties
arose, it was already in full possession of its ruling ideas, its
conventions , its formulas , its technique , all the features which
give it originality and character. Perhaps the progress of discovery
will encourage us some day to enquire under what influences
it flourished, and what were the vicissitudes of its childhood
and youth; the scarcity of examples forbids any such enquiry at
present. The study of later periods, however, justifies the belief
23

FIG. 3S.— TABLET OF NETER-
BAIU (OBVERSE).
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT
that from the first, there was no absolute uniformity throughout the
land ; each of the sovereign cities had its schools, where architecture,
sculpture, and painting developed with a vigour proportioned to the
intensity of its political or religious life, and the characteristics of
its art, once determined, persisted with no serious modifications,
to the last years of Egyptian civilisation. The history of these
schools has been barely indicated, and their number is uncertain;
but their existence has been notified at Memphis, Abydos, Thebes,
Hermopolis, Tanis, Sais, several minor towns of the Said or
the Delta, in Nubia and in Ethiopia, and it is probable that
future excavations will reveal others. The supremacy which their
rank as capitals finally secured for Memphis and Thebes, gave
their schools a prestige and importance to which the others
never attained; their works account for over three-quarters of what
has been saved of the artistic patrimony of Egypt, and at present,
the history of Egyptian art is mainly the history of their art.

FIG. 3g.— TABLET OF NETER-BAIU
(REVERSE).
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

24

THINITE ART

BIBLIOGRAPHY TO CHAPTER I

PART I

Prehistoric ages and archaic period in Egypt: All that is necessary to be known of these
will be found in J. Capart, Les debuts de VArt en Egypte, 8vo. Brussels 1904, 316 p.
Thinite Age. — The existence of a Thinite art was first clearly demonstrated by
G. Steindorff, Eine neue Art Agyptisdier Kunst in Aegyptiaca, Festschrift fur Georg Ebers,
8vo. Leipzig- 1897, p. 123-146. But the monuments of this art only began to be welt
known after the excavations of Amelineau, Morgan, Flinders Petrie and Quibell: Amelineau,
Les Nouvelles Fouilles d'Abydos, 8vo. Paris 1896, 47 p., 1897, 47 p. 1898, 65 p., and 4 to

1899, XXXII-307 p. and XL1II pi., II 1902, XI-326 p. and XXIV pi., XI i 1904, 742 p. and L1I
pi., and IV 1905, to be read in conjunction with Le Tombeau d'Osiris, 4to. Paris 1899,
155 p. and 6 pi. — J. de Morgan, Recherches sur les origines de V Egypte, II. Ethnographie

prehistorique et tombeau royal de Negadah, 8vo. Paris 1897, IX- 396 p. — Flinders Petrie,
The Royal Tombs of the first Dynasty (Egypt Exploration Fund, vol. XVTJI), 4to. London
1900, 51 p. and LXVII pi.; The Royal Tombs of the earliest Dynasties (Egypt Exploration
Fund, vol. XX), 4to. London 1901, VIII, 60 p. and LXIII pi.; Abydos (Egypt Exploration
Fund, vol. XXII-XXIV), 4to. London, I 1902, 60 p. and XXX pi., II 1903, 66 p. and LXVI
pi., Ill 1904, 60 p. and LX pi. — J. E. Quibell, Hierakonpolis (Egyptian Research Account,
vol. IV- V), 4to. London, I 1900, 12 p. and 43 pi., II 1902, 55 p. and LXXK pi. For military,
religious and funerary architecture, see in addition to ihe works already quoted: J. Garstang,
Mahasna and Bet Khallaf (Egyptian Research Account, vol. VII), 4 to. London 1902, 42 p.
andXLULpl.; Tombs of the Third Egyptian Dynasty, 4 to. London 1904, 70 p. and XXXIII
I. — G. A. Reisner and Mace, The Early dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ed-Deir, 4to. Leipzig,
1908, 160 p. and 75 pi., II 1910, 88 p. and 60 pi. — Flinders Petrie, The Development of
the Tomb in Egypt, in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Great Britain 1898, session
of June 3, and on the form of the temples, A. Jequier, Les Temples primitifs et la per-
sistance des types archaiques dans I 'architecture religieuse , in the Bulletin de llnstitut
francais d Archeologie orientale, 1908, vol. VI, p. 25-45. For stelae and palettes, see the
articles of J. E. Quibell, Slate Palette from Hierakonpolis, in the Zeitschrift fur Agyptische
Sprache 1898, vol. XXXVI, p. 81-84. — G. Benedite, La Stele dite du Roi Serpent, in the
Mernoires de la Fondation Piot, 1906, vol. XII, p. 1-15, and Une nouvelle Palette en schiste,
in the same Mernoires 1904, vol. X, p. 105-122. Very good resumes of all we know of the
art of this period in general are to be found in W. Spiegelberg, Geschichte der Agyptischen
Kunst, p. 7-11, and in R. Weill, Les Origines de lEgypte pharaonique, 8vo. Paris 1908,
p. 443-500.

r

FIG. 40. — THINITE TABLET.
(The Louvre, Paris.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
25

FIG. 41.— FIELD OF THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH.

CHAPTER II
MEMPHITE ART

It reaches its apogee under the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties — Architecture: Houses,
Palaces, Mastabas and Pyramids, funerary Chapels and Temples — Painting and
Sculpture: the decoration of Tombs and Temples considered as a whole. Bas-reliefs
and Statues — The minor Arts.
TOWARDS the beginning of the Third Dynasty there were, in
the district where the Pyramids afterwards rose, craftsmen
capable of executing tombs like those of Nakadah, or carving a
seated or a standing figure of a man more or less passably, but
nothing that has survived of their works indicates that their
school would ever have risen above mediocrity, if the revolution
which brought about the transfer of the royal residence had not
suddenly brought it into contact with experienced masters. The
architects, masons, painters and sculptors who had worked for
the Thinite Court accompanied it in its migration towards the
North; Memphite art developed from their teaching or examples
as a natural prolongation of Thinite art. The first buildings we
owe to it are grouped, some in the mining region of Sinai, but
the greater part in the neighbourhood of Medum, Dahshur,
and Zawyet-el-Aryan, round the tombs which the last king of
the Third Dynasty, Neferka-Ra-Huni, and the first king of the
Fourth , Senef eru , had erected for themselves. At this period
of history they were few and far between, but the number in
creased from the time of Cheops onwards; towards the close of
the Memphite age, under the Sixth Dynasty, they not only
covered all Egypt, but were to be met with beyond the cata-
26

MEMPHITE ART

racts of Assuan, in the northern districts of Nubia over which
the Pharaohs had established their domination. Rude and clumsy
at first, they gradually

FIG. 42.— SARCOPHAGUS OF KHUFU-ENEKH.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

improved under the Third
Dynasty, and reached their
highest perfection under
the Fourth; they became
more and more refined,
but lost something of their
characteristic simplicity
and grandeur under the
Fifth Dynasty. Under the
Sixth Dynasty, the deca
dence had begun; the
little that has come down
to us from the following
dynasties betrays the hand
of the unskilful and unin
telligent artisan.
The architecture is known to us mainly by the tombs. The
private houses, built of dried bricks, and perpetually modified
or replaced for the convenience of their inhabitants, survive
only in shapeless pieces of wall in the deeper strata of the
existing towns. The palaces, also of brick, though they had certain
stone elements in their doorways and internal colonnades, have
proved hardly more dur
able. To judge by the
external arrangement of
the sarcophagi of Khu-
fu-enekh (Fig. 42) and My-
cerinus (Fig. 43), they were
rectangular masses with
vertical walls sometimes
encircled by a beaded
torus, and crowned by a
deep cavetto. The fronts
were divided into grooved
panels like those of the
fortresses, and of the tomb
of Nakadah (cf. Fig. 6),
but more elaborate in
profile, and they were decorated towards the top by an orna
ment of two lotus-leaves with crossed stems; doors were pierced
27

FIG. 43.— SARCOPHAGUS OF MYCERINUS.
(After Chipiez, Hist, de l'Art. vol. i. fig. 289).

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 44. — FACADE AND DOOR OF A MEM
PHITE HOUSE, FROM THE STELE OF SETI.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

between the panels, and above
them openwork bays, or rows
of little slits through which the
light and air entered (Fig. 44),
The whole was whitewashed,
and the architectural details
were enlivened with crude
colours: sphinxes with lions'
bodies and human heads often
watched on either side of the
door, or obelisks, stones rising
from a square base into a
pyramidal point, took their
place, proclaiming the names
and titles of the master. The
facades of private houses were
probably similar, or at least
those which belonged to per
sons of distinction, and had
any pretensions to elegance.
The appearance of the streets in certain African towns (Fig. 45), where
the decoration is in mud or clay like the houses, may give an idea
of the rich quarters of Memphis at the time of the Pyramids. As
to the temples of the city, which were enlarged or remodelled from
reign to reign, then pulled down
because of their age, and set
up again on new plans, all that
is left of them consists of frag
ments, carved or inscribed,
which have been utilised in
buildings of recent date. We
should still be ignorant of their
origin, had it not been for the
fortunate discovery of certain
funerary temples which were
attached to the royal pyramids
of the Fifth Dynasty; once again
the fictitious life beyond the
tomb has provided the document
necessary for the reconstitution
of real life.
The burial grounds of the
Memphite mountains contain

FIG. 45.

-AFRICAN MID ARCHITECTURE.
A Street in Dienne.

28

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 46.— VERTICAL SHAFT IN THE MAS-
TABAS OF GIZEH (AFTER LEPS1US).

several hypogea, both vaults and chapels, which are entirely
hollowed out in the rock; other sepulchres approximate to the
Thinite type, but the propor
tion between the elements
demanded by the earlier con
ception was no longer observed,
and the internal arrangements
were accordingly modified. In
deed, as the doctrine gained
ground, according to which the
images traced upon the wall
were of equal, or even of
greater importance to the dead
than real objects, the tomb-
chamber was circumscribed, and
the rooms composing the accessi
ble chapel were increased. At
Memphis accordingly the tomb-
chamber is merely a narrow cell, more or less deep beneath the
ground, accessible until the day of interment by means of a
vertical well (Fig. 46), or an oblique passage (Fig. 47), without
any decoration in the way of figures or inscriptions save such
as were bestowed on the sarco
phagus. On the other hand, the
chapel, which had become both
a reception-room and a storehouse,
forms a building of some importance,
a mastaba, the visible bulk of which
was in direct ratio to the means
possessed by the master for ensuring
a happy after-life to his double. Thus
it was not open to everyone to rest
under a mastaba. It was a privilege
reserved for those whom birth,
talents, services rendered to the
state, or even some momentary
caprice had raised to the summit
of the hierarchy. As they had been
permitted to approach the master
here below, they desired not to
be separated from him in the other
world, that so they might continue to enjoy his favour. However,
as they were numerous, and space was limited, Pharaoh was
29

FIG. 47.— THE SLOPTNG PASSAGE
IN THE TOMB OF TI, DRAWN BY
A. BAl'DKY.

ART IN EGYPT

1 1 i

, i .•'
vs
m
' S2
i
|ji;ij ¦'¦;
is^f- 1
\"
ga^s^;
"'A
¦V,;fL '
FIG. 48.— * CORNER OF THE NECROPOLIS AT
GIZEH, RESTORED BY CHIP1KZ.
(Hist, de l'Art, vol. i. fig-. 108.)
obliged to allot it with discretion, if he wished to satisfy his
courtiers. Concessions of ground were made methodically, on a
predetermined plan, and
the mastabas were ranged
in regular lines (Fig. 48),
the larger ones divided
one from another by lanes,
the smaller combined into
islets of two, three, or more;
when his hour had come,
Pharaoh had distributed
several hundreds of these,
which formed a city of the
dead around him. Its
appearance was monoto
nous. These houses, or,
if we prefer to call them
so, these palaces of the
necropolis would have been much like those of living cities, if
their facades, instead of being straight, had not inclined symmetrically
backwards, which gave them a certain vague likeness to an
unfinished pyramid (Fig. 49). Some few of these were of sun-dried
brick; the majority were of freestone, or small dressed stones,
with bare plain facings, the door on the east or the north, and
in some cases, a row of apertures just below the line of the
summit. Some were from thirty to fqrty feet high, one hundred
and fifty feet in width, and about Seventy-five in depth;
but this was not usual, and examples occur no more than about
nine feet high by fifteen wide. Some are crowned by a cavetto
and an entablature; but the majority terminate, without any
transition in the last
course, in an earthen
platform , the soil
mixed with fragments
of limestone , and
dotted with terracotta
jars, buried up to the
neck. To tell the truth,
I see in them the
regularisation and con
solidation of those
Wt
¦«fi
-A MASTABA VI' U1ZKH (After Lepsius).
i r i i i i i ¦ , . auuuauon or tnose
heaps of sand and pebbles which the primitive Egyptians piled over
the.r graves; the architect had little to do with their actual form;
30
MEMPHITE ART

tradition had imposed it upon him, and he was obliged to repeat
it servilely on the outside.
But there was compensation in the amount of liberty permit
ted him in the interior. In the beginning, the Memphite mastaba
had been solid like the
tumulus, whether it was
built up over the vault, or
constructed beforehand, and
pierced with a tunnel which
was filled up on the eve
ning or the morrow of inter
ment; in either case the
architect was careful to
indicate on the eastern front,
by means of a panel simu
lating a door, the place
where the double was sup
posed to go out and return
(Fig. 50). This feigned en
trance was often of natural
size, and it would have
resembledapracti cable door
in every way, but for the
fact that the back was
always closed. It was some
times doubled, at first
only for the king, but later,
when private persons ven
tured to imitate the king,
for those noble or wealthy
individuals who were con
cerned that their souls
should not lose any of the
offering; one of the two
was dedicated to the north
and its tribute, the other
to the south, and its productions. The decoration was sober
at first: the name of the master on the tympanum over the
opening, his titles and image on the jambs sufficed as long
as clients were content with a plain door. But very soon, pursu
ing the imitation of what had at first been the privilege of the
sovereign, they required that the slab should represent not merely
the door of a dwelling, but the entire building, and the model
31

FIG. =0. — STELE EN" THE FOES OF A FAL-E
DOOR. (Museum, Cairo.) (Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT
adopted was what is known as the royal banner, in other words
the rectangular structure in which the Pharaohs enclosed their
name Horus. It consisted of two parts; in the lower of these
was the facade of a house with a closed door, in the upner
one an empty space, a chamber in which the signs which constituted
the name were written (Fig. 51). In imitation of this, the
slab was divided into two registers, one above the other, enclosed
in a flat band which formed a frame common
to both (Fig. 52). The lower compartment
answered to the false door of the earlier period
°fte" S° ™odified as to be almost unrecog
nisable. The panels of the rebates were brought
forward, the jambs were flattened, and the
reliefs as a whole were only a few millimetres
above the surface. In the upper compartment,
which corresponds to the tomb -chamber, the
dead man was seated at a round table, laden
with the foods and ornaments he might require
in the other world. These were conveyed to him
invisibly by means of a special apparatus, a
stone table originally fixed between the uprights
of the door, and afterwards placed on the ground
against the stele. The celebrant heaped on this
all the objects of offering, and the doubles of these,
detached by virtue of his prayers, were projected
upon the round table destined to receive them.
Ihis ritual of the dead was carried out in the
open air (Fig. 53), in the sight of all, and though
in theory this unrestricted publicity did not
attect its efficacy, in practice the result was,
that when the congregation had dispersed, the
offerings were at the mercy of marauders, human and animal the
person for whom they were intended ran the risk of losing the
best part of them before he had secured his ration. Two de-
vices were accordingly adopted for their protection: an enclosure
mastaba5 Tk " *' ^SS fr°m ^ e3St wal1' ^™* in the '
mastaba of Kaaoiru (F,g 54) irregular in that of Neferhetep
he imh?H 1 ft™, ,' b,Ut the more imP°rtant measure was
as t hr nt1"? °J 'Sf ft1SC ,d°°r in the masonry in such * manner
an actu ' ° &¦ back| somet™e« of a niche, sometimes of
ft loots n°. "S7aS VLCry °ften Uniclue> and so small that
t looks to us drowned in the general mass. It is a minute cell
the longer axis of which is parallel to the facade; if the false door

FIG. 51.
THE NAM I.; HORUS
OF CI-IEPHREN.

MEMPHITE ART

!bc placed at one of the extremities, the ground-plan forms a figure
! like a double-headed hammer (Fig. 56) ; if it be hollowed out opposite
the entrance, it suggests a cross the head of which is cut out
:more or less. Such simple arrangements are found principally
in the more archaic quarters, such as
Dahshur, Medum, Gizeh and Sakkarah,
side by side with more complex types.
In the latter, the single chapel was
first enlarged, then doubled, and re
doubled (Fig. 57), until the mastaba
became a series or a labyrinth of rooms
large and small: that of Mereruka,
under the Sixth Dynasty, contained
over thirty compartments (Fig. 58); some
of these were passages concealed in
the thickness of the structure, sometimes
blind, sometimes communicating with
the world by conduits so narrow that
it is difficult to thrust the hand into
them; these were the serdabs, in which
the statues of the deceased and of his
servants were imprisoned, to preserve
them from possible destruction. Several
were used as warehouses or store-rooms,
and for ceremonies, there were rooms
upheld by square piers, or by columns
with lotus-bud capitals; the entrance is
sometimes preceded by a porti co (Fig. 59).
In the course of time, the false door
lost its original character; its hollows
were attenuated, its projections flattened,
and it was finally resolved into an
upright slab, on which the design of a
door was indicated on the surface by
almost impalpable reliefs; in a word, it
became a stele, towards which all the several parts of the tomb
converged, just as if it had remained the actual door which
had formerly led to the vault. Occasionally, however, its ancient
character was revived, at least in appearance. Thus in the tomb
of Mereruka (Fig. 60), the life-size statue of the master was
introduced into the bay, a flight of three steps was at his feet,
by which he was supposed to come down into the chamber,
to take the offerings left by the celebrants. In the mastaba of
33 D

YICt. 52.— STELE-DOOR (IK
UNiTUJ. (Museum, Cairo.)
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 53.— FACADE OF THE MASTABA OF
MENEFER. (After Mariette.)

ART IN EGYPT
Atoti (Fig. 61), the statue is set against the stone which fills up
the doorway, rather than enframed in the bay. In that of
Neferseshemptah (Fig. 62), the
conception is more complex'
the bust of the dead man rises
above the closed door and its
lintel, to see what is happening
in the chamber, while right and
left two statues of him stand
erect against the facade, as if
keeping guard over him. Later
again, the head alone appears
over the panel (Fig. 63). The
stele thus loses its independent character to become a mere
element of the decoration (Fig. 64). The table of offering rests
on the ground before it, and sometimes, as among the living,
it was flanked by two miniature obelisks, on which the name
and titles of the master were proclaimed in large letters (Fig, 65).
There is no evidence that this evolution was based on a pre
conceived idea, nor that it culminated in the creation of a typi
cal mastaba, all the internal parts of which were deduced one
from another in logical order. In the mastaba of Ti, at Salt-
karah (Fig. 66) there is, indeed, a veritable progression in the
successive apartments, from the entrance portico to the point
where the stele rises towards the south-western angle: first
there is a hall with pillars, where the passage leading up from the
vault reached the level,
then a corridor divided
by a door into two une
qual lengths, a little room
on the right for the dead
man's wife, at the end the
chapel with its two stela,
and, parallel with its south
wall, a serdab in which
the statues were conceal
ed. But this was an ex
ception. In nearly every <
other instance, the arch
itect did not trouble to
,. „ . , , , , arrange the rooms metho
dically, provided he placed his chapel as far west as possible; he
was only concerned to increase their number, and consequently,

^/>/W//Whs,;/,/,,/////»M>JlW

W/////////.Y///.V///S/////,/,/,,,,.

FIG. 54. — CELL AND FORE-COURT OF THF
MASTABA OK KAAPIRU (After Mariette.) "

MEMPHITE ART

to develope to the utmost surfaces capable of receiving decoration.
In this he was influenced by those utilitarian principles which had
regulated the arrangement of the

:¦;. 55. — FORE-COURT OF THE MASTABA
OF NkFEK-HETEP. (After Mariette.)

tomb from the first; for as the
decorator was thus free to repeat
the principal scenes in several
rooms, if one was defaced, and
lost its efficacy, the replica took
its place and continued to supply
the deceased with his revenues.
Towards the end of the Memphite
age, he further realised that the
tomb-chamber, buried beneath the
mastaba and separated from it by
a conglomerate cement, offered
a greater chance of inviolability
than the super-structure, and he conceived the idea of laying up
a reserve of pictures here, in case those above should fail. He
accordingly devised a new model (Fig. 67), good examples of
which are to be found among the brick tombs discovered from
1881 onwards about the Pyramid of Pepi II. Built of dried bricks,
upon the sand itself, this mastaba, like those of the earliest
period, at first presents to the spectator either a stele on the
west face, or a niche in front of which the family assembled
to offer sacrifice. In the interior, the well was replaced by a
sort of court, in the western part of which a place was reserved
for the tomb-chamber. This consisted of a long, low cell, formed
of five limestone slabs; a brick vault, with a radius of from 20

FIG.56.— THE MASTABA OF ZAZAMENEKH.
(After Mariette.)

vmsm

FIG. 57. — THE MASTABA
OF KHABEUPTAH. (After Mariette.)

to 24 inches, relieved the upper slab of the weight of the
successive strata rising above it to the level of the terminal plat
form. The lateral walls, carved and painted, were receptacles
35 d2

ART IN EGYPT
for articles of food and clothing; the coffin was pushed along be
tween them, then the opening in front was walled up, and the
little court was filled in. When the
dead man had a stone sarcophagus,
instead of a wooden coffin, the whole
building was placed upon this, as of
fering a more solid foundation; the lid
formed the floor of the chamber above,
and on this statues and offerings were
heaped pell-mell before the mummy was
consigned to his eternal rest.
We find then that the Memphite
mastaba, in its final development, allow
ed of two decorated elements, the
chapel and the vault, which were con
nected by a well, or an unornamented
passage. It was almost universally
adopted among the wealthier classes,
from the Fayum to the centre of the
Delta, but it never became general in
districts where the court did not
habitually reside. The prevalent form
in Upper Egypt, in the places where vast sandy spaces at the
toot of the mountain-boundaries invited the great nobles to
construct mastabas, was derived both from the Thinite and
Memphite type, but was more akin to the first than to the
second. It is partly buried

FIG. 5S.— THE MASTABA OF
MERERUKA. (After Morgan.)

in the ground, as at El-
KaborDenderah(Fig.68),and access to it is ob
tained by an inclinedplane,
or by a staircase; the
corpse is buried not very
deep below the soil in a
cavity more like a pit than
a chamber. Preference
was given to the hypogeum
hewn in the mountain
side, in a vein of lime
or sand stone, solid and
, , . , , fine, running horizontally
at a good height above the plain. When such a spot had been
selected, the members of a family and their servants were laid
36

FIG. 5Q. —PORTICO OF THE MASTABA OF TI.

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 60.— FALSE DOOR OF
MERERUKA. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

there from generation to generation ,
the mighty side by side in a row
on the same level, the plebeians
haphazard on the slope, in front
of, and so to speak, below them,
as if to maintain the hierarchical
distance even in death. The plan
necessitated the three divisions of
the mastaba, the vault, the well
or sloping passage, and the chapel;
but the material in which the archi
tect had to cut them obliged him
to modify the detail , at least as
far as the chapel was concerned.
As the expense would have been
very great if he had carried one
of those series of chambers such
as we find in the mastaba of
Mereruka at Memphis right through
the living rock, he was nearly al
ways content with a single room for receptions and worship ;
when more were demanded, they were rarely more than two or
three in number. In the mastaba of Zauti, at Kasr-es-sayad, we
find surbased vaults; elsewhere, and indeed generally, the ceiling
was flat, like that of the stone mastabas.
Where the orientation allowed it, the
stele was placed opposite the en
trance, in a niche cut towards the
centre of the back wall; if this was
impracticable it was carved on the
west wall, or set against it, and the
niche served as serdab for the statues
of the double, these being either
separate, or cut in the mass of the
rock. The hypogeum thus carried
out became a systematised fragment
of a quarry, as at Kom-el-Ahmar,
Koseir-el-Amarna, Meir, near Akhmim,
Der-el-Melak, and at Kasr-es-sayad.
Sometimes, however, an artistic in
tention is revealed. That of Afai,
at Kau-el-Kebir, has ceilings the reliefs
of which imitate the palm -trunks 37

FIG. 6l.— FALSE DOOR OF ATOTI.
(Museum Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

which supported the roofs of houses. The chapels of the princes
of Elephantine are veritable temple halls ; that of Mekhu (Fig. 69),
with its triple row of six columns, its niche, and its stele to which
a little staircase gives access, its stone three-legged table of offerings
standing between two of the columns of the central aisle; that of
Sabni with its fourteen square pillars in two rows, and its narrow
door, interrupted at about one third of its height by a triangular
lintel which crowns a smaller orifice in the monumental door.
All this is rude, ill-proportioned and barbarous compared with
what we see at Memphis;
but the excellence of the
site shows in those who
selected it a delicate feel
ing for nature, and makes
amends to some extent
for their artistic short
comings. From the terrace
which runs along the storey
reserved for the patricians,
the eye travels freely to
the horizon; the double,
escaping from the dark
ness of the vault, was able
to take in at a glance the
whole expanse of the do
main he had ruled, thegreat
river with its hurrying
waters, its changing islands, the open country invaded by the
sands of the desert, the villages among the palm-trees, and in
the distance, the mountains to which he had so often been lured
by the pleasures of the chase.
The tombs of the Memphite Pharaohs were also so placed as
to command the valley from afar. They stretch out in a line
on the edge of the Libyan desert, and succeeding one another
from Abu-Roash to Gizeh, from Gizeh to Sakkarah, from
Sakkara to Dahshur and thence to Mediim, they pursue the
traveller who is going up the Nile for days together. Zoser of
the Third Dynasty, in his character of King of Upper Egypt,
possessed a huge brick mastaba of the Thinite type at Bet-
Khallaf (cf. Fig. 12); as King of northern Egypt, he built him
self a second tomb of a novel type, at least to us (Fig, 70).
The apartments of the double are here cut in the rock on a
system similar to those of Bet-Khallaf, but much more com-
38

FIG. 62.

-FALSE DOOR OF NEFERSESHEM-PTAH.
(Phot. Abbi Thedenat.)

MEMPHITE ART

plicated (Fig. 71); it is entered by no less than four doors, the
principal one being on the north. After traversing a labyrinth
of passages , low chambers , and hypostyle galleries , we find
ourselves on the brink of a central well, at the bottom of which
is a pit, sealed with a kind of stone stopper; this was doubtless
the receptacle for the funerary treasure. The superstructures
are not of brick, but of the
coarse lime-stone of the
surrounding mountains,
and it was perhaps this
fact which gave rise to the
legend that Zoser was the
first Egyptian who built
with stone. The base on
which these upper build
ings rest is a parallelo
gram of about 390 by 350
feet, and their appearance
would lead us to suppose
that they were composed
of five blocks of masonry
with sloping surfaces, each
receding some 6V2 feet
from the lower stage, and
so diminishing gradually
as they rise to terminate
in a platform about 190
feet above the level of the
ground. But this appear
ance is deceptive. They
are not mastabas of decre
asing dimensions piled one
above the other; the core was raised uninterruptedly, and then
dressed on its four sides with parallel courses of masonry, which,
ceasing four times at different levels, formed the four successive
storeys. The monument is known at present as the Step Pyramid,
but it is not a true Pyramid. When he ordered his architects
to undertake it, Zoser wanted a tomb superior to those of his
predecessors, and even to the one he was preparing at Bet-
Khallaf, on the ancient plan. Now the slopes of the mastaba
approached too closely to the perpendicular to allow of bringing
them up to the required height without risking the downfall of
the whole, when the small blocks of dressed stone which were in
39

FIG. 63. — STELE-DOOR OF NTRERA
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT
general use at this period were used. It was to obviate this
danger that they were compressed between the four graduated
facings; these, buttressing them and each other, ensured the
stability of the whole. This elevated and reinforced variant of
the mastaba continued in favour for several generations. Nearly a
century and a half after
Zoser, Seneferu, the first
sovereign of the Fourth
Dynasty, still retained
it. The false Pyramid at
Medum (Fig. 72), where
he had taken up his resi
dence as King of Upper
Egypt, is, in fact, com
posed like the so-called
Step Pyramid, of vast
cubes of masonry with
sloping faces, each slightly
smaller than the one be
low; they are, however,
square instead of rectan
gular, and are only four
in number. Their progres
sive diminution is a pure
caprice of the architect's,
no longer justified by a
technical necessity. The
core of the fabric is not
artificially built up; it is a
natural hill, the solidity of
which was beyond question,
and the masonry which
masks it consists of magnificent limestone. The four diminishing
cubes are independent one of the other, and it is probable that
the last was never finished.
After Medum, the Pharaohs built nothing but Pyramids through-
hout the Memphite age. In my opinion, the pyramid was not
derived from the oblong mound with an almost perpendicular
incline and a flat top which was the origin of the mastaba, but
from a stone tumulus, pointed at the top and sloping gently
upwards, which was peculiar to the northern districts. There
was a tradition that the fourth king of the First Dynasty, Uen-
nephes, was the author of the one which existed at Kokome in
40

FIG. 64. — STELE OF NIKHAFITKA.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 65.— OBELISKS OF PTAH-HETEP
AND MA1TT.
(Museum, Cairo.) (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the Greek period , and this is
possible; but the earliest known
to us is at Dahshur, where Sene-
feru built it for himself as king of
Lower Egypt. Even then, it did
not constitute the entire sepulchre;
it was accompanied by a chapel
with subterranean store-houses,
and a paved temenos surrounded
it, protected by a square or
rectangular enclosure (Fig. 73).
A causeway connected the whole
with a temple situated in the royal
town, towards the fringe of culti
vated land. The apartments of
the double were concealed in
or under the pyramid; Seneferu
received his revenues in the ad
joining chapel, and, as a living
god, he was associated with the
other gods in the temple of the city (cf. Fig. 41). We know
what the Pyramids are. The heap of stones composing them
rests on a square base; the faces confront the four cardinal
points as in the mastabas, but no more precisely than in the
majority of these. Their height
varies from 482 feet, as in that
of Cheops (Fig. 74) to 62 feet
in that of Unas; but whatever
the individual dimensions , the
general plan was marked out
once for all before the work
was begun, and the architect
proposed to carry it on without
modification to the end. It did
sometimes happen , however,
that it was altered in the course
of building, and that the propor
tions of the whole were increased,
which neccessitated changes in
the arrangement of the interior;
this was probably the case
with the Pyramids of Chephren
and Mycerinus, whereas that of

41

FIG. 66.— PLAN OF THE TOMB OF TI.
(After Mariette.)

ART IN EGYPT

Cheops seems to have been built uninterruptedly on the site of
an earlier tomb, the materials of which it absorbed in its rough
masonry. This was afterwards covered
with a facing of massive blocks (Fig. 75).
These modifications in the course of exe
cution were most frequent under the
Fourth Dynasty, when the constructive
formula had not yet been fixed by prolonged
experience, and when architects perhaps
allowed themselves to be carried away
by daring experiments which imperilled
the solidity of their work. Those of
Cheops, fearing that, the tomb-chamber
might succumb under the weight of over
300 feet of stone , built five chambers,
superposed along the central axis, to relieve
it; this device , which carried the greater
part of the central pressure out to the
lateral surfaces , did , in fact , save the
building; but it was not repeated. From
the middle of the Fifth Dynasty onward,
the majority of the Pyramids are almost
identical in their plan, in which, though
the dimensions were reduced, the inviola
bility of the mummy was none the less
assured (Fig. 76). A sloping passage, rising to the level of the
soil under the centre of
the north side , just at
the height of the first
course, led to a low ante
room ; this gave access to
a horizontal passage, bar
red almost in the centre
by granite portcullises,
and a vestibule (Fig. 77),
communicating on the
right with the tomb-
chamber, on the left with
a serdab or a store-room.
The vestibule and the
tomb-chamber were crown
ed by a pointed roof,
consisting of three courses

FIG-67. — MASTABA WITH
HOLLOW CHAMBER AND
DISCHARGrXG ARCH.
(Drawing by Bourgoin,
communicated by Messrs.
A. Picard.)

FIG. 68.— TOMB OF ADU, AT DEXDERAH.
(After Petrie.)
42

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 6j. — TOJIH OF MEKHU AND SABNI
AT ASSVAX. (After Morgan.)

of limestone beams , leaning one against the other at the top.
Sometimes the superstructures were composed entirely of large
blocks of fine limestone, as in the Pyramid of Unas; but more
commonly they have a
core of coarse limestone
from the neighbouring
mountains, with a facing
of fine limestone.
Little as geometrical
figures are calculated, in
general, to evoke a sen
timent or give artistic
enjoyment, the pyramid
as realised by the Egyp
tians on their native soil
never fails to move those who see it for the first time pro
foundly. And when, instead of the finished work, we have as
it were the sketch only before our eyes, we are hardly less
deeply impressed. The Pharaoh Nefer-ka-Ra, of the Third Dynasty,
has left such a sketch at Zawyet-el-Aryan, in the trenches
destined for the super-structures of his tomb, and the inclined
plane with its slides over which the blocks passed while awaiting
the construction of the passage leading to the mortuary chambers
(Fig. 78). The works ceased at the moment when the lower
courses of granite had been set, and there is nothing above
the surface of the ground but an admirable oval basin destined
for libations (Fig. 79). The whole is merely a T-shaped ditch,
some 100 feet deep; and
yet the impression it
makes when one goes
down into it is unforget
table. The richness and
the cutting of the materials,
the perfection of the
joints and sections , the
incomparable finish of the
basin , the boldness of
the lines and the height
of the walls all combine
to make up a unique
creation. The chapels of the completed pyramids are not marked
by this almost brutal strength. They were buildings of medium
height, which, projecting from the eastern facade, extended to

FIG. 70. — THE STEP PYRAMID (Phot. Dumichen.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 71. — SECTION OF THE STEP-PYRAMID.
(After Howard-Vyse.)

the enclosing wall. The only one which has come down to us
complete, that of Seneferu, consists of two dark little rooms,
without ornaments or in
scriptions , a courtyard
behind them, and in the
courtyard, two bare stela;
rising boldly against the
pyramid. Only the pave
ment of the chapel of
Cheops remains, and the
chapel of Chephren is
in ruins (Fig. 80); but
recently, several of those
which belonged tho the
sovereigns of the Sixth
Dynasty have been ex
cavated, notably those of
Sahu-Ra (Fig. 81) and Ra-en-user (Fig. 82). They were entered
by a granite doorway, and had a portico of columns, also granite,
a court bordered by little lateral chambers, a main block containing
three large rooms placed side by side, and fronting the same way,
the whole delicately carved and painted. It was a temple,
lacking the Holy of Holies, or rather the tomb-chamber was to it
what the Holy of Holies was to the real temple, the dwelling where
the master of the house was lodged, safe from attacks from with
out; the stele represented the mysterious door which could no longer
be opened, but on the threshold of which offerings were heaped.
Among the inscriptions of Sakkarah, the student occasionally
comes upon a certain
curious hieroglyph, a
truncated pyramid
surmounted by an
obelisk, and accom
panied by a solar disc,
which seems sometimes
to be poised upon
the point of the obe
lisk. It indicated a
temple which Pharaoh
had dedicated to Ra,
the Sun of Heliopolis,
m his royal city, near his tomb; but it seemed uncertain whether
it was an exact figure of this, or only a graphic combination of
44

FIG. 72.— THE FALSE PYRAMID AT MEDUM.

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 73.— THE PYRAMID OF RA-EN-USER,
AS RESTORED BY L. BORCHARDT.

elements really separate. The German excavations near Abusir
have brought to light fragments which prove that the obelisk
rose upon the pyramid
itself, and not beside it.
An inclined plane be
tween two parapets led
from the palace of Ra'-en-
user to the temple, which
consisted of a rectangular
court, about 325 feet long
by 280 wide, the main
axis of which ran from east
to west; it was surrounded
by a brick wall, which had
a sort of pylon in the
middle of the east face.
The pyramid covered nearly all the western half of the enclosed
area; it was not a classic pyramid like those of Gizeh, but a
square mastaba, analogous to those of which the monument of
Medum is composed (Fig. 83). It measured probably from 60 to
100 feet in height, with a base of about 130 feet, and three of
its faces were bare; by a door pierced in a chapel attached to
the fourth, that of the south, access was obtained to a staircase
which led to the platform. Here the obelisk rose, or rather,
the facsimile in brick of an immense stone in the shape of a
squat obelisk, the point of which rose to about 120 feet. The
platform in front of this
strange monument was
bordered on the east, the
south, and the north by
long vaulted corridors; that
on the south led to the
chapel, where the staircase
debouched, that on the
north to cells where pro
visions were stored, and
where the officiating priests
were lodged, together with
the materials for worship.
In the court itself, a deeply
grooved pavement forms
a parallelogram upon the ground, terminating on the east with
a row of nine alabaster basins, while on the west, almost at
45

FIG 74.— THE GREAT PYRAMID AND THE
SPHINX. (Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

oat;

r

FIG. 7=. — THE FACEN'G M
OF THE GREAT PVRAVir,

AR> -TILL INTACT
I Phot. Cozington.j

the foot of the pyramid, an immense table for offerings, also
of alabaster, stood in a little court surrounded by low walls. Many
details in the arrange
ment of the various
parts are inexplicable or
obscure; but one point
is now firmly established,
namely, that the obelisk
stood both for the sanc
tuary and for the god
who was worshipped
there. We are so much
accustomed to consider
the Egyptian divinities as
beings of flesh and blood,
men or animals, that we
are surprised when one
of them is revealed as
an inanimate object Here,
however, the obelisk was the god himself, and what is more,
the Sun-god, and as if to leave no room for doubt on this score,
the Egyptians fashioned near the south front a brick model of
one of the solar boats, with its special design, and its cargo of
sacred insignia (Fig. 84} . At the first blush, there seems some
thing paradoxical in the idea of imitating in a heavy substance
a thing as light and rapid as a boat, and setting it motion
less upon the sand of the desert. And yet this was but the
inevitable outcome of that longing for a future life which is
manifested in all then
works. However carefully
preserved , the wooden
vessel of the god was
destined some day to
crumble into dust, and
perhaps the circumstances
of the moment would be
such that it would be
impossible to make a new
one; then the brick vessd
would take its place, witi
more chance of beingusefol,
in that it would be more difficult to damage or destroy; and would
continue its function for Ri as long as a fragment of it subsisted.
46

THE PYRAMID OF T/N'A>
Ma_spero , communicated
-. A. Picard.J

by

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 77.— DOOR BETWEEN' ANTE-ROOM
AND TOMB-CHAMBER IX THE PYRAMID
OF UNAS.

The monument of the Sphinx
(Fig. 85) was no more a real
temple than that of Abusir.
It was a kind • of waiting
hall, built on the edge of the
plain in front of the second
pyramid, and connected with it
by a causeway the line of
which is still perceptible; it was
the starting-point of the proces
sions which, on fixed days, went
to the chapel of Chephren, to
perform the worship of the so
vereign. The plan is very
simple, yet it is not easy to
determine the uses of the various
parts. The centre is occupied
by a hall 79 feet long by 23
wide, with a row of six mono
lith pillars in the middle. A
second hall, 57 V2 feet by 29, adjoins this, forming a T on
plan; it was ornamented with a double row of five pillars, and
lighted by oblique vent-holes at the top of the walls. The hall
with the six columns is, as it were, the pivot round which the
rest of the building was set; it
communicates on the east with a
gallery, which, running parallel
with the facade (Fig. 86), termi
nates at the two extremities in
a rectangular cabinet; at the south
west angle, the hall has a cell
containing six niches in super
posed pairs, at the north-west
angle it communicates with the
sloping passage which leads by
a gentle incline to the plateau.
The core of the masonry is of
Turah limestone; the facings, the
pillars, the ceilings, the facade
(Fig. 87) are of gigantic granite *
or alabaster blocks, polished and
adjusted to perfection, but not
decorated. Here, as in the unfin- 47

FIG. 7S. — INCT.TXFD WAY AT
ZAWYET-EL-ARYAN. (Phot Oropesa.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 7Q.— FOOR AND LIBATION- TROUGH OF THE
UNFINISHED PYRAMID AT ZAWYET-EL-ARYAN.
(Phot. Oropesa.)

ished tomb of Nefer-ka-Ra, the architecture produces its effect
without any adventitious aid, by purity of line and Tightness
of proportion. The build
ing is almost complete,
and it might be supposed
that by the help of the
data gleaned at Abusir
and in the chapels of the
Pyramids, we should be
able to re- establish the
general plan of the ordinary
temples from this example;
such, however, is not the
case, and the problem is
still obscured by too many
unknown issues to be
solved. I think I may
venture so far as to say
that they lacked certain
features proper to those of the later periods, such as pylons,
with their high bay flanked by two massive towers. The doors
opened directly in the enclosing wall as did later those of
Thebes, in the Saite period. They were accompanied by a
portico, and followed by a court, round and in the midst of
which the offering-tables and the materials of worship were
disposed. The main body of the building rose at the end, but
we are unable to say how the different apartments were arranged.
The sanctuary was assu
redly quite at the back,
but it is a question
whether the rooms which
flanked it right and left
were already assigned to
the mother-goddess and
the child. The point most
clearly established by the
ruins is that a good many
elements very frequent at
a later period were alrea
dy in use, among them
the cornice with its curved
gorge, the gargoyles of projecting demi-lions on the stone
facings, the images of guardian lions (Fig. 88), the square pillars,
48

FIG. 80.— PLAN OF THE CHAPEL OF CHEPHREN.
(After Steindorff.)

MEMPHITE ART

the palm or lotus column. The former was in favour under the
Fifth Dynasty, rather heavy in the temple of Sahu-Ra, light and
slender in that of Unas (Fig. 89).
Its capital is formed of a bunch
of palm-leaves, attached to the
shaft by four ribbons, and bend
ing gracefully under the weight
of the abacus. The lotus-like
columns of Sahu-Ra and Shepses-
ptah (Fig. 90) are circular, where
as those of Ra- en -user are
rectangular at the base, but
are gradually rounded as they
rise till they become almost
circular at the summit (Fig. 91).
Save for some slight variations,
they consist of four or six lotus-
stems in fasces, bulbous at the
foot, and adorned with triangular
leaves; the buds, bound to the
neck of the shaft by four or
five bands, are grouped into a
bouquet to form the capital,
and sometimes young buds, inserted between the half-open
ones, fill the spaces above the ligatures. Examination of the ruins
leads to the conclusion that Memphite architecture, though it
inclined to the gigantic for the tombs of its kings, did not
desire it for the temples
of the gods; it aimed here
at strength and elegance
rather than at immensity.
The surfaces it offered
nevertheless afforded an
almost boundless field for
the activity of sculptor
and painter. Generally
speaking , the Egyptians
would not allow even the
most beautiful stone to
remain bare, while on
the other hand, painting
alone without sculpture
beneath it, did not approve

FIG. 8l.— PLAN' OF THE CHAPEL OF
SAHU-RA.
(After Borchardt)

FIG. 82.
SEPULCHRAL CHAPEL OF RA-EX-USER.
(After Borchardt)
49 E

ART IN EGYPT
itself to them as possessing the enduring qualities required for
the adornment of temples and tombs; with few exceptions, it
was tolerated only in

----fe*/fef---//-

houses and palaces. The
Pharaohs, indeed, had
an instinctive repugnance
to taking up their abode
in dwellings where others
had lived before them;
they generally abandoned
these to their progeny,
and improvised new dwell
ings for themselves, which
always seemed to them
good enough if they were
of a nature to last as
long as themselves. For
such ephemeral buildings
they were content with a perishable ornamentation of simple
painting on the ceilings, pavements, and walls, and the same
latitude obtained perforce in hypogea carved in a rock unfit for
sculpture, as well as in the chapels of sun-dried bricks which
villagers too pooi to use stone raised for their gods; everywhere
else, colour is only, so to speak, the complement of relief, but a comple
ment so indispensable that

FIG. 83.— SOLAR TEMPLE OF RA-EN-USER,
AS RESTORED BY BORCHARDT.

it is difficult to imagine
a building without it.
We understand now why
painting in Egypt never
acquired the personal
development and com
plexity which characterises
it in our own countries.
It laid flat tints on the
work of the sculptor, and
indicated the details of
costume and the acces
sories which he had not
noted. The artist's work
was therefore rather that
of an illuminator than a
painter, and the necessity of reliefs to cover was so impera
tive in his eyes that he did his utmost to suo-o;est them, even
50

FIG. 84.— BRICK BOAT OF RA-EN-USER.
(After Borchardt.)

MEMPHITE ART

J>v^V 1 ;

p

I, .: . , ,-,./, - ...

"','"

*i 1 1

> V j , . , i o „

c r

h . ; :!

j i ,] i _, yc*". n a

i , j

-;."-'¦ '"] ^ 'J '

-

1

• {' .. . f u -

til

1 '- ^i n ° :

HlUftl
":J-V
I — *_L^r<  _ —
FIG. 8S. — TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX.
(After Mariette.)
where they did not exist; he surrounded his figures with a
red or black outline which defines the contours as sharply as if
he had cut them with a style.
The deliberate neglect of half
tones and of their infinite variety,
led him to choose for each ob
ject or person a tone which,
without deviating too widely
from nature, sometimes made
no attempt to approach it very
closely. Thus men are represented
with skin of a more or less dark
brown, while women are light
yellow; a blue, either pure or
streaked with black, was reserved
for the sea, a bright green for
grass and foliage, and a dirty
yellow dotted with red stood
either for corn piled in heaps
or for the sand of the desert. With conventions so harassing,
and means so restricted, artists nevertheless managed to produce
works of striking truth and senti
ment. Such was the tomb of the
time of Seneferu at Medum,
where Vassalli saved the famous
geese. which are now in the Museum
of Cairo (Fig. 92). The movement
is excellent, and the characteristics
which distinguish the male and
female in each couple are noted
with an accuracy which surprises
naturalists; a Chinese or Japanese
artist could have done no better.
Unfortunately, this is an excep
tional example; the painting of
the Memphite age rarely rose to
the dignity of an autonomous art;
it was a servile dependent of
sculpture. Such being the case, decoration,
whether of tomb or temple, was
considered an immense composition, every part of which converged
to the same point: in the temple, to the wall at, the back of
51 e2
M
FIG. 86. — INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE
OF THE SPHINX (Phot. E. Brugsch).
FIG. S7. — FACADE OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX
(Phot Steindorff).

ART IN EGYPT 1
the sanctuary, in the tomb to the stele which had replaced the
door of the vault. It is true that every room, and in every room
each wall, and on
every wall each picture
constitutes a whole
where the various
persons mingle and
confront each other
in such a manner,
that if some are ad
vancing to this kib-
lah l, others seem
either to be going
away from it, or at
least, not to be
making their way
towards it; but this
contrariety of move
ment , which might
seem to stultify the
principle just laid down, is explained when we examine the
conditions under which it is produced. In the temple, it is
always the god, the supreme
deity of the place, and the divin
ities of his family or of his suite
who move in the opposite direct
ion tc the rest: the oblatdonist,
priest or king, always advances
in the normal direction. Occasion
ally, but infrequently, a single
scene occupies the entire wall;
more often, it is divided into
panels. Thus the ritual of divine
worship was resolved into a
definite number of ceremonies,
which were at will isolated from
their neighbours, or grouped in
processions more or less long.
When at the beginning of the
sacrifice Pharaoh washed the altar,
lighted the fire, burnt the incense, poured the libations of water,
wine, milk and essences, he provided the material for so many
1 The Arab prayer-niche, facing- towards Mecca.
52

FIG. SS. — HEAD OF A LION FROM
SAKE ARAB (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

distinct scenes. And as, to
ensure the complete efficacy of
these operations, he had to per
form them once as the king of
the South, and again as the king
of the North, the artist was also
obliged to depict them twice, but
at the same time to distribute
them symmetrically from room to
room, so that at last the temple
came to be, as it were, cut into
two parallel sections with corre
sponding decorations; in the
right hand section the sovereign
officiated in the name of Upper
Egypt, in the left in that of
Lower Egypt He thus pro
ceeded from without to within
until he reached the Holy of
 Holies, and

V

FIG. fjo.
LOTUS COLUMN OF
SHEPSES-PTAH
(Museum , Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

FIG. Sg. — TWO COLUMNS WITH PALM-
LEAF CAPITALS FROM THE FUNER
ARY CHAPEL OF UNAS
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
at each stage,
the god rose before him, like some great
lord coming out to meet his subjects, con
fronting them and receiving their homage
from station to station. The concatenation
is far less strict in the tombs, for here the
deceased plays a double part, and whereas
in some places he passively awaits the results
of the labours his posterity performs for his
benefit, in others he behaves as if he were
still reckoned among the living; he passes
through his fields or workshops to see what
is being done, and superintend. The con
tradiction in the two parts is accordingly
translated by a similar contradiction in the
orientation of his images; some of these move
or stop facing the kiblah, like the faithful who
have come from the outer world to do honour
to their ancestor, but the majority turn their
backs on it and seem to be advancing from
it, as becomes the master of the house. If,
disregarding these exceptions, which are the
result of the ideas held by they Egptians as

ART IN EGYPT

to the material conditions of the after-life, we take the pictures
of the hypogeum as a whole, we must admit that they tend uni
formly towards the stele, and that they illustrate by their suc
cession the mystic drama, the episodes of which are evolved
from the threshold of the chapel to the sup
posed door of the tomb-chamber.
Artists registered them, and as they were
used in the same manner in the temples, they
finally became a series of designs containing
all the elements necessary to decorate the
house of the dead or that of the god. It is
probable that in the beginning each town had
its cartoons , in which the characteristic features
of its religion and its burial rites were repro
duced, but at the moment when history begins
for us, local diversities persisted only in a
slight degree, and two general types prevailed,
one for the tomb, the other for the temple;
the numerous examples of each which we
possess were distinguished only by the details
of the names and figures. As I have already
said, several evidences lead one to conclude
that they were definitively fixed in the schools
of the Delta, and this I consider a proved
fact in the case of the tombs; it is, indeed,
in the Delta, and in the Delta alone, that
the papyrus reed grows to an immense height,
and forms those vast thickets into which the
holy dead penetrate at will, to harpoon fish,
or hunt water-fowl and hippopotamus (Fig. 93).
After the priests of Heliopolis had codified
the principles of the worship of the gods and
of the dead, they came almost inevitably to
lay down rules for the composition and exe
cution of the pictures in which they represent
ed it. They permitted no variation in aught
relating to the gods, for when man was invoking these, his
most insignificant acts and attitudes had their importance. To
carry out his work to perfection, the artist should have de
composed the slightest gestures of the celebrant into as many
distinct images, but the theologian did not insist on this. He
merely required the artist when rendering each of the episodes,
the sequence of which constituted the ritual, to express the
54

FIG. QI. —LOTUS-COL
UMN OF RA-EN-USER
(Museum , Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

critical moment when the act was accomplished which produced
the maximum effect. In earlier ages, the chief or king himself
lassoed the almost wild bull in the fields for sacrifice (Fig. 94).

FIG. g2.— THE GEESE OF MEDUM (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
He felled it, tied its hoofs together, and then killed it with a
wooden pole-axe, partially sharpened, with which he dealt it
a blow on the skull between the eyes. At a later period, they
cut the beast's throat instead of dealing it a death-blow, but
the antique weapon and the gesture it demanded were preserved
and inscribed on the walls as the characteristic emblem of
the rite. Where we see the king standing before the god and
presenting the pole-axe to him, we are contemplating the sacri
fice, although the victim is absent; when once the scene had
been thus symbolised, it was
transmitted from generation to
generation in the same form,
varying only in the accessories,
and it was to be found at
Kom-Ombo under the Antonines
just as it was under the earliest
Pharaohs. If we now return to
the mastabas and examine the
same motive there, we shall
suddenly perceive that it is not
treated in accordance with
an immutable formula. The
draughtsman expands or con
denses it regardless of the
theologian; he multiplies or
suppresses supernumeraries, re
laxes or stiffens their gestures,
combines their efforts; if so
disposed, he devotes entire
panels to the ultimate fate of the bull, the cutting-up, and the
presentation of the pieces to the master. And what is true of
55

FIG. Q3-— HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNT IN THE
TOMB OF TI.

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. Q4. — THE SACRIFICIAL BULL LASSOED BY
THE KING, AT ABYDOS (Drawing- by Boudier).

the sacrifice applies equally to all the rest; composition and
rendering are no less varied in the book of the tombs than
they are uniform in that
of the temples. Dogma,
which prescribed to the
artist the choice and treat
ment of the scenes in
which the gods were visibly
present, allowed him much
more liberty in dealing
with the dead.
Incoherent as they are,
the fragments of the
chapels of Unas, Ra-en-
user and Sahu-Ra which
have come down to us,
suffice to prove that the book of the temples comprised even
at this period the same kind of pictures, connected almost in
the same manner, as those we find under the Second Theban
Empire. The decorative scheme changed its nature as it pro
gressed from without to within. In the places accessible to
the public, in the col
umned hall which served
as vestibule, and under
the porticoes bordering
the entrance court, the
warlike deeds of the so
vereign were set forth,
or at least those for which
he gave glory to the god,
and the spoils of which
had helped to build or
restore the temple. Thus
Sahu-Ra was shown on
the south side of his
hypostyle hall striking
down a king of Libya
who is prone at his feet
(Fig. 95) ; further on, three
daughters of a Libyan
chief implored his mercy,
captive herds of oxen, asses, goats and sheep advanced in four
rows, while at the base of the wall, beneath the animals, the
56

FIG. 95-_— A LIBYAN CHIEF STRUCK DOWN BV
sahu-ra (Museum, Berlin). (Phot. L. Borchardt)

MEMPHITE ART

family of the vanquished
wept over the fate of its
chief in the presence of
Amentit, Regent of the West,
and Ashu, Lord of the Desert.
Elsewhere, Pharaoh is en
gaged in a naval expedition
against Asiatics; his fleet ad
vances towards him in two
lines, amidst the clamour of
the crews. Or he is hunting
in the desert, where he pur
sues birds through the pa
pyrus. All these recollect
ions of his princely life cease
when he crosses the thresh
old of the inner chambers.
An escort of offering-bearers
accompanies him thither for
a few moments, but these
soon leave him in their
turn, and he remains alone with

FIG.96. — RLVG SAHU-RA ADOPTED BY' THE
GODDESS IX THE PRESENCE OF KHNEMU
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot L. Brugsch.)

FIG. 97. — MEX-KHAU-HERD
(The Louvre, Paris).

his divine fathers; the goddesses adopt
him as their son, suckling him from their
breasts (Fig. 96), and the gods receive
wine and water from him, and perfumed
oil, tribute by which he hopes to gain
their goodwill. Several of these motives
we have already seen in the mastabas;
but until we have studied them on the
royal monuments, we can form no idea
of the perfection with which the Memphite
artists have treated them. The Menkhau-
Heru of the Louvre (Fig. 97) had already
shown us with what charm they were
able to invest the images of their Pharaohs,
but this was but an isolated fragment;
on the great bas-reliefs of Abusir, each
figure, from head to foot, and when
several figures in conjunction are in
question, each group of figures, is drawn
with a continuous line, traced upon the
57

ART IN EGYPT

stone with an assurance and freedom that never falter for an
instant. The background is hollowed imperceptibly along this
line , to accentuate the
relief, but so subtly is
it done that we can only
perceive it by an effort;
the subject is by this
means placed in an at
mosphere which softens
its contours more than
might have been thought
possible with a relief
kept so low. The inner
details show a mingling of
definite lines and almost
imperceptible modellings;
the individual elements
fig. 98.— triumphal bas-relief of seneferu of the face, the eyes, the
AT SINAI. (Phot. Petrie.) nQse> the ^^^ an(J the
chin are indicated with a
vigorous point, and with sharp edges which accentuate the form;
but the elasticity of muscles
and flesh is expressed by mellow
strokes and touches which coun
teract the hardness of the rest
(Fig. 99). Beings of supernatural
proportions, kings or gods, had
eyes of enamel, and this device
gave them an appearance of life
which was enhanced by the paint
ing. The colour has fallen off
nearly everywhere, but where
it has been preserved, it is ad
mirably fresh and harmonious. It
completes the work of the sculptor,
and adds to this a precision which
the chisel could hardly have
achieved without heaviness; thus
it clothes Uzueri, the god of the
sea, with a tunic of undulating
blue stripes, symbolising the ocean
or covers the god of cereals, Napriti, with a sprinkling of
brownish yellow oblong grains, typifying corn (Fig. 100).
58

fig. 99. —portion of a female
FIGURE (Tomb of Gemnikai).

MEMPHITE ART

All these were produced in the royal workshops, like the
triumphal bas-reliefs of Sinai (Fig. 98), and also, probably as a
result of royal favour, certain funerary bas-reliefs of tombs in
which friends of the sovereign were buried. In my opinion, we
should include in this category the admirable wood - carvings of
Hesi (Fig. 102), one panel
at least of which (Fig. 101),
ranks among the most
astonishing manifestations
of Memphite art. It is
not surprising that these
workshops , installed as
they were in the royal
residence, in the richest
and most highly civilised
centre of the age, staffed
by families attached for
generations to the service
of the sovereign, and con
stantly recruited from all
the best elements of the
popularworkshops, should
have produced these fine
things; but the level of
artistic excellence sinks
as soon as we turn away
from them, and in certain
provinces it falls so low
that it is hardly superior
to that of the most bar
barous people. The local
schools, though they had adopted the decorative system of
Heliopolis, had not cast aside their individual characteristics,
and these are clearly manifested in private tombs. Those of the
Said have left us but a few specimens of their respective art,
and it would perhaps be imprudent to judge them from the
examples we have at present. Two or three full length por
traits of the barons of Elephantine, incised on the facades of
their hypogea, are fairly correct in treatment (Fig. 103), as are
also their bas-reliefs (Fig. 104), but the rest are merely rude dis
jointed figures with ill-matched arms and legs, rugged, twisted,
and loaded with crude colour. A stonemason turned sculptor
would give a better account of himself after a fortnight's study,

FIG. IOO.— BAS-RELIEF OF THE CHAPEL OF SAHU-
RA (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

and we should readily attribute them to a very primitive period,
if we did not know from their inscriptions that they were exe
cuted under the Sixth Dynasty.
The persons who worked in the
mastabas of Denderah hardly show
a more highly developed artistic
sense than those of Elephantine,
although they prove themselves
more skilful craftsmen. They encir
cled the human face with two stiff
lines, uniting at an almost insen
sible angle towards the tip of the
nose; they furnished the mouth
with lips of equal thickness from
end to end; they set the almond-
shaped eye between two pads which
are comic as indications of human
eyelids. The slope of the shoulder
is over-round in their figures, the
elbow too pointed, the knee too
knotty; the leg is swollen with
muscles which defy the laws of
anatomy. We divine a strong
ambition to excel, but feeling and technique are not on a level
with aspiration. Some few miles west of Denderah, we enter
suddenly into a world with higher aptitudes for the plastic arts.
Here the unity of style
reveals unity of tradition;
and in fact, one single
school, theThinite,reigned
supreme from Kasr - es-
Sayad to the burial-
grounds of Heracleopolis
in Abydos, to Akhmim,
to Kau-el-Kebir, to Siut,
to Beni - Mohammed - el-
Kufur, to Kom-el-Ahmar,
everywhere save at Her-
mopolis. Hermopolis, the
city of Thoth, had been
from the most remote
antiquity, a centre of religious speculation, where theories as
to the creation of beings and the essence of things were ela-
60

FIG. IOI. — ONE OF THE FIGURES OF
HESI-RA (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 102.— WOODEN PANELS FROM THE TOMB OF
HESI-RA (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

borated; nevertheless, having arrived at reflection and a system
after Heliopolis, it had, in the main accepted the doctrines and
funerary decorations of the latter,
and its originality is revealed to
us less by the concept it may
have formed of the tomb, than by
the details of its scenes and their
material execution. Its draughtsmen
were remarkable for their sense
of life, the intensity and diversity
of their movement, and a good
humour, the expression of which
sometimes verges on caricature.
Thus, in one of the tombs of
Meir, there are persons evidently
suffering from famine; reduced to
positive physiological distress, their
bones are coming through the skin;
this is the procession of the lean
(Fig. 105). Another artist near by
has reserved his wall for the fat
and well -liking, both of man and
beast; it shows a kind of carnival of the obese (Fig. 106)
Anatomical accuracy is scrupulously observed in both cases, but
the lean are perhaps superior to the fat; they come and go
with an angular vivacity which would befit the skeletons of our
dances of death.
The Thinite School is only to be distinguished by its air of
provincial stiffness,

mm

FIG. 103.— A PRINCE OF ELEPHAN
TINE. (Phot. J. de Morgan.)

r\

or rather, the Mem
phite School is in
sculpture as in archi
tecture the con
tinuation of the
Thinite. The royal
workshops of This,
transferred to the
North at the be
ginning of the Third
Dynasty, taught their
methods to the
natives, and soon these, gaining in refinement by practice,
became capable of executing the commissions of princes and
61

V,

*k*

BAS-RELIEF IN THE TOMB OF MEKHU AT
ELEPHANTINE. (Phot. Couyat.)

ART IN EGYPT

:/

private persons. They were at their full maturity as early as
the time of Cheops, and their prosperity endured until the end
of the Memphite empire. True, there
is not a general level of excellence
throughout their burial-places; but if
there is a good deal of poor work to
be found, there is still more that is
good, and examples of a very high
quality are not uncommon, even setting
aside those mastabas, alloted to their
masters by the king's favour, which, are
the actual work of the royal artists.
The groups of sculptured tombs follow
each other regularly enough in chrono
logical order; the earliest, at Medum
and Dahshur, rose under the protection
of Seneferu, the next towards Gizeh,
in the shadow of the great Pyramids,
the rest on the sandy plateaux of Abusir
and Sakkarah, together with the Pharaohs
of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties; and,
as we descend from one group to another,
the scheme of decoration expands and
becomes more complex. In the first, at Medum and Dahshur,
the mastabas, colossal as they some
times are in the mass, contain but
a restricted surface of ornamented
wall (Fig. 107). The draughtsman
has been content to make a choice
among the operations most favourable
to the future life ; generally speaking,
these elements are, in addition to
the stele which has the dimensions
of a palace door, the procession of
domains bringing tribute, the voyage
in a ship on the waters of the West,
the sacrifice of the bull, the dead
man seated before the table awaiting
offerings, the principal scenes of
the obsequies, and nothing more.
They are spaced out widely, with
but few figures in each, and the
air circulates freely in them. The
62

FIG. 10=.— ONE OF THE LE AX
MEN OF MEIR
(Drawing- by Cledat).

FHi. 106. — ONE OF THE FAT MEN
OF MEIR (Drawing by Cledat).

MEMPHITE ART

relief is fairly high, the modelling precise and supple, the writing
careful; each of the hieroglyphs is worked with as much delicacy
as if it were an intaglio on a

M1M.

FIG. 107.— A WALL IN THE TOMB OF RA-
HETEP AT MEDUM (After Petrie).

precious stone, and to make
the colour more durable, they
are sometimes enlivened with
incrustations of stones or of
paste made of tinted glass. At
Gizeh, a few years later, the
tendency to enrich the com
position is already perceptible;
it becomes more and more
marked under the Fifth Dynasty,
and under the Sixth, at Abusir
and Sakkarah, the entire book
of the tombs is in use. Here
the artist no longer contents
himself with, an abridged re
presentation of the actual rite
of sacrifice (Fig. 108) and of
homage (Fig. 109); he traces
at great length and with infinite
prolixity the cycle of operations leading up to the consummation ;
thus, dealing with stuffs and ornaments, he shows on the one
hand the reaping of the flax, the
stripping of the stalks, the spin
ning and glazing of the thread,
and the weaving of linen; on
the other, the weighing of precious
metals, their fusion in the cru
cible, the making of necklaces
and bracelets, and finally, the
delivery at the shop of chests
containing pieces of stuff and
jewels, introducing here and there
comical episodes which relieve
the austerity of the place, such
as that of the tame monkey who
has fallen out with a bearer of
offerings, and seizes him by the
leg (Fig. 110); there is, in fact,
no longer any limit to the number
of the pictures, save that of the 63

FIG 108. — SACRIFICE IN THE TOMB
Oi* PTAH-HETEP, AT SAKKARAH.
ART IN EGYPT

time or money allowed to the artist; and in order to multiply
them without unduly increasing the surfaces, the number of the
registers was augmented, and the inscriptions and figures crowded
together and piled one
above the other. The tombs
look as if they were hung
in the interiors with im
mense tapestries, not an
inch of which has been
left bare, and if there
are unornamented panels
and chambers, it is because
death snatched away the
master before he had
finished his "eternal dwell
ing". The effect upon the
modern spectator who
enters these sepulchres
for the first time is that
of stupefaction rather than
admiration. His eye, daz
zled by the flash of colours
and the exuberance of
episode, fails to grasp
the whole; the general
theme escapes him, and
he perceives only the
amusing detail.
The whole is, however,
less homogeneous than he
might suppose, if he trust
ed to his own impres
sion. The small and medi
um sized tombs were, no
doubt, decorated at a
breath, so to speak, and
we recognise in them the
hand of a single crafts
man, or at least, the impress of a single enterprise; but this
is by no means true of the larger ones; in every period, but
more especially under the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, we find
in these from room to room, or even in the same room from
wall to wall and from register to register, enough characteristic
64

'¦A V L V ' \ :. \

-i ... , , . '!

f ><i_-.'".._ ry£- "'¦'*¦,. ;-£~-v

/;'! fes!

if[^^^j£V,

...111/)'1 i ." r" 1

FIG. 109.— A WALL IN THE TOMB OF SABU
(Museum, Cairo).

MEMPHITE ART

peculiarities to show that one or more companies of craftsmen
co-operated. In the Tomb of Ti there is identity of work
manship in the two chapels, and diversity in the corridor, the

FIG. IIO. — HUMOROUS EPISODE (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
hypostyle hall, and the exterior portico; but the divergence is
of the kind we notice in persons formed in the same school,
and does not force us to the conclusion that there was a colla
boration of two independent schools; we may rather suppose
that while the principal chambers occupied the most dexterous
chisels of the company, the less important rooms were left to
less skilful workmen. Such inequalities of treatment are more
strongly marked in the Tomb of Mereruka, and this is hardly
surprising, when we

remember that this
contained over thirty
chambers; three com
panies at least shared
the work of deco
ration, and if these
comprised some good
craftsmen , they had
also a proportion of
very indifferent ones.
The examination of
some thirty mastabas
scattered among the
sands of Sakkarah
enables me to affirm
the existence of five, and perhaps even six workshops, which
flourished under Unas and the two Pepis, each possessing its
65 f

-THE SCULPTOR PTAH-ENEKH.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 112. — COW TURNING ROUND TO HER CALF.

own version of the Book of the Dead, its own fashion of posing
figures and distributing accessories, its own manner of preparing
the drawing and then of
attacking the stone, even
its special colour. Ob
viously, these were not
the only ones, and others
existed which will be re
vealed to us, when the
hypogea which are not
yet destroyed have all
become accessible , and
we are able to study their
technique in the originals,
and not only in pencil
sketches and photographs
which fail to express its
subtleties. Meanwhile, we
claim the right to assert that the differences exist solely in
slight degrees and that all were inspired by the same traditions;
they formed a powerful school , the seat of which was in the
Memphite plain, near the royal residences. A few of the masters
it produced are known to us, such as that Ptah-enekh, who re
presented himself as the guest of Ptah-hetep, served by the
servants of his patron (Fig. Ill), and that other who, taking
advantage of an unoccu
pied panel in the tomb
where he was working,
used it for his own por
trait; seated before his
easel, his brush and his
pot of colour in his hands,
he paints industriously,
but he has omitted to
tell us his name. These,
however, are exceptions,
and the finest works of
the Memphite age have
no responsible authors,
as far as we are con
cerned.
The examples known to us are, however, so numerous now
that there is no longer any difficulty in defining the characteristics'
66

MM. - ¦ . |S?£ : 5 2S^

FIG. 113.— PERSPECTIVE OF REGISTERS IN THE
TOMB OF PTAH-HETEP (After Dumichen).

MEMPHITE ART

of the school. In the first place, their technique is extraordina
rily perfect, even in hastily executed hypogea, and we are in
clined to wonder in our surprise, what
kind of discipline the heads of work
shops can have accepted for them
selves and imposed upon their pupils,
to produce such confidence and pre
cision in the handling of brush and
chisel. The line with which they en
velope bodies and objects is not stiff
and inflexible as we might think at
a first glance; it swells, diminishes,
and contracts according to the nature
of the forms it indicates and the
movements which animate them. Not
only do the flat surfaces contain the
summary indication of the bony struc
ture and the large planes of the flesh,
but the muscles are suggested, each
in its place, by projections so slight
and depressions so delicate that we
fail to understand how the craftsman
can have produced them with the
poor tools at his command; the fine white limestone of Turah
could alone have enabled him to preserve them in a relief which
in parts is no more than two millimetres high. The science of
the composition is, unfortunately, greatly inferior to that of the
material execution.
In most cases the
participants in a
common action,
who would be in
termingled by an
artist of our own
times, are ar
ranged separately
one after another,
as in a procession.
Men or beasts, they
present themselves
in profile against
the background, their faces turned to the point of common
interest or attraction, save in cases where an accidental neces-
67 f2

FIG. 114. — THE MEMPHITE FOR
MULA. PTAH-HETEP A^,D HIS
WIFE (After Prisse d'Avesnes).

FIG. 115. — HERDSMEN DRIVING BULLS. TOME OF
PTAH-HETEP. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

Hi

sity forces them to inflect some portion of the body in the
opposite direction, as when the reaper talks with his neighbour
in the interval between two strokes of his
sickle, or the cow turns her head to look
at the calf she is suckling (Fig. 112), or
the herdsman who is milking her; here the
head and neck are thrown back upon the
shoulder with such force that they would
be dislocated permanently if the animal
were thus posed in reality. When it was
impossible to bring all the figures to the
front without destroying the unity, and con
sequently the ritual efficacy of the scene,
the artist made no attempt to fix their
relative positions by any artifice of drawing
or perspective, but planted them one against
the other, as if they had all been standing
upon the same vertical plane. The deceased
recognised the propriety of this device in
dealing with all the episodes of the posthu
mous life and the details of sacrifice; but
he would not tolerate it in the vast pano
ramas which professed to display to him
the sum of pleasures or occupations neces
sary to his eternal happiness. The artist
decomposed these into groups which he
staged one above the other; those which with us would occupy
the foreground were placed at the bottom of the wall, and the

FIG. Il6. — NEFER-
SESHEMPTAH WALKING
(After Capart).

m
1

i ¦¦--. A

W * r

Vj

^^v11

• ij;

FIG. 117.— BRAWL ON THE WATER (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
more distant episodes at the top: boatmen quarrel on a pond
or a canal, fowlers snare birds in the thickets of the shore, and
68

MEMPHITE ART

carpenters build boats above the fowlers, while hunters press the
animals of the desert up against the ceiling (Fig. 113). These

FIG. 1 18.— BRAWL BETWEN BOATMEN. TOMB OF PTAH-HETEP. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
are awkwardnesses which we should wonder to find persisting
among the Memphites, if we did not know that at the other
extremity of the Oriental world such consummate draughtsmen
as the Chinese and Japanese were long the slaves of conventions
no less puerile. It would seem as if when once certain habits
of seeing and transcribing the object have been contracted, the
eye of the races most susceptible of progress is for ever sealed
to other impressions, and that it becomes incapable of con
ceiving representations more consonant with reality than those
which sufficed it in the beginning. The Memphite School, perhaps
the most gifted of those
which flourished on Egyp
tian soil, accepted the
abnormal structure of the
human person imposed
upon it by its Thinite or
pre-historic precursors, in
default of knowing how
to present the truth cor
rectly on a flat surface;
it continued obediently
to plant a head in profile

' \

;- .-¦ ¦ ¦ ii

1 '.--- ¦' ii

'

]

ML h

r-hJ'r ll

1 j | 1

j . ".1
; £K'
\ i
J - J
1
1 . ¦ — -  .
,1
FIG. 119. — DANCERS IN THE TOMB OF ANKHMARA
(After Capart).
with an eye full to the
front, upon a bust facing
the spectator, and sur
mounting an abdomen threequarters to the front supported by
legs in profile, and this formula, legitimised, as it were, by
69
ART IN EGYPT
the talent of those who employed it, was perpetuated without
any modifications to the end (Fig. 114). Nevertheless, a certain

FIG. 120. — CRAMMING GEESE, IN THE TOMB OF TI.

liberty of action is allowed in the case of secondary personages,
workmen, peasants, scribes, fishermen and hunters, servants and
slaves, whose mode of life necessitated attitudes that varied from
moment to moment, attitudes which the craftsman was not, in
deed, always capable of expressing correctly, as in the case of
a man walking (Fig. 115), which he
has only succeeded in rendering by
dislocating the legs, or by violently
twisting the shoulder nearest to the
spectator and pressing it flat upon
the torso (Fig. 116).
These are faults very well calcu
lated to repel the modern. But if we
make an effort, and force ourselves to
overcome this initial repugnance, it is
impossible not to be fascinated by
the merits we discover when we analyse
these awkward compositions. As the
decoration of the tombs did not, like
that of the temples, depict grave and
sedate personages, who could not un
bend without disrespect to the majesty
of the gods, the artists who worked
on the former have allowed their figures
full liberty of action, and have drawn
them with a fidelity which astounds
the student, who, knowing how closely the Egypt of the past
resembles that of the present, is able to appreciate the truth
70

FIG. 121.— THE AGED
CHEPHREN (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

\

MEMPHITE ART

FIG . 122 .— RA-NEFER
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

of their observation. These ancient people
of the hypogea, intent on their tasks for
centuries, scribes or servants, shoemakers,
goldsmiths, joiners, potters, are with us still
in their offices or their sheds; we recognise
their manner of walking or crouching, of
preparing their work and handling their tools.
And if, passing from the towns where gesture
is apt to become constrained and the body
to become heavy, we note the outdoor pur
suits which necessitate incessant vigour and
flexibility, could there be a more rhythmic
march or a more lively impulse than among
those reapers who advance in a line, cutting
down the corn (cf. Fig. 20), or those moun
tain hunters with arrow strung to pierce the
prey, or lasso coiled to entangle it (Fig. 113).
Take any one of the brawls between boatmen,
that in the Museum of Cairo (Fig. 117), or
that which we admire in the Tomb of Ptah-
hetep (Fig. 118). Three boats are engaged, that in the middle
against the two others, and while several
of the crew exchange blows, others
continue to work the craft. One is
planted firmly upon his left leg, his
chest expanded, his neck stiffened,
his hand thrown back vigorously behind
his head, and we await the blow with
which he intends to strike down his
antagonist; the latter, however, is
ready for him, and with his knee
against the prow, he thrusts his weapon
straight at his assailant's side. In the
Tomb of Ankhmara there are dancing
girls who, balanced steadily on the
right leg, bend back their bodies and
kick with the left foot above their
heads (Fig. 119). All the bodies are
strained, all the muscles work; the
figures straddle, lean back, thrust them
selves forward, shove with the boat-
hook, stretching wide their arms or throwing back their legs,
and among all these violent attitudes, there is not one which

FIG. 123. — THE BREWER
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 124.— WOMAN GRINDING CORN
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

does not correspond accurately with the effort made. Our modern
sculptors might treat the subject differently; they could not
treat it better, and how
many among them could
render the aspect of
animals with so much
sincerity? Here, in the
Tomb of Ti, are ducks
and geese which their
keepers are fattening by
cramming them with large
pellets of some appar
ently unsavoury com
pound; the ordeal ever,
they are walking about
to get over their agitation
(Fig. 120). The artist has
noted the sex charac
teristics so well that we
are able to distinguish
his males from his fe
males by the carriage of the head or the outline of the body,
and in addition, he has marked the wagging of tails, the arching
of necks, the preen
ing of feathers,
the stretching out
of beaks in which
they betray their
feelings, and their
delight at having
got over the evil
moment. The geese
of Medum are fa
mous (Fig. 92), and
they show us what
painting might have
done if its fragility
had not discredited
it in the eyes of a
nation where no
thing impermanent
was esteemed. The
sculptorhasrecount- 72

FIG. 125. — HUSBAND AND
WIFE STANDING.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 126. — HUSBAND AND
"WIFE SEATED
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

ed the life of the desert beasts with the utmost freshness of
design, showing the hare crouching behind a tuft of grass, the
hedgehog emerging from his hole to catch a grasshopper, the
gazelle suckling her fawn, the oryx in full flight and the grey
hound pulling him down; as to the domestic animals, he who
has seen the Egyptian flocks of to-day returning from pasture,
the sheep and goats in dusty disarray, the donkeys trotting and
shaking their ears, the slow, ruminating oxen,
outlined in a dry silhouette against the slope,
has also seen at a glance the finest bas-reliefs
of Ti or Mereruka.
Statuary developed in a domain less vast
and consequently with less freedom of inspir
ation than bas-relief. The attitudes between
which the utilitarian tendencies of religion
permitted a choice were of two kinds, and
these were determined by the condition of
the model: either he was noble, and his statue
represents him seated or standing, in the cos
tume of his class, or he was of plebeian
origin, and in this case it showed him in
the most significant of his professional atti
tudes. There were, however, exceptions to
this rule: it happened, perhaps, that some noble
attached to the King's household agreed to
be represented in a posture characteristic of
his office, and not in that proper to his rank,
while a low-born scribe or even an artisan
might claim the semblance of a person of
rank for his stone double. But in no case,
not even when workers were represented, was
it legitimate to give to statues those con
torted and ill-balanced attitudes which abound in the bas-reliefs.
They continue almost invariably to observe the law of frontality,
a convention due, not to the incompetence of the craftsman,
but to ritual obligation. They confront the spectator, and the
top of the skull, the junction of the neck, the navel and the
fork of the legs are in a line on the same vertical plane, without
the slightest deviation to right or left. The Egyptians, in fact,
were a leisurely race, upon whom the fevers of our age would
have had little hold, and to them gravity carried to the verge
of hieratic immobility was the supreme mark of birth and autho
rity. The effigy of the prince was expected to be what the

FIG. 127.— HUSBAND
AND WIFE OF UN
EQUAL HEIGHTS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 128.— THE MOST
FREQUENT TYPE OF
THE SEATED STATUE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

prince himself had been,
at least on days of cere
monious reception, se
rious, impassible, the
chin held high, the
bust upright, the thighs
parallel, and the feet
firmly planted on the
same line, if seated
(Fig. 121), or the left
leg advanced and all
the weight concentrated
on the right leg, if
standing (Fig. 122). The
plebeian and the slave
imitated the bearing of
courtiers and nobles,
and their images per
form their tasks with
a calm and sobriety
scarcely inferior to the
composure of their masters, whether they
toil at the kneading trough (Fig. 123) or
kneel over the stone to grind corn (Fig. i24).
Women were treated according to the class
to which they belonged, and the king's
daughter or the great lady invested with
rights equal to those of her husband pos
sessed like him, her independent image, or,
if they were associated in a group, she stood
(Fig. 125) or sat on the bench beside him,
laying her arm across his shoulders in token
of affection (Fig. 126). Nevertheless, as he was
the head of the family, round whom all the
other members gathered for worship, she
allowed herself to be represented either of
the same dimensions as he, but standing,
while he was seated on the chair of state,
or on a much smaller scale, her back against
the front of the seat, with her children, or
nestling affectionately against his leg (Fig. 1 27).
She is always clothed, but the boys and
even the men, both free and slaves, are
74

FIG. I2Q.
CHEOPS IN IVORY
(Museum, Cairo),
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 130.
IVORY BAS-RELIEF.
(Phot. Bounant.)

MEMPHITE ART

sometimes naked; this may have
been in obedience to some religious
prescription, or perhaps upon certain
occasions these nude figures were
dressed in real garments, like the
Madonnas of the present day in
Italy. Broadly speaking, it may be
said that there are only some fifteen
attitudes, some of which are very
rare, among this nation of statues
derived from Memphite tombs, and
it is hardly surprising that the
visitors to our museums should
end by feeling a certain weariness
as he confronts them (Fig. 128). This
is not altogether the fault of the
Egyptians; we ourselves are to blame
for having crowded together in two
or three gloomy rooms works ori
ginally dispers-

FIG. 131. — BUST OF A WOODEN
STATUE (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. I32. — THE TWO
BRONZE STATUES
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ed in a hundred different places. Those who
visit the galleries in the Louvre devoted to
Greek and Roman sculpture are sometimes
oppressed by a kindred sense of monotony
and disgust, in spite of the greater variety
of types and movements.
Stone was the favourite material , pink
or black granite, diorite, green breccia, schist,
red sandstone, alabaster, the white limestone
of Turah, and the Memphites cut the hardest
of these with a dexterity which amazes us,
when we remember that they had no know
ledge of steel, and that their tools were of
flint, bronze, and un tempered iron. It was
therefore no lack of manual dexterity which
caused them not to disengage certain statues
and groups entirely, but to keep them nearly
always with their backs against a rectangular
slab , which protrudes sometimes on either
side like a wall against which they are leaning,
and sometimes is reduced to the semblance
of a pillar terminating squarely at the level
of the shoulders or the neck, or in a point
75

ART IN EGYPT
which is lost in the hair. They had no difficulty in suppressing
this buttress when they pleased, and if they generally retained

FIG.T33. — BUST OF THE STATUE OF PEPI I.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. I34. — HEAD OF THE STATUETTE
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

it, it was out of respect for a tradition established at a time
when the artist would have feared to weaken his work and
diminish its chances of duration by
omitting it. They accordingly continued
to the end not to separate the arms
from the trunk, and to retain a solid
partition between the leg on which the
body rested and that which was in
advance. I am inclined to believe
that the types in which these imper
fections occur are the most ancient of
those which were invented for the
double, but that, on the other hand,
those in which we do not find them
were created later, when the school,
after long practice, had so far gained
confidence in its strength as to discard
them. The ritual, though it regulated
artistic themes very strictly in the be
ginning, did not define those of more
ecent invention with the same rigour ;
76

FIG. 135.— THE KHASAKHMUI,
AT CAIRO. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 136. — THE KNEELING MAN
AT CAIRO (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG.I37.-STATUE NO. I AT
CAIRO. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

great personages accordingly continued to be represented by
statues partially engaged in the stone, while the others, notably
the servants of
the double, millers,
bakers , brewers,
mourners, and do
mestic dwarfs had
free statues. Very
soon, too, the sup
porting slabs were
used for the ben
efit of individuals;
their names, titles,
parentage, the for
mulae of incant
ation were in
scribed upon them,
and the advan
tages they derived
from this practice
in their life beyond
the tomb was no
doubt a factor in the retention of these surfaces. Wood, ivory,
and metal had never been regarded with the
same distrust as stone, and their firm yet flexible
texture enabled the artists who used them to
disengage their works entirely; yet they, too,
submitted to technical exigencies which must
be noted. Ivory was only used for small bas-
reliefs and statuettes, such as the Cheops at
Cairo, discovered by Petrie at Abydos (Fig. 129),
and the bas-reliefs of the Fifth Dynasty, frag
ments of which were found at Sakkarah (Fig. 130).
Both are very carefully worked, but they have
no great artistic merit. Egypt produces little
wood fit for carving, and that which was bought
in Syria or Caramania, pine, cedar, and cypress,
arrived in beams and blocks too small to serve
for the carving of a life-size figure. A trunk,
a head, and sometimes legs were obtainable, but
the arms, unless these were incorporated with
the body, and generally speaking the legs, were
joined to the rest (Fig. 131); the pieces were
77

FIG. 138. — THE
LADY NASI (The
Louvre, Paris).
(Phot. Bouriant).

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 139.
ARCHAIC STATUETTE OF A
WOMAN (After Pleyte)
(Museum, Turin).

fitted together
by means of rect
angular tenons,
and as the whole
was lightly over
laid with stucco
and then painted,
the joints dis
appeared. Metal,
gold or silver,
bronze or copper
would have easily
furnished large
pieces all in one
if the art of
the founders had
been more ad
vanced ; but it
seems evident to
me that they
only dared to

f£b

FIG. 140.— ARCHAIC
STATUETTE OF A
WOMAN (AfterCapart)
(Museum, Brussels).

operate on modest quantities, and that they did not known how
to prepare large moulds. Figurines and amulets were accordingly
cast whole, but statues were partially hammered out. The face,
hands and feet, all the parts which
demanded delicacy, were made
in moulds. The bust, the arms
and the legs were merely repousse
plates, mounted upon a common
core, and put together with rivets.
It was thus that the statue of
Pepi I. , and the statuette found
with it at Hierakonpolis (Fig. 132)
were ompossed. The framework
of these was of wood, the petti
coat of gold, and the headdress
of lapis-lazuli. As was to be ex
pected, the apron and the wig
have disappeared; their material
value tempted thieves in ancient
times. In spite of the rudeness
of the technique and the muti
lations they have suffered, they
78

I4I.— THE SPHINX OF GIZEH.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 142.— THE GREAT
CHEPHREN AT CAIRO.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

are two very remarkable examples (Figs. 133
to 134), which hold their own even beside
works like the diorite Chephren.
The earliest statues belong to two
schools; those of Pharaoh -Khasakhmui and
the crouching man of Kom-el-Ahmar to the
Thinite, the No. 1 Cairo statue to the
Memphite. The Khasakhmui at Cairo
(Fig. 135), the finer of the two, is of schist, half
the size of life, and though its author had
not thrown off a certain stiffness and awk
wardness, it bears witness to a dexterity of
no mean order in the use of the chisel. The
king is dressed as Osiris for his deification
in the festival of habi sadu , the high white
cap on his head, his short cloak drawn
closely about him, and while his left arm
and hand are defined under the drapery,
the right hand and arm are laid along the
knee. The head has lost the right half, but
if we reconstruct it with the limestone fragment at Oxford,
we divine the true portrait, modelled with a somewhat
rude touch, but with a perfect comprehension of anatomy,
and of the processes required for
its faithful expression. It is a good
example, which I ascribe to the royal
workshop, and its merits are the more
striking when we compare it with the
crouching man (Fig. 136). This is the
product of a private workshop, and
the style is so rough and heavy that
we might naturally suppose it to be
earlier than the Pharaoh. But close
examination shows that its short
comings are due less to archaism than
to provincial clumsiness , and I hold
the same opinion of the granite statue
No. 1 at Cairo (Fig. 137); here the
head is too large, the neck too short,
the torso too thickset, the leg badly
formed, the foot perfunctory. These
faults are repeated in varying degrees
in the similar statues or groups from
7Q

¦m\-
"IV

FIG. 143.— THE ALABASTER
CHEPHREN AT CAIRO
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

Sakkarah and Gizeh scattered in European museums. The most
famous are the Sapui and the Nasi in the Louvre (Fig. 138),
but there are others at Turin (Fig. 139), at
Naples, at Munich, at Brussels (Fig. 140)
and at Leyden. They have certain stylistic
features in common, the short, thick neck,
the head pressed down between the shoul
ders, the round, massive body, the ill-drawn
leg and foot. We shall realise the contrast
between this provincial art and the art of
the Court, if we compare these works with
the Ra-hetep and the Neferet of Medum,
their contemporaries within a few years (See
Frontispiece). These date from the time of
Seneferu, the century in which political vicis
situdes transported the royal workshop from
This to the Memphite plain. The bearing of
the man, with his intelligent face, his broad
shoulders, his slender torso, and slim legs
is full of spirit and vivacity, but the woman
is a masterpiece, perhaps the masterpiece of
this archaic sculpture. Not only do the head
and face stand out in the most vigorous
manner from the enframing wig, but the
bust and hip are revealed with discreet ele
gance beneath the white mantle. The colour
and the enamelled eyes contribute to the effect of reality, and
almost produce the illusion of life. Should the Sphinx of Gizeh
be assigned to the same
period and the same school?
It has been the fashion for
the last twenty years to
rejuvenate the monuments
to which the Egyptologists
of the first two generations
assigned great antiquity. The
Sphinx (Fig. 141) has not
been spared, and several
scholars have brought it
down to the Eighteenth Dy
nasty. It is true that it has
undergone countless restor-
FIG. I45-— MYCERINUS AND HIS WIFE uii^igv/ii*. v-uu.^i^oo iv.oiu
(Museum, New York). (Phot. Reisner.) atlOnS in the COUrSe Ot US
80

FIG. I44.— REISNER'S
MYCERINUS (Museum
Cairo) . (Phot.E.Brugsch)

MEMPHITE ART

existence, but patched though it be, it retains enough of its
primitive appearance to entitle it to be classed as contemporary
with the Pyramids, if not anterior to
them. In spite of the mutilations which/
have disfigured it, I believe I can re-!
cognise in it the characteristics of the
two statues of Medum , works of the
Thinite School at its apogee.
There is always, even in the most
accomplished works of the Thinites , a
something stiff and angular; the Memphite I
artists whom the Pharaohs summoned to
the royal workshops soon lost their
awkwardness, but preserving that tenden-
cy to roundness shown in their early
productions, they evolved a fat andt
supple touch which distinguishes themi
from their masters. They had that re
spect for material truth which was, in- '
deed, enjoined by their religion, but
at the same time they permitted them-;
selves to idealise the features of their
models as far as this was compatible
with the exigencies of likeness. They
delicately attenuated certain curves of
nose and chin which seemed to them
ungraceful, they filled out hollow cheeks, refrained from sinking I .
the eye too deeply in the orbit, sloped the shoulders slightly, 1/
and modified the prominence of the muscles on the arms, legs,
and bust. The best among them
thus succeeded in creating sta
tues or groups of much harmony
and nobility, in which energy
was not wanting upon occasion.
Their qualities proclaim them
selves as early as the middle
of the Fourth Dynasty, in the
admirable series of royal effigies
preserved in the Cairo Museum.
The great Chephren (Fig. 142)
discovered by Mariette in 1859
in the temple of the Sphinx is
in diorite, the most obdurate

FIG. I46. — ONE OF THE TRI
ADS OF MYCERINUS (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

81

FIG. 147.— HEAD OF DIDUFRIYA
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.) G

ART IN EGYPT

fig. 148.— rA-nefer
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 149.— THE
DWARF OF GIZEH
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

material imaginable; it is attacked here
with so much boldness that it seems to
have lost its hardness. Like the majority
of statues in dark stone, such as black
or red granite, or green breccia, it was
only painted in parts; parts of the face,
the eyes, the nostrils, the lips, and certain
details of the costume were heightened
with red and white. The polish, and
the multiplicity of glazes it entailed"
masks the modelling a little: it is ne
cessary to study it for a long time and
in a variety of lights to perceive its
^perfection and its masterly simplicity.
What again can be said of the manner
in which the king is set on his low-
backed seat, while the hawk behind him
spreads its wings to shield his head and
neck? Rarely has royal majesty been
rendered with so much breadth. The
sculptor, while faithfully reproducing the
features of the reigning Pharaoh, has
further succeeded in
rendering the idea of
sovereignty itself ; it
is not only Chephren
whom he calls up be
fore our eyes, but
Pharaoh in general.
The same expression
of serene grandeur
reappears , though in
a lesser degree, in
the alabaster statuette
(Fig. 143), the statue
in green breccia which
shows Chephren when
a little older (cf.
Fig. 121) and the ala
baster and granite
statuettes of Mycer-
inus, Ra-en-user, and
Menkhau - Heru. The
82

FIG. 150.
THE DWARF KHNEMU-
HETEP (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 151. — THE SHEIKH-
EL- BELED (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot.E.Brugsdi.)

FIG. 152. — THE SHEIKH-EL-
BELED IN PROFILE.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

alabaster sta
tue of the seat
ed Mycerinus,
which Reisner
collected piece
by piece in 1908
near the third
Pyramid is re
markable above
all for the beau
ty of the stone
(Fig. 144); the
figure is not
well balanced
upon the seat,
and the head
is too small for
the body. It may
be , however,
that here the
sculptor faithfully reproduced a peculiarity of the sitter, for the
other statues of Mycerinus show the same disproportion. Apart
from this, it must be admitted that the group in schist which
represents him side
by side with his wife
(Fig. 145) and the
four geographical tri
ads in which he
stands between the
Goddess Hathor and
one of the Nomes
of the Said deserve
nothing but praise
(Fig. 146). The sta
tues of Didufriya,
the fruits of exca
vations made by
Chassinat at the Pyra
mid of Abu-roash,
were almost equal
to the Chephren, and fig. 154.— supposed
may have been by WIFK OF the sheikh-
, J , J EL-BELKD (Museum,
the Same SCulptOr; Cairo). (Phot.E.Brugsdi.)
83 G2

FIG. 153-
MYERS' STATUETTE
(After Capart).

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. IS5-— WOODEN
STATUE AT CAIRO.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the heads, which are all that has survived,
have been so outrageously mutilated that it
would be imprudent to make any assertions
in this sense, So far, we know of no stone
statues of the last kings of the Fifth Dynasty,
or of those of the Sixth; they were not in
ferior to those of their predecessors, if we
may judge by the contemporary statues of
private persons which have come down to us.
It is probable that several of these were
executed in the royal workshops, notably the
Cairo Ra-nefer, whose lofty majesty is almost
comparable to that of the Chephren (Fig. 148);
but the majority must be attributed to the
private ateliers of the Memphite plain, and
as the sitters belonged to all classes of
society, they present a greater variety of types
than the royal iconography. Firstly, we have
the courtier and the baron, standing to re
ceive offerings, with arms hanging down, and
the left foot advanced; the Ti of the Cairo
Museum is a good example, almost equal to
the Ra-nefer, but others are interesting chiefly as curiosities; such
are the circumcised priest Anisakha, who is completely naked,
and the two dwarfs whose defor
mities are rendered with medical
exactness, without any touch of
caricature (Figs. 149 — 150). These
are in white Turah limestone,
heightened with vivid colours.
Kaapiru, the famous Sheikh -el-
beled (Fig. 151) is in wood, which
enabled the sculptor to project
the left arm with the ceremonial
wand, and to give lightness to the
gait by detaching the legs one
from another. The Sheikh-el-beled
marks the apogee of Memphite art,
and if some exhibition of the
world's masterpieces were to be
inaugurated, I should choose this
work to uphold the honour of
Egyptian art. It is not only the
84

FIG. I56. — BTTRT OF FIG
(Communicated by Messls. A

155
Picard).

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. 157.
HEAD IN THE LOUVRE
(Drawing- by Faucher-Gudin).

head which is so perfect here (Fig. 152); the modelling of
the body has been elaborated con amore, and the execution
has been carried as far as that of the
most realistic of our contemporary sculp
tors. The man was a rustic, smooth
shaven, thickset, short in the leg, of
a vigorous but plebeian aspect; he
lived in offices more than in the open
air, and having passed his fiftieth year,
he suffered from the superabundant flesh
usual among persons of his class and
temperament. Illustrations give but little
idea of him: he must be seen in his
place in our Museum to be properly
appreciated. Both back and front, the
artist has noted the tokens of approaching
age with a curious insistence, but he
has stopped short at the point where
truth threatened to trench on brutality.
The bust formerly in the Myers col
lection (Fig. 153), the two Cairo torsoes, one of a man (cf.
Fig. 131), the other of a woman erroneously called the wife of
the Sheikh-el-beled (Fig. 154), and the statue of an unknown
young man (Figs. 155, 156) are certainly less
distinguished; the wood is carved more drily,
and the whole makes an impression of hard
ness which was not perhaps apparent in anti
quity, when the form was veiled by painting.
For the rest, it may be said that the majority
of the stone statues or groups in our museums
do not rise above mediocrity: portions of
these are often excellent, the heads in parti
cular (Fig. 157), but very often the bodies
are imperfect, with the feet and legs barely
indicated, the arrangement of the persons is
ungraceful, and the gestures by which the
women and children manifest their affection
for the head of the family are too stiff to be
elegant. This is because we have in these
objects of current commerce, manufactured in
the shops of funeral undertakers by sound and
well-trained workmen quite devoid of in
spiration. Sometimes, indeed, when they are
85

FIG. IS8.— NEFERU
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN

CO I r l

FIG. 159. — THE CROUCHING SCRIBE
AT CAIRO. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

of small size, the finish of the touch corrects the trivial and
impersonal quality of the conception. Our Neferu at Cairo
(Fig. 158), Neferu the cooper, who
would not be admired at all if
he were life-size, appears charming,
thanks to his small dimensions. Many
visitors would like to take him
away and set him up as an orna
ment on their shelves.
The crouching scribe and the
reading scribe are sometimes not
easily distinguishable on from
another; they are differentiated by
the head, which is more inclined,
and the crossing of the legs, which
is flatter in the reader, but very
often the sculptor has not insisted
on these differences, and the types
are interchangeable, or nearly so.
They serve, however, to establish
the link between the aristocracy
and the commonalty, citizens, merchants and workpeople. It even
happened that a person of high rank, who held the post of
secretary to the Sovereign, chose the attitude of a professional
scribe for his double. It was
in itself ungraceful enough,
reducing the individual to
about half his height, and
replacing the slender curves
of the leg by a sort of flat
angular sole over wich the
bust was planted. The Egyp
tians nevertheless succeeded
in evolving a very presentable
type from these mediocre pre
mises. They chose the mo
ment when the man, having
taken up his position on the
ground, his legs bent under
him, his skirt drawn tightly
over his thighs and his arms
stretched across his lap to
counterbalance the bust, pre-

FIG. 160. — THE CROUCHING SCRIBE
(The Louvre, Paris).

86

MEMPHITE ART

FIG. I6l. — SADUNIMAT
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

pares to read or write. Sometimes he holds an unfolded papyrus
or a tablet before him, and, his right hand resting on the margin
waits for the dictation to begin;
sometimes again he has laid aside
the scroll, and is meditating. The
crossing of the legs is usually
execrable. The sculptor has treated
it as a kind of reinforcement of
the base, and has neglected it.
On the other hand, the torso is
generally most carefully treated;
it is either slightly hunched, as
in the Cairo scribe, or drawn up
firmly above the haunches, like
that in the Louvre. The Cairo
Scribe (Fig. 159) is admirable,
with his pitiful mien, his peevish
mouth, his large eyes which seem
to meet those of the visitor with
a kind of malevolence, but the
Louvre example (Fig. 160) surpasses it in every way, and if we
were called upon to classify masterpieces it might fairly claim
a place not much below the Sheikh-el-beled. He is the typical
scribe, vigorous.heal-
thy, and sufficient
ly provided with
the stock of intelli
gence necessary for
his craft; he smiles
slightly , and his
features, as far as
they express any
thing, suggest but
little interest in his
task, and a good
deal of boredom.
The seated scribes
and readers in pink
or black granite at
Berlin or Cairo, Sad-
unimat (Fig. 161),
or Ra-hetep have
the same peculiar-
87

FIG. 102.— KNEELING
SCRIBE AT CAIRO (Draw
ing by Faucher-Gudin).

FIG. I63.
THE COOK AT CAIRO.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

ities more or less accentuated; their faces are stolid, their bodies
inert, and in spite of the excellence of the technique, they suggest
the hand of the craftsman rather than
that of the artist. The kneeling scribe
(Fig. 162) is on a different plane alto
gether; the sculptor to whom we owe
this must certainly have studied his
model very closely, for he has brought
out all the professional traits of the
physiognomy. Here is the true scrivener
of the mudirieh, with his resigned
air and timid mien, his hands folded
on his lap in sign of submission, his
back bent as if anticipating blows. On
the last rung of the social ladder, the
slaves of the dead man, or sometimes
the dead man himself assuming the
function of a slave to serve a god,
carry on their various occupations,
and they would have given opportu
nities for endless variations, had they
been confided to the head of a work
shop; but whether in wood or stone,
they were generally entrusted to the inferior craftsmen. This explains
why the majority of them, grinders of corn, male or female (cf.
Fig. 15 and 124) brewers (cf. Fig. 123), glazers of pottery (cf.
Fig. 16), crouching mourners, cooks trussing or roasting a goose
(Fig. 163) are merely plebeians by the dozen, correct in structure, but
devoid of any in
dividual accent; the
only one with any
originality of ap
pearance, as far as I
know, is that wood
en servant in our
Museum, who walk
ed along following
his master, a bag
over his shoulder,
FIG. 165.— BAKERS (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.) anJ njs sandals in
his hand. (Fig. 164).
Towards the close of the Memphite age, these figures of vassals
and slaves multiplied, and formed episodical groups; here again
88

FIG. 164.— SERVANT CARRYING
HIS MASTER'SBAGGAGEfMuseum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FUNERARY LANDSCAPE
Painted on the Stele of Zadamonefonukhu
(Museum, Cairo)

MEMPHITE ART

the arrangement was a utilitarian one. It was expensive to pre
pare a tomb with carved or painted walls, so the after-life remain
ed the privilege
of rich men and
nobles ; to extend
it to the greatest
possible number,
the pictures which
covered the walls
were reproduced in
the round by means
of small wooden
dolls. As the ob

ject Was tO procure FIG. 166.— THE KITCHEN (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
a cheap immortality
for the poor, they are nearly always rudely executed, and must
rank rather as funerary industry than as art. Thus we have gardens
and arbours where the double sits to take the air when he pleases,
houses and granaries where coopers and scribes gauge the corn,
breweries, bakeries (Fig. 165), and kitchens (Fig. 166). A narrow
wall separates the building from the street; its rustic door is
placed near the corner; butchers kill cattle, and cooks roast
geese before a shed arranged as a storehouse, in which we see
isolated vessels in the background, and in the front, groups of
jars for corn, barley, wine, and oil. A little further, we are present
at a concert (Fig. 168). The dead man is enthroned in a kind
of stall, and at his right, a little to the front, a young woman,
dressed in the apron
with braces, is seat
ed on a chair; two
harpists , posted on
either side , sing,
clapping their hands.
These festive episodes
are rare, but there
are innumerable in
dustrial scenes, where
the little figures are
working busily for
the benefit of the
deceased. Joiners saw
beams for his furniture.
crockery into the furnace

FIG. 167.— BAND OF OFFERING-BEARERS
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. P. Brugsch.)

Potters turn the wheel and put his
A procession of yellow women, each
89

ART IN EGYPT
flanked by a small brown boy, defiles with the produce of his
eternal domains (Fig. 167), and boats await him, should he feel
inclined to go upon the river. On some of these the sails are set, to
go up the Nile favoured by the "soft wind of the North." Others
have taken down the mast, for the downward passage ; the sailors
paddle, and the pilots are at their posts. All these were sold whole
sale, and kept in the workshops in sections; the customer ordered
at will, according to the sum at his disposal, a full granary, cooks,
one or two butchers, brewers, a company of archers or of heavily
armed soldiers, vessels with a more or less numerous crew, and
the salesman arranged the scenes according to the instructions

FIG. 168.— a CONCERT (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

received. It happened sometimes that the sailors were too large
for the boat that had been chosen, or that the coopers were not
in proportion with the house, but no one was disturbed by these
inequalities; when once they had been blessed and shut up in
the tomb, badly composed scenes were just as efficacious as the
others. They are amusing to us in spite of their shortcomings,
and they are the great delight of visitors to museums ; the room
in our Museum at Cairo where the archers and pikemen of Meir
are exhibited (Fig. 169) is always crowded. They have, indeed,
traces of the qualities we find in the bas-reliefs of which they
are copies. They live, they act, they move, they adapt themsel
ves to one another, and even when their modelling is summary,
we feel that the workmen who carved them had been trained in
a good school ; by nature and education, they tended to produce
works of art, even when they were working at modest prices for
the poor and humble.
90

MEMPHITE ART
Examples of the minor arts are not numerous, or at least of
such as nave some claim to beauty as well as to utility. Domestic
pottery is for the most part coarse; certain forms in use through
out centuries in an earlier age persisted, notably the red variety
with a black border, but others had disappeared, and had not
been replaced by more refined types. We can scarcely venture
to include among works of art the aediculse of red terra-cotta
which are found in the tombs, and are supposed to furnish the
soul with a dwelling duly provided with all the necessaries of
life. They are, in fact, simulacra of houses with a court, a
portico, lofty chambers, store-rooms, and on the ground of the

FIG. 169.— INFANTRY, FROM MELS (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
court, opposite to the entrance, a complete meal of bread, vege
tables, meats, cakes, and various liquors, the whole of the rudest
and most naive description, and quite lacking in artistic value.
The, potters, however, had already learnt to cover the clay with
a vitreous, semi-transparent glaze, tinted with various colours.
The polychrome tiles facing the walls of King Zoser's mortuary
chamber in the Step Pyramid at Sakkarah (Fig. 170), and the
fragments of green plaques found by Petrie among the ruins of
Abydos, show that enamelled earthenware was used for the deco
ration of buildings under the Thinite dynasties, while enamelled
beads for necklaces, fragments of vases, yellow, green, and blue
bricks have come down to us from the Memphite dynasties; but
it is nevertheless evident that the more luxurious table utensils
were of stone or metal. The Egyptians had brought the art of
piercing stone, and of cutting and polishing it to the highest
degree of perfection; not only the softer kinds such as limestone

ART IN EGYfT

and alabaster, but granite, breccia, diorite, cornelian, onyx and
lapis lazuli became flexible under their fingers, and assumed the
most varied and graceful forms. We have bronze bowls and
ewers which have been discovered in mastabas, but none of those
golden and silver vessels mentioned in contemporary texts, or in
those of the period immediately following : these all passed into
the melting-pot, and we can only wonder by what happy chance
the admirable golden hawk's head which Quibell found at Kom-
el-Ahmar escaped the common lot (Fig. 171). Its design is
no less remarkable
than its technique;
the physiognomy
of the bird is as-
toundingly vigor
ous and exact,
and the use of red
jasper for the eyes
gives it an extra
ordinary vitality.
The body was of
bronze , but the
pieces were too
much oxydised to
allow of its recon
struction; only the
statuette of Phara
oh which was rest
ing against its breast has been preserved. The jewels no doubt
equalled those we have discovered in the tombs of the first two
Dynasties, but the specimens we possess are of the most trivial
kind, strings of enamelled or stone beads, imitations of sea-shells
in gold, gold or silver-gilt amulets, plain or ribbed gold beads;
there are, however, at Cairo some little figures of gazelles, goats
and oxen, repousse in gold leaves, and then retouched with the
point to serve as clasps or pendants which are above the general
level of mediocrity. We know even less of the furniture than
of the jewelry, for we are reduced to seeking information from
bas-reliefs as to the appearance of linen-chests, jewel-boxes, seats,
beds and tables; the representations of these objects give us a
good idea of the inventive taste and skill of the Egyptian
joiners. To sum up , the more we study the relics of this
age of the Pyramids, the more convinced we become that its
industrial art was not unworthy of its higher art; the joiners,
92

FIG. 170.

-ENAMELLED CHAMBER OF KING ZOSER
(From the Drawing: by Seg-ato).

MEMPHITE ART
founders, goldsmiths and potters who catered for the masses had
the same instinctive sense of grace and harmony to which I have
called attention in the creations of the painters and sculptors who
worked for Pharaoh.

BIBLIOGRAPHY TO CHAPTER II — PART I
Architecture: A. The Memphite Mastabas. The classical work for the architectonic
study of the Mastabas is still Mariette's, Les Mastabas de Tancien Empire, vol.1, in quarto.
Paris, 1882-1886, 592 p.; this must be supplemented by Mariette, Voyage de la Haute-
Egypte, vol. I, p. 31-44 and pi. 3-14, and Flinders Petrie, Dendereh (Egypt Exploration
Fund, vol. XVII) in quarto. London 1900, 78 p. and 78 pi. for the Mastabas of the Said,
and J. de Morgan, De la frontiere de VEgypt a Kom-Ombo, in quarto. Cairo, 1894, XI,
212 p. and N. de G. Davies, The Rock Tombs of Sheikh Said (Archaeological Survey of
Egypt, vol. X) in quarto. London, 1901, XII, 46 p. and 34 pi. for hypogea in the rock. —
B. The Pyramids: Lepsius' theory of the construction of the Pyramids, combated by
Maspero, Archeologie Egyptienne, 1 st ed,, p. 127-128, has been revived by L. Borchardt,
Lepsius's Theorie des Pyramidenbaues, in the Zeitschrift fur Agyptische Sprache, 1891,
vol. XXIX, p. 102-106, and his conclusions have been adopted by W. Spiegelberg, Ge
schichte der Agyptischen Kunst, p. 17-19. The questions of the construction and alterations
of the pyramids of Gizeh and Sakkarah towards the Sa'ite period are discussed by
L. Borchardt, Zur BaugescJiichte der Stufenpyramide bei Sakkarah, also Zur Baugeschichte
der dritten Pyramide bei Gizeh, and Zur Baugeschichte der zweiten Nebenpyramide neben
der dritten Pyramide, in the ZeitscJirift fur Agyptische Sprache, 1891, vol. XXIX, p. 87, 94,
98, 100; for the general mass of building- constituting- a royal tomb at Sakkarah, see
Barsanti - Maspero, Fouilles autour de la Pyramide d'Ounas, in octavo, Cairo, 1902-1906
(Extract from the Annales du Service des Antiquites), 175 p.; for the group of Zawyet-
el-Aryan, Barsanti, Fouilles de Zaouiyet-el-Arydn, in the Annales du Service des Antiquites,
1906, vol. VII, p. 257-286 with three plates; 1907, vol. VIII, p. 201-210; for the group of
Abusir, Fr. W. v. Bissing-, Re-Heiligtum des Konigs Ne-woser-Re Rathoures: I. L. Borchardt,
Der Bau, in quarto, Berlin, 1905, 87 p. and 7 pi.; — L. Borchardt, Das Grabdenkmal des
Konigs Ne-user-re (Abusir I), in quarto, Leipzig, 1907, 184 p. and 20 pi., Das Grabdenkmal
des Konigs Nefer-ir-ke-re (Abusir V), in quarto, Leipzig, 1909, VI, 91 p. and 10 pi., Das
Grabdenkmal des Konigs S'ahu-re (Abusir VI), in quarto, Leipzig, 1910, 162 p. and 16 pi.,
and more especially for the solar or funerary temples: G. Foucart, Un temple solaire de
I'Ancien Empire, in the Journal des Savants, 1906, p. 360-370; — Holscher-Steindorff, Die
Ausgrabungen des Totentempels der Chephren-Pyramide durch die Sieglin-Expedition 1908,
in the Zeitschrift fur Agyptische Sprache vol. XLVI, p. 1-12; — L. Borchardt, Der Toten-
tempel der Pyramiden, in the Zeitschrift fiir Geschichte der Architektur, vol. Ill, p. 65-88.
Painting and Sculpture. — Several of the Mastabas of the Ancient Empire have been
reproduced entirely in works by: Flinders Petrie, Medum, in quarto, London, 1892, 52 p.
and XXXVI pi.: — Paget -Pirie- Quibell, The Tomb of Ptah-hetep (Egyptian Research
Account, vol. II), in quarto, London, 1898, p. 25-34 and pi. XXXI-XLI: — N. de G. Davies,
The Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhhetep at Saqqareh (Archaeological Survey of Egypt,
vol. VIII-X), in quarto, London, I, 1900, 42 p. and XXXI pi., II, 1901, 19 p. and XXV pi.;
— M. A. Murray and Hilda Petrie, Saqqara Mastabas (Egyptian Research Account, vol.
XX-XXI), in quarto, London, 1905, I, 50 p. and XLV pi.; — Fr. W. v. Bissing, Die Mastaba
des Gemnikai, in quarto, Berlin, I, 1905, VIII, 42 p. and XXXIII pi., II, 1911, 30 p. and
XXXV pi.; — ¦ J. Capart, Une rue de tombeaux a Sakkarah, in quarto, Brussels 1907, I,
79 p., vol. II, 2 p. and CVII pi., Chambre funeraire de la VIQ Dynastie aux Musees royaux
du Cinquantenaire, in quarto, Brussels 1907, 26 p. and 5 pi. For the few names of
seulptors given on the monuments, see A. Erman, Ein Kiinstler des Alten Revches,
in the Zeitschrift fiir Agyptische Sprache, 1894, vol. XXXII, p. 97-99, and^ for the bas-reliefs
of the Hermopolitan School: J. Cledat, Notes sur quelques figures egyptiennes, in the
Bulletin de I'Institut francais d 'Archeologie orientale, 1901, vol. I, p. 21—24. — The archaic
statuary of the Mennphite age has been studied by W. Pleyte, L'Art antique egyptien dans
le Musee de Leide, in the Verhandlungen des VII. Orientalisten-Kongresses , agyptisch-
afrikanische Sektion (1888), p. 47-54, — G. Steindorff, Archaische agyptische Statuen, in
93

ART IN EGYPT
the Archaologischer Anzeiger, 1898, p. 64-66; — Grebaut- Maspero, Le Musee Egyptien,
1890-1900, p. 12-13 and pi. XIII; — Wiedemann, Zwei agyptische Statuen des Museums zu
Leiden, in the Orientalische Literaturzeitung, 1898, vol. I, p. 269-273 and pi. I, II, and Die
agyptische Statue A39 des Louvre, in the same journal, 1901, vol. IV, p. 41-43, — Bissing,
Denkmaler agyptischer Skulptur, 1906-1911, in folio, Munich, pi. 1-6; — J. Capart, Recueil
de Monuments egyptiens, in quarto, Brussels, 1902, pi. II-III, VI, LI, and the corresponding-
portions of text; — R. Weill, Les Origines de VEgypte pharaonique, 1908, p. 143-146,
181-188, 255-260 and pi. I-II, V-VI. For the statues of the fine period, consult in addition
to the works already quoted Fr. W. v. Bissing, Denkmale' agyptischer Skulptur, pi. 7-18
and text; — E. de Rouge, Album photographiqae, No. 89-108; — Mariette, Voyage de la
Haute-Egypte, vol. I, p. 47 and pi., 16 and Album du Musee de Boulak, pi. 18-21, 25-27; —
Borchardt, Kunstzverke aus dem Agyptischen Museum zu Kairo, pi. 1-5, 20-22, 32 and 3-5,
10-11, 14f J. Capart, Recueil de Monuments egyptiens, 1908, in quarto, Brussels, pi. IV-XIII,
LII-LV, and the.corresponding text, and L'Art Egyptien, pi. 11-20, 26, the separate articles
L. Borchardt, Qber das Alter des Sphinxes bei Gizeh, in the Sitzungsberichte der K. Pr.
Akademie der Wisse"schaften, 1897, p. 752-760. Die Dienerstatuen aus den Grabern des
Alten Reiches and Uber das Alter der Khephrenstatue in the Zeitschrift fiir Agyptische
Sprache, 1897, vol. XXXV, p. 119-134 and 1898, vol. XXXVI, p. 1-18; — Chassinat, Les
Fouilles d'Abu-Rodsh, in the Comptes rendus de VAcademie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres, 1901, p. 616-617; — Daressy, Sur I'dge du Sphinx, and L'Age du Sphinx, in the
Bulletin de llnstitut Egyptien, 1906, vol. VII, p. 93-97, and 1909, vol. Ill, p. 35-38; —
Maspero, in O. Rayet, L'Art Antique, vol. I, 5 pi. and corresponding text, Le Nouveau
Scribe du Musee de Gizeh, in the Gazette des Beaux- Arts, 3nd. series, 1893, vol. IX, p. 265-270.
Le Scribe accroupi de Gizeh, in the Monuments et Mernoires Piot, 1894, vol. I, p. 1-16 and
pi. II, Le Musee Egyptien, in quarto, 1890-1900, vol. I, pi. VIII-XII, XIV, XXVI and p. 9-12,
13-14-15, and vol. II, 1901-1907, pi. XI and XVII, and p. 30-33, 47-48. For the Schools of
Egyptian Statuary, see Maspero, La Statuaire egyptienne, in the Journal des Savants, 1908,
p. 5-17, and for groups of wooden figurines representing funereal or domestic scenes,
Maspero, Sur les figures et sur les scenes en ronde-bosse qu'on trouve dans les tombeaux
egyptiens, in the Bulletin de TInstitut Egyptien, 1904, vol. IV, p. 367-384, Le Musee Egyptien,
vol. I, pi. XXXIII-XLIII, and p. 30-40, and Causeries d'Egypte, in octavo, Paris, 1907, p. 351-357
For polychromy in statues, cf. Fr. W. v. Bissing, Zur Polychromie der altdgyptischen Skulptur.
in the Recueil de Travaux, 1898, vol. XX, p. 120-124.

FIG. 171. — GOLDEN
HAWK'S HEAD, ATCAIRO.
(Phot E. Brugsch.)
94

FIG. 172

-KAKNAK. THE GREAT TEMPLE OF AMON SEEN FROM
THE SOUTH IN 1864. (Phot, de Banville.)

PART II
THEBAN ART

CHAPTER I
THE FIRST THEBAN AGE FROM THE ELEVENTH
TO THE SEVENTEENTH DYNASTY
The Art of the first Theban Age — Civil, religious and funerary Architecture — Painting
begins to, detach itself from Sculpture, at least in the Tombs — The provincial Schools
of Sculpture: Theban School, Hermopolitan School, Tanite School — The minor Arts-
Goldsmith's Work.
THE weakness of the Pharaohs who followed Pepi II., was
such that many of the great lords between whom Upper
Egypt was divided made themselves almost independent; one
Kheti dethroned the Memphites, and reigned over the whole
valley; after four or five generations, the Theban barons revolted
against his descendants, and fought for the crown. They were
at last victorious, and their hegemony lasted from fifteen to
twenty centuries, almost without interruption. The first period
was a term of feudality, during which the local tyrants exercised
in their own domains and the fiefs attached to them an author
ity almost as complete as that of the suzerain dynasty. Memphis,
fallen from her rank as capital , witnessed the gradual decline
and, at intervals, the almost complete extinction of her artistic
activities ; but, on the other hand, the remaining cities of Middle
95

ART IN EGYr-i

and Upper Egypt, Heracleopolis, Minyeh, Hermopolis, Cusae, Siut,
Abydos, Coptos, Thebes, and Elephantine, mingled more and
more happily with the artistic life
of the nation. They became for
the most part the seats of special
schools, some of which derived
from the Thinite or Memphite, while
others were the result and the cul
mination of provincial schools hither
to embryonic for lack of resources.
Relics of these are by no means
so numerous, as yet, as those of
the earlier periods. There are, how
ever, enough to enable us to
determine the general tendencies
of each. That of Thebes predo
minated in the circle of the Pharaohs,
as was natural, but its influence
over its rivals was restricted, and
their originality did not suffer from
its preponderance.
There is little to say of the
temples. The Pharaohs of the Eigh
teenth and Nineteenth Dynasties demolished them for the most
part, or preserved only insignificant portions of them. It
may be , however , that the chapel at Kom-es-Sagha , on the
ancient northern slope of Birket-el-Kurun (Figs. 173 — 174) is a
specimen , so far unique.
This seems probable when
we consider the elegant
shaping of the limestone
blocks, and the care with
which they are laid together,
but as they bear neither
sculptures nor inscriptions,
we are not justified in pro
nouncing finally on this
point. The remains brought
to light by Petrie at Aby
dos and Sinai, and by
our own Service at Hermo
polis, seem to prove that the plan generally adopted was similar
to that used by the architects of the following age. The walls
96

FIG. T73-— INTERIOR OF THE
TEMPLE OF KOM-ES-SAGHA.
(Phot Schweinfurt)

FIG. 174.-

-TEMPLE OF KOM-ES-SAGHA.
(Phot. Schweinfurt)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

FIG. 175.— HATHOR CAPITAL
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

and their facings were of limestone or sandstone , the doors,
sphinxes, and obelisks of black or pink granite. The palm-leaf
and the lotus capital continued
to be generally used , as well
as the Hathor capital , but
this consisted sometimes of two
(Fig. 175), sometimes of four heads
of the goddess soldered together
at the back, and surmounted by a
somewhat low abacus. The excav
ations at Karnak have restored
to us some simple pillars admir
able in style , which Sesostris I.
erected in the temple of Amon
(Fig. 176), and those of his pyramid
at Lisht , some Osirian pillars ,
while throughout the valley, from
Assuan to the marshes of the Delta,
fragments of various shapes bear
witness to the constructive zeal of the first Thebans; but even
when brought together and combined, they fail to furnish any
data as to the appearance of the temple as
a whole. Did the pylon already exist in its
classic form, a doorway between two towers?
It is doubtful at least, and so far no trace
of it has been found. We know, however,
that one element, formerly optional, had
become a regular feature of the external
decoration , a large obelisk modelled upon
the minute obelisk of the Memphite tombs.
Sesostris I., when he restored the Temple of
the Sun at Heliopolis, erected two, and one
of these is still standing in the midst of
the plains of Matariyeh (Fig. 177). It is of
red granite from Syene ; it measures 66 feet
in height, and the point was crowned by a
pyramidium in copper which was still in
existence in the fourteenth century of our
era. The type of the obelisk as guardian of the
temple, and emblem of the founder, was immut
ably fixed from the beginning of this first
Theban age, just as we shall find it down to the Roman period.
Monumental tombs abound, though they are less numerous
97 H

FIG. 176.— A PILLAR
AT KARNAK.
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

.. >**

. ; i sans

^

-THE OBELISK OF HELIOPOLIS.
(Phot. Beato.)

than in the Memphite
age, and many of them
are amazingly well pre
served. The rulers had
not renounced the pyra
mid for this purpose, but
they modified its struc
ture in various ways. In
the beginning , whereas
the Heracleopolitans of
the Ninth and Tenth Dy
nasties clung to the tra
ditions of the Sixth, the Thebans of the Eleventh, anxious to
appropriate a form o: i-
ginally reserved for royal
ty, and not daring to
usurp it just as it stood,
conceived the idea of
placing it upon the mas
taba. It was, we re
member, by a combination
of this kind that the Helio-
politans of the Memphite
age had created the form
of the solar temple in use
under the Fifth Dynasty,
grafting the obelisk of the Sun upon the mastaba. The semi-
independent nobles , or the courtiers who were buried near
Abydos or at Drah-abu'l-
Nekkah (Fig. 178) seem to
have furnished the first
examples. These are build
ings of coarse, unbaked
bricks, consisting of a
mastaba, square or rect
angular on plan , the
longest side of which was
rarely more than fifty feet
in extent; the pyramid
was implanted in this as
upon a plinth about 30
fig. 179.— suction of one of the or 40 feet hiffh at the
PYRAMID-MASTABAS OF ABYDOS r. , . ° .1
(After Mariette) most, Sometimes a single
98

f \:

i 1
. . .
¦m
Jt.
.£~~ ^- -
I7S.— PYRAMID-MASTABA OF DRAH-ABU'L-
KEKKAH (After Prisse d'Avennes).
THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

180.— PLAN OF THE TOMB OF MENTHU-
HETEP (After Naville and Hall).

chamber vaulted on corbels occupies the interior alike of mastaba
and pyramid, and the sarcophagus or the coffin was deposited
here ; very often again, the
vault was constructed
in the mastaba, and the
pyramid contained only a
vaulted space designed to
bear the weight (Fig. 179).
When the Theban barons
usurped the royal power,
they substituted stone for
brick, and increased the
proportions of their monu
ments. That Menthu-hetep
who united all Egypt
under his sway installed
his sepulchre in the south
ern hollow of the circus of Der-el-Bahari (Fig. 180). It was
approached on the level, through a court bounded on the west
by two porticoes of square pillars ; between the two was an
inclined causeway leading to a terrace partly made of stones
fitted together, partly hewn out of the solid rock. The mastaba
rose in the centre, a rectangle some 130 feet long, faced with
slabs of carved limestone and furnished at the sides with porticoes
corresponding to those of
the lower floor. The pyra
mid crowned the mastaba,
so to speak, but it was
solid ; the royal vault was
concealed underground,
and was approached by
a secret gallery, the door
of which opened some
way off on the plain, in
front of the building. Be
hind the pyramid, in the
temple itself, the sepul
chral chapels of the women
of the harem were ranged fig l8l _T0MB OF menthtj.hetep , restor-
in rows, and behind them ation by somers clarke.
a second court with porti
coes extending westward, was supported against the cliff (Fig. 181).
Was it a chamber attached to the sepulchre? or a mysterious
99 H2

ART IN EGYPT

sanctuary, this cell of granite and alabaster, marvellously pro
portioned, which we reach after traversing a corridor over 550 feet
long, whose door stands open
at the end of the court. In any
case, it dates from the same
period as the rest. The Pharaohs
of the Thirteenth Dynasty and
of the succeeding Dynasties who
rest at Thebes, were buried in
mastabas with pyramids down
to the inauguration of the New
Empire; those of the Twelfth
and Thirteenth Dynasties, who
lived in Middle Egypt, preferred
simple pyramids in the Memphite
style, with the paved temenos
and chapels turned to the east.
suffered a good deal , but the
subsist at Dahshur, Lisht, and

182.— PYRAMIDH*}! OF DAHSHUR
(Museum Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

The external constituents have
bulk of the tombs proper still
Ellahun, near Hawara. Those of Amenemhat I. and of Sesostris I.
at Lisht are of limestone or granite. Those of their successors
at Dahshur and in the Fayiim are of unbaked brick with a peak
of black granite (Fig. 182), but they were perhaps originally
faced with limestone. They differ from their Memphite models
by details of internal arrangement , designed to render access
to the sarcophagus even more difficult than in the past, and
they are for the most part
so decayed that they make
no artistic impression upon
the spectator. Only one
among them, the northern
stone pyramid at Dahshur,
called theBluntedPyramid,
manifests some attempt at
originality. Half way up,
the facades are interrup
ted, and the angle passes
suddenly from 54" 41' on
the horizon to 42° 59'; we
have here a mastaba with
a gigantic mansard -roof.
Private persons remained no less faithful than the Pharaohs
to the local fashions, and retained the mastaba of the old type
100

FIG. IS?.— REMAINS
SA-RKNPl'T 1.

OF THE PORTICO OF
(Phot. Morgan.)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

FIG. 184. — PLAN OF
THE TOMB OF SA-REN-
PUT H. (AfterMorgan).

in the Memphite necropolis, the pyramid-mastaba at Thebes and
Abydos , and hypogea in the mountains elsewhere. These vary
in arrangement according to the district. At
Assuan, the sepulchre of Sa-Renput I. (Fig. 183)
was preceded by a portico; six pillars, cut
out in the rock, upheld the architraves and
the ceiling of dressed stone. The door gives
access to a first chamber, whence a vaulted
passage leads to the chamber of statues sub
stituted for the serdab of the Memphites.
The portico is absent in the hypogeum of Sa-
Renput II. (Fig. 184) , and we pass directly
into a hall with pillars continued by a passage
with three niches on either side, containing
the mummy-statues of the master. Another
pillared room follows, with a niche for the
funerary stele. The vault is without any
decoration, and the wells which go down to
it are flush with the ground, sometimes in
one of the rooms, sometimes in the open air
on the esplanade outside. In Middle Egypt , at Siut , Bersheh,
and Beni- Hasan, the plan differs only in detail from one place
to another. Hapsefai's entrance is sheltered by a veritable porch
with a rounded arch , about 22 foet high ; the first and
second hall are connected by a vaulted passage, but they them
selves have flat ceilings. At Beni -Hasan the two hypogea of
Khnemuhetep and Ameni
confront the valley,
their porticoes upheld by
two polygonal columns
(Fig. 185). The chapel
consists of a hypostyle hall
divided into three vault
ed aisles by two double
rows of columns ; the
central aisle terminates
in the niche where statues
are seated awaiting offer
ings (Fig. 186). The hypo
geum No. 7 , which was
originally a vaulted hall
very much surbased, supported by six columns in three rows, was
enlarged to the right subsequently, and the new excavation,

.-*.---

i^J^fe.

THE HYPOGEUM OF KHNEMU-HETKP
(After Lepsius).

ART IN EGYPT

returning in a square towards the west, there forms a wing
with a flat ceiling resting on four columns. All these monuments
show a tendency
to replace the ceil
ings of the hypo
gea and the Mem
phite mastabas by
a curved roof, and
the same tendency
makes itself felt
in the stelse. This
is a natural conse
quence of progress
in religious ideas ;
as the stele no
longer represented
only the door of
the dead man's
it was logical to
While in Memphis

186. — PLAN OF THE HYPOGEUM OF AMENI
AT BENI-HASAN (After Newberry).

apartment , but his whole house , the tomb
suggest this by giving it the same aspect.
sculptors remained faithful to the square form deduced from the
mastaba, in Upper
Egypt , and even
in Abydos , they
preferred the round
ed summit which
recalled the vaults of
the hypogea. Other
points on which
architects were
agreed were the
number and the
variety of the sup
ports. In the Mem
phite burial grounds
there are scarcely
more than two or
three examples of
columns ; at Beni-
Hasan and at Ber-
sheh, there is no
tomb of any importance without several. By cutting off the angles
of a square pillar architects transformed it into an octagonal
102

187.— PAINTED INTERIOR OF THE TOMB OF HERU-
HETEP (Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

prism , and by repeating the process on this , they obtained a
prism of sixteen facets; these polygonal shafts, imbedded in a
low base rounded to a disc,

^s\m

FIG. 188.— PAINTING WITHOUT A
SCULPTURED GROUND
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

and completed by a square
abacus uniting them to the
architrave , constitute what
Champollion calls by a rough
analogy primitive Doric. They
appear first at Beni -Hasan,
side by side with lotiform
capitals of a particular type;
in two or three tombs , the
base has been left unhewn,
or roughly shaped in such a
manner as to suggest the
junction of a palm-trunk and
its roots. Was this an acci
dent, or did the sculptor wish
to make his shaft look like a
tree ? This form has only
been found at Beni-Hasan.
We are better informed as
to the painting and sculpture,
and what strikes us at once is that they seem to have loosened
the bonds which held them together in primitive times; not that
the statue or the bas-relief is no longer coloured ; but after the
Sixth Dynasty, painters were emboldened to suppress the sculp
tured foundations which
had seemed indispensable
to their masters of the
Memphite age. We must
not , however , suppose
that the emancipation of
painting was complete ;
the temples did not permit
it, and the evidences of
it are only to be seen
on the walls of tombs
(Figs. 187, 188), or in
the coarse decorations of
certain private houses
(Fig. 189). It is to be accounted for by purely material causes;
the rock in which the hypogea were cut did not offer the sculptor
103

FIG. l8g. — PAINTED DECORATION OF A
PRIVATE HOUSE (After Petrie).

ART IN EGYPT

those homogeneous surfaces which
of dressed limestone afforded him,

mastabas built of blocks
But the brush worked

FIG. igo.— WAR DANCE (After Champollion).
with ease where the chisel would have got mediocre results
or have failed entirely; a picture without a foundation in
relief was also more quickly executed and cheaper. We
can understand, therefore, why the Thebans and Heracleo-
politans, people of modest means, were often content with
painted tombs. Let me hasten to say, that if the execution
varied sometimes, the underlying principle remained unchanged,
and as in the past, the advantage of the master, god or dead
man, was the first consideration ; nevertheless, its application was
modified, at least in the tombs, under the influence of political
circumstances or contemporary ideas. In the neighbourhood of
the cataract, where the nobles had no great battalions at their
disposal, they repeated the domestic or agricultural themes which
had satisfied their ancestors. At Siut, at Bersheh, at Beni-Hasan,
where, associated by their geographical position with the struggles

FIG. igi.— SIEGE OF A FORTRESS (After Champollion).
between Heracleopolis and Thebes, they were obliged to keep
their troops on a war-footing, preoccupation with military matters
104

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

\

4

j/

FIG. IIJ2.— SOLDIERS AT SUIT. (Phot. Insinger)

appears more or less insistently in the majority of their hypogea.
Tefyeb, Kheti, and Beket, who had been generals of renown
in their lifetime,
wished to parade
in the other world
escorted by the
soldiers who had
made their glory
in this , and they
demanded to be
represented among
the bands of vassals
whose doubles they
took away with
them. The drill of recruits, racing, jumping, war-dances (Fig. 190),
wrestling, battles, the siege of fortresses (Fig. 191) were introduced
into artists' sketch-books, and as in many a tomb there was not
space enough for all these novelties, they either ousted an equi
valent number of pacific scenes, or reduced them to their simplest
expression ; agriculture was so indispensable that no one dared to
curtail its episodes over-boldly, but there were no such scruples
to interfere with the abridgment, upon occasion, of the bringing
of offerings, processions of territories, sailors' brawls, and the
various handicrafts. For here the evil was very slight, since it
was permissible to substitute the wooden groups of the tomb-
chamber for the bas-reliefs and paintings of the chapel.
The necropolis of Siut has been so devastated by quarriers
that it is hardly possible

to appreciate the merits
of the artists who decor
ated it ; no doubt also
some of their defects are
due to the bad quality
of the stone. As far as
I have been able to judge,
they appear to have been
inspired by the Memphite
School, or the School of
Abydos, which, after the
end of the Thinite dynas
ties , was practically an
annexe of the Memphite School. The technical processes are
the same in each, as also the proportions of the figures and the
105

FIG. UJ3.— SMOULDER-MOVEMENT, TOMB OF
KHNEMU-HETEP (After Champollion).

ART IN EGYPT

IQ4- — SQUATTLNG PEASANT
(After Champollion).

distribution of the episodes; the military novelties are treated
in accordance with current conventions round Memphis under
the Sixth Dynasty, and
Kheti's heavy infantry
marches along , dragging
shields, with no more vi
vacity than the ancient
processions of offering-
bearers (Fig. 192). The
contrast is very striking
when we pass from Siflt to
Beni-Hasan and Bersheh.
These two places and all
the surrounding district
were indeed under the
influence of that School
of Hermopolis , which,
several centuries earlier,
showed such marked ori
ginality in the drawing of
the fat and the lean. I think that these masters and their pupils
cannot have had a facility with the chisel comparable to that
of the Memphites, for they often avoided carving their scenes,
and were content to draw and paint them; the use of brush
and colour permitted a freedom of action , of which , however,
they did not avail them
selves equally in all the
subjects they had to treat.
They followed the old
methods for the fundamen
tal themes, those which
filled the sketch-books
their ancestors had be
queathed to them, save
that they occasionally in
troduced modifications,
particularly in perspec
tive. Thus in the tomb
of Khnemu-hetep, a good
many of the secondary
figures have silhouettes
more consistent with reality ; placed in profile , the bust is
sometimes foreshortened accurately, or at least sometimes one
106

IQ5-— CAT WATCHING FOR PREY
(After H. Carter).

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

and sometimes the other shoulder is brought forward , according
to the gesture to be expressed (Fig. 193). We have seen that
the Memphites rarely did
as much, save in the later
period of the Sixth Dy
nasty; the Hermopolitans
almost transformed what
had been the exception
hitherto into a current
rule. Their attempts of
this nature were of the
happiest, and it is pleasant
to note, in the midst of
the conventional poses,
attitudes which a painter
of our own times would
not treat otherwise. Such is the action of that peasant, who,
in the Tomb of Khnemu-hetep , is about to seat himself on
the neck of a gazelle to force it to crouch beside him ; the action
of the arms, the curve of the loins, the sweep of the back, the
effacement of the shoulders, and the protuberance of the breast
are all rendered with almost faultless precision (Fig. 194). Even
in passages where tradition is rigorously observed, the drawing
differs in many respects from that of the Memphites. It is less
refined, less sure, less uniformly equal in quality, but also more
varied , more expressive , more eager to suggest truth ; if the
draughtsman respects the general formula and transcribes it in
accordance with the consecrated models, he at least strives to

IQ6. — SCENE IN A SIEGE , AT DESHASHEH
(After Petrie).

FIG. ig7. — WRESTLING, AT HKNI-HASAN (After Champollion).

improve the details and to copy nature more 'faithfully. He is
more successful with animals than with human beings ; who has
ever rendered the cat lying in wait among the reeds at once
107

ART IN ECYPT

FIG. IyK— PORTRAIT OF SIESIS
(Museum , Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

with greater realism and greater brilliance ? Every characteristic
has been seized, the extension of the neck, the quivering of the
spine, the contractions of the tail,
the slight recoil of the body before
springing upon the prey, and the
fixed intensity of gaze which arrests
and fascinates the victim. (Fig. 195).
The merits of the school, how
ever, are nowhere more strikingly
shown than in its dealings with
martial subjects, for here, indeed,
it was not hampered by a long
routine. The Memphites had al
ready profited by the liberty due
to the absence of religious obli
gation, to interpret the quarrels
and encounters of boatmen upon
the canals ; in these they showed
a knowledge of the human form,
and a sense of composition with
which we could not have credited
them on the evidence of their
severely conventional scenes of agriculture and industry. The
Hermopolitans commissioned to paint the lives of soldiers, had
models for the actual mo
ment of battle either in
the temples, or in certain
earlier tombs, such as that
at Deshasheh (Fig. 196),
where a prince of the Fifth
Dynasty had recorded his
exploits; thus the shock
of armies, the attack on
fortresses, the transport of
dead and wounded as
treated by them have no
characteristic or arresting
features. The soldiers who
exchange blows with the
axe and flights of arrows,
show hardly less compo
sure in their approach
than do Kheti's soldiers

FIG. 199.— STATUES OF SESOSTRIS I.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
108

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE
on the march at Siut. On the other hand, the athletic exercises
by which the recruits trained their bodies during their term of

FIG. 200. — ONE OF THE STATUES
OF SESOSTRIS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E Brugsch.)

FIG. 201. — COLOSSAL STATUE
OF SESOSTRIS I. (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

instruction show them to us in a variety of attitudes which had
never been noted before. In the tomb of Kheti at Beni-Hasan,
and in the tomb of Beket there
are over 120 of these groups,
which reproduce as if in a cine
matograph the successive move
ments of these duels (Fig. 197).
In obedience to a somewhat
childish convention , the two
combatants are not the same
colour; one is painted black,
the other red, to avoid any
confusion in the interlacement
of their limbs. We see them
approaching, touching, and seizing
each other, relaxing or stiffening
their muscles alternately, in order
to escape the grip of an ad
versary or to bring him down; one of them, seized by the
middle of the body, is hurled to the ground, but as his shoulders
109

FIG. 202. — WOODEN HEAD FROM LISHT
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN hGYKI

FIG. 203.— PHARAOH
HORUS (Museum , Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

have not touched it, the struggle continues.
A professional athlete would easily name
the various falls, and he would perhaps also
recognise certain tricks of hands or legs
which are no longer tolerated in modern
arenas ; what we can never sufficiently admire
is the skill and facility with which the play
of the limbs and their interlacement have
been analysed, and fixed on the wall. Before
achieving such mastery, the draughtsman
must have made prolonged studies from
life , and have spent much time in the
palestra; he could not otherwise have follow
ed the lines and emphasised the decisive
moments of each bout. No one familiar
with Egyptian monuments would have been
surprised to find some ten or even twenty
groups well drawn, but what is really
amazing is that out of over a hundred and
twenty, there are scarcely half a dozen
which are incorrect or badly balanced. Not only in bas-relief
on the flat stone did contemporary artists venture to combine
these violent attitudes; they dared to realise them in the round.
The wrestlers of the Munich Museum show the same correctness
and animation which characterise those of the hypogea, in spite
of a certain rudeness of technique.
At Syene , Beni-Hasan , and Siut,
workshops depending upon the great
nobles flourished during the last
years of the Eleventh and the first
years of the Twelfth Dynasties. The
royal ateliers made their appearance,
when , the Twelfth Dynasty having
firmly established its suzerainty over
the great feudal families, the whole
country was peacefully united under
a single chief. Naturally enough, the
Memphite School remained predo
minant in Middle Egypt, in Abydos,
at Heracleopolis and in the Fayum.
Its traditions had not been allowed
to fall into decay during the inter
mediate period ; it imposed them on
110

FIG. 201.— HEAD OF THE STATUE
OF PHARAOH HORUS
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

the Theban kings when , quitting their southern abode , these
installed themselves in the palaces of their northern predecessors.
We have but a small number of bas-reliefs to attribute to it;
but the fragments of the chapel of
Amenemhat I. at Lisht and the mastabas
of Dahshur are certainly equal to the
best works of the Fifth Dynasty. It
continued to keep the relief very low'
on the surface of the stone and aimed
more than ever at elegance and deli
cacy of contour, though this did not
prevent it from rendering its sitters
with an almost brutal realism upon
occasion, as in the portraits of Siesis
at Dahshur (Fig. 198). Its statues are
penetrated by the same spirit as its
bas-reliefs. Those of Sesostris I., which
come from Lisht, are marked by great
dignity, and they keep the attention of the visitor long fixed
upon them, in spite of the sense of monotony induced by the
repetition of the same attitude eleven times (Fig. 199). He will
soon perceive, however, that their sculptors were swayed by
school tradition , when they gave these figures their short, oval

FIG. 205. PAINTED BAS-RELIEF
FROM THE TOMB OF MENTHU-
HETEP (After Mme. Naville).

F

•

;." _ 1

- _--_-_z_z -— 

-y -

rv

; - %

FIG. 206.— ONE OF THE SIDES OF PRrXCESS EAUIT'S SARCOPHAGUS
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

faces, their smiling, good-humoured expression, their placid eyes
(Fig. 200), and broad, plump bodies. They were obsessed
111

ART un

FIG. 207. — PART OF A STELE OF SESOSTRIS III.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

by the Memphite type of
the Pharaoh fixed by the
masters of the Fifth Dy
nasty. The same conven
tion prevailed in the work
shops of Abydos; the
colossal Osirian statues
of Amenemhat and of
Sesostris I. are so com
monplace in conception,
that even the excellence
of their workmanship fails
to redeem them (Fig. 201).
This languid and imper
sonal manner persisted
under the Thirteenth and
Fourteenth Dynasties, and
is noticeable even in pieces
not devoid of merit, such
as the little wooden head at Cairo with its plaster wig (Fig. 202)
and the wooden statue of the little King Horus at Dahshur
(Fig. 203). He is naked, and walks with a stride, his left arm
advanced. He is an agreeable figure enough , but how insipid
he seems when
compared with the
Sheikh - el - beled.
The torso is light,
the hip slender, the
leg long and slight,
the features regu
lar (Fig. 204), but
the grace is purely
superficial, and the
first impulse of
admiration does
not stand the test
of careful exami
nation. After this,
we shall not be
surprised to find
in museums many
statues and statu
ettes, manufactur-
112

FIG. 20S. -MKNTHU-HKTEP IN
THE COSTUME OF APOTHEOSIS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 2og.
ANONYMOUS STATUE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

ed according to the best receipts, but never rising above the level
of commercial imagery; when the inscriptions reveal their origin,
we recognise regretfully that they belong for the most part to
the inferior Memphite School of
the first Theban period, or to
its Abydonian branches.
The Theban School, at first
hardly distinguishable from the
local schools which vegetated
obscurely at Denderah, Coptos,
Nakadah and Erment during
the age of the Great Pyra
mids, did not repudiate its
technique and principles, when
the rise of the Antef power
roused it from its torpor to
interpret the artistic aspirations
of a new royalty. Its first known
works, the stele of Prince Antef and the bas-reliefs of the pyramid-
mastaba of Menthu-hetep at Der-el-Bahari (Fig. 205) mark an im
mense advance from the one to the other. The stele is still bar
barous in style : figures distributed unsymmetrically in the registers,
bodies badly proportioned, attitudes laboured, gestures angular.
On the other hand, those of the bas-reliefs which are not so
mutilated as to make an appreciation impossible, show drawing
as correct and a touch as firm as the good Memphite sculptures
of the Fifth Dynasty; the scenes on the sarcophagus of Princess
Kauit are good examples (Fig. 206). At the same time , the
relief is stronger, the contour bolder and more animated, the
man is sturdier, and is

FIG. 210.— HEAD OF SESOSTRIS i.
AT KAKXAK. (Phot. Legrain.)

planted more solidly on
the line of ground, the
woman is shorter, and
fuller in the hips and
bosom. When they had
reached this point, the
Thebans progressed rapid
ly. Among the broken
blocks which Thothmes III.
used at Kamak to raise
the level of one of the courts was a square pillar which came
from the limestone temple of Sesostris I. (cf. Fig. 176). On it
Pharaoh and the god Ptah, standing, nose to nose, inhale each
113 I

FIG. 211. —HEAD OF A COLOSSAL STATUE OF
SESOSTRIS I. (Museum, Cairo). (Phot Legrain.)

ART IN tU i n

FIG. 212. — HEAD OF A COLOS
SAL STATUE OF SESOSTRIS IH.
(Phot. Legrain.)

other's breath in accordance with the
etiquette observed by persons of rank
in salutation. The profiles are vigorously
marked, the relief is stronger than at
Memphis, and consequently, it throws
a stronger shadow, and stands out from
the background more decisively than
in the pictures of Gizeh or Sakkarah.
The scenes of the three other faces
reveal an art no less exquisite, and it
is much to be regretted that the example
is, so far, unique; if all the building
was decorated as happily as this frag
ment, the Twelfth Dynasty must have
raised at Thebes a monument compar
able to the noblest achievements of
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties.
The only work I can set beside it is
the stele of the same king, which he
dedicated to the memory of his pre
decessor Menthu-hetep (Fig. 207) in the pyramid-mastaba of Der-
el-Bahari. The graving both of picture and inscriptions is
marvellous; the figures of the two Pharaohs and of Amon-Ra
are cut with as much delicacy as an
intaglio on a precious stone, but the
minuteness of the detail does not detract
from the breadth of the execution. All
this was produced in the royal workshop
at Thebes and is the best work of the
school; the fairly numerous examples
produced in private workshops —
stelae, sarcophagi and bas-reliefs — are
by no means on the same level. The most
careful of them are disfigured by a
stiffness of attitude and a heaviness of
chiselling which proclaim them the direct
products of the old provincial academies,
innocent of Memphite influences. It is
probable that the first Antefs, conscious
of the defects of their national art,
summoned draughtsmen and sculptors
from Abydos or some other city to in
struct the natives; these assimilated the
114

FIG. 213.— HEAD OF
SESOSTRIS IV.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot Legrain).

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

more refined processes of their masters, and the fusion of this
acquired dexterity with their instinctive rudeness produced the
Theban style.
Its characteristics are yet more strongly marked in their statues.
When about to undergo the ceremonies of deification which
usage prescribed for the Pharaohs after the first years of their
reign, Menthu-hetep ordered the statues which were to replace
him, or rather, duplicate him, during the mysteries of his identi
fication with Osiris (Fig. 208). They carved one in limestone,
a lofty visionary
creation with its
massive feet and
knees, its heavy
hands, its per
functory bust,
broadly indicated
features, harsh il
lumination, black
flesh, crude white
costume, and the
dark red cap
prescribed by rit
ual ; the whole
is savage , but
with a deliberate
savagery, design
ed for religious
effect. If a Mem
phite had treat
ed the subject,
he would have done his utmost to soften the lines and harmonise
the colours; he would unconsciously have approximated his
model to the ideal type of humanity which pleased his school,
at the risk of robbing him of his native energy. The Theban,
on the other hand, strove only to transcribe reality as it present
ed itself to him , and this preoccupation dominated those who
succeeded him to the end. They sought resemblance, with a
determination to exaggerate rather than attenuate the character
istic peculiarities of the sitter, and in their pursuit of it, they
were not repelled either by harshness of handling or violence
of colour. This is well shown in the statue of an unknown person,
seated, and wrapped in his mantle, who, with his bold glance,
seems still to exhale a breath of intense life , in spite of the
115 i 2

FIG. 214.— STATUETTE
OF AMENEMHAT III.
(Muxum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 215. — STATUE OF
AMENEMHAT III.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

m

FIG. 216. SPHINX OF AMENEMHAT DX
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

mutilations of his face (Fig. 209).
Other examples even better are
the colossal statues of Sesostris I.
(Figs. 210, 211) and of Sesostris III.
found by Legrain at Karnak. The
body differs from that of the Mem
phite statues only by its more
slender proportions, but what of
the head? The artist chosen by
Sesostris III. reproduced line by
line the long, thin face of the
prince , his narrow forehead , his
high cheek-bones, his bony, almost
bestial jaw. He hollowed the
cheeks, enframed the nose and
mouth between two furrows, com
pressed and thrust out the lip in
a disdainful pout (Fig. 212); he
thus fixed the true image of the
individual Sesostris where the Memphite and the Abydonian,
imbued with the opposite principles , would have evolved from
the stone an effigy of Pharaoh, idealised as much as it was
possible to idealise without entirely destroying the likeness. Two
or three centuries later, at an advanc
ed stage of decadence, the same
characteristics persisted in the colossal
statue of Sesostris IV. (Fig. 213). This
is the only extant portrait of the king,
but no one, looking at it, can doubt
that he has the man himself before his
eyes. The living monarch was certainly
what the stone tells us he was, a jovial
and sensual rustic. It is not improbable
that the will of the sovereign some
times influenced the manner of the
artist I am inclined to believe that
this was the case with Amenemhat III.
The majority of his statues bear the
impress of the school, and are the work
of Thebans, whether they originated at
Thebes (Fig. 214) or in the Memphite
districts; I cannot except even that of
Hawara (Fig. 215). The king wears on
116

!m

FIG. 217.— QUEEN NEFERT
(Museum. Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

his head the kufieh and the uraeus,
and his face has nothing of the
usual conventional cast. The eye
is small and prominent, slightly
veiled at the extremity, the eyelid
heavy, the nose straight and short,
the cheek hollow , the cheek-bone
very strongly marked, the mouth,
with its thin, compressed lips, firm
and scornful, the chin hard and
obstinate, the neck thin, the chest
flat, the leg sinewy, the foot ner
vous. The whole reveals a very
remarkable technique, though cer
tain details of the lower extre
mities are , as usual , summary.
The sovereign must have insist
ed upon a realistic rendering,
and nowhere are the naturalistic
tendencies of the school more
strongly marked than in this admirable
To him again we undoubtedly owe

FIG. 2T8. — HEAD OF A COLOSSAL
ROYAL STATUE OF THE THIR
TEENTH DYNASTY
(Egyptian Museum).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

piece of work.
those sphinxes of Tanis
erroneously ascribed by Mariette to the Hyksos Pharaohs (Fig. 216).
We can understand, when we see them,
that Mariette should have been misled,
and that he should have hesitated to
believe in their Egyptian origin. There
is a superabundant energy in these
nervous leonine bodies, which are sturdier
and more compact than those of the
ordinary sphinxes. The face is bony,
the nose aquiline , the nostril slightly
flattened; the lower lip is thrust out,
a bull's ear emerges from the lion's
mane which enframes the face, and
drapes the neck and shoulders. The
technique is that of the Thebans , and
Thebes I believe to be the source of
this Tanite School , but we are con
scious of an inspiration as yet undis
ciplined and almost barbarous. The
semi-civilised inhabitants of the eastern
marshes of the Delta imposed a certain
117

FIG.2I9.— COLOSSALSTATUE
OF MUtMASHAU (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch,)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 220.
SEBEK - HETEP
(The Louvre, Paris).
(Phot. Gaucher - Gudin.)

brutality peculiar to
them on the works
of their masters. The
sphinxes of Amenem-
hat III. show us plainly
enough the ideal they
had in view; they produc
ed nothing to surpass
these, but we have sever
al remarkable works by
them executed under
the Twelfth Dynasty,
and also between the
Twelfth Dynasty and
the rise of the second
Theban Empire. The
black granite statues of
Nefert, wife of Sesos
tris II. (Fig. 217) have
a special charm, in spite
of the ungraceful Ha-

FIG. 221.
SEBEK-EMSAF
(Museum , Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

thorian headdress which makes the face heavy. The colossal head
from Bubastis (Fig. 218) and the colossal statues of Mirmashau
(Fig. 219), now in the vestibule of the Cairo Museum, were hewn
in broad planes from a recalcitrant granite , and the modelling
was not carried very far; it is, however, so correct as to be
comparable to the best Theban pieces. The face is mutilated;
but on what remains of it
we divine a vigour equal to
that in the faces of the
sphinxes. It would be inter
esting to see more exam
ples which would throw light
on the destinies of this
school ; but unfortunately
the relics of the Thirteenth
and Fourteenth Dynasties
are so scanty, that it is im
possible to deduce even
the elements of a history
of art from them. As far
FIG. 222.-THE TWIN STATUES AT CAIRO. ^ ^ "^ ^^ P.0"^-
(Phot. E. Brugsch.) ture , a uniform mediocrity
118

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

gradually invaded the whole of Egypt.
Neither the Sebek-hetep of the Louvre
(Fig. 220) the Sebek-emsaf (Fig. 221),
the twin kings of Cairo (Fig. 222) nor
the colossal statues usurped by Rameses II.
are bad, and yet no one would venture
to pronounce them good. The royal
workshops whence they came had lost
little of their manual facility , but they
no longer formed artists capable of
competing with those who fashioned the
colossal statues of Sesostris. The private
workshops were very unequal in their
productions. The statues we have from
them in the Cairo Museum (Figs. 223,
225), are coarse and heavy, but the
majority of their customers ordered only
statuettes, many of which are no larger
than figurines ; these

FIG. 223. — STATUE OF A
PRIVATE PERSON
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E, Brugsch.)

FIG. 224. — SEBEK-EMSAF
(Museum, Vienna).
(Phot. Bergmann.)

they treated with
brilliant dexterity.
The Sebek-emsaf at Vienna (Fig. 224) owes
a rather ridiculous rotundity to his horrible
petticoat; his little person is nevertheless,
interesting for the knowledge of the human
structure it reveals. The dainty walking
scribe at Cairo would take his place among
the most delicate works of the Twelfth
Dynasty, if the inscriptions we read upon
him did not compel us to refer him to
the Thirteenth. We know scarcely anything
of the period, and each time an attempt
is made to re -construct it from existing
data, new documents come to light, which
overthrow systems to all appearance most
solidly built up. I have given the results
of my examination of all that is known;
I refrain from positive conclusions which
might be demolished to-morrow.
Furniture, domestic pottery, and table
utensils of stone or metal, textiles, embro-
deries, in a word, the minor arts, all
flourished under the Theban Pharaohs,
119

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 225. — STATUE
OF A PRIVATE PER
SON (Museum, Cairo)
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

although our museums contain but few spe
cimens. The discovery of the treasures of
Dahshur has given us so many precious objects
that we are able to form a well-grounded
opinion of the art of jeweller and goldsmith.
Three harems of the Twelfth and Thirteenth
Dynasties have combined to bequeathe us
almost complete sets of jewels belonging to
queens and princesses. Their necklaces, their
mirrors, their rings, their bracelets and their
crowns are heaped pell-mell beside pectorals
bearing the names of their fathers and hus
bands; he who would wish to give an idea
of the elegance of their forms, and the
harmonious vivacity of their colours would
have to describe everything, or rather repro
duce everything in coloured facsimiles. The
principal pectoral of Sesostris III. (Fig. 226),
simulates a naos in gold with lotus - columns,
the field of which is occupied in the centre
by a vulture hovering over a cartouche ; two
griffins , emblems of Mentu , the god of war , strike down
Asiatics right and left of the cartouche. The breast -plate of
Amenemhat III. (Fig. 227) is also a naos, but the Pharaoh,
twice represented upon
it, brandishes a club over
a kneeling prisoner who
begs in vain for mercy.
Gold chains, filagree stars,
medallions of glass mo
saic, necklaces with golden
pendants in the form of
shells (Fig. 228) we pass
from one piece to another,
unwearying in admiration.
One of the crowns
(Fig. 229) is formed of
rosettes and lyre -shaped
ornaments surmounted by
eight upright florets in
gold , lapis lazuli , red
jasper and green felspar; a vulture of gold and precious stones
with outspread wings accompanied this, and an aigrette of gold,
120

\ \ um Hi-mi mi m

FIG. 226. — PECTORAL OF SESOSTRIS HI.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE

Ifc. ''¦ WIIWII y Sill

¦ I ¦'¦¦

Tanwipw,

FIG. 227. — PECTORAL OF AMENEMHAT III.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot.nl. E. Brugsch.)

representing a spray with golden leaves and trusses of flowers.
The other crown (Fig. 230), is an interlacement of delicate threads
of gold, on which six
Maltese crosses in gold,
with centres of cornelian
and blue limbs , are set
at regular intervals ; a
handful of little blossoms
with red hearts and blue
petals arranged in a star
is scattered between the
florets. Nowhere in Egypt,
or throughout the antique
world do we find a richer
design, a more skilful dis
tribution, a truer sense
of colour. The faults
that have been pointed
out , the superabundance
of heavy enamels and the slightness of the mounting are the
results of causes which explain and perhaps excuse them. The
Egyptians were richly adorn
ed , not only during their
lifetime, but after their death ;
their mummy-jewelry, how
ever, destined for a motion
less body, did not need to
be so solid as that of a
living person , continually
shaken by the movements
of the wearer. If our crown
had adorned the head of
Khnemit during the court
ceremonies, it would not
have lasted more than a
few days or perhaps a
few hours ; the enamelled
flowers and crosses weigh
ing on the gold threads,
would have broken them
promptly. They were de
signed for the coffin, and SELECTI0N of JewelI* from dahshur
the eternal inertia tO Which (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
121

ART IN EGYPT
they were to be consigned encouraged the artist to consider
only his own taste and fancy. The Greek goldsmiths reasoned
in the same manner , when they worked under similar con
ditions, and the workmanship of their funerary jewels is as
frail as that of the crowns of Dahshur.

FIG. 22Q. — ONE OF KHNEMIT'S CROWNS
(Museum. Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY TO CHAPTER I — PART II

The first Theban age is the one of whose art-history in Egypt we know least, that on
which there are fewest books and articles.
Architecture. — For civil architecture, cf. Flinders Petrie, Haxvara Biahmu and Arsinoe,
in quarto, London, 1889, 66 p. and XXIX pi., Illahun Kahun and Gurob, in quarto, London,
1891, 55 p. and XXXIII pi., Kahun, Gurob and Hazuara, 1890, 53 p. and XXVIII pi., and
more especially on the decoration of houses: L. Borchardt, Das agyptische stddtische
Wohnhaus mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der inneren Dekoration, in the Deutsche Bau-
zeitschrift, vol. XXVII I, p. 200; for private hypogea, Mariette, Voyage de la Haute-Egypte,
vol. I, p. 49-53, and pi. 17; — P. E. Newberry, Beni- Hassan (Archaeological Survey of
Egypt, vol. I, II, V, VII), in quarto, London, I, 1893, 87 p. and XLVII pi., II, 1894, 87 p. and
XXXVIII pi., III 1896, 42 p. and X pi., IV 1900, 9 p. and XXVII pi.; Bersheh (Archaeo
logical Survey of Egypt, vol. III-IV), in quarto, London, I, 1893, 40 p. and XXXIV pi., II
1895, 71 p. and XXIII pi.; — N. de G. Davies, The Rock-tombs of Deir el Gebrawi (Archaeo
logical Survey of Egypt, vol. XI), in quarto, London, 1902, 43 p. and 26 pi.; — J. de Morgan,
De la frontiere d'Egypte a Kom-Ombo, in quarto, Vienna, 1894, VIII-212 p.; for royal pyramids
of the Memphite type: Flinders Petrie, Kahun Illahun and Hazuara, in quarto, London,
1890, 53 p. and XXVIII pi., and Illahun, Kahun and Gurob, 1891, 56 p. and XXXIII pi.; -
J. de Morgan, Fouilles de Dahchour, in quarto, Vienna, I, 1895, IV-165 p. and 40 pi., II
1903, VIII-119 p. and 27 pi. — J.-E. Gautier and G. Jequier, Mernoires sur les fouilles de
Licht (Mernoires de l'lnstitut fran?ais d'archeologie orientale, vol. VI), in quarto, Cairo,
1902, 107 p. and 30 pi.; for pyramid-mastabas: Mariette, Abydos, in folio, Paris, 1870,
vol. II, p. 38-45 and pi. XLVI-XLVII; — Naville, The XP* Dynasty Temple at Deir el
Bahari (Egypt Exploration Fund, vol. XI-XII), in quarto, London, I, 1907, 75 p. and XXI pi.,
II, 1910, 29 p. and XXIV pi.; for the points of pyramids: H. Schaefer, Die Spitze der Py
ramide des Konigs Amenemhats III. in the Zeitschrift fur Agyptische Sprache, 1900,
vol. XLI, p. 84-85.
122

THE FIRST THEBAN AGE
Painting and Sculpture. — The history of (he Theban School for this and the following
period has been established by G. Maspero, La Cachette de Karnak et 1'E.cole de Sculpture
thebaine, in the Revue de VArt ancien et moderne, 1906, vol. XX, p. 241-252, 337-348.
For the whole field of artistic activity, cf. in addition to the works of Davies, Gautier-
Jequier, Newberry and Petrie quoted in reference to sculpture, the following: Flinders
Petrie, Tanis (Egypt Exploration Fund, vol. II and V), in quarto, London, 1, 1885, 63 p. and
XIX pi., II, 1888, 116 p. and LXIII pi., Koptos, in quarto, London, 1896, 38 p. and XXVIII pi.;
— Fr. W. v. Bissing, Denkmdler agyptischer Skulptur, pi. 19-35, 40a, 77a; — J. Capart,
Recueil de Monuments egyptiens, 1902-1905, in quarto, Brussels, pi. XV, XVII, XXIV-XXXlII-
LTX-LXII, and the corresponding text; — L. Borchardt, Kunstzoerke aus dem agyptischen
Museum zu Kairo, pi. 6-7, 23, p. 5, 11; — E. de Rouge, Alburn photographique de la
Mission, No. 109-120; — G. Legrain, Statues et Statuettes de Rois et de particuliers (Cata
logue general du Musee du Caire), in quarto, Cairo I, 1906, p. 1-29, and pi. I-XXVI; —
G. Maspero, Le Musee egyptien, in quarto, Cairo, 1904, vol. II, p. 25-30, 34-35, 41-45 and
pi. IX-X, XIII, XV. Sur trois Statues du premier Empire thebain, in the Annales du Service,
1902, vol. Ill, p. 94-95 and 1 pi. — On the special question of the so-called Hyksos Sphinxes
of Tanis, cf. W. Golenischeff, Amenemha III et les Sphinx de San, in the Recueil de
Travaux, 1893, vol. XV, p. 131-136 and 5 pi.
For goldsmith's work and the minor arts, see in addition to J. de Morgan's work on
the excavations at Dahshur, the treatises of E. Vernier, La Bijouterie et la Joailierie egyp-
tiennes (Mernoires de l'lnstitut fran?ais d'archeologie orientale, vol. II), in quarto, Cairo,
1907, VII-156 p. and XXV pi., and Bijoux et Orfevreries (Catalogue general du Musee du
Caire), in quarto, Cairo, 1907-1909, 200 p. and XXXVII pi., also the work of ScliEefer,
Agyptische Goldschmiedearbeiten (with the collaboration of G. Moller and W. Schubart,
forms vol. I of Mitteilungen aus der Agyptisdien Sammlung), in folio, Berlin, 1910, p. 16-19
and pi. 3; — L. Borchardt, Kunstzoerke aus dem agyptischen Museum zu Kairo, pi. 41-42
and p. 17-18.

FIG. 230.— DIADEM OF KHNEBIIT (Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsdi.)

123

FIG. 23I.-ATLA.XTES OF THE FORE-COURT AT MEDINKT-HABU. (Phot. Beato.)

CHAPTER II
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE FROM THE EIGHTEENTH
TO THE TWENTY-FIRST DYNASTY
Renaissance of Art at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty — The Temple and its
various Types — The Hemispeos and the Speos — The royal Workshops of Painting
and Sculpture at Thebes and in the Provinces: the decoration of Tombs and Hypogea
— Goldsmith's Work, Jewelry, and the minor Arts.
WHEN we compare the works of the Thirteenth and Seven
teenth Dynasties, the differences between them appear
so slight that we are almost tempted to believe them contem
porary. This is more especially true of the statues and statu
ettes ; that of the Shepherd King Khayanu might have been exe
cuted for one of the Sebek-heteps, and the mutilated bust which
Mariette discovere in the Fayum (Fig. 232) bears a most decep
tive resemblance in technique to the Tanite sphinxes of Amen-
emhat III. It must be admitted, however, that a judgment based
wholly upon these official examples might be unfair. At periods
of political abasement, the court workshops were maintained with
great difficulty on the scanty resources at the disposal of their
masters, and they were reduced to servile reproduction of the
124

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

types and technique of happier
periods. It seems probable, how
ever, that they did not remain
altogether stationary, any more
than the private workshops. Un
civilised as the Hyksos are sup
posed to have been at the be
ginning of their domination, they
had nevertheless brought with
them not only material elements
of progress, such as the horse,
the chariot, the quiver, the bronze
squamate cuirass and weapons of
a new type, but also habits and
modes of thought novel to the
Egypt of their day. True, the
leaven of originality they intro
duced into the ancient mass was
not so active as to change its

FIG. 232. — BUST OF A STATUE OF
THE HYESOS PERIOD
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 23J. — THE TWO OBELISKS OF KARNAK.
(Phot. Beato.) 125

entire nature: but it had
strength enough to burst the
ancient moulds in many direc
tions. Indications of Asiatic
and European influences in
furniture , goldsmith's work,
and pottery mark their advent;
and it is not unlikely that
we may be obliged to enlarge
very greatly the share assigned
to the foreigner in the consti
tution of Theban art of the
second period, when exca
vations shall have brought to
light the monuments of Meso
potamia, Syria, Asia Minor,
and the ^gean peoples.
A. ARCHITECTURE
We are now no longer ob
liged to judge of architec
ture by mere fragments; our
relics of the earliest periods

ART IN tUJt-i

FIG. 234. — RUINS OF THE SECOND PYLON OF HERU-
EJIHEB AT KARNAE. (Phot. Beato.)

are chiefly sculpture, but thenceforward architecture predominates.
Many of the temples built under the second Theban Empire
still exist , more
or less complete,
and reveal to us its
conceptions, plans,
and methods of
execution. It is
very possible that
the architecture
of this period
counted several
schools, but we do
not yet know how
to define them.
Nearly all of its
surviving works
are situated at Thebes itself, and in regions under the artistic
control of Thebes, i. e. Southern Egypt, and Ethiopia. If any examples
of those which embellished Memphis and the cities of the Delta
at this time had come down to us, we
should no doubt see in them peculiarities
which would enable us to settle the
question in one way or another; but so
far, the fragments which survive are not
sufficiently characteristic to give us the
right to say that another school, distinct
from the Theban School, flourished in
the north.
Two elements seem to have been in
common use at this period, which were
either unknown, or very rarely used in
the earlier ages, the pylon with its
customary pair of preliminary obelisks
(Fig. 233), and the hypostyle hall. The
pylon (Fig. 234) is a straight monu
mental door, surmounted by a massive
cornice, and enclosed between two rect
angular towers with sloping walls. It
is the face which the temple turns to
the outer world, and it was through
it that Pharaoh and the faithful passed in state, when they went
to enter into official relation with the god. Each temple was
126

~

.li-ifp [1
Z: .-**"-. =1=
5= «
1 1 : i
ypk-q
mm
j__ ee? xz : : : :j
¦mi- m

,

FIG. 255.— PLAN OF THE
PRINCIPAL TEMPLE AT
KABXAK. (Phot Beato.)
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

supposed to have but one;
at Thebes, however, and
also, no doubt, at Memphis
and other important cities,
the kings, anxious to
enlarge the divine house,
constructed other pylons
in front of the principal
one, and these were made
gradually wider and wider,
and higher and higher;
as the number was not
limited by any law, it
increased almost indefin
itely, till it was checked
only by the poverty or
insignificance of the sover
eign. At Karnak there
are six from west to east
(Fig. 235) and four from
north to south ; they were
separated from each other
or from the body of the
building by a court bor
dered with a portico on
three sides, north, east,
intervened between the
of the god. It consisted
of columns, and two side-
aisles, the number of rows
in which was variable, two
and two at Medinet-Habii,
three and three in the
western Ramesseum, seven
and seven at Karnak. The
columns of the central
aisle (Fig. 236) are often
higher than those of the
laterals (Fig. 238) and the
architect utilised the re
sulting difference of levels
in the ceilings to light
the interior; he pierced

FIG. 236.— CENTRAL AISLE OF THE HYPOSTYLE
HALL IN THE RAMESSEUM. (Phot. Beato.)
and west. A hypostyle hall generally
last of them and the actual dwelling
of a central nave upheld by two rows

>. 237.— ATLANTES OF THE RAMESSEUM AT
THEBES. (Phot. Beato.)
Ill

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 23*.— TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE HYPOSTYLE HALL AT KARNAK
(After Chipiez) (Hist de 1'Art. voL I, pi. V).

the vertical wall that united them with a stone clerestory, through
which the light entered
(Fig. 239). The side -aisles
were illuminated only by nar
row slits in the ceiling; as one
receded from the centre, the
light diminished, and semi-
darkness reigned against the
lateral walls, even at the
most brilliant hours of
the day. Very often, a
single chamber not being
considered enough, the archi
tect placed two or even
three in a line, and in this
case he also doubled the
sanctuary, which was then
composed of a hypostyle
hall with four columns for
the sacred boat, and beyond
this , of one or several
rooms where the god re
ceived daily worship. For
„, ,.,,,,,.,,.,,.,,„ „ the rest it would seem that
. 23Q.— CLERESTORY OF THE HYPOSTYLE , c J I- • J J J
hall at karnak. (Phot. Beato.) the oecond hmpire added
128

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 040. — PHOTO-DORIC COLUMNS AT
KARNAK. (Phot Beato.)

little to what had been in use under the First. Its architects
employed pillars, either bare, or with Atlantes against them
(Fig. 231, 237), and hexa
gonal columns of the
kind called pro to- Doric
(Fig. 240), at first lavishly,
and then more sparingly,
though they were never
dispensed with alto
gether. They persisted,
indeed, to a later period,
and there are examples at
Elephantine dating from
Amasis, and in the temple
of the Theban Ptah, dating
from the Ptolemies. On
the other hand, the
column with a bell-shaped capital became more frequent, and
vied in popularity with the lotus -bud and palm -leaf capitals.
The Hatior column was reserved for the
buildings sacred to the goddess Hathor at
Bubastis and at Der-el-Bahari ; the capital
was composed of two masks of the goddess
set back to back and encircled at the
neck by a simple band where they im
pinge upon the shaft. Once only, in the
ambulatory of Thothmes III. at Karnak
(Fig. 241), a variation more eccentric than
ingenious was tried, in which the bell was
reversed, and the thinner end of the
shaft was sunk in the base, while the
thicker one was set into the mouth of the
bell. It would seem that this combination,
in which all the elements were transposed,
had no success, for we find no trace of
it elsewhere. The three usual columns
are not found indifferently everywhere;
the bell-shaped capital was used preferably
for the central aisle of hypostyle halls,
while the lotus-bud form was relegated to
the exterior porticoes, the interior rooms,
or the side aisles of the hypostyle halls, and the palm column
reigned in the porticoes. These customs were, however, tenden-
129 K

FIG. 241. — ONE OF THE
COLUMNS OF THE AM
BULATORY AT KARNAK
(After Cuipiez) (Hist de
l'Art, vol. I, p- 5/2).

ART IN EGYPT
cies rather than a rule; broadly speaking, it may be said that
the lotiform order was the one most in favour during the Second
Theban Empire.
—  1 Some of the temples
such as those of Thoth-
mes III. and of Amen-
ophis IH. at Elephantine
contained only the number
of rooms strictly necessary
for the wants of the god.
One of these (Fig.242) was
merely a sanctuary of sand-
y;^g-c-.^--.-^:-aj- stone, about 14 feet high,
bv 40 feet long, and 30
FIG. 242.— THE EAST TETPLZ AT ELEPHAN- f ' . -J I. i = J 1
TINE (After Corpiez- restoration) teet Wide. It naCt a Dase-
(Hist de l'Art, VoL 1, p. 4Q2>. ment of masonry with a
slight parapet, sustaining
a portico composed on each side of five square pillars, enclosed
between two large corner-pillars, and on each facade, of two
columns with lotus capitals. It was entered on the east, where a
flight of ten or twelve steps mounted to the portico and to
the cella between the two columns ; another door opened at the
western extremitv (Fig. 243). It was a peripteral temple, and the
Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty had a certain predilection
for the plan, for it recurs at Karnak and at Medinet - Habu.
That of Medinet-Habu, almost identical with that of Elephantine
in dimensions, was founded bv Thothmes IL and Queen Hat-
shepset, but it would seem that before its completion, a second
building was added towards the west — perhaps by Thothmes HI.
— consisting of six
rooms arranged in
three rows of two each,
the sanctuary at the
end, and the chapels
of the paredri at the
sides. Construction
and decoration betray
negligence, or rather
ftg. 245.— LONGirvDrsAx section of the lack ot skill, on every
east temple. hand, and this is not
surprising, if we re
member that at the time Aat-tcha-Mutet — our Medinet-Habu —
was a little provincial town. To give but one instance, the slabs
130

—

 =

3

-

-,—

r*i

-

1

, !-

m 1
i
1— j
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

of the roof are so badly adjusted, that it was found necessary
to prop up those of the portico by means of columns placed
at the angles, regard-

: m
Bp— ^
i*^'~M
' * 1
^^rf*
§H$-
} y .1
1 HE
¦a* ~*
m
1 \-
^1& **"" 1
:^f
FIG. 244. — RUINED FACADE OF THE TEMPLE OF
AMADA. (Phot. Oropesa.)
less of symmetry. They
seem to be there more
or less by accident,
and yet they harmon
ise so well with the
whole, that their pre
sence does not shock
the spectator ; they
appear as a singu
larity, or a graceful
audacity, rather than
a constructive error.
The temple of Amen-
ophis III at El-Kab,
almost as simple as
those of Elephantine
and Medinet-Habu, is on a different plan. It has two compart
ments at present , but the first , which is a portico , was built
under the Ptolemies, and formed no part of the original arrange
ment; only the room of the sacred boat, the sanctuary, dates
from the Theban period. It is oblong in shape, and is sustained
by four Hathor-pillars ; a niche, which was approached by four
steps, is hollowed out
in the end chamber,
and this was the Holy
of Holies, the retreat
in which the divine
statue was concealed.
In general, we note
two distinct types for
the most simple form,
the oratory, under the
Eighteenth Dynasty :
that of the single
chamber with or with
out columns in the
interior, and that of
the peripteral temple,
which, though it does not lend itself to scientific combinations,
may, if judiciously treated, produce true masterpieces. The
131 k 2
FIG. 245.— COURT OF TBE TEMPLE OF
RAMESES ILL AT KARNAK. (Phot Legrain.)
ART IN EGYPT

chapel of Khnum at Elephantine was certainly the most finished
example of the latter: the relative proportion of the parts was
calculated so scientifically

'±£3 'A

FIG. 246. — TE3IPLE OF KHONSU AT THEBES;
SECTION CUT THROUGH ITS GRAND AXIS
(After Chipiez) (Hist de l'Art, voL I, p. 355).

that the artists of the
French expedition never
wearied in their admi
ration of its perfection.
It is a surprise to those
who are accustomed to
consider Egyptian archi
tecture a massive and
colossal art, to find it
producing works posi
tively Greek in their
precision and elegance.
There is reason to be
lieve that this peripteral form was unknown in the first Theban
period, and that it was invented, or at least brought to per
fection, at the beginning of the second. Almost at the same time
there appeared a more developed, though as yet restricted model,
which I will call the temple of
the small town. That of Amada,
which dates from the time of
Thothmes III. and Amenophis II.,
consists of three long parallel
ducts (Fig. 244), in the centre the
sanctuary of Amon-Ra and Ra-
Harmachis, and on either side two
little rooms in a line. Originally
these were disconnected, and access
to the further of the two could
only be obtained from the Holy
of Holies , but later , doors were
pierced between the partition-walls,
and the rooms were made to com
municate. The three aisles lead
into a transverse vestibule occupy
ing the entire breadth of the build
ing, and preceded by a portico
with four proto- Doric columns.
Ending here, the temple was com
plete, but Thothmes IV., the successor of Amenophis II., inter
posed, between the portico and the brick enclosing wall, a
132

FIG. 247. — COLOSSI LN FRONT
OF THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR.
(Phot. Beato.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

248.— NORTH SIDE OF THE AVENUE OF RAMS
AT KARNAK DURING THE INUNDATION.
(Phot. Legrain.)

hypostyle hall of twelve square pillars in four rows, the last
two of which, right and left, were connected by party walls-
later again, Seti I. re
placed the plain wall
on which the hall
abutted towards the
east, by a composite
pylon, consisting of
a sandstone gateway
between two brick
towers. Even with all
these additions, Ama-
da is very small, for
it measures barely
30 feet in width by
72 feet in depth, and
the height is about
15 feet, but the execution is very careful, and does credit to
the provincial Theban art of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The blocks
are accurately adjusted, the sculpture is delicate, and the paint
ing brilliant; the brush has accentuated the work of the chisel,
and has expressed the details of figures and hieroglyphics with
great elaboration. The temple of Ptah at Karnak, built by the
the Amenemhats
and reconstructed
by Thothmes III.,
was rebuilt so ex
tensively under the
Ptolemies that it
would be impru
dent to insist upon
its original form;
I think , however,
that the arrange
ment must have
resembled that of
Amada. On the
other hand , the

FIG. 24g. — COURT OF AMENOPBTS HI. AT LUXOR SEEN
FROM THE NORTH EAST. (Phot. Beato.)

temple of Rame-
ses III. at Karnak
is of a more de
veloped type. The chevet is here divided into three compartments
with the sanctuary in the middle, and just as at Amada, the two
133

ART IN EGYPT

rooms which terminate the wings open only into the sanctuary,
but the remaining space contains, besides the chapels dedicated
to the goddess and
the divine son,
serving-rooms, one
of which, that on
the west , does
duty as the cage
of the staircase
which led to the
terraces. In ad
dition , the trans
verse vestibule of
Amada has be
come a hypostyle
hall with two rows
of columns, and the
pronaos is arrang
ed, as is also the pylon, on a new plan which was applied on
a larger scale at Medinet-Habu. It is on a higher level than
that of the court, and is reached from the latter by an inclined
plane; towards the

FIG. 250. — SOUTH-EAST OF THE TEMPLE OF AMENO
PHIS III. AT LUXOR. (Phot. Beato.)

east and the west
it adjoins porticoes
which terminate
against the pylon,
and colossal statues
of the king as Osi
ris are set against
the pillars which
border these porti
coes (Fig. 245). It
is permissible to
suppose that the
temple of Mentu,
built by Ameno
phis III., was simi
lar in arrangement,
but these ruins have
not yet been suffi
ciently studied to
justify an assertion. What we may, however, affirm without
rashness is that the temple of the small town, as we see it
134

FIG. 251.
GREAT COLONNADE OF HERU-EM-HEB AND SETI I.
AT THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR.

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

reduction of
arrangements

the temple of
were in the i

the

FIG. 252. — SOUTH-WEST ANGLE OF THE
COURT OF RAMESES H. AT THE TEMPLE
OF LUXOR. (Phot. Beato.)

at Amada, was simply a
great city, and that the
the same in both. The
sanctuary was at the
end, against the back
wall, between two rooms,
or two series of rooms,
the dwellings of the
other gods of the triad,
used for the secondary
services of worship. A
vestibule extending right
across the building divid
ed these intimate apart
ments from those re
gions accessible to the
public , hypostyle halls,
courts, monumental gate
ways flanked by towers;
obelisks or a guard of sphinxes rose on the terrace in front.
Well-preserved examples of this type are so rare that we cannot
exactly follow its evolution be
tween the Eighteenth and Nine
teenth Dynasties. It culminated,
towards the end of the Nine
teenth Dynasty, in a conception
of which the temple of Khonsu
at Thebes is the most lucid and
complete realisation. (Fig. 246).
The distinction between the
private dwelling of the god,
and the space open to the
public is clearly defined. The
one is separated from the other
by a wall in which two doors
are pierced; the first, on the
longitudinal axis , was a state
portal, for solemn ceremonies,
when Khonsu came out of his
sanctuary, and for the official
visits of the Pharaohs; the se
cond, placed towards the western extremity, was the household
postern, by which the priest came and went every day, and
135

FIG. 253-— ON*E OF THE CHAPELS OF
GEBEL-S1LSILEH. (Phot. Thedenat)

ART IN EGYPT

was also used by the sovereign when he visited the god in
formally. Beyond this barrier, we find the tripartite arrangement
I have described above; in the middle, the shrine of Khonsu,
and on either side, the chapels
of the paredri, then the serving-
rooms, but with new combina
tions. In the temple of Ra-
meses III. at Karnak, the Holy
of Holies was a single chamber,
in which not only the idol was
enclosed, but also the bari on
which the idol was seated when
it left its retreat to show itself
in public. In the temple of
Khonsu, it consisted of three
chambers in a line on the axis: first, against the end wall, a
dark cabinet which was the mysterious residence of the master,
then, in front of this, an anteroom with four columns, and
finally, in front of the anteroom, a vast hall in the centre of
which rose the pink granite cell which contained the ark. This
cell had a back door by which the image was brought out on
specified days for embarkation, and a front door from which it
emerged in state. The chambers of the side-aisles communicated
with one or the other of these three chambers, according to
the use for which they were destined , those of the paredri
with the ante-room , the others with the shrine of the boat.
The staircase which led to the terraces was concealed on the
right, in the angle form-

FIG. 254.
PLAN OF THE SPEOS OF HERU-
EM-HEB AT SLLSLLEH.

* -ww

ed by the exterior east
wall, and the interior par
tition wall. Beyond this,
the public parts of the build
ing began , and , in the
first place, the hypostyle
hall which traversed it from
east to west. The central
aisle was defined by four
columns with bell -shaped
capitals 23 feet high, and
the wings contain two lotus
columns 18 feet high; the light is furnished, as at Karnak, by
a clerestory between the terrace of the central aisle, and the
lateral platforms. The pronaos is supported on twelve columns
136

FIG. 255.
FACADE OF THE SPEOS OF HERU-
EM-HEB. (Phot. Thedenat.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

256. — FACADE OF THE HEMI-SPEOS OF
BET-EL-WALi. (Phot. Oropesa.)

in two rows; an inclined way descends from it into the court,
which is bordered south, east, and wes by a double row of lotus col
umns. Access was
freely accorded by
four lateral pos
terns, and by a
pylon measuring
104 feet long,
60 high and 33 wide.
It is solid , save
for the staircase,
which runs straight
from the north
eastern corner of
the block to the plat
form over the door
and thence to the
summits of the two
towers. The facade
was grooved with
four cavities to hold
the masts for pennons. A pair of obelisks, and colossal statues rose
in front, their backs to the pylon, their faces to the city (Fig. 247),
often precedel by long avenues of sphinxes or rams (Fig. 248), and all
these protected the
god against evil in
fluences. It is pro
bable that the
majority of the
Ramesside temples
were built on this
plan with slight var
iations ; it per
sisted during the
centuries which
followed the fall
of the Second The
ban Empire , and
in its main lines,
to the end of the
pagan period.
In addition to these regular buildings, the constituents of which
were brought together more or less on fixed principles, there
137

FIG. 257.

-AVENUE OF SPHINXES AT WADI SABU'A.
(Phot. Oropesa.)

ART IN EGYPT

were some at Thebes, and no doubt in other great cities of
Egypt, the arrangement of which does not agree with any recog
nised type, Luxor, as conceived by Amenophis III., is inspired
by the same idea as the temple of Khonsu. It was to have a

FIG. 258.
SECTION OF THE HEMI-SPEOS OF GARF-HUSEN (After Gau).
pylon turned to the north-east, a court with porticoes, at the
end of which was the pronaos with its eight rows of lotus columns
(Fig. 249), (almost a hypostyle hall left open in front), then behind
this pronaos, the true hypostyle hall, which has lost its columns,
and no longer extends right across the building; it is flanked
right and left by dark rooms used for the most part as auxiliary
chapels. As usual, the hypostyle hall and its annexes terminated
the public part of the temple, and a wall, pierced with a state
doorway and a service-postern, separated them from the actual
abode of Amon. This comprised in its axis two rooms with four
columns each, the farther one of which contained the sacred ark,
then a second hypostyle hall, and against the back wall, a final
room with columns, which
was the sanctuary. Right
and left of this row of
apartments were succes
sive chapels, in one of
which, on the east, the
marriage of Queen Mut-
emua with Amon, and the
birth of Amenophis III
were described and pic
tured; along the east and
west walls little rooms,
or rather closets, were ranged, the uses of which are not cer
tainly known, but in which it is probable that clothes, jewels,
perfumes, furniture, and gold and silver plate were stored
(Fig. 250). The building was almost finished when the kin?,
138 S

FIG. 25Q.— FACADE OF THE LITTLE SPEOS AT
ABU SIMBEL. (Phot Oropesa.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 2u0. — FACADE OF THE GREAT SPEOS OF
ABU SIMBEL. (Phot. Oropesa.)

modifying the design, replaced the pylon by a thick wall and
laid on the north the foundations of another hypostyle hall, which,
had it been com
pleted, would have
had no parallel. Only
the central aisle with
its columns 52 feet
high was erected
(Fig. 251), and the dis
turbances in the reign
of Amenophis IV.
compelled the archi
tect to stop the decor
ation. When it was
resumed, the course
of the Nile had de
viated eastward, and
Heru-em-heb was
obliged to deflect the
main axis to find room for the new court (Fig. 252) and for
a pylon which Rameses II.
finished and faced with sculp
tures. Karnak shows more
irregularity and incoherence
even than Luxor, and this
is not surprising, when we
remember that all the Theban
Pharaohs from the Seven
teenth to the Twentieth
Dynasty vied with each other
in enlarging it without any
definite plan. A big book
would not be too much to
devote to its history, and
even this could not be com
plete, for lack of evidences
bearing on the earlier periods.
The original building, that
of the Twelfth Dynasty, has
disappeared, and we do not
know what were its main
features The Ahmessids FIC" 261. -northern extremity of
reatures. ine Mnmessios, the esplaxade before the great
from Amenophis I. tO Thoth- SPEOS OF ABU SIMBEL. (Phot. Oropesa)
139

ART IN EGYPT

lijgjLi

FIG. 262.
THE PYRAMID-MASTABA OF AN APIS AT
SAKKARAH (After Mariette).
old buildings, the most imposing of
which, an audience-chamber, bears the
traditional, but inaccurate, name of
ambulatory; he then enclosed the whole
with a stone wall, dug out the lake
on the south, and, anxious to provide
a triumphal entrance for the god, erected
two enormous pylons on the Luxor
road, to which Heru-em-heb soon added
two others. Thothmes IV. and Amen
ophis III. erected a still more massive
pylon in front of those on the west,

mesIIL.surroundedit with
buildings which in some
ways repeat the combi
nations at Luxor, with a
room for the boat in
the centre, and auxiliary
chapels in the side aisles,
but also with a perfect
ly novel element, three
pylons rising one behind
the other from east
to west. Thothmes III.,
having reached this point,
returned to the east, and
there re-constructed some

FIG. 263. — A THEBAN TOMB
WITH A PYRAMIDAL SUMMIT.

FIG. 264.— TOMB OF THOTHMES m. 140

which Rameses I. preceded
by another yet more gi
gantic: between the two
he built the famous hypo
style hall which Seti I.,
Rameses II. , and the Ra
meses of the Twentieth
Dynasty finished deco
rating. Karnak is not,
strictly speaking, a single
temple; it is a haphazard
mass of temples and store
houses (cf. Fig. 172). It
must be looked upon in

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 265.— DECORATION OF THE END WALL TN THE TOMB-CHAMBER OF
RAMESES V. (Phot. Golenischeff.)

the history of Egyptian art, not as a normal creature, long con
sidered, and produced on a preconceived plan but rather as
a marvellous monster,
whose limbs are grafted
on to the original body
fortuitously , regardless
of logic and symmetry.
Taken in detail, the
parts are often admirable
in execution; when we
attempt to coordinate
them, we find it im
possible to reduce them
to unity.
With the ideas which
prevailed in Egypt on
the nature of the temple
and the tomb , it was
inevitable that sooner or later it would be proposed to instal
the house of the god in the rock. We have as yet no authority
141

FIG. 266.— PLAN OF THE HYPOGEUM OF
AMENOPHIS II.

ART IN EGYPT

If H! I ! Ill i» „ t^sa^^^H

 I

FIG. 267. — GENERAL VIEW OF DER-EL-BAHARI.
(Phot. Beato.)

for saying whether
this came about un
der the Memphite
or the first The
ban Empire ; the
most ancient sub
terranean temples
known to us, speos
and hemi - speos,
date from the
Eighteenth Dynas
ty. Queen Hat-
shepset had a vesti
bule with eight
pillars , a passage
and an inner cham
ber, which was the
sanctuary, cut in
the rock near Beni-
Hasan , in honour of the lioness-goddess Pekhet ; two centuries
later Seti I. hollowed the chapel of Redesiyeh on the road to
the gold mines. When we examine these carefully, we find
that the architect took the isolated temple of the small town,
and imbedded it in the mountain. Occasionally it is only a single
apartment, with a
facade set between
columns, as at Sil-
sileh (Fig. 253),
but the type of
El-Kab prevailed
in general, and if
the door-way con
necting vestibule
and sanctuary was
elongated , and
transformed into
a passage, it was
partly because the
safety of the faith
ful required a stone
partition more so-
l-TG. 208.— NORTH-WEST ANGLE OF THE ESPLANADE than an OrQl-
at der-el-bahari. (phot. Beato.) nary wall of ma-
142

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 269.
PLAN OF THE MEMNONIUM OF
SETI I. AT ABYDOS.

sonry. Indeed, when we compare the cavern -temple in general
with the disengaged temple, we must recognise that the arrange
ment of the two is in the main
identical; the differences are the
result of special conditions which
the new surroundings imposed on
the architect, and are not more
marked than those which distinguish
the free mastaba from the sepulchral
chapel hollowed in the rock. The
taste for the speos developed towards
the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty,
and two, not the least interesting
among them, were the work of
Heru-em-heb. At Silsileh (Fig. 255)
the speos is a long gallery sup
ported by four massive pillars left in
the rock, with the sanctuary adjoining
it at right angles (Fig. 254). Aba-
huda, a little to the north of the
Second Cataract, has no true facade,
but a portion of the cliff was planed
vertically, a few steps were cut in
front, and a high, narrow door, hardly more than a slit, was
pierced in the rock. The hypostyle hall, supported by four poly
gonal columns, leads to the three usual chapels; these, however,
instead of being arranged
in a line, parallel one with
another, are placed on
the three sides, the sanc
tuary at the end, facing
the entrance , the cham
bers of the mother and
son right and left of the
hypostyle hall. Rameses II
showed a special pre
ference for this type of
building, and Nubia is
full of those which he
dedicated ostensibly to
his father Amon, but in
reality to his own divinity. The oldest and the most elegant
of all these, the hemi-speos of Bet-el -Wali, has a deep vestibule,
143

FIG. 270.— ONE OF THE HY'POSTYLE HALLS IN
THE MEMNONIUM OF SETI I. (Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 271.— FACADE OF A SEPULCHRAL TEMPLE AT KURNAH. (Phot. Beato.)
suggested on the facade by two square pillars, and covered
with a roof not cut in the rock, but vaulted with bricks
(Fig. 256). Three doors — those on the sides are later than
the central one — lead to the transverse vestibule, where two
rather squat proto-Doric pillars have been cut out in the rock;
the Holy of Holies contains three statues which represent the
three gods of the local triad. At Wadi-es-Sabu'a, at Der, at
Garf-Husen, the excavation and its outworks of masonry attained
the dimensions of the isolated temple of a large town. The pro-
pylaea of Sabu'a, recently exhumed, form a magnificent array
of colossal figures and sphinxes with human faces or falcons'
heads (Fig. 257). Garf-Husen possessed a sanctuary, two hy
postyle halls, the larger

upheld by pillars adorned
with Atlantes, a court with
porticoes of the same type
as that ot the Ramesseum,
a pylon, courts, and
an avenue of sphinxes
(Fig. 258). The little speos
of Abu Simbel is less
complex in design. Its
facade towards the river
is decorated with six
colossal standing figures
in niches, four for Ra
meses II , two for his wife Nefert-ari (Fig. 259). The hypostyle
hall has six polygonal pillars, on the summits of which heads
144

FIG. 272.

-GENERAL VIEW OF THE RAMESSEUM
OF THEBES. (Phot. Beato.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

s i;

jNlky

/

>' -» •%-•£

¦ ¦

FIG. 273.— STOREHOUSES WITH BRICK VAULTS IN
THE RAMESSEUM. (Phot. Baraize.)

of Hathor are placed instead of capitals. It communicates with
the vestibule by three doors, and three chapels are connected
with the vestibule,
the sanctuary in the
centre, facing the en
trance, the other two
at the two extremi
ties. The large adjoin
ing speos (Fig. 260)
is a complete temple,
built in the spirit
which governed the
plan of the isolated
temples, and contain
ing all the consti
tuent parts of these.
First of all there is an
esplanade of beaten
earth; a short flight
of steps connects it with a terrace , bordered by a solid balus
trade, behind which rose in a single line twenty figures of alter
nate Osiris-mummies and falcons (Fig. 261), eight to the right
and eight to the left of the central landing. Behind this line,
the slanting pylon,
cut in the rock,
presents its vast
surface, the four
prescribed colos
sal statues watch
ing impassibly
along it. Beyond
the pylon, in the
place of the co
vered court, was
a hall 130 feet
long, bordered,
like the court
of Rameses III. at
Karnak, by eight
square pillars, each
with an Osiris set
against it. This sort of covered yard was followed by the
hypostyle hall, and, at the end of this was the sanctuary between
145 L

FIG. 274. — SECOND COURT OF THE TEMPLE OF
MEDINET-HABU. (Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 275- — FACADE OF THE PALACE OF RAMESES HI.
TOWARDS THE FIRST COURT OF THE TEMPLE AT
MEDTNET-HABU. (Phot Beato.)

the cells of the paredri. Eight crypts, on a lower level than the
central nave , were distributed unequally on either side , simu
lating the accessory
chambers. The dif
ferences and inequa
lities of the arrange
ment are explained
by the necessity
imposed upon the
builder of choosing
the most solid strata
in the stone, and
of making sure that
his work should not
be crushed by the
mountain. If the isolated tem
ple thus buried itself
in imitation of the
old sepulchral cha
pels , these , by an inverse phenomenon , were often detached
from the hypogea to which they belonged, and became isolated
temples. Tombs of private per
sons were of two sorts, as in
the first Theban period; one,
3|^ [ hollowed out entirely in the
k « r'-,; ^ ' ^ cliff > the other in the manner
of pyramid-mastabas , but with
important modifications in the
relative importance of the pyra
mid and the mastaba. The latter,
which at first had been gradually
decreased till it became merely
an insignificant base, steadily
grew until it almost recovered
its original size, while the pyra
mid shrank to the dimensions
of the pyramidium on an obelisk.
There is only, as far as I know,
a single specimen of the kind,
the chapel of Apis discovered
by Mariette in the Serapeum sixty years ago (Fig. 262). The
mastaba is still in existence, a chamber of masonry perched on
146

FIG. 276.— DECORATION OF THE
CEILING AND ONE OF THE ROOMS
OF THE PALACE OF AMENOPHIS IH.
AT MEDLXET-HABU.

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

corners,
cavetto.

PAVEMENT OF ONE OF THE HALLS OF THE
OF AMENOPHIS IV. AT EL-AMAUNA.

a solid basement, adorned on the outside, towards the
with polygonal engaged columns, and crowned with a
The pyramidium
has disappeared
almost entirely,
and the vault is
under the building,
but independent
of it; it is ap
proached by an in
clined plane which
descends into the
ground a little
way in front of
the door of the
mastaba. Monu
ments of this kind
abounded at The
bes, but they have
all been destroyed, and we should not suspect their existence were
they not frequently represented in paintings. The pyramidium
was more or less pointed , and it was built of brick ; a gable-
window was occasionally pierced in it which gave light to the
interior, and it terminated in a point of black stone, either
granite or schist (Fig. 263). The hypogea properly so-called,
with which the Theban mountains are riddled, so to say, still
followed the tradition of
the Twelfth Dynasty in
so far as to retain the
hypostyle hall behind the
facade, but the available
space was restricted, and
in order to economise
this, a less ambitious plan
was adopted from the
beginning of the Eigh
teenth Dynasty. It shows
generally an open court,
roughly quarried in the
hillside, where the pre
liminary rites of burial
were performed , then a long , narrow ante-room , to the end
of which the stele was often relegated; its decoration included
147 L 2

FIG. 27S.
DETAIL OF A PAVEMENT IN THE PALACE OF
AMENOPHIS LH. AT MEDINET-HABU.

ART IN EGYPT

-THE MIGDOL AT MEDINET-HABU.
(Phot Thidenat.)

below ,

representations of the
various scenes of burial,
the funeral banquet, the
music, the dances, even
the fishing, hunting, and
agricultural labours which
ensured the nourishment
of the deceased. On rare
occasions, the form of a
Greek cross was admitted
for the arrangement of
the chapel ; but nearly
always it was merely an
oblong cell , or even a
blind alley, at the end
of which the deceased and
his family sat, carved
out in the rock. The vault
was concealed somewhere
sometimes in one place , sometimes in another ; it was
approached either by a perpen
dicular shaft, a passage, or a steep
staircase. Large fortunes were
evidently rarer at Thebes than they
had formerly been at Memphis,
but competences abounded, and
their possessors peopled the ceme
teries of Asasif , Sheikh - Abd-
el-Kurnah, Der-el-Medinet, and
Kurnet-Murrai ; nearly all the gaily
painted and delicately carved hy
pogea which visitors admire in
these places were the work of artists
paid by these people.
The tombs of the first Pharaohs
of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Kames,
Aahmes, Amenophis I., were pyra-
mid-mastabas of the same kind as
those of Menthu-hetep at Der-el-
Bahari , but situated near Drah-
abu'l-Nekkah , on the boundaries
of the cultivated land; with Thoth
mes I. the conception changed, and
148

FIG, 2*0. — SKETCH IN BLACK ON
ONE OF THE PILLARS OF THE HYPO-
GEUM OF SETI I. (Phot Insinger.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

2^1. — SKETCH IN THE TOMB
OF KHA-EM-HET
(After Prisse d'Avennes).

a new system was established, which was faithfully observed for
nearly five centuries. The parts of the tomb were divided into
two groups ; the subterranean
chambers were exiled to the
desert, behind the heights which
bounded the plain on the north,
in the valley now called Biban-
el-Muluk, the Gate of the Kings ;
the visible elements remained on
the southern slope of the moun
tains and in the plain , at Der-
el-Bahari, Sheikh-Abd-el-Kurnah,
and Medinet-Habu. Like the main
body or subterranean portion of
the earlier Memphite pyramid,
the Theban hill contains only the
vault and the passages leading
to it. At first this kind of hy-
pogeum was fairly small ; that
of Thothmes I. is concealed at
the bottom of a hole, in the
base of the cliff itself. A steep
staircase brings one down into a square ante-room, where a
second staircase leads to the vault. This is an elongated par
allelogram, the angles rounded in such a manner as to resemble
a cartouche ; a cell cut
out towards the end, in
the left wall, formed a
kind of serdab. The en
trance is on the east, but
the axis of the passages
and rooms deviates con
tinuously to the left in
such a manner as to
bring back the coffin to
the west by a kind of
imperfect arc of a circle,
and the same orientation
persisted until the end
of the dynasty, regulated
however in such a manner
that the axis, instead of describing a curve, traces two straight
lines which join at a more or less acute angle. The passages
149

FIG. 2S2. — THE ELVG CHARGING (Ostrakon in the
Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYP1

FIG. 2S^.
THE KING BRINGING IN A
prisoner (Ostrakon in the
Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
Heru-em-heb , and later
plan, with variations mc

and the descending staircases led to a
square well, generally some 30 feet deep,
designed not only to check the advance
of the violators of tombs, but to receive
water that might invade them during
storms. Beyond this obstacle , just op
posite the passage of approach, and on
a level with it, a door was masked in
the wall, giving access to a room with two
pillars: it was here, generally speaking,
that the axis, turning back upon itself,
deviated to the west. Another staircase
was set in the left angle of the hypo
style room ; it was followed by a slightly
inclined passage, leading to the vault;
this sometimes has sustaining pillars, and
it is flanked by rooms used for de
positing offerings , generally four in
number. The tombs of Hatshepset, of
Thothmes III. (Fig. 264), and IV., of
Amenophis II. (Fig. 266) and III. , of
, that of Rameses II. , were all on this
re or less marked in the number of the

FIG. 284. — A PRIEST PRAYING
(Ostrakon in the Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

150

FIG. 285.— TWO WRESTLERS
(Ostrakon in the Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 286. — HEAD DRAWN IN OUT
LINE IN BLACK, HEIGHTENED
WITH RED (Ostrakon in the Mu
seum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

rooms, and the extent of the different parts; the corridor leading
to the chambers of Hatshepset is 700 feet long. Towards the
beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty,
architects simplified the lines, and
straightening the axis, they made it
run directly from one end to the
other, or with a slight deviation to
the side where the well was to be
placed. The best known example is
the hypogeum of Seti I. , with its
string of rooms , the last of which,
left unfinished, is 325 feet from the
outer door. Each Pharaoh made a
more or less happy variation on this
theme for himself; some, like Ra
meses III., multiplied the cells right
and left of the first passage; others,
on the contrary, reduced their number,
like the last Rameses of the Twentieth
Dynasty. The chief interest does
not, however, lie in the architectural arrangements, which are,
as we have seen, simple enough, but in the carved and painted
decorations, and in the scenes and inscriptions (Fig. 265) which
give us definite inform
ation as to the mys
tical doctrines of the
Ramesside age.
The plan of the chapels
was so ambitious that they
are for the most part
temples comparable to
those of the right bank.
The oldest, that of the
two Thothmes and Queen
Hatshepset, one of the
most original and finished
works of Egyptian art, is
what is now known as
Der-el-Bahari, from the
Coptic monastery founded
among its ruins in the sixth
century of our era (Fig. 267). The sanctuaries it contains —
the central sanctuary of Amon, of Thothmes and of the Queen,
151

FIG. 287. — A DANCING GIRL (Ostrakon in
the Museum, Turin). (Phot Lanzone.)

ART

i in nu i r i

FIG. 288. —A COUPLE OF THEBAN CITI
ZENS (After a water-colour by H. Carter)

the sanctuary of Hathor, the sanctuary of Anubis, are cut out
in the rock, and give it the character of the hemi-speos; the
rest is of detached masonry.
Placed beside the pyramid-
mastaba of Menthu - hetep , it
might be supposed that it would
have borrowed certain elements
from this ; but such is not the
case, and never were two build
ings more dissimilar. It filled
all the northern hollow of the
valley, and presented the most
imposing appearance to those
who approached it by the plain.
Three terraces rise in recession
one above the other, connected
by two gently inclined planes
along which ran a serpent with
scaly folds sculptured in the
limestone. The lower terraces
were adorned with porticoes
on three sides , those on the
west supported by square pillars, and that on the north by
polygonal columns of daz
zling whiteness : the spirit
of the design is so noble,
and the contour so pure,
that it might almost be
a Greek colonnade trans
ported from the Parthenon
to the heart of the Thebaid
(Fig. 268). The third ter
race was enclosed in front
by a straight limestone
wall, behind which the
sanctuary extended freely.
Like the private precincts
of the non-funerary tem
ples , it was divided into
three compartments paral
lel one to another. In the
centre was the abode of the god, with its hypostyle hall (now
destroyed) , and its mysterious chambers in the rock. On the
152

289.— TWO MUSICIAN-PRIESTESSES (After
a water-colour by H. Carter).

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 2Q0. — THE TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS
OF AMENOPHIS IV. AT EL-AMARNA.

north side , the apart
ments of the living Horus,
identified with Pharaoh,
are grouped round a court
in which the altar of
Harmachis is still standing.
In the left aisle , sacred
to the divine son, the dead
king lodged when he pleas
ed. By a fiction which
will not seem strange to
those familiar with the
Egyptian doctrines , Pha
raoh's double, when weary
of his solitude at Biban-
el-Muluk, left it at will
for his sepulchral temple,
where he enjoyed the so
ciety of the priests who
administered his worship. A kind of temporary lodging was
accordingly provided for him , a set of half-a-dozen rooms , one
at least of which had an arched ceiling, while in parts its decor
ations recall those of the Memphite
mastabas. The vault was not, indeed,
a true vault with a central keystone,
but was upheld by corbels. It was no
easy task to arrange this corner of
the mountain in a manner which, while
satisfying all the demands of ritual
and doctrine, did not completely rob
it of its wild grandeur; here again the
Theban architects showed with what
technical skill and feeling for nature
they adapted the style of their works
to the landscape in which they set
them. It is with Der-el-Bahari that the
Memnonium of Seti I. at Abydos has
most analogy (Fig. 269). It is not a
hemi-speos, but something intermediate
between this and the isolated temple:
a temple set against a low hill and
partly imbedded in it. Seti had con-
153

FIG. 2QI.— SKETCH, WITH AN
OUTLINE IMITATING A SCULP
TURED CONTOUR IN ONE OF
THE TOMBS OF SHEIKH-ABD-
EL-KURNAH. (Phot. Insinger.)

ART IN EGYPT

Kmiyji harass
r3J n*rFl*' fc** ** **

tented himself for his Theban worship with a place in the
building which his father Rameses I. had built at Kurnah
(Fig. 271), but it pleased him to have at Abydos, not exactly
a cenotaph, but a resting-place where his double, escaping from
the darkness of his Theban syrinx, might shelter at leisure under
the protection of the tomb of Osiris. He therefore retained the
features essential to a temple: pylon, courts, a portico, two
hypostyle halls (Fig. 270); then, as there was not room to
continue the building to the west without rasing the hill entirely,
he reduced the sanctuary
and its adjoining cham
bers to two rows parallel
with the facade, the last
abutting on the masses
of sand. The dividing wall
is accordingly pierced
with seven doors at equal
distances, which lead into
as many oblong chambers
vaulted on corbels; six
of them are closed at the
back, but the third on the
right is open each end,
as befits a chamber for
the sacred boat. Passing
through it, we come to
the little hypostyle hall
essential to the plan, and
the mysterious chambers,
instead of being grouped behind it, are ranged right and left at
the sides. And as if this were not enough, the refuge of
the deceased sovereign with all its dependencies was thrown
out on the left, in a special wing, detached from the main building,
and forming a square. Some hundred metres away, Rameses II.,
choosing a piece of ground which was less uneven, erected a
second resting-place on the regular plan, the same used for his
funerary chapel at the Ramesseum in the Theban plain (Fig. 272).
Chance, which does not always favour the excavator, has preser
ved for us with this last the crowd of storehouses (Fig. 273),
stables, houses of priests or artisans, festival or assembly halls,
which clustered round the temples and made each of them the
kernel of a veritable city; considerable portions are missing,
however, and we should not be able to reconstitute the ar-
154

FIG. 292.— NORTH WALL OF THE FIE ST CHAM
BER IN THE TOMB OF NAKHT. (Phot. Beato.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

rangement with any certainty, had not Rameses III., that plagia
rist of Rameses II., imitated them faithfully at Medinet-Habu
(Fig. 274). By combining the two, we are able to see what was
the scheme finally adopted by the Ramessids for their mortuary
temples. There was first, as in the living temple, a pylon-
facade, then a court, the northern portico of which was guarded
by Atlantes set against pillars (Fig. 231), a second pylon, a
second court with
porticoes, and at the
end of this, a pronaos
on a raised platform,
to which access was
obtained by a flight
of shallow steps. Be
hind the pronaos was
the hypostyle hall,
hemmed in between
two rows of chapels
or store-rooms , and
the private apart
ments of the god
began beyond this
again, in three parallel
lines as usual , the
god in the centre
with his hypostyle
halls and his chamber,
the living Horus on
the right, the de
ceased sovereign on
the left. Medinet-
Habu is the subtlest
expression of the conceptions of the Theban priesthood as to
the destiny of the royal soul, and the means by which its future
was to be ensured. The architect made his art subservient
to doctrine, and combining that which was indispensable to
the existence of the gods with that which was essential for
the perpetuity of the double, he welded the whole into
a grandiose and harmonious creation. Would he have done
better still later? Rameses III. was the last of the great
conquerors, and his successors, lacking the resources provided
by foreign warfare, undertook no such vast structural enter
prises as his. They usurped more or less successfully a corner

FIG. 293.— FRAGMENT OF THE BATTLE OF KADESH
IN THE RAMESSEUM AT THEBES. (Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

of the temples their ancestors had prepared, and, graving
their names upon them, appropriated their revenues.
Just as the
Memphite Pha
raohs of an
earlier age and
the first Thebans
had lived in sight
of and in daily
contact with their
pyramids, so the
second Thebans
did not shrink
from attaching
their dwellings to
their sepulchral
temples. Even
in the Rames-
seum , we find
on the left of the
first court the
levelling courses
of a building, the
arrangement of the rooms in which show it to have been a habi-

FIG.294. — THEMENEP-
TAH WITH TWO EN
SIGNS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 295.
RAMESES II. BETWEEN AMON
AND HUT (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

tation , one of the houses

FIG. 2y0. — CROUCHING FIGURE
HOLDING A DIVINITY (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. Legrain.)

of Rameses II. At Medinet-Habii,
we find similar ruins in the same
situation ; the south porch of the
first court, with its eight bell-
shaped columns , was , as it were,
the religious face of a palace of Ra
meses III., now destroyed (Fig. 275).
Three doors opened into it, and
from a sort of tribune the balcony
of which projected from the centre
of the wall, Pharaoh took part in
the ceremonial of worship without
having to mingle with the crowd.
The building was in brick, with
details of stone and enamelled
earthenware ; it has been ravaged
by antiquity-hunters, and collectors
of manure, but the remains of a
villa of Amenophis III., still visible
156

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
about 1200 yards further south, give us an idea of what it was.
Like the feudal castle of our own past, the Theban palace was

FIG. 297.— KNEELING FIGURE
CARRYING A TRIAD (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.).

FIG. 298.— A PERSON SEATED ON
THE GROUND WITH ONE LEG FLAT
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

rectangular on plan, and a solid wall,
almost without doors or windows, en
closed it. When this was passed, one
entered a labyrinth of little courts, col
umned rooms, alcoves, and dark cells
leading one into the other and often
ending in a blind alley. The main parts
of the structure are of sun-dried bricks,
some of them stamped with the royal
cartouche. The floor is of beaten clay,
so firmly pounded that it is almost as
hard as stone. The walls were plastered
with a coating of mud similar to that
still used in Egyptian villages. The ap
pearance of the various places does not
everywhere suggest how domestic life
was carried on in these interiors. We
may, however, surmise that two oblong
halls, upheld by two parallel lines of
wooden columns with limestone bases,
157

FIG. 2Q9.
SURVEYOR WITH
HIS LINE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT
were guard-rooms; courtiers and officers of the crown no doubt
thronged them, taking up their positions in hierarchical order
on audience -days. A modest ante-room led thence into the

FIG. 300. — RAMESES PUSHING A BOAT (DESTROYED) (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

private apartment, where persons honoured by admission to the
royal presence saw before them, enframed between two painted
wooden columns, the dais on which Pharaoh deigned to show
himself. Bath-rooms were numerous ; three of these still contain
the water -conduits and the stone slabs on which the bather
crouched or lay to be dried or massaged. Several bedrooms
follow one another close by, with the
platform on which the bed was raised.
Other rooms, small and bare, seem
to have been for the use of servants',
it is not known where the kitchens
and store-rooms were situated. To
sum up , we have here one of those
princely residences of which there are
so many not very comprehensible
sketches in the tombs of £l-Amarna.
They were slight in structure like
the houses of modern Egypt, but
covered with paintings which dis
guised the poverty of the material.
Vultures with outspread wings ho
vered on the ceilings, together with
flights of pigeons (Fig. 276), or ducks
imprisoned in frames of undulating
lines or many-coloured spirals. On
the pavements fountains were traced,
158

Kl(., 301. -AMKN'OH-llS II. AND
THE SERPENT MARlTSAKRO
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 302.— TWO PRISONERS TIED
BACK TO BACK (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch).

or thickets of aquatic plants,
where oxen graze and frolic
(Fig. 277) ; fish swim under the
water, ducks cruise among the
lotuses (Fig. 278) , and captives
bound in constrained attitudes
are ranged in lines along the
banks. Civil architecture seems there
fore to have progressed , and
perhaps if we knew more of the
palaces of the Memphite age,
comparison would show those
of the Thebans to have been
richer in treatment, and more
complex in arrangement; mili
tary architecture had not been
modified in any way, and the
reason of its immobility is obvi
ous. The conditions of war on
the banks of the Nile had not changed since the old days, and
since the expulsion of the Shepherds, conquering Egypt had
never experienced a reverse serious enough to cause her to
reconstruct the
walls of her towns
on a new plan.
Not that the Pha
raohs had not, in
Syria , attacked
stone citadels built
on the most scien
tific principles ;
only one of them,
however , Rame
ses III., gave him
self the pleasure of
showing his good
Thebans what he
had seen in Syria,
by way of comme
morating his vic
tories. Across the
eastern front of
159

A JAR (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)
FIG. 303. — SLAVE BEARING

FIG. 304. -GROTESQUE SLAVE
BEARING A JAR (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 305. — QUEEN TUITISHERE
(British Museum). (Phot Perrin.)

FIG. 306.— STATUE OF AMENOPHIS I.
(Museum, Turin). (Phot Petrie.)

his sepulchral chapel at Medinet-Habu, he raised a battlemented
wall of sandstone, averaging about 13 feet in
height. This was the equivalent of the brick
screen of the old Egyptian fortresses, and the
rampart it covered was of brick , but the first
gateway has the appearance of a veritable migdol,
a pair of pincers in masonry, gripping a parade-
ground which diminishes sharply; the two branches
are reunited at the end by a building of two
storeys where the real entrance appears (Fig. 279).
The towers are about 70 feet high. The base
is sloping, to prevent sappers from approaching
the foot of the wall , and to cause the pro:
jectiles thrown by the defenders from the curtain
to ricochet against their assailants. This is a
solitary example, and here again the Egyptians,
having proved themselves skilful imitators of
the foreigner, returned to their secular habits.
Thus, during these centuries of prosperity, all
their natural talents and all their faculties of
invention seem to have been concentrated on
a single object, the perpetual aggrandisement
and embellishment of the temple, whether as
the lodging of the gods, or the refuge of dead
160

FIG. 307. — STATVE
OF AMENuPHIS I.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 308.
HEAD OF AN ATLAS OF THOTHMES I.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot Legrain.)

kings whose souls wearied of
the darkness of the hypogeum.
They did not at once realise
the ideal they had set before
themselves, and so many mo
numents have perished that we
are no longer able to recon
stitute the series of forms through
which they passed, before reach
ing the complex types of Luxor
and Medinet-Habu. I have tried
to note a few, but there are
others to study. Actual results
impress us most strongly with
the richness of inspiration to
which these buildings bear wit
ness, and the vigour with which
their builders realised their boldest inventions in situ; no archi
tects have ever rivalled them in the treatment of mass, and the
Pharaohs made no vain boast when they declared in their
inscriptions that they had erected imperishable stones. True,
these admirable unknown artists did
not all show equal talent, and the
mediocre is not entirely absent in the
work, but many of them proved
themselves true men of genius, and
their names, had they been transmitted
to us by their contemporaries, would
deserve to be inscribed side by side
with those of the artists to whom we
owe the noblest monuments of Greece
and Rome. The temple as created by
them is one of the most original and
mighty conceptions of the human in
tellect, not only in Egypt under the
Theban dynasties, but among all peoples
and in all ages.
B. PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.
In painting and sculpture, as in archi
tecture, relics are almost innumerable,
and they follow in such strict chrono- ^ ,09 _QUEEN ISIS (Mu.
logical order that we may study the Seum, Cairo). (Phot.E. Brugsch.)
161 M

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 310. — HEAD OF A STATUE
OF THOTHMES III. (Museum,
" ' o). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

..airol.

development of one of the great schools,
the Theban , if not from year to year,
at least from reign to reign. This is
not the case of the others, save
perhaps that of Abydos; at Hermopolis
and Memphis, and in the Delta, our
lack of knowledge is such that we
cannot as yet discern the progress of
art. If, however, we compare and co
ordinate the data we have gained, we
are enabled to deduce from them a
number of facts and conclusions appli
cable not only to Thebes, but to the
whole of Egypt.
In the first place, the principles and
methods of decorative art underwent
such serious modification, that it is
impossible to confound certain series
of bas-reliefs and funerary or martial
pictures of the second Theban Empire
with similar pictures of the Twelfth Dynasty and the Memphite
age. The design remains just as pure (Fig. 280) and the sketches
in black in the tomb of Seti I. and certain Theban hypogea
(Fig. 281) will bear comparison with
the best of those which abound in
the mastabas of Sakkarah or Gizeh.
But the boldness of the artist has
grown with the practice of centuries,
and he attacks compositions and
movements which would have dis
couraged his ancestors. The rough
sketches drawn upon fragments of
stone by the band who decorated
the syrinx of Rameses IV. bear
witness to amazing firmness of touch
and an inexhaustible variety of
imagination. Whether the king
charges at the utmost speed of his
horses (Fig. 282), or walking se
dately, brings a minute prisoner to
the gods (Fig. 283) ; whether the
kneeling priest raises his hands to
heaven in prayer (Fig. 284) , or
162

FTG. 3IT.
THOTHMES IV. ANII HIS MOTHER
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 312. — THE
GODDESS SEK-
EET AT KARNAK.
(Phot. Legrain.)

two wrestlers close before seizing each other
(Fig. 285) , the line is always equally flexible
and boldly touched ; a certain head of a man
heightened with a few dashes of red (Fig. 286)
is a marvel of swift precision , and few of our
contemporaries could have given a more realistic
rendering of the girl-acrobat, throwing herself
back for a somersault, on the ostrakon at Turin
(Fig. 287). We find the same freedom, combined
with a greater delicacy of line , in the finished
pictures at Sheikh-Abd-el-Kurnah , a couple of
citizens (Fig. 288), a pair of musician-priestesses
(Fig. 289), and, at El-Amarna, the two little
nude princesses on their cushion, caressing one
another with gentle and ingenuous gestures
(Fig. 290). The composition, too, has matured,
and is almost equal to the drawing. The Mem
phite artist had been wont to resolve the simul
taneous operations of an agricultural scene or
of a battle into their simple elements, which
he superposed in independent rows. The Theban,
under the Ahmessids and their successors, did
not discard the artifice of the various registers; he even ad
hered to it strictly in the treatment of religious subjects;
neither in a temple nor in a tomb
did he cease to observe the tradition
bequeathed to him by antiquity. But
it was no longer the same when he
passed from pictures ef the divine to
those of civil or military life, and
this greater liberty is explained at
least in part by the constant progress
made by painting from the preceding
age onwards. Without entirely aban
doning its part as the auxiliary of
sculpture, it had learned to separate
itself from it, and to dispense with
its collaboration upon occasion. As
I have already indicated, the nature
of the Theban mountains had a good
deal to do with this. They consist
of a very fine limestone, the strata
of which were dislocated by some
163

FIG. 313. — STATI'E OF A MONKEY
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
M 2

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 314.
ONE OF THE LIONS OF GEBEL-BARKAL
(British Museum, London).

remote cataclysm, in such a manner that it does not lend
themselves everywhere to the work of the chisel with the same
facility. Though solid
enough in the Valley of
the Kings, it cracks in
every direction at Sheikh-
Abd-el-Kurnah, and is full
of huge flints, which had
first to be removed, and
then replaced by in
serted fragments. Hence,
inm any cases the decor-
rators of tombs were
content to cover the
surface with a plaster
which hid the defects,
and to paint on this in distemper what they would have carved
under more favourable conditions. Seduced by the facilities of
the brush, they became even more emancipated than their pre
cursors of the Twelfth Dynasty. They multiplied the motives on
their ceilings, and added to the stars and geometrical designs
which had hitherto pre
dominated, elements bor
rowed from nature, single
florets , bouquets of
lotus, bulls' heads, flying
birds, groups of hiero
glyphs of the happiest
effect. They continued,
from a lingering respect
for the traditions of the
past, to surround their
figures with a line which
recalled the effects of the
primitive reliefs (Fig. 291),
but they grouped them
in attitudes increasingly
natural, and they broke
down the tyranny of
the superposed registers.
Thenceforth , if , wishing
• n :  ,  ,. to represent work in the
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch!) fields , they chose to
164

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

316.— BAS-RELIEF OF THE COW HaTHOR
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

express it , as we do , by the normal methods of perspective,
they were free to do so. As in the tomb of Nakht, they set
upon the walls, at
various heights , ac
cording to distance,
the persons who play
a part in the action:
the dead man super
intending his work
men, ploughmen turn
ing the furrow , the
sower scattering seed,
labourers breaking
the sod with pickaxes,
a woodman cutting
down a tree , the
thirsty toiler taking
a draught from his
leather jar (Fig. 292).
The experiment is a
clumsy one, more akin to the scenes on a Chinese screen than
to our landscapes, but it is an essay in perspective, and this
is no isolated example; we find several others in the painted
hypogea of Sheikh-Abd-el-Kurnah. From
fresco, the method passed rapidly to
bas-relief, and we find it on pylons; here
the artist gives us, not offerings and sacri
fices , but battles , as at Luxor and the
Ramesseum, where the entire surface is
one vast composition, in which the actors
assemble and disperse without any sepa
ration of the planes by lines (Fig. 293).
There is no unity of action , but a com
plete narrative is set forth, some of the
incidents of which are historical, as, for
instance, the battle of Kadesh, the council
of war held by the Egyptian generals,
and the report of the spies, the surprise
of the camp by the Hittites, Rameses II.
charging, the arrival of the reinforcements,
the battle on the banks of the Orontes,
the sortie of the Amorrhaeans who saved
the remnant of the Asiatic army. As we
165

FIG. 317.— THE COW OF
DER-EL-BAHARI (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 318.— STATUE
OF AMENOPHIS III.
CLOTHED IN THE
ASSYRIAN MANNER.
(Phot. Chassinat.)

know the main theme from literary texts, we
do not find any great difficulty in inter
preting the artistic developments of it, but
it must be admitted that if we had only the
picture , it would be very difficult for us
to establish the chronology of events and
distinguish their progress with any certainty.
The Ramesside artist was as yet incapable
of discerning the decisive moments and
seizing the critical point of a battle; he piled
up his incidents in a more or less haphazard
fashion, without troubling about the time
when they happened, and their influence upon
the final result. His chief concern was to
make the presence of Pharaoh conspicuous,
and to rivet attention upon him. In every
crisis, he grouped the secondary personages
round the king, and the better to draw the
eye of the spectator to this figure, he made
him of heroic size. At Luxor as in the
Ramesseum. Rameses II., standing in his
chariot, and piercing the flying Asiatics with
his shafts , is the centre of the action. The
artifice which

consists in attributing colossal pro
portions to the prince , is puerile
in itself; but in a huge "machine"
such as the illustrated record of
a battle, it is, after all, the only
means of giving a kind of unity
to the decoration.
Progress in less apparent in
sculpture, and it was long sup
posed that here artists had merely
carried on the Memphite tradition,
while falsifying and degrading it.
We so often recognise the formulae
of the age of the Pyramids in their
works, that we get the impression
that nothing had been changed ;
but as soon as we examine their
details, we find that novelties
abound. Let us take, for instance, 166

FIG. 319.— COLOSSAL GROUP OF
AMENOPHIS III. AND THI (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG 320. — THE TWO COLOSSAL FIGURES
OF MEMNON AT THEBES. (Phot Beato.)

the erect figure , sovereign
or subject, receiving homage.
He stands straight and firm,
one foot advanced, but his
hands , which formerly were
either empty, or grasped a
fragment of a sceptre or a
handkerchief, are now loaded
with gigantic emblems. These
are in general sacred ensigns,
stout halberds surmounted by
the head of a human or
animal divinity ; sometimes
he is content with one, some
times he demands two
(Fig. 294), the lower extre
mities of which rest on the
ground beside his feet, while
their faces enframe his head
right and left. Groups of
two seated persons, or triads
incorporated with a supporting slab at the back, like the Ra
meses II. between Amon and Mut (Fig. 295), are conceived
entirely in the ancient taste, but
in the isolated figures, the sitter
does not merely lay his right hand
on his breast, like the Rahetep
at Medum; he grasps an Osirian
crook, a scourge, a scroll, or, if
a woman, a handkerchief, a spray
of blossom, a sistrum. The kneeling
or crouching figure, which has
become frequent, bears in front
of it an altar, a naos, a triad
(Fig. 297), a statuette of a divi
nity (Fig. 296); a roll of rope,
surmounted by a ram's head, denotes
the calling of land-surveyor exer
cised by the model (Fig. 299). Other
types present themselves which
never occurred among the earlier
works, such as that of a person
seated with one knee drawn up,
167

FIG. 321.
AMENOPHIS, SON OF HAPU
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. Legrain.)

ART IN EGYP1

FIG. 322.
AMENOPHIS, THE CROUCHING SCRIBE
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the other flat against the ground
under him (Fig. 298), and that
of the kneeling king who drags
himself along the ground in
front of the god , pushing an
object of worship or an of
fering, an altar, a jar, or a
sacred boat (Fig. 300). In
like manner, scenes which exist
ed only in bas-reliefs on the
walls , are detached from it,
and become stone groups ; the
king standing between Horus
and Set, and receiving from
them the waves of the water
of life, the king escorted by his
lion and conducting a chained
barbarian to the god, a lion
devouring a captive, a seated
scribe reading a book and
carrying a little monkey on his neck, (an incarnation of the god
Thoth), a foster father squatting on his haunches and holding to
his breast the royal child whose education is confided to him.
The Asiatic or negro prisoners bound
back to back are treated with an
amazing realism, sometimes verging
on caricature (Fig. 302). The beasts
themselves play their part, and the
cow Hathor or the serpent Maritsakro
attach themselves to a Pharaoh in
order to protect him (Fig. 301). All
these are in stone , sometimes life-
size, and show a facility of invention
and a flexibility of execution we
should hardly look for in the second
Theban period. Wood was less in
favour for statues than formerly, save
for those ritual figures of which only
fragments remain , but it was com
monly used for the statuettes which
took the place of the double-statues
in the tombs of the lower middle
class, and for certain objects of
168

FIG. 323. — SENNEFER, HIS WIFE
AND DAUGHTER (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

industrial art which demanded the human figure, such, for in
stance, as the bearers of jars of kohol; here, the number of
new forms is considerable : foreign
slaves bowed beneath a sack or a jar
(Figs. 303, 304), children gathering
flowers, young girls swimming and
pushing a duck or a goose before
them. There was the same variety in
metal-work, but the majority of the
gold and silver statues have disappear
ed, and only s small number of bronze
examples remain. Statuary, whether
in stone, wood, or metal, may be said
to have developed in every direction ; far
from being inferior to that of preceding
'ages, it surpasses it, as we have just
; seen , in variety of motive , and very
often equals it in beauty of handling.
The first monuments we possess of
the time of the Ahmessids are still
fairly faithful to the style of the preceding schools. This is
notably the case in the figure of Queen Tuitishere , in London
(Fig. 305), and in the two statues of Amenophis I. at Turin

FIG. 324.— HEAD OF A MAN
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch).

FIG. 325.— TORSO AND HEAD
OF A WOMAN (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

169

326.— MOND'S STATUETTE.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

'"- .,_ ^ T^

S*Sfc=™— J^T.^' ^— -..¦_--- --' S

i— — ¦, ^r

f^^1^2U>.(f

¦ • i

?,*?«?.«="

FIG. 327.— THE EGYPTIAN FLEET, AT DER-EL-BAHARI. (Phot. Beato.)

and Cairo. That at Turin (Fig. 305) is an admirably preserved
work in white limestone; the king is seated, confronting the
spectator , in the hieratic attitude , and but for the cartouches,
we might well take it for a work of the Twelfth Dynasty.
The Cairo statue (Fig. 307) is mutilated, but the face and bust
are intact; the king was invested with the insignia of Ta-Tenen
and his flesh was painted. It has all the delicacy of the ancient
Memphite schools, together with the
firmness of chisel and the virile
air which are characteristic of the
Thebans. The head of one of the
Atlantes now at Cairo, erected by
Thothmes I. in the court of the
obelisk at Karnak, establishes, I
think, the transition from the an
cient to the modern style. As it
retains the red colouring, it is
very life-like in appearance, in
spite of the loss of the head-dress
(Fig. 308). The Pharaoh himself
seems to be welcoming the visitor,
and his round face , his smiling
eyes, his dimpled cheeks and amiable
mouth , recall the features of the
Sesostris at Lisht; it is further
characterised by a firmness of touch
170

FIG. 328.— QUEEN AAHMES AT
DER-EL-BAHARI. (Phot Beato.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 329. — QUEEN TH1, AT SHE1KH-
ABD-EL-KURNAH. (Phot. Weigall.)

and an individuality of expression
lacking in the others. When once
the royal workshop was organised,
the multiplicity of orders that flowed
in soon awoke in it qualities quies
cent since the invasion of the Shep
herds, to which it added new ele
ments, derived, I think, from in
fluences coming from other parts
of the valley. The Thebans alone
would not have sufficed for the
decoration of monuments, temples,
or tombs. They received provincial
auxiliaries, and borrowed from them
something of the traditions and
temperament these brought with them
from their native cities. Thus rein
forced, the school subdivided into
several branches, each of which
soon assumed its personal physiog
nomy. I should, for instance, attribute a good proportion of the
royal statues at Turin, and others recently brought to light in
the favissa, the Isis, the Thothmes III. and the Senmut, to a
single workshop , probably
established at Karnak. The
statuette of the queen Isis
(Fig. 309) reveals the initiator
of the facial type which pre
vailed under the Ahmessids for
three generations, the hooked
nose, the large prominent eyes,
the fleshy mouth, the round
face. The heavy wig which
encases the head was not calcu
lated to make the sculptor's
task easier ; he managed, how
ever, to minimise its dis
astrous effect. Thothmes III.
has his mother's face, but the
type is less hard (Fig. 310).
The statue is of fine schist,
and no reproduction could do FIG- 330— head of a statuette of
¦ .. . Ii iv r .1 QUEEN THI (Museum, Cairo).
justice to the delicacy of the (Phot. e. Brugsch.)
171

ART IN EGYPT

modelling; the play of the muscles is noted discreetly, with
extraordinary felicity , and as the imperceptible shadows it pro
duces vary as we pass round the figure,
the expression of the features seems to
change every moment. The kneeling
statues of Amenophis II. offering wine
or water, are not unworthy of the series;
although they show less individuality
than the Thothmes III. and the couple,
Thothmes IV. and his mother, they are
not wanting in natural grace (Fig. 311).
The touch of the chisel is identical in
all, and reveals a common origin. I may
say the same of the group representing
the little princess Neferu -Ra and her
guardian Senmut. Nothing could be less
conventional than the free gesture with
which the worthy man clasps the child,
and the confident self-abandonment with
which it nestles against his breast. The
natural movement harmonises well with
the intellectual benevolence of the face
and the smile in the eyes and on the
thick lips. We have here further a direct proof that the Thebans,
like the Memphite artists, were concerned above all things to
get likeness in their portraits. The mummy of Thothmes III.
has certainly suffered ; the face
shrivelled in the course of em
balming, and the shrinking of
the flesh, the sinking of the
eyes, the discoloration of the
skin, the flattening of the nose,
make it very different to what
it was in life. Nevertheless, if
superficial relief has been lost,
that of the substructure has en
dured ; when we compare it
with the modelling of the statue,
we are obliged to admit that
they are alike, and that the
sculptor has perpetuated the
expression of life which has
passed away from the mummy.
172

FIG. 331. — STATUETTE OF
AMENOPHIS IV.
(The Louvre, Paris).

FIG. 332.— HEAD OF ONE OF THE
IANOPIC JARS OF AMENOPHIS IV.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 333. — WALL IN ONE OF THE TOMBS OF
EL-AMARNA. (Phot. Bouriant.)

It would have been
strange if people so skil
ful in rendering the human
form had not been masters
of the treatment of ani
mals. The lion and its
offspring the sphinx,
the ram , the monkey
(Fig. 313), the falcon, the
vulture, inspired the The
bans in admirable works.
Never was the faculty
of welding the members
of different beings into
a single body carried
further than in such cre
ations as the sphinx of
Queen Hatshepset at
Rome, the sphinx of
Thothmes III. at Cairo,
the Sekhet with the lion's
head, standing (Fig. 312)
or sitting, the various
hieracocephalous (falcon-headed) and criocephalous (ram-headed)
sphinxes, and rams. The
lions of Amenophis III. at
Gebel-Barkal (Fig. 314),
have a nobility of atti
tude and a truth of
physiognomy which was
always lacking in the lions
of the Greek and Roman
sculptors. They were pro
ducts of the royal work
shops, and to one of
these, no doubt, we must
also attribute the Amen
ophis II. in black gran
ite, standing and leaning
against the swelling neck
of the goddess of the
dead, the serpent Marit- , , „ ,.,11S
Sakro, who IS thus in- (Museum, Berlin).
173

ART IN EGYPT

dicated as his pro
tector. The execu
tion here is minute
and trivial ; the work
is faithfully rendered
mythology and no
thing more. But the
cow discovered by
Naville in an almost
perfect chapel at Der-
el-Bahari (Fig. 315), is
a work of a very dif
ferent order. This is
equal, if not superior
to the best achieve
ments of Greece and
Rome in this genre,
and we have to come
down through the ages
to the greatest animal sculptors of our own days before we
find a work of such striking reality. She is encumbered with
mystic emblems, the head-dress of discs and feathers between

AMENOPHIS IV

FIG. 335.
THE QUEEN, AND THEIR CHILDREN
(Museum, Berlin).

FIG. 33"-
CAST UK THE IIKAI) OF AMENO
PHIS IV. (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

174

FIG. 337.— STUDY WITH THE POINT
FOR THE PORTRAIT OF A PERSON OF
THE TIME OF AMENOPHIS IV.
(Museum, Berlin).

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
her horns, and two tufts of lotus, springing from the ground
at her feet, rise to her shoulders (Fig. 317). In her the faithful
adored Hathor, posted at the edge
of the western marsh to intercept
those who had lately died, and ini
tiate them into the life beyond the
tomb; nevertheless, the sculptor
reduced the religious paraphernalia
to their simplest expression. Was
it he who created the theme, or
who, in other words, detached it
from the bas-reliefs (Fig. 316) to
translate it into the round? His
goddess is no conventional cow
modelled upon a traditional form;
she is an individual creature chosen
for her beauty from among the
sacred flock. In spite of her trap
pings and her Pharaoh, we recog
nise in her the kindly maternal beast,
gentle, strong, vigorous, and natural.
The master she inspired modelled
the relief of sides and hind-quarters lovingly, and we almost see
the quivering of the skin under the caresses of the light. In
the head he even
had recourse to
technical artifices
which appear for
the first time in
this example , as
far as I know; he
treated the nostrils
and cheeks with a
fine rasp or file,
and the furrows
left by the tool
express in a very
curious manner the
perpetual tremor
that agitates the
face. Life has been

FIG. 338.— BUST OF AMON AT
KARNAK. (Phot. Legrain.)

FIG. 339.— TRIUMPHAL BAS-RELIEF OF SETI I. AT KARNAK.

breathed into the stone; the nostrils quiver with the breath that
passes through them, and the eyes are half closed in indolent
175

ART IN EGYPT

K?^^H

¦Kl .1 ^B

Hkv'vb*
Hi
K^^l
g i
¦fefe*
FIG. 340.— FRAGMENT OF A STA
TUETTE OF PERTR1FIED WOOD
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)
reverie. The figure of Pharaoh does not rise above the average ;
I am nevertheless inclined to think that the group , taken as a
whole, is the finest achievement of
the Theban School under the Ahmes-
sids. The mutilated statue of Amen
ophis III. in Assyrian dress (Fig. 31 8)
is an eccentricity. The gigantic
group of Amenophis III. and Thi or
Ti, in the Cairo Museum (Fig. 319)
is a marvel of purely material dex
terity, but it is nothing more, and
it has no merit save the immensity
of its proportions. The colossal
figures in red sandstone which this
same Pharaoh placed at the entrance
of his sepulchral temple on the left
bank of Thebes, the two Memnons,
measure 65 feet in height (Fig. 320).
They are correct in style , and
highly elaborated; in their present
mutilated condition, they are chiefly
effective as mass , and they impress
by their isolation in the middle of
the plain rather than by their beauty. The art of the private workshops
is perhaps less familiar to us than
that of the royal studios , but it
was far from inferior to this. The
high priest Amenophis, son of
Hapu , is a very happy creation,
in spite of those retouches of the
Ptolemaic period which have modi
fied the expression of the face
(Fig. 321). His namesake provides
us with a good example of the
type of the seated scribe treated
in the new manner (Fig. 322). Let
us turn to the trio in black granite
from Karnak (Fig. 323), the husband
and wife seated on the same seat,
the child standing between the two.
 , They are Theban notables heavy
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. e. Brugsch.) ot torm and insignificant of feature.
176
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

Sennefer is well pleased with himself, and not without reason;
he is commandant of the Thebaid ; he wears round his neck the
necklace of four rows, and on his
breast the two circular ornaments, the
insignia of his rank; his wife was the
king's foster-mother, and their daughter
appears to be well married. The artist
has fixed on the stone, perhaps with
a touch of irony, the expression of
gratified vanity that irradiated their
persons. The handling is very searching,
and the only touch of convention is to
be found in the torso of the man,
where the loose folds caused by age
and soft living are noted with an ex
cess of symmetry. It is a pity that
only fragments have survived of a couple
contemporary with the last Ahmessids,
who were buried at Sheikh -Abd-el-
Kiirnah. The head only (Fig. 324) of
the man has come down to us, and
even this has lost the nose, the chin,
and part of the mouth, but the woman
has suffered less (Fig. 325). In spite of the mutilation of the
nose, the face is charming, with the
low forehead almost concealed by
the wig, the narrow eyes slanting
upwards towards the temples, the
slightly prominent cheek-bones, and
the full mouth, the corners of which
melt into dimples. The cape and
the pleated robe in which she is
draped reveal a well modelled arm
and define the contours of the body;
,w.e divine beneath the veil healthy
hips , a slender waist , and round,
1 .firm breasts. The details of the dress
and ornaments, which were laid on
with the brush, have worn away,
but the material, a close, crystalline
limestone resembling alabaster, is
of a most agreeable creamy tone. The unknown woman whose
portrait, half the size of life (Fig. 326), was discovered by Mond
177 N

FIG. 342.— THE SO-CAL
LED THI (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 343.— TUTANKHAMEN.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

in 1906, has the same attitude and a similar costume, an almost
transparent drapery from which the left hand emerges .holding
a lotus-flower to the breast. The bust
is not fully developed, and the breasts
are so small that they hardly swell
the drapery that veils them. The artist
has seized the characteristics of the
first dawn of womanhood with much
truth and penetration, and the discreet
manner in which he suggests the over-
slender grace of the model under the
dress is masterly. The wig is so in
geniously arranged that instead of
crushing the face, it forms a frame
round it , and gives it importance.
This face changes in character, and
almost seems to change its century,
according to the angle at which we
study it. Confronting us, it is round
and full , without superabundance or
looseness of flesh, that of a pleasant
little Theban girl, pretty, but vulgar
in structure and expression. In profile,
between the wings of her wig, which fall upon her shoulders

FIG. 344- — HEAD OF A STATUE
OF HERU-EM-HEB (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 345.— ZAI AMI NAI
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

178

FIG. 346.— AMON AND MUT
(Uuseum.Cmro). (Phot.E.Brugsdi)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 34/. —BAS-RELIEF OF SETI I.
AT KARNAK. (Phot. Banville.)

like two long side-curls, she has a malicious and mutinous
subtlety very uncommon among Egyptian women ; she might
well pass for a contemporary of
our own , who had donned an
antique headdress and costume out
of caprice , or a refinement of co
quetry. Great as was the activity of the
statuary, that of the mural sculptor
was not inferior to it. The de
coration of the innumerable temples
which were built at this period, not
only at Thebes, but in the provinces,
admitted of very little novelty in
the dogmatic portions, and the scenes
depicting the bringing of offerings
or ritual solemnities, differ but
slightly from such representations in
earlier ages. They seem, however,
to be crowded together more close
ly, and to be more numerous;
perhaps some of them, such as the
issuing forth in procession with the divine bari, are much
than the rest; they have less stiffness
than the ancient pictures, and greater
richness and variety in the accessories.
In the majority, however, the hieratic
element persists, and they do not
impress the spectator by rapidity
of movement, nor by the grouping
of the figures, but by correctness
of line and perfection of modelling.
Go to Karnak, or to Der-el-Bahari;
the basreliefs of Thothmes, of Queen
Hatshepset and of Amenophis are
masterpieces of skilled graving and
harmonious colour. Study, at Der-
el-Bahari, the Queen Aahmes-Nefert-
ari, who has come to the end of
her pregnancy, and is being con
ducted to her bed of labour by the
divinities who protect women in "^^^'"^ST^
travail ; the expression of pain and (Phot. Beato.)
179 N 2

later

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 349.— BAS-RELIEF IN THE MEMNONIUM OF
SETI I. AT ABYDOS. (Phot. Beato.)

weariness on her face, and the languor and self-abandonment
of her whole person, make this figure a most accomplished piece
of sculpture (Fig. 328).
Or take the highly
entertaining expedi
tion to Punt as a
contrast to the gentle
sentiment of the above.
The artist was not
content to give a
general impression of
the voyage of an Egyp
tian fleet (Fig. 327);
he has noted in detail
the local scenery, the
conical huts perched
on piles above the
level of inundation,
the fat women , the
giraffes, the monkeys,
the oddly-shaped fish.
If, as I imagine, the workshop which carved this fragment of a
maritime epic in the limestone was the same to which we owe
the cow, we need feel no surprise at the mastery displayed.
The sculptors of Karnak were not
so successful with the triumph of
Amenophis II. on his return from
Syria; from this they only extracted
the material for a series of vignettes,
skilfully combined, but without charm
or originality. The private workshops
surpassed the royal ones, indeed, in
many cases, and the tombs of Sheikh-
Abd- el -Kurnah contain the finest
paintings and bas-reliefs of the
Eighteenth Dynasty. The soft and
ductile limestone of the hill lent
itself to all the subtleties and even
to all the fantasies of the chisel;
thanks to it, the Thebans of Amen
ophis III. had attained a mastery
far greater than that of the Mem
phites. Their relief is rather higher
180

}¦¦-''

!
-*¦ 1

1

FIG. 350. — SETI I. AT ABYDOS.
(Phot. Beato.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 351. — PRINCE RAMESES,
AFTERWARDS RAMESES 11.
AT ABYDOS. (Phot Beato)

and rounder, and consequently less dry
than that of the Fifth Dynasty; at the
same time the arrangement of the epi
sodes is richer and less immutable. The
hypogea of Iuaa, Kha-emhet, and a score
of others , shattered , ravaged and muti
lated though they are , contain , to my
mind, some of the best, perhaps indeed
the best, of the Egyptian bas-reliefs.
The touch in these is fat, long, and bold,
the drawing free and flowing; we seem
to behold Amenophis III. , Queen Thi
(Fig. 329) and Iuaa themselves. Artists
of a later period may have equalled
these works, but they never surpassed
them. Then suddenly, at the moment when
Thebes had reached its apogee, the
semi-religious, semi -political madness of
Amenophis IV. compromised the existence
of its art, and drawing out a provincial school from the ob
scurity in which it was vegetating, sought to substitute it for
that of Thebes. When he
transferred his capital to
El-Amarna, he might have
taken with him the whole
or a part of the artistic
staff of Karnak; the men
who had worked so val
iantly for his father, had
lost nothing of their vigour ;
the little portrait of Thi
at Cairo (Fig. 330), the
statuette which one of
them made of him , now
in the Louvre (Fig. 331),
are only to be equalled
by the marvellous heads of
his Canopic jars (Fig. 332) ;
and the decorators of
the tomb of his minister
Kamosis , it they were FIG j52 _SETI Ti AKD THE three goddesses
not the same who worked m the memnonium at abydos. (Phot. Beato.)
181

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 353.— SETI n. IN HIS
TOMB. (Phot. Insinger.)

on that of Iuaa, were fully equal to these. At El -Amarna,
the manner of attacking the stone differs entirely from the Theban
method, and is rather clumsy; it betrays
an old-fashioned technique, which still
persisted at Hermopolis, the largest town
in the region; the ancient hypogea of
Beni-Hasan revealed its character in the
works of the Twelfth Dynasty. If we
place the works of the two periods side
by side, it will sufficiently prove that they
are the outcome of the same teaching
and the same practice. In both cases,
the isolated figures are often drawn with
a clumsy hand , but they are grouped
well ; they act, they overflow with move
ment and life. The episodes are taken
from the lives of actual persons, and
record their great events with a spirit
quite untrammelled by convention. Of
course, the world had progressed since
the days of the Twelfth Dynasty, and
the composition had become more scienti
fic; whereas the artist of Beni-Hasan arranged his wrestlers in
symmetrical groups, his confrere at El -Amarna mingles his persons,
and makes a seething crowd of
them. The king, accompanied by
the queen and one of his daughters,
goes in his chariot to pray in the
temple of Aton, or he summons
one of his favourites to the palace,
to recompense him for his services
by the gift of gold necklaces. He
hands them to the favourite from
the tribune , and the little prin
cesses, amused by the spectacle,
throw down others with ingenuous
gestures ; behind the decorated
favourite , servants indicate their
joy by bows or capers, according
to their social rank and their
education. The private life of
royalty is treated with a famil
iarity hitherto unknown among 182

FIG. 354.— SEPTAH-MENEPTAH IN
His TOMB. (Phot Weigall)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

the Thebans; Pharaoh is
seated at table with his
family, and they are all
gnawing bones covered
with meat; or he lingers
in the harem to play with
his daughters (Fig. 335)
and the queen offers
him a bouquet to smell
(Fig. 334), or, seated
upon his knees, nestles
lovingly against him,
while his children caress
each other on a cushion
before him , in all the
innocence of their age.
The equivalent of such
motives is to be found
elsewhere, but they are
arranged and raised to
the dignity of sacra
mental themes; the no
velty here is the realism

FIG. 355.— SCENE FROM THE TOMB OF SEPTAH-
MENEPTAH. (Phot. Weigall.)

FIG. 356.
SESOSTRIS FIGHTING, AT ABU SIMBEL.

(Phot Oropesa.)

183

with which they are treat
ed. The artists of El-
Amarna worked from
nature even more closely
than those of Thebes; we
have proof of this in the
casts they took (Fig. 336),
the studies with brush
and point by them which
have come down to us
(Fig. 337), and the manner
in which they rendered
the type of the sovereign.
Whereas the Thebans
idealised this, they trans
cribed it as they saw
it , reproducing the low
forehead , the projecting
face , the pointed chin,

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 357.— ONE OF THE DAUGH
TERS OF RAMESES II.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the thin neck, the puffy belly and
the puny limbs. The king took this
in good part , and his courtiers,
adopting the type themselves in
order to flatter, did their best to
resemble it. The result of these
tendencies was a very individual
style , less independent than that
which prevailed in the rest of Egypt,
and , above all , more paradoxical ;
just as the religion of Aton was
nothing but an ancient worship sud
denly raised to the first rank in
order to check the disquieting im
portance of Amon, so the school
of El -Amarna was but an ancient
school drawn forth from its obscurity
by the will of the master, and un
expectedly transformed by him into
a royal workshop.
If the enterprise of Amenophis IV. had succeeded, would the
influence of these Hermopolitans have supplanted that of the
Thebans? It is highly improbable; the Thebans were too skil
fully organised , and possessed too
numerous a clientele for a rapid eclipse
of their prosperity. When, after some
ten or fifteen years , the city of El-
Amarna was abandoned, and the artists
who had shed lustre upon it relapsed
into obscurity, the Theban School
easily resumed its place as the official
school of royalty. They did not, how
ever, take up things again at the
precise point where they had been left
at the death of Amenophis III., at least
as far as the bas-relief was concerned.
We have only to study the pictures
with which Tutankhamen and Heru-em-
heb adorned the lateral walls of the
great colonnade at Luxor to recognise
the influence of Hermopolitan ideas.
Amon comes forth from Luxor towards
Karnak through the streets of the city
184

FIG. 358.— ALABASTER
STATUE OF RAMESES II.
(Museum, Turin). (Phot Aiinari.)

FOUR OF THE ENAMELLED PLAQUES
From the Palace of Rameaes III. at Medinet-Habu
(Museum, Cairo)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

and upon the Nile, and the po
pulation rejoices round him ; the
composition has the regularity
and balance of Theban art, but
many of the accessory scenes,
feasts in the houses , singing,
dancing, military ballets, seem
to have been borrowed from
that of El -Amarna. Heru-em-
heb's master draughtsman had
studied the work of his pro
vincial brethren, and had gleaned
from it certain ideas for the
rejuvenation of the traditional
designs. Some touch of this
inspiration seems to have passed
into the triumphal reliefs of
Seti I. (Fig. 339) and Rameses II.,
but it vanishes almost immedi
ately after these, and, in any case,
it had no influence at all upon
sculpture. This art, hampered
for some years by persecution,
as the heresy died out, and

FIG. 359.— REPLICA OF THE RAMESES II.
AT TURIN (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

recovered its vigour as soon
the royal statuaries of Karnak
produced a series of works comparable to the finest of their
earlier achievements. They comprise, besides the bas-reliefs of
Heru-em-heb on one of his pylons, the Amon (Fig. 338), which
is a portrait of this Pha
raoh , the Khonsu and
the Tutankhamen, the so-
called head of Thi at
Cairo, the group of Heru-
em-heb and Amon at
Turin, perhaps the Cairo
bust of petrified wood
(Fig. 340) , and a few
pieces of less interest.
I think it evident that the
Khonsu (Fig. 341) and the
Tutankhamen (Fig. 343)
are by the same hand.
The two figures might fjg ^ twq coLOssI ON THE S0UTH
almost be superposed ; sloe at abu simbel. (Phot Beato.)
185

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 36I. — COLOSSAL HEAD OF
RAMESES II. (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

the hollow of the eye is of the
same depth in each, the junction
of the nose is identical, as are the
slight inflation of the nostrils, the
pout of the lips, and the constriction
of the corners of the mouth. The
expression of suffering is common
to both faces, but the indications
of ill-health, the obliquity and
sunkenness of the eyes, the
thinness of the cheeks and neck,
and the projecting shoulder-blades
are more marked in the Khonsu
than in the Tutankhamen ; they be
tray consumptive tendencies which
the artist has noted with sufficienl
realism to justify, the diagnosis
of a modern physician. The group
of Heru-em-heb and Amon is less
personal in sentiment; but the two
faces have a beautiful expression , and the technique resembles
that of the others. Its affinities with the so-called Teye are
perhaps less obvious to those who know this only by drawings
or photographs (Fig. 342), but they become
evident enough to a student of the originals,
and the peculiarities of the Khonsu and the
Tutankhamen re-appear here in a modified
form. The queen is not a consumptive, but
the various parts of her face indicate great
delicacy, and the hand which modelled them
is certainly that which treated with so much
subtlety the contemporary images of the god
and the Pharaoh. The Turin group has the
solemn impress suitable to the subject, the
adoption of the sovereign by his father Amon,
and his enthronement; the two heads are
marked, nevertheless, by that air of some
what sickly gentleness which characterises
the others. I should be inclined for the
same reason to class with these the per
sonage called by Mariette Meneptah , who
is in reality Heru-em-heb (Fig. 344). Here,
as with the Khonsu and the Tutankhamen,
186

FIG. 362.— RAMFSES IV.
AND A LIBYAN PRISONER
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 363. — BUST OF A STATUE
OF MENEPTAH (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the hardness of the material , a
close-grained granite, offered serious
difficulties to the sculptor. He
overcame them with almost insolent
success, and this anxious, refined
face is an unforgettable creation.
Seti I. then received from the
Eighteenth Dynasty the Theban
School in the full tide of its pros
perity, and he kept it at this high
level. The few statues of his
period that we have, the group
of Amon and Mut in the Cairo
Museum (Fig. 346) , and that of
Za'i and Nai (Fig. 345), are charming
works, marked by a sentiment and
distinction which were never sur
passed in the sequel. It was indeed
characteristic of Theban art under
this prince, that, refining still more
upon the tendency of Heru-em-heb, it sought grace and elegance
rather than grandeur and energy. True, the religious and
triumphal bas-reliefs (Fig. 347) of the temple of Karnak show
that on occasion it did not lack breadth
and vigour , but these are , after all,
mere bravura pieces without any personal
accent, while the character of the period
is revealed in all its purity at the temple
of Kurnah, the hypogeum of Biban-el-
Muluk (Fig. 348) and the Memnonium
of Abydos. The pictures in the hypo
geum are not all finished, and entire
halls where the designer has finished
his task while the sculptor has never
begun his , are decorated simply with
sketches in red and black inks. These
show very vividly the great practical
dexterity of the ordinary workmen, and
it would be difficult to appreciate too
highly the skill with which the director,
revising the labour of his assistants,
laid the impress of his own talent upon it by means of a few
discreet re-touches (Fig. 349). The general effect, however, is
187

FIG. 364.— HEAD OF PHA
RAOH (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

sad and solemn, as befits
get the full measure of

FIG. 365. — THE PRIEST WITH THE
MONKEY (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

a tomb; it is only at Abydos that we
the genius of the school. Study the
original in situ, and you will not doubt
that the same master designed the
decorations both of temple and hypo-
geum, nor that some at least of the
same assistants collaborated in the
two. The relief is at once flexible
and precise (Fig. 349), a surface which
the chisel lingered over lovingly, giving
a kind of colour to the epidermis by
a multitude of almost imperceptible
strokes. The gods and goddesses
have the features of the sovereign,
and this oft-repeated profile is differ
entiated each time by a new shade
of melancholy languor. To have seen
the Pharaoh and the three goddesses
his companions (Fig. 352) , about ten
o'clock on a fine February morning,
is to understand to what a degree
Egyptian art, so mournful superficially,
may kindle with life and exquisite
tenderness. The funerary workshop, as distinguished from that
of Karnak, persist
ed under the suc
cessors of Seti I.
We owe to it the
Memnonium of Ra
meses II. at Aby
dos, now half de
stroyed, and what
remains of the
battle - scenes of
Kadesh prove to
us that upon oc
casion it was ca
pable of boldness.
After the com
pletion of the Mem
nonium, the work
shop was removed to the left bank, and devoted itself to the
decoration of the royal hypogea; that of Rameses II. is almost
188

FIG. 366.-

-A WALL OF THE HYPOGEUM OF PAHERI AT
EL-KAB. (Phot Insinger.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

equal to that of Seti I., and in those of
Meneptah, Seti II. (Fig. 353) and Septah Menep-
tah, we find isolated figures (Fig. 354) and
scenes (Fig. 355) which prove that it had long
possessed gifted artists. After Septah, all traces
of it are lost, and it is probable that it had
ceased to exist at the time of Rameses III,
at the beginning of the Twentieth Dynasty.
The period of Rameses II. has often been
pronounced the beginning of the artistic de
cadence. No opinion could be less justifiable.
Rameses II. built enormously during his reign
of sixty-seven years, and he was no doubt ob
liged to employ all available artists, good and
bad alike, to satisfy the exigencies of his
monumental mania: wherever the traveller goes
in Egypt, he will almost certainly encounter
a stele wich bears his name, a statue, a votive
bas-relief, a chapel, a temple of his period.
For the most part, these are the works of local
artists, and are no more important than their
authors ; in Nubia , for in
stance, it is difficult to imag
ine the depths of barbaric

FIG. 367.
COLOSSAL FIGURE
OF RAMESES II.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 3D8. — MEMPHITE
PTAH (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

clumsiness into which the artisans who worked
on the hemispeos of Der and that of es-Sabua
descended. Yet it would be incorrect to say
that even here , we recognise decadence , for
there can be no decadence where there is
no art, and such is the case in these two
temples. If we wish to form a just idea of
art under Rameses II. , we must study it
where he maintained a duly organised body
of craftsmen, at Thebes and in its de
pendencies, at Abydos , Memphis and Tanis ;
we shall see then that it compares favourably
with that of preceding ages. The triumphal
bas-reliefs of Luxor, Karnak, the Ramesseum,
and Abu Simbel, all of v/hich represent the
battle of Kadesh, are masterly in their general
treatment, and the artists who composed them
showed great fecundity of imagination when
they had to adapt this single subject to the
189

ART IN EGYPT

varying conditions in each locality,
resulting from the shape and size of
the panels they had to cover. The
religious bas-reliefs are more strictly
conventional; at Thebes, however, they
are of excellent quality. If they become
feebler in certain portions of the
Memnonium at Abydos, it was be
cause, after having re-established the
workshops of Seti I. in the capital,
Rameses II. was forced to make use
of local craftsmen of an inferior type.
In Nubia, at Abu Simbel and Bet-el-
WalT, whither he deported Theban
artists, the suulpture retains its sterling
character. Abu Simbel possesses the
work which Champollion pronounced,
not without reason, the masterpiece
of Egyptian bas-relief, the Sesostris
fighting (Fig. 356). It is somewhat
harsh of aspect, owing to the coarse texture of the sandstone,
but the composition and design are extraordinarily perfect. The
king has already struck down one Libyan chief, and trampling
him underfoot, he seizes

FIG. 369. — THE TRIAD OF
HERACLEOPOLIS (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

another by the arm, to
thrust him through with
his spear; every muscle
is strained by the move
ment, and his whole body
shoots forward to partici
pate in the effort by which
he throws himself upon the
enemy. His opponent is
no longer to be numbered
among the living. His
eyelids quiver, his mouth
relaxes, his head sinks and
droops, his legs give way
under him. The remnant
of life in him is concen
trated in the bust, and
flutters feebly under the sharp point that pierces the flesh; as
soon as the conqueror releases him, he will fall in a heap, and
190

FIG. 370.
FRAGMENT OF A MEMPHITE BAS-RELIEF
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. Quibell.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

371. — MOURNERS CRYING ALOUD IN A FUNERAL
PROCESSION IN THE TOMB OF HARMIN
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

will move no more. Never has the drama of violent death, which
disintegrates the whole man at a stroke, and stretches him inert
on the ground,
been analysed with
such knowledge,
or realised with
such energy.
The statuary is
not perhaps equal
to the bas-reliefs,
although it has be
queathed us sever
al very agreeable
examples, such as
the portrait of one
of the daughters of
Pharaoh (Fig. 357).
In general it is marked by a paradoxical double tendency, on
the one hand to the puerile, on the other to the gigantic. The
alabaster Rameses of the Turin Museum (Fig. 358), with its softly
rounded contours, is still governed by the tradition of Seti I.,
and it belongs to the Theban School, as is proved by the dis
covery of a replica in granite (Fig. 359) which Legrain found in
the favissa at Karnak. The same is undoubtedly the case of the
colossal figures of the
Ramesseum and Abu
Simbel. Those of the
Ramesseum have suf
fered so much that
the only sentiment
they evoke is aston
ishment at their im
mensity, but those at
Abu Simbel fully de
serve the enthusiasm
they inspire in tra
vellers. I have studied
them by day and
by night, from every
angle, and under every
play of light(Fig.360).
At morning, in the pale light of dawn, they seem to be sounding the
distant horizon with a hard, sombre gaze; but soon, when the sun,
191

FIG. 372.— CONVEYANCE OF OFFERINGS IN THE TOMB
OF HARMIN (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

gliding over the mountain-slope, reaches their faces, their eyes light
up, their lips tremble and smile, and for a moment it seems as if
a quiver of life ran through their bodies. We ask ourselves how
the master who created them managed to give them such per
fect proportions, on an incline where it was impossible for him
to stand back, and where he could only begin to judge of his
work when it was already

far advanced. The most
remarkable thing about
these figures is the manner
in which they harmonise
with the landscape; it is
impossible to conceive of
them elsewhere, or, being
here, that they should be
other than they are. We
find it difficult to imagine
the colossal figures of
Memphis or Tanis; placed
in the court of the temple,
like those of the Rames
seum, they must have
been out of proportion
with the statues and
buildings that surrounded
them, and they cannot
have blended harmon
iously with the general
structure as do those of
Abu Simbel. They were
distinguished , neverthe
less, by technical qualities
which make it impossible to forget them; the most famous
of them, the Abu'l-hbl of Mitrahineh, and the figure from
which the colossal head in the Cairo Museum (Fig. 361) was
detached, show no signs of decadence. The decline, indeed, first
declared itself after the the death of Rameses II., during the
civil wars and foreign invasions which darkened the last years of
the Nineteenth Dynasty. It was already manifest under Meneptah
(Fig. 363), and more emphatically under Rameses III., who copied
his illustrious ancestor heavily and clumsily. The sculptures of
Medinet-Habii will not bear comparison with those of Abu Simbel
or Luxor, although some of the pictures, those of the lion-hunt
192

FIG. 373-— FRAGMENT FROM THE TOMB OF
MAIPTAH (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 374.— THE TWO NILE
FIGURES (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

and the aurochs-hunt, for instance, are
very spirited; it is probable that the
king's individual taste militated against
the revival of the school. After him,
under the Twentieth Dynasty, some re
spectable works were produced, which
do not rise greatly above the average;
among the best are a head of Pharaoh
in a helmet, with thick lips, an enor
mous nose, and heavy eyes (Fig. 364),
and a little group in granite of Ra
meses IV. conducting a Libyan prisoner
to the god Amon (Fig. 362). There is
pride in Pharaoh's bearing, the bar
barian's constrained attitude is skilfully
observed, and the movement of the
miniature lion which slips in be
tween the two is rendered with the
naturalism proper to the Egyptian
artist in the treatment of animals.
The priest with the monkey (Fig. 365), or, to call him by his name,
Rameses-nakht, it seated on the ground, studying with an ab
stracted air the contents of a scroll spread across his legs. A
little hairy monkey-headed creature, the
god Thoth, perches on his shoulder, and
reads with him. It was difficult to co
ordinate the man and the animal in a
manner not ungraceful ; the sculptor solved
the problem very creditably. The priest
bends his neck a little, but we feel that
the monkey-god, who is partly concealed
by the head-dress, does not weigh heavily
upon him. The style is Theban, but there
is greater freedom than in the Rameses IV. ;
the latter was no doubt a product of one
of the royal workshops, while the man
with the monkey came from one of the
private workshops at Karnak.
The Theban school, which had enjoyed
such brilliant opportunities while Thebes
maintained its ascendancy in Egypt, declined fig. 375.— piece of in-
rapidly when the political and military crustation in green
" J , , , ", . . r , / ENAMEL (Museum, Cairo).
power devolved on the cities ot the north. (Phot E. Brugsch.)
193 O

ART IN EGYPT

In what particular forms art was mani
fested in the provinces during these long
centuries it is not possible to say with
any certainty, in view of the scarcity
of survivals. The bas-reliefs of the hy
pogea of El-Kab (Fig. 366) and of the
temples of Elephantine, seem to indicate
that those of the south were under Theban
influences, and also those of the centre,
if we may judge by the colossal figure
of Rameses II. from Hermopolis (Fig. 367)
and the triad of Heracleopolis (Fig. 369).
The Memphite School prospered, as we
know by the inscriptions, which tell us
how many temples the Ahmessids and
Ramessids built or restored in the second
of their capitals, but, with the exception
of certain colossal figures of Rameses II.
of which I have already spoken, and the
two great Ptahs in the Cairo Museum,
(Fig. 368), we possess hardly anything which can be ascribed to
it with certainty. It has been thought that Theban influences
are to be recognised in several statues, and this in indubitable

FIG. 376.— ONE OF THE COF
FINS OF THUAA (Museum
Cairo). (Phot. Quibell.)

FIG. 377. — RUST ON THE COFFIN OF
RAMESES H. (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsdi.)

194

FIG. 378.
SANDSTONE BUST OF RAMESES TV.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

in the bas-reliefs from contemporary tombs preserved at Cairo.
Might we not suppose that the personage of Fig. 370 came
from the tomb
of Iuaa or Kha-
emhet ? The
scenes of do
mestic life
and of funer
ary rites are
no longer ar
ranged in the
antique fash
ion , in de
corously co
ordinated re
gisters , with
persons walk
ing one be
hind the other.

FIG. 379. — STATUETTE OF
AMENOPHIS n. IN BLACKENED
WOOD (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 380. — STATUETTE OF
HERU-EM-HEB IN BLACKENED
WOOD (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

The compo
sition and per
spective are
distinctly The
ban, and this is especially noticeable in the tomb of Harmin
(Fig. 372), in the picture of the farewell to the dead (Fig. 371);
the weepers and the women of the family defile before the
mummy, jumping, dancing, tearing their hair, beating tambourines,
while the men run to and fro, waving long reeds to keep away
evil spirits ; the
excited throng has
all the realism of
the times that fol
lowed immediately
after Amenophis IV.
The same may
be said of the
fragments of the
tomb of Maiptah
(Fig. 373) ; the
dancer of the first
register and the carpenter of the second would not be out of
place in the finest tombs of Sheikh-Abd-el-Kurnah or El-Amarna.
The artists of the Delta , with the exception of the Tanites,
195 O 2

FIG. 38I. — ARM OF A CHAIR IN THE FORM OF A FELINE
animal (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 382.
JEWEL CASKET OF AMENOPHIS III.
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E Brugsch.)

have left us almost nothing;
and here the perpetual usurp
ation of the statues of the first
Theban period by Rameses II.
is very perplexing, when we
attempt to show what they owed
to the Nineteenth Dynasty. It
is only after the accession of
Smendes that we find a few
pieces of a well-marked style,
notably the twin figures of Nilus
in the Cairo Museum (Fig. 374),
which bring symmetrically ar
ranged offerings of flowers and
fish to the gods. They resemble
the sphinx of Amenemhat III. in
technique, but the handling is
softer; none the less, they
demonstrate the persistence of
the ancient local art, and only
some happy accident is needed to reveal even more characteristic
works. Such as they are, they justify the belief that the north
of Egypt was not behind the south artistically, and that her
masters, if they did not produce so many remarkable works as
those of Thebes, were capable
of carrying on the tradition of
their founders , and of trans
mitting it, with undiminished lustre,
to future generations.
C. THE MINOR ARTS.
The minor arts, like the major,
had achieved perfection , and
alone would furnish materials for
a history. Pottery, domestic and
funerary furniture , arms , jewels
and goldsmiths' work, are all
the natural development of what
had existed in earlier ages, and
yet we find on every hand com
binations formerly unused, and
elements many of which are
foreign. The Shepherds had
196

FIG. 383. — THE EMPIRE ARM-CHAIR
(Museum , Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

brought from Asia objects of common use and of martial equip
ment hitherto unknown, among them the chariot and the quiver;
conquest and trade introduced others, and
fashion favouring their adoption, the Egyptians
of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties ended
by assimilating table-utensils , arms , and orna
ments , a certain number of which were direct
copies of Amorrhaean , Assyrian , Asiatic and
/Egean models, while the rest betray more or
less markedly the influence of the Eastern Medi
terranean races. When we compare the Mycenaean
daggers and dishes with the Egyptian, and note
their obvious affinity, it is very difficult to
decide which was modelled on, or simply in
spired by the other; to assert, as has been
done, that the Egyptians were the plagiar
ists, is to make a statement which cannot be
proved, while study tends to indicate the exact
opposite. We must further take into account
those reactions and evolutions by means of which
motives and forms long since sent forth to
foreign lands, often return to their original homes
with new arrangements. If we consider the prestige
enjoyed by Egypt among barbarous peoples, and
her supremacy over them , we are obliged to admit a priori
that she was likely to have given them at least as much as she
borrowed from them; though, on the other hand, it is not to
be denied that entire
branches of her industry,
such as ceramics, were
borrowed. She took pos
session of the various
forms of the Mycenaean
vases, their double lips,
their twin bodies, their
handles, their necks, but
she decorated them by
processes of her own,
notably by covering them
with enamel, that vivid
blue enamel, so pure and
so grateful to the eye, which her potters had recently invented.
Even here, her inventive spirit did not fail her, and her adaptation
197

FIG. 384.— WOOD
EN SPOON FOR
COSMETICS
(The Louvre, Paris).

fig:. 385.— box for cosmetics
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

of foreign forms did not prevent her from creating some that were
peculiarly her own. I need only instance those polished saucers,
and beautiful cups of blue pottery in the form of lotus-flowers,
or those red and green glazed kohol-pots, some of which are in
the forms of mitred falcons, hedgehogs, monkeys and the god
Bes. The doors and facades of the palaces of Amenophis I.
and of Rameses III. were ornamented with polychrome plaques
of pottery incrusted in the walls, showing Pharaoh himself
adoring the gods (Fig. 375), friezes of flowers and birds, and
rows of prisoners (PI. IV). We have
further a whole array of peculiarly
Egyptian ornament in those necklaces
and bracelets of glazed earth or coloured
glass pastes, florets, discs, rings, beads,
pendants , cartouches , little plaques
covered with figures or hieroglyphs,
which were the luxury of the poor, and
objects of common use among the middle
classes. This again was the period when
the vast family of amulets began to
make their appearance , scarabs , girdle-
knots, little columns, mystic eyes, hawks,
frogs, and twenty other forms which
fill the glass-cases of our museums. Many
of these are perfect marvels. The fune
rary figurines, the ushebtis , which took
the place of the deceased for the per
formance of irksome tasks in the paradise
of Osiris, were often as carefully exe
cuted as the large statues; there are
some of enamelled porcelain, such as those of Thothmes IV.
and Ptahmes, which modern industry down to the present
despairs of copying to perfection, and it would be difficult
to say too much in praise of those made of limestone, painted
wood , green or blue composition , and in some rare cases,
of bronze, which come from private tombs. The Theban crafts
men were neither less skilful nor less inventive than the artists
strictly so-called.
This is most evident among the wood-carvers. The particular
idea the Egyptians had of death gave rise to various artistic
forms among them , which no longer exist among us , or which
have become purely utilitarian. Among these were sleighs for
conveying mummies to the tomb , boxes and chests for Canopic
198

FIG. 386. — BOX FOR COS
METICS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
jars and figurines, black sarcophagi with gilded figures, and,
above all, the mummy-shaped coffins. On these, in many cases,

FIG. 387.— PERFUME-SPOON IN THE FORM OF A WOMAN SWIMMING
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
the artisan reproduced in the mask the features of the corpse
within; some of them may be compared for truth of modelling
and richness of ornament to the best productions of the royal
schools; among the finest are the coffins of Thuaa and Iuaa
(Fig. 376), the father and mother of Queen
Thi, gilded and incrusted with stones or glass
paste , and that of Rameses II. (Fig. 377) exe
cuted at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty
to replace the original destroyed by robbers.
These show all the qualities of great sculpture,
vigour, expression and grace, qualities which
persisted among the Theban funeral-furnishers
after they had begun to die out in the ordin
ary workshops; we cannot but admit this
when we compare the coffin of Rameses II.
with the stone statue of Rameses IV. (Fig. 378),
which is earlier by some years. The images
of gods and kings which were placed in the
hypogea after serving for the rites of sepulture,
were less carefully executed than the coffins,
but they retained a certain grandeur of ap
pearance, if we may judge by the fragments
preserved in the Cairo Museum. Among these
are figures of Thothmes III. , Amenophis II.
(Fig. 379) and Heru-em-heb (Fig. 380) carved
in cedar or pine-wood, then coated with pitch
or bitumen in preparation for the ceremonial
of Opening of the Mouth. They amaze us,
in spite of the mutilations they have undergone. And the fur
niture which accompanied them was produced by the hands
199

FIG. 388.
STATUETTE OF A
NEGRESS
(Petrie Collection).
(Phot. Petrie.)

ART IN EGYPT

of workmen; I do not think that the walk of the great feline
animals, slow, supple, and restrained, has ever been more per
fectly rendered than in the figures of the leopards which
adorned the funerary chairs of Amenophis II. (Fig. 381). Nor
was furniture ever more elegant or better adapted to the require
ments of daily life. What could be more ingenious or more
charming in their way than the three arm-chairs, or the jewel-
boxes (Fig. 382), deposited by Amenophis III. and his children
in the hypogeum of the parents of Queen Thi? The chairs
have an extraordinary air of modern com
fort; one of them, that in which the front
feet are surmounted by human heads, has
been christened by visitors the Empire Chair
(Fig. 383) ; another might be aptly described
as the Louis XVI. Chair.
The genre in which technical skill is
manifested in its most original and fertile
form is that of the manufacture of toilette
utensils, and especially of those which are
incorrectly called perfume -spoons. These
consisted of a slight handle , and a
receptacle for cosmetics and essences
(Fig. 384); the variety of invention dis
played in design and proportions is amaz
ing; a couchant calf whose back is the
lid (Fig. 385); a fox running away, car
rying off a large fish whose body forms
the spoon ; a lotus seed hollowed out as
a bowl on a bouquet of flowers (Fig. 386) ;
a young girl, gathering flowers, or passing
along the marsh playing a guitar; a nude servant bearing offerings;
a grotesque slave bowed beneath the weight of a sack, a leather
jar, a vase (Fig. 303) or a boiler out of proportion to his size
(Fig. 304). The favourite type, and also the most graceful one,
is that of the woman swimming (Fig. 387), her outstretched arms
holding up on the water a hollow duck, whose wings fold back
and form a lid. Certain statuettes , which look to our modern
eyes like drawing-room ornaments, are efoufe/e-statues for persons
of modest means , either to represent the master of the house,
or to ensure his domestic comfort and the services of slaves.
As they were not very expensive , they were much in request,
and their manufacturers had acquired inimitable skill in exe
cuting them. The ethnical type is rendered with the utmost
200

FIG. 389.— STATUETTE
OF A WOMAN
(Phot. Chassinat).

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

fidelity, as in the little negress of the Flinders
Petrie collection ; rarely has the expression
of careless gaiety and good humour proper
to the black races been more happily rendered
(Fig. 388). The figure of the princess des
cribed by Chassinat (Fig. 389), and that in
the James Simon collection, emphasise, with
out exaggerating, the characteristics of the
family of Khu-en-Aton, the straight, pointed
face, the long, thin body, the curved hip
and full thigh. The Lady Na'i in the Louvre
is a gem , with her roguish face , her young
bust, chastely modelled under her gauze robe,
the lotus-bud nestling between her breasts.
The little maiden at Turin (Fig. 392), adjusting
her earring, is naked, and quite unabashed;
she is at that indeterminate age when the
forms seem to hesitate between those of boy
and woman. Male models were less decor
ative as material. Several who belonged to
the priesthood, insisted upon being reproduc
ed in all the splendour of their sacred in
signia, and have gained nothing
by the process. Those, whose statues are in the
Louvre and at Cairo (Fig. 391), would have made
a better impression if they had not encumbered
themselves with the ensigns of their gods, statuettes
of Amon and of Ptah (Fig. 391), and a great
ram's head surmounted by a solar disc. The
three little fellows at Cairo, with their deceptively
Japanese appearance, and the statuettes of officers
at Berlin (Fig. 394) and in the Louvre, are not
unworthy of a place beside the Lady Na'i; their
short wigs show the shape of head and neck,
their tunics hardly veil the bust, and their shapely,
muscular legs emerge robustly from their turned-
up petticoats. These are but the wreckage of
a flourishing industry, and for the twenty odd
specimens that have survived, how many must
have perished from antiquity onwards , as fuel !
They show us that towards the close of the
second Theban age there was a semi-popular art,
marked by a variety of aspect and a freedom of
201

FIG. 390.
THE LADY NAI
(The Louvre, Paris).

FIG. 3QI-
STATUETTE OF
A PRIEST.

ART IN EGYPT

technique very disconcerting to those who still hold the im
mobility of the Egyptian civilisation as an article of belief.
It would seem that the processes of cast
ing metal must have been perfected in the
centuries which divide the two Theban
periods; thenceforth we find no more of
those examples which are partly cast, partly
hammered, like the statue of Pepi I.; in
stead, we have life-size cast bronze statues,
like that to which the bust of Rameses IV.
in the Pelizaeus collection must have be
longed. They were not at first cast all in
one piece, but the various parts were pre
pared separately, and then put together
with tenons imbedded in the mass. Scarce
ly anything has come down to us of the
metal statuary, bronze, copper, silver, or
gold, and only statuettes have escaped the
general destruction ; but the goldsmith's work
and the jewelry are known to us even
better than those of the Twelfth Dynasty.
Examples of bronze and copper are not
lacking, and there are some very fine spe
cimens in our museum, such as the two
gilded bowls found by Newberry in the
dust of the tomb of Rakhmiriya, with a little ox in relief at
the bottom, or the dish which Daressy brought back from the
hypogeum of Hatiyai (Fig. 393) ;
this had a central boss of gold
or silver (now lost) , and round
it a thicket of lotus, among which
flocks are pasturing, unconscious
that one of their bulls has just
been pulled down by a lion.
The Louvre possesses some re
mains of the plate owned by
Thuti, the legate of Thothmes III. :
a perfect gold cup, and a frag
ment of a silver cup, but the
treasure discovered a few years
ago at Zakazik, among the ruins
of the ancient Bubastis, dates
from the time of Rameses II. 202

FIG. 392. — YOUNG GIRL
(Museum, Turin).
(Phot. Lanzone.)

FIG. 393.— DISH OF HATIYAI
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

and his successors. A golden drinking-vessel, in the form of
a half-open lotus mounted upon its stem, bears the cartouche
of his granddaughter Tuosret. I would not
propose it as a model to our contemporaries,
but some twenty shallow silver cups, with
flat bases found with it are very delicately
ornamented. At the bottom of one of these
(Fig. 395) , is a lake , well stocked with fish,
on which a little papyrus boat with a shepherd
and calf as its crew floats idly; a little further
on, two young women are swimming side by
side. On the bank, four conventional palm-
trees grow at equal distances ; winged sphinxes
with female heads prowl in the interstices, and
animals run about distractedly: a wild bull
flying from a leopard, hares and gazelles
pursued by foxes , dogs and wolves. The
figures of the middle register are so low in
relief that one would declare them to be in
cised; those at the edge were repousse more
boldly, then worked over and finished with
the burin. Two golden jugs aceompanied the
dishes (Fig. 396) ; one has a smooth body,
and a neck encircled with foliage and figures
in outline ; the body of the other is sym
metrically studded with ears of maize , and

FIG. 394. — STATUETTE
OF AN OFFICER
(Museum, Berlin).

FIG. 395. — GOBLET FROM ZAKAZIK
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

has a hanging ring fixed to the
edge of the neck by a couchant
calf most exquisitely worked. The
masterpiece of the collection,
however, is a ewer, the body of
which is covered for three-quarters
of its height by longitudinal lines
of ovoli , overlying one another
like the scales of a pine-cone.
The feature that makes it unique
is its handle (Fig. 397). A kid,
attracted by the aroma of the
wine it contains, has climbed up
the body, and looks over the
brim, standing boldly upon her
hind legs, her shins tense, her
spine rigid, her knees pressed
203

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 396. — THE TWO GOLD JARS FROM ZAKAZni
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

against two golden flower-calyces, which spring horizontally from
the silver surface, her muzzle quivering; a ring inserted in her
nostrils served to hang
up the jug. The tech
nique is excellent, but
here the conception sur
passes the technique ;
nothing could be better
than the eagerness of the
little animal, and the ex
pression of greedy desire
expressed in her whole
body. Personal ornament,
whether arms or jewels,
was never treated more
solicitously, and on the
whole with greater success than at this period. Rings both for
fingers and toes, bracelets, chains, mirrors, are all perfect in taste
and exquisitely finished. I may instance the mirror-handle, the
astounding ivory Bes in our museum
(Fig. 398); even certain cases for
mirrors are little short of master
pieces, such, for instance, as the
one found in the tomb of Amen
ophis II. (Fig. 399), on which the
king's daughter is seen naked among
the flowers. And it is not only
isolated specimens turned out of
the soil by the accidents of research,
but whole collections which show
us what were the jewel-caskets of
persons of high rank, men or
women. Queen Aah-hetep, whose
mummy received a present from
each of her husbands and children,
alone possessed enough to enable
us to judge. What has not already
been said about the dagger and
axe bestowed on her by Amasis?
(Fig. 400.) The dagger in parti
cular (Fig. 401) excites curiosity, with its blade of dark bronze
set in massive gold, on the surfaces of which a lion pursues a
204

FIG. 397.— THE JUG WITH THE
GOAT FROM ZAKAZIK
(Museum, Cairo). (PhotE. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 398.— IVORY HANDLE
OF A MIRROR (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 399. — MIRROR-CASE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

bull in the presence
of four great gras
shoppers , and fif
teen flowers unfold
their petals in a
delicate damascen
ed gold pattern. It
recalls the Achasan
daggers of Mycenae ;
but did the dawn
ing civilisations of
Europe borrow
from Egypt, or did
Egypt find inspir
ation in one of
their creations? If
the motive be for
eign , which is by
no means proved,
the handling and
composition are purely Theban. The same may be said of the
ornaments found with it, necklaces, chains, bracelets, toe and
finger rings. Only on the banks of the Nile would mourning
relatives have conceived the idea
of placing among the plenishings
of her they bewailed, boats and
their crews in gold or silver (Fig. 402)
that she might be able to embark
at will upon the western sea or
on the ponds of her sepulchral
domain. Again, if we examine the
various parts of the large necklace
which hung round the queen's neck
(Fig. 403), we shall see that it had
golden falcons' heads enamelled
with blue, to fix the ends to her
shoulders, a motive in favour among
the goldsmiths of the Twelfth Dyn
asty, as among their predecessors of
the Memphite age. The spirals, the
flowers with four petals forming a
Greek cross, the roundels, the small
bell-pendants which form seven of
y 205

FIG. 400.— SELECTION OF THE
JEWELRY OF AAH-HETEP
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

the eleven rows, abound on the scarabs and archaic ornaments,
and what could be more distinctively Egyptian than the flying
falcons, the seated cats, the gazelles turning their heads as
they flee, the kids pursued by lionesses?
There is, however, a new type, which comes
from abroad: that of the earring, or ear-pendant.
We cannot say whether it was entirely unknown
to earlier generations or not, but, in any case,
it is first commonly found upon the monuments
of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and it would seem
that in this, as in other goldsmiths' work, the
hand of the craftsman had become somewhat
heavy. The Pharaohs had acquired a great deal
of gold in Ethiopia or in Syria, and they liked
to display as much as possible of it on their
persons. The slender crowns of the princesses
of Amenemhat or Sesostris were accordingly
superseded by heavy diadems, enormous earrings,
such as those of Seti II. (Fig. 404) or Rameses XII.
(Fig. 405) , the weight of which dragged down
the ears , and bracelets loaded with gems , like
those Rameses II. gave to his granddaughter
Tuosret (Fig. 406), recently added to the treasures
of the Cairo Museum. They are solid and dur
able, and no craftsman was ever a more complete
master of technique than he who executed them,
but there is an element of vulgarity in the large
lapis-lazuli plaques which form the bodies of the
ducks, in the gold reticulations and granulated
lines so freely lavished upon the surface. We
get a similar impression when at the Louvre we
examine the jewels of Prince Khamuasit, his
hawk-brooch with the ram's head (Fig. 408) , his
pectoral (Fig. 408) , on which the vulture and the
uraeus are enframed as in the facade of a naos,
and we begin to think that perhaps the sober
and delicate taste of the old goldsmiths had
been perverted by the models which war or commerce had
imported from Asia ; it would , however , be going too far to
affirm this, before excavation has given us the equivalents in
Mesopotamia and Assyria of the treasures gathered together
on the banks of the Nile. A great many Asiatics and Europeans
established themselves in Thebes and other great cities during
206

FIG. 401.
THE DAGGER
OF AMASIS
(Museum, Cairo).
( Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

FIG. 402.— ONE OF THE BOATS OF QUEEN AAH-HETEP
(Museum , Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the centuries while the Egyptian hegemony lasted. They modi
fied the habits of the nation to some extent, suggesting new
needs to them, and
it certainly seems
that the passion for
very elaborate jewel
ry came in with
them. Here and
there , however , the
natural temperament
still prevailed , and
pieces of exquisite
simplicity were pro
duced ; the high
priest Pinotem wore
as bracelet a simple gold reed, ornamented with a network of
polychrome enamel , and this is one of our finest specimens in
the Cairo Museum.
In these narrow domains of industrial art as in the vaster field
of architecture, the second Theban Age showed itself capable of
evolving new forms, although it adhered for the most part to
the old, and manifested a vigour of creation and production
which equalled, if it did not surpass, that of the Memphite Age.
The ideal of its
artists was less pure
and less serene, but
it came closer to
reality. The impulse
which had carried
Pharaoh and his
armies beyond the
isthmus , had moved
the whole people,
and even those who
took no part in the
conquests, theolog
ians, men of letters,
merchants and artists,
feeling the bound
aries of their world
enlarged , had ex- .
tended the circle of their knowledge and inspiration, each in
his own calling. Seeing things on a great scale, they sought
207

FIG. 403.— GOLD NECKLACE WITH HEADS OF
FALCONS (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

to create greatness, no longer, after the manner of their an
cestors the Pyramid-builders , by the exaggerated bulk of their
material , but by the reasoned immensity of
their conceptions; thus architects had arrived
at the gigantic colon
nades of Luxor and
Karnak , and sculp
tors at the colossi
of the Theban plain
and Abu Simbel.
When they had
reached this point,
which they could not
surpass, they did not
long maintain them
selves at its level ;
exhausted by the
very effort they had
made , their artistic
vigour declined no
less rapidly than
their military pro
wess after the reign
of Rameses III. Their
work is not perhaps
the most uniformly
beautiful produced by Egypt, and some may rank that of the
Memphite times above it; to me it seems, nevertheless, the
most vital, the most varied, the most complete, that which is
most characteristic of the people, its defects and its qualities.
It is certainly that which does most honour to Egypt, and
secures for her one of the highest places in the artistic history
of the world.

"Ir a

^Bv^pR

IP
'itkL ^ nfifl
.
HSHK
FIG. 404.
GOLD EARRINGS OF SETI I
(Museum , Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
FIG. 405.— EARRING
OF RAMESES XII.
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
208
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE

BIBLIOGRAPHY TO CHAPTER II — PART II
Second Theban Age. Here the monuments are so numerous, aud so mueh has been
written about them, that it has been necessary to make a selection of books. For a general
survey, we may recommend Mariette, Voyage dans la Haute Egypte, vol. I, p. 55-81,
90-98, and pi. 18-34, 37-38, vol. II, p. 1-82, 107-109, and pi. 39-65, 74, and E. de Rouge,
Album photographique de la Mission, nos. 47-48, 125-133, 138-141, 151-155, with the
portions of text corresponding to these numbers.

FIG. 406. — BRACELETS OF RAMESES H.
(Museum, Cairo) (Phot E Brugsch.)

Architecture. — A. Temples. — For the temples of the Second Theban Empire, see
Perrot- Chipiez, Histoire de VArt dans I'Antiquite : I, Egypte, 1882, LXXVI-879 p.;
— G. Maspero, Archeologie egyptienne , 1st ed., 1888, p. 66-87; W. Spiegelberg, Geschichte
der agyptischen Kunst, 1903, p. 40-51. — For the history of the principal temples of
Thebes and Nubia, see for Luxor: L. Borchardt, Zur Geschichte des Luqsortempels, in the
Zeitschrift fiir dgyptische Sprache, 1896, vol. XXXIV, p. 122-138; — Gayet, Le Temple de
Louxor (Mernoires de la Mission du Caire, vol. XVIII), 1894, Vienne 4to, 174 p. and LIV pi.;
— G. Daressy, La Procession d'Ammon dans le Temple de Louxor (Mernoires de la Mission
francaise, vol. VIII), p. 380-391 and XVI pi., and the Notice explicative des ruines du Temple
de Louxor, 1893, Cairo, 8vo, LX-81 p.; — for Karnak: Mariette, Karnak, Paris, 1875, Text
4to, 88 p., and Atlas fol., LVI pi.; — G. Legrain, Rapports sur les travaux de Karnak,
in the Annales du Service des Antiquites, I 1900, p. 193-200, II 1901, p. 184-189, 265-280,
IV 1903, p. 1-40 and 6 pi., V 1904, p. 1-43 and 6 pi.; — L. Borchardt, Zur Baugeschichte
des Amonstempels von Karnak, 4 to, Leipzig 1905, 47 p. and 1 pi.; — for Der-el-Bahari;
Naville, The Temple of Deir el Bahari (Egypt Exploration Fund, vol. XII— XIV, XVI, XIX,
XXVI, XXIX); Introductory Memoir, 4to , London, 1894, 31 p. and XIV pi., fol., I 1896,
15 p. and XXXI pi., II 1897, 17 p. and XXXII-LV pi., Ill 1898, 21 p. and LVI-LXXXVI pi.,
IV 1901, 11 p. and LXXX VII- CX VIII pi., V 1906, 12 p. and CXIX-CL pi., VI 1908, 31 p.
and CLI-CLXXIV pi.; — for the Ramesseum: J. E. Quibell, 77ze Ramesseum (Egyptian
Research Account, vol. IT), 4 to, London 1898, 21 p. and XXXI pi.; — E. Baraize, Deblaie-
ment du Ramesseum, in the Annales du Service des Antiquites, 1907, vol. VIII, p. 193-200;
— for the temple of Thothmes III and other ruined sepulchral temples: Grebaut-Maspero,
Le Musee egyptien, vol. I, 1890-1900, p. 3-9 and pi. XVI-XVII ; Daressy, La Chapelle d'Uazmes,
in the Annales du Service des Antiquites, 1900, vol. I, p. 97-108; Flinders Petrie, Six Temples
at Thebes, 1897, 4to, London, 33 p. and XXVI pi.; Weigall, A Report on the Excavation
of the funeral Temple of Thutmosis III at Gurneh, in the Annales du Service des Antiquites,
1906, vol. VII, p. 121—141 and vol. VIII, p. 286; — for Medinet-Habu; G. Daressy, Notice
explicative des raines de Medinet-Abou, 8vo, Cairo, 1897, VH-120 p.; Uvo Holscher, Das
Hohe Tor von Medinet-Habu, eine baugeschichtliche Untersachung, 4to, Leipzig 1910,
209 p

ART IN EGYPT
IV-68 p. and 10 pi.; — for Bet-Wali, Garf-Husen, Wadi-es-Sabua, Amada, Derr, Abu
Simbel, Abahuda: Gau, Monuments de la Nubie, Stuttgart - Paris 1822, pi. 12-14, 27-32,
42-63; Maspero - Barsanti , Les Temples immerges de la Nubie. Rapports, p. 60-61, 87-89,
106-168 and pi. LIU, LXXXV-LXXXVII, CX-CXL, CXUV-CLXIX. — B. The tombs. —
For Ethiopia: Cailliaud, Voyage a Me'roe, atlas, fol., Paris, 1828, vol. II, pi. VII-XV; —
for the royal tombs, see in addition to the works quoted in connection with the temples
of Thebes: Mariette, Abydos, fol., Paris, I 1868, 86 p., and 53 pi., 1 pi., II 1879, 51 p.
and pi. 1-21 ; — Caulfield-Petrie, 77ie Temple of the Kings at Abydos (Egyptian Research
Account, vol. VIII), 4to, London 1902, 23 p. and XXVI pi.; — E. Lefebure, Les Hypogees
Royaux de Thebes (Mernoires de la Mission du Caire, vol. II-III), 4to, Paris, vol. I 1886,
31 p. and LXIV pi., II 1887-1888, VIII and 191 p. and 74-XLI pi. ; — V. Loret, Les Tombeaux
de Thoutmes III et d'Amenophis II et la Cachette royale de Biban el-Molouk, in the Bulletin
de I'Institut egyptien, 1899, IIM series, vol. IX, p. 91-112 and 15 pi.; — Fr. Guilmant, Le
Tombeau de Ramses IX (Mernoires de I'Institut francais du Caire, vol. XV), square 4to,
1907, 96 1.; — Theodore M. Davis, The Tomb of Thutmes IV. 4to, London, 1905, XLV-150 p.
and XXVIII pi., The Tomb of Hatshepsitou , 4 to, London 1906, XV-112 p., The Tomb
of Jouiya and Touiyou, 4to, London 1907, X-48 p. and XLIV pi, The Tomb of Siphtah,
4to, London 1908, 45 p. and XXIX pi., The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, 4to, London 1910, 45 p.
and XXXV lp., 77ze 7om6 of Haremheb, 4to, London 1911 (in the press); — for the private
tombs; Benedite- Bouriant- Chassinat- Maspero -Scheil -Virev, Tombeaux thebains (Mernoires
de la Mission du Caire, vol. V), 4 to, Vienne 1889-1894, 657 p.; — Boussac, Le Tombeau
d'Anna (Mernoires de la Mission du Caire, vol. XVIII), fol., Paris 1896, IV p. and XVI pi.;
— Taylor-Griffith, The Tomb of Paheri at El-Kab , fol., London 1894, 34 p. and 10 pi.;
— N. de G. Davies, The Rock-tombs of el-Amarna (Archaeological Survey of Egypt, vol.
XII-XVIII), 4 to, London I 1902, 56 p. and XLI pi., II 1905, 48 p. and XL VII pi., Ill 1905,
41 p. and XXXIX pi., IV 1906, 36 p. and XLV pi., V 1907, 37 p. and XLIV pi., VI 1908,
44 p. and XLIV pi. — C. 77ze Palaces. — In addition to Flinders Pelrie's work quoted above
on Tell -el -Amarna, see G. Daressy, Le Palais d'Amenophis III a Medinet-Abou , in the
Annales du Service des Antiquites, vol. IV, p. 165-170 and 1 pi. — Robb de P. Tytus,
A preliminary Report on the Re-Excavation o] the Palace of Amenhetep III, 4 to , New
York 1904, 25 p. and 4 pi.; — Maspero, Causeries d'Egypte, 8vo, Paris 1907, p. 257-264.

FIG. 407.— BROOCH OF KHAMUASIT
(The Louvre, Paris).

Painting and Sculpture. — A. Painting. — In addition to the works quoted in connection
with royal and private tombs, see Fr-W. de Bissing and Reach, Bericht uber die malerische
Techmk der Hawata-Fresken von Kairo. in the Annates du Service des Antiquites, 1906,
vol. VII, p. 64-70; — Flinders Petrie, Egyptian decorative Art, 8vo, London 1895; -
G. Jequier, La Decoration egyptienne, 4to, Paris 1910/1911, 28 pages and XI. planches
— B. Sculpture. — For the sculpture of the Second Theban Empire, see, in addition to.
the general works: Mariette, Album du Musee de Boulak, fol., Cairo 1874, pi. 32, 34, 37;
— E. de Rouge, Album photographique. fol., Paris 1867, nos. 55-56, 64, 72-74, 77, 80-85,
125-135 ; — Fr. W. de Bissing, Denkmaler der agyptischen Skulptur, pi. 36-59, 76-97, and
the corresponding portions of text; — L. Borchardt, Kunstwerke aus dem aguptischen
210

THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
Museum zu Kairo, fol., Cairo 1908, pi. 8-15, 24-38, 33 and p. 6-8, 11-13, 14; — J. Capart,
L'.4r( egyptien. 4 to, Brussels 1909, pi. 61-74, and the article by Maspero, La Cachetic de
Karnak et I'Ecole de Sculpture thebaine, in the Revue de l'Art ancien et modcrne, 1906,
and XX, p. 337-348; the following books, pamphlets and articles: G. Legrain, Statues et
Statuettes de Rois et de particuliers (Catalogue general du Musee du Cairo), 4 to, Cairo,
1 1906, p. 30-89, and pi. XXVII-LXXIX, II 1909, 40 p. and LIII pi.; - R. Lepsius, Eine
Sphinx, in the Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache, 1882, vol. XX, p. 117-120; — G. Maspero,
in O. Rayet, Monuments de I Art antique, fol., Paris 1880-1884, vol. I; la Statue de
Khonsou, in the Annales du Service des Antiquites, 1902, vol. Ill, p. 181 and I pi.; Sur
un fragment de Statuaire Thebaine, in the Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne, vol. XVII,
p. 401-404 and 1 pi.; La Vache de Deir el-Bahari. in the Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne,
1907, vol. XVII, p. 5-18 and 3 pi.; Les Quatre Tetes de Canopes du Musee du Caire, in
the Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne, 1910, vol. XXVIII, p. 241-252 and 1 pi.; Le Musee
igyptien, vol. I, 1890-1900, pi. I, XLIV, and p. 3-4, 39-40, t. II, 1901-1907, pi. V-VI and
p. 15-20; — Legrain, Le Musee Egyptien, vol. II, pi. I-IX and p. 2-14; — G. Benedite,
A propos d'un buste egyptien re'cemment acquis par le Musee du Louvre, in the Monuments
et Mernoires de la Fondation Piot, 1905, vol. XIII, p. 3-25; — J. Capart, Tete egyptienne
du Musee de Bruxelles, in the Monuments et Mernoires de la fondation Piot, 1906, vol. XIII,
p. 27 — 34; Une importante donation d'Antiquites egyptiennes, in the Bulletin des Musees
royaux du Cinquantenaire. Brussels 1908, 2nd series, vol. I, p. 84-86; — L. Borchardt, Der
Portratkopf der Konigin Teje im Besitz von Dr. James Simon, Leipzig 1911, 30 p. and
5 plates.

).— - PECTORAL OF RAMESES H.
(The Louvre, Paris).

The minor Arts — A. Ceramics. — For household pottery and objects in terra-cotta or
glazed and enamelled stone ware, see Fr. W. de Bissing, Fayencegefasse (Catalogue general
du Musee du Caire), 4to, Vienna 1902, XXXI-114 p.; — Henry Wallis, Egyptian Ceramic
Art, the Macgregor Collection, 4to, London 1898, IV-85 p. and 30 pi.; Egyptian Ceramic
Art, 4to, London 1900 p. and 12 pi.; — for the enamelled earthenware decoration of
palaces and temples: G. Daressy, Plaquettes emailtees de Medinet-Habou , in the Annales
du Service des Antiquites, 1910, vol. XI, p. 49-63. — B. Wood-work. For funerery objects,
see Theodore M. Davis, The Tomb of Jouiya and Touiyou, 4 to, London 1907, pi. VI-X,
XII-XVI XXXIII-XLI; — E. Quibell, Tomb of Yuaa and Thuiu (Catalogue general du
Musee du Caire), 4to, Cairo, 1908, 80 p. and LX pi.; — for toilet utensils, see: G. Maspero,
in 0. Rayet, Monuments de l'Art antique, vol. I; — J. Capart, L'Art et la Parure feminine
dans I'anclenne Egqpte, in the Annales de la Socie'te d'archeologie de Bruxelles, 1907, vol. XXI,
211 P 2

ART IN EGYPT
p. 303-334; Figurine egyptienne en bois au Musee de Liverpool, in the Revue archeologique,
1907, vol. II, p. 369-372 and 1 pi.; — for wooden <fo«6/e-statuettes: G. Maspero, in A. Rayet,
Monuments de VArt antique, vol. I; — Chassinat, Une Tombe inviolee de la XVIIfe Dynastie,
in the Bulletin de I'Institut frangais d' archeologie orientale, 1901, vol. I, p. 225-234; —
Flinders Petrie, An Egyptian Ebony Statuette of a Negress, in Man, 1901, no. 157; —
G. Benedite, La Statuette de la dame Toui, in the Monuments et Mernoires de la Fondation
Piot, 1895, vol. II, p. 29-37 and pi. II — IV, — C. Goldsmith's work and jewelry: In addition
to the two works by Vernier quoted above, in connection with the jewels of the first
Theban period, consult his article: Notes sur les boucles d'oreilles egyptiennes , in the
Bulletin de I'Institut frangais dArcheologie Orientale, 1911, vol. VIII, p. 15-41 and pi. I-VII,
also: Mark Rosenberg, ASgyptiscke Einlage in Gold und Silber, 4 to, Frankfort- on- the-Main
1905, 12 p.; — Fr. W. de Bissing, Eine Bronzeschale Mykenischer Zeit, in the Jahrbuch
des Deutschen Archosologischen Instituts, 1898, vol. XIII, p. 28 — 56, Ein Thebanischer Grab-
fund aus dem Anfange des Neuen Reiches, fol., Berlin 1890 — 1909 (unfinished) ; — Daressy,
Un Poignard du temps des Rois Pasteurs, in the Annales du Service des Antiquites, 1906,
vol. VII, p. 115-120 and 1 pi.; — C. C. Edgar, 77ie Treasure of Tell Basta, in the Musee
egyptien, vol. II, p. 93-108 and pi. XLIII-LV; — G. Maspero, Causeries d'£gypte, 8vo,
Paris 1907, p. 335-341, Le Tre'sor de Zagazig , in the Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne,
1908, vol. XXIII, p. 401-412 and vol. XXIV, p. 29 38; — Mariette, Le Serapeum de Memphis,
fol., Paris 1857, 3rd part., pi. 9, 11-12, 20; — L. Borchardt, Kunstwerke aus dem agyptischen
Museum zu Kairo, pi. 43-44 and p. 18.

212

FIG. 409.— THE ISLAND OE PHILAE AND ITS MONUMENTS SEEN FROM THE SOUTH
WEST BEFORE THE COMPLETION OF THE BARRAGE AT ASSEAN. (Phot Beato.)

PART III
THE SAITE AGE AND THE END OF
EGYPTIAN ART

Architecture among the Saites : the Theban temple is transformed, and resolved into the
Ptolemaic and Roman type — Painting and Sculpture — 77ie Minor Arts: their
Development under the Influence of Greek Conceptions — The Death of Egyptian Art
THE political decadence of Thebes and the fall of the Egyptian
Empire hampered the progress of art, but did not interrupt
it altogether, as some have supposed. The schools of archi
tecture, sculpture and painting which existed under the Rames
sids continued to produce, some even brilliantly, and the entry
into public life of certain cities of the Delta, which had hitherto
dragged out an obscure existence, led to the tardy development
of new schools. It must indeed be admitted that none of these,
even in their best moments, displayed that sovereign activity
which had characterised the Theban and Memphite Schools.
There are, further, some among them, the Salte, for instance,
which are hardly more than names for us as yet. Sals has
213

ART IN EGYPT

disappeared, her temples are laid low, and their ruins have
perished so completely that we can no longer even trace their
plan on the ground; while such of her statues and bas-reliefs
as have escaped
destruction , are
scattered indiscri
minately in muse
ums , and we are
unable to distin
guish them from
other relics of the
FIG. 410.— THE MOST ANCIENT TEMPLE OF NAPATA. Same period. HerO"
dotus speaks of her
buildings and their colossi in terms which show that he considered
them equal to those of Memphis. I may, however, be allowed to
say, after having visited the site on which they stood, that all
the temples put together cannot have made up a whole compar
able in extent to that formed by the buildings, I will not say
of Karnak , but of Luxor. It must be remembered that the
Pharaohs who devised them did not command the almost inexhaust
ible resources of the conquering dynasties, 'Asia no longer
poured a steady stream of gold and silver into their treasury;
the fortune they spent in building was drawn from the valley
itself, or the regions nearest to the African desert. They had
no lack of precious me
tals, as we know from
the enumeration of the
sums which Osorkon II.
devoted to the restoration
of one of the sanctuaries
of Bubastis; but what
did these represent when
compared with those of
which Thothmes III. and
Rameses II. had formerly
disposed ? The grandiose
enterprises which their
predecessors had carried
on for centuries were
denied to them, but, re
duced though their wealth
was in comparison with the riches of the past, it was sufficient
to make them the boldest architects in the world of their day.
214

FIG. 411. — SANCTUARY OF THE TEMPLE OF
TffiHAKAH AT NAPATA
(After Cailliaud).

THE SAITE AGE

They worked so assiduously, from the Cataracts to the Mediterranean
that they not only preserved the tradition of great art, but trans
mitted it intact to
their foreign suc
cessors, Greek or
Roman. The major
ity of the temples
we admire in the
Said are the work
of the Ptolemies
or the Caesars.
A. ARCHITECTURE.
The various types
of the house , the
palace and the tomb,
had been so ingeni
ously perfected in
the course of the
second Theban age,
that they changed
very little subsequently, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish
the Grseeco-Roman house from that of the Nineteenth or Twen
tieth Dynasty among the ruins. The former was, in fact, very
often nothing but the latter, rebuilt on the same plan, and partly
with the same materials. Mastabas, whether of the Theban age
with their pyramidal
crowns, or of the
Memphite age with
their flat roofs, were
no longer in favour;
they had been super
seded everywhere
by hypogea with or
without external chap
els. At Thebes it
was rarely thought
worthwhile to cut new
ones , so numerous
were those which had

-RUINS OF THE PROPYLAEA OF TIRHAKAH
AT KARNAK. (Phot. Beato.)

FIG. 413. — EAST FACADE OF THE TEMPLE OF HEBT.
(Phot Baraize.)

been rifled and aban
doned after the extinction of the families who had founded
them. These were requisitioned, or bought cheaply from the
215

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 414. — THE TEMPLE OF DAKHLEH. (Phot. Lythgoe.)

corporations of priests, and one or two of the rooms were
adapted, together with the well; after two or three generations,
the second - hand
owners suffered the
fate they had in
flicted on their
predecessors, and
usurpers in the
third degree were
in like manner de
spoiled by new in
truders. It was dif
ferent at Memphis,
where the sand,
covering up the
mastabas of pre
vious centuries, generally preserved them from attack by those
who coveted ready-made sepulchres. Violations were, however,
sufficiently frequent to induce the invention of a type which
had some chance of escaping it. At Sakkarah and at Gizeh,
accordingly, the following system was
adopted: a cavity, some 40 to 50 feet
wide, and from 70 to 90 feet deep, was
dug out in the plateau, and beside it, on
the south, a little square well, from 4 to
6 feet wide, which communicated with it
at the bottom. A huge compact block
of limestone was then lowered into it to
serve for a sarcophagus , covered with
mystical scenes and inscriptions; in this
I a basalt coffin of anthropoid form was
; imbedded, and round it a vaulted chamber
| was raised, built of small dressed limestone
blocks, the inner walls decorated with
written prayers, and sometimes with figures
borrowed for the most part from the Book
of the Dead, or the Ritual of the Pyramids;
a narrow rectangular window was left in
the middle of the vault. On the day of
burial , when the mummy had been laid
in its bed, the two covers of basalt and
limestone were adjusted, then the passage which led to the
little well was walled up, and the two cavities were filled in
216

FIG. 415.— PLAN OF THE
TEMPLE OF HORUS AT
EDFU.

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 416.

-PYLON OF THE TEMPLE OF HORUS AT EDFU.
(Phot. Beato.)

with sand and fragments of stone. Thieves attacked the little
well at all hazards; when they got into the passage, they began
to clear it, but the
sand which the
masonry had kept
in place fell in upon
them, and prevent
ed them from ad
vancing. I myself,
every time I have
attempted to enter
by this way, have
been stopped just
as were the ma
rauders of old, and
have had to resign
myself to digging
out the principal
cavity. As it con
tains from 6000 to
16000 cubic feet of soil, this is generally the work of about
three months, with gangs of 100 workmen. We can understand
that persons obliged to work furtively and in small numbers,
in perpetual fear of surprise, should have respected such well-
defended sepul
chres; nearly all of
those we discover
at Sakkarah are
virgin tombs.
The plan of the
temples, like that of
the tombs, was very
gradually modi
fied. The Tanite
and Bubastite Pha
raohs built a great
many in Lower
Egypt, only shape
less fragments of
which remain to us
at Tanis and Buba
stis. In Upper fiq^ 4I7._COUET AND porticoes of the temple of
Egypt, the priest- horus at edfu. (Phot. Beato.)
217

ART IN EGYPT

kings of the Theban Amon, less wealthy than their rivals of the
north, confined themselves to repairing or completing the work
of the Ahmessids
and Ramessids; it
was all they could
do to save enough
money to complete
the decoration of
the temple of
Khonsu , or to
build chapels in a
vicious style, such
as that of Osiris,
Master of Eternity,
in the eastern
quarter of Karnak.
The foundation of
FIG. 418.— PRONAOS AND TERRACES OF THE TEMPLE . . 1 •
OF HORCS AT EDFU FROM THE TOP OF THE PYLON. Napata, which Se-
(Phot Insinger.) parated Ethiopia
from the Said
shortly after the accession of Shashank I., had cut off one of their
chief sources of revenue, the gold they had obtained from the
rivers and placers of the Upper Nile. Some of the artists
employed by the successors of Her-
Heru followed their descendants
into their new country, and the
Theban School was thus divided into
two branches ; one of these dragged
out a languid existence in its ancient
workshops, while the other started
on a new career in the far south.
Ethiopia has not been sufficiently
explored to enable us to judge its
art equitably. The temples of Napata
do not seem to have differed much
from those of Thebes in plan and
decoration. The most ancient of
them (Fig. 410), that which the
victorious Piankhi erected about the
middle of the eighth century before
Christ at the foot of the Holy Moun
tain, recalls the plan adopted by
218

FIG. 4IQ.— THE NAOS OF NECTA-
NEBUb AT EDFU. (Phot Beato.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 420. — .EDICI'LA ON THE TERRACE OF THE
TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH. (Phot. Beato.)

Amenophis III. at Luxor. It is entered by a court some 150 feet
long bordered by porticoes, the twenty-six columns of which are
about 6 feet in diameter;
next comes a kind of
pronaos with forty-six
columns, then a hypostyle
hall with ten columns,
and behind it, the three
chapels of the Theban
triad, that of Amon in
the centre, those of Mut
and Khonsu right and
left. The temple of Tir-
hakah, which is later by
about forty years, belongs
to the category of the
hemi-speos, and we might
suppose it to have been
copied from one built by
Rameses II., Derr or Wadi-es-Sabu'a , were it not for certain
original features. A portico of eight columns gives access to a
court of greater length than
breadth, with porticoes of eight
square pillars, on the outer faces
of which were colossal figures
of the god Bes. The sanctuary
is completely imbedded in the
rock, and the approach to it is
guarded by two pillars of Bes
(Fig. 411). It is improbable that
this type was invented by the
Ethiopian architects, and indeed
it is derived from the Osirian
pillar used at Medinet-Habu; we
should no doubt find it in Egypt,
if all the monuments built after
the disappearance of the Rames
sids still existed. The distin
guishing peculiarity of the exam
ples at Napata is a certain fury
of execution which gives this
essentially savage god a character
even more savage than that 219

FIG. 421.— HATHOR COLUMNS OF THE
PRONAOS AT DENDERAH.
(Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 422. — DOUBLE COURT AND PRONAOS
AT KOM-OMBO. (Phot Beato.)

bestowed on him by the pure Thebans; a strain of Sudanese
barbarism was already manifesting itself in the exiled branch of
the Theban school.
In Egypt, on the other
hand , the Ethiopian
Pharaohs , transform
ed into the masters
of their former mas
ters by an unimagin
able turn of fortune,
made no changes in
local methods. The
chapel commemorat
ing his accession
which Tirhakah inter
polated more or less
successfully to the
north west of the
holy lake at Karnak,
between the wall of Meneptah and the rampart of Rameses II.,
is built and decorated in a deplorable manner, but wholly with
out any traces of exoticism. Though the huge column of the
great court (Fig. 412), the only fragment still erect of the
triumphal propylasa he had designed to build in front of the
pylon of Rameses in place of the avenue of rams, belongs to a
new order of conception, that conception is purely Egyptian,
and marks the terminal point of that slow evolution which had
been accomplished in the course of several centuries in the
workshops of the Thebaid
and the Delta.
For indeed this little
known period which lasted
from the Twenty - first
Dynasty to the end of
the Persian Period, coin
cided with a rich after
math of developments
and transformations in
architecture. Elements it
had previously neglected,
and combinations of which
it had not thought, were suddenly manifested to it, and the uses
it learned to make of them, though they did not modify the
220

423.— THE KASR-KARUN (After Lepsius).

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 424.— ROMAN TEMPLE AT MEDINET-HABU (After Beato).
main principles of its doctrine , led it to regulate its practice
more strictly, and to vary it. Thus the open portico which formed
the facade of the hypostyle hall in many of the Theban temples,
at Luxor, in the temple of Khonsu, in the Ramesseum, and at
Medinet-Habu, sometimes on a level with the court of honour,
sometimes from 6 to 10

feet higher, with a low
balustrade right and left
of the central staircase
leading up to it, grew in
depth and breadth to the
proportions of a monu
mental vestibule, a pronaos
of three or four rows,
closed in front by a party
wall half-way up the co
lumns of the outer row,
pierced by a single door
on the longitudinal axis
of the building. Again,
architects conceived the
idea of placing normally
in front of the pylon, propylasa more or less imposing, conducting
the faithful to the true entrance of the house of the god,
221

FIG. 425.— FACADE OF THE TEMPLE OF
DER-EL-MEDINET. (Phot. Baraize.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 426.— PRONAOS OF THE TEMPLE OF
DER-EL-MEDINET. (Phot Beato.)
known to me ; it had nine sisters:
now exist. In the interior,
the arrangement of the chapels
had been regularised, and
the result was a very sensible
amelioration in the disposition
of the sanctuary. The Hall
of the Sacred Boat, formerly
a room open at either end,
lost its four colums, and was
closed up at the back, so that
it could only be entered by
a single door facing the pylon.
The other rooms were ranged
hierarchically round it, the
Hall of the Statues, which was
the actual sanctuary, immedia
tely behind it, and the rooms
of the paredri right and left
of the Hall of Statues, on
three sides of the passage
which isolated the Hall of the
Boat. This was no abrupt

by a kind of triumphal way ana
logous on a small scale to that
which connected Luxor and Kar
nak, several doors rather near
one another; these had two
massive jambs surmounted by
the usual cavetto, and then an
oblong hall open to the sky,
enclosed by a variable number
of columns in pairs, connected
by low walls with the uraeus
cornice; instead of an archi
trave there was a series of divine
emblems, probably the falcons
or hawks of Horus, for which
the cubes on the columns served
as bases. As I have just said,
the columns of Tirhakah at
Karnak belonged to propylaea
of this kind, the most ancient
of which only the lower courses

222

—THE MAMMISI AT EDFU.
(Phot Oropesa.)

THE SAITE AGE

metamorphosis; we note its gradual evolution in several temples
of the Salte period which escaped destruction or restoration
under the Ptolemies. The earliest example of a sanctuary whit
a single door, encir
cled by an ambulatory,
is furnished by the
chapel of Amenartas
at Medinet-Habu, but
350 years later, Ale
xander II. and Philip
Arrhidseus built at
Luxor and Karnak,
sanctuaries with two
doors in the long axis
of the room. We are
rather better informed
as to these matters
since the temple of
Hebt (Fig. 413) in the
Great Oasis, has been
more closely studied.
Founded by Darius I.
and finished by Necta-
nebus II., it has both
the successive doors
and the preliminary
hall, but the three
sanctuaries are still
side by side as in
temples of the purely
Theban order (Fig.
414), and the central
shrine is a veritable
naos, the walls of
which are covered
with sacred pictures
on a small scale. It is, to tell the truth, a second-rate building,
relegated to one of the poorest and most distant provinces,
and it can give us but little idea of the true temple of the
Said; nevertheless, when we compare it with the debris of the
same period which has survived , and then with the complete
temples of the Ptolemies, we are easily convinced that from
the time of Psammetihus I. to the Macedonian conquest, archi-
223

FIG. 428.— A WALL IN THE TEMPLE OF ISIS
AT PHTLjE. (Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT
tects produced far more than was supposed
was in its infancy. We can hardly assert

FIG. 42Q. — THE LONG WESTERN PORTICO AT PHIL^E.
(Phot. Beato.)

Ombo; if they did not create masterpieces.
difficult to form an opinion, at least they
taught their pupils how to produce them.
Let us take the best preserved of their
temples now remaining, the only complete
one indeed, that of Horus at Edfu (Fig. 415).
It is in the form of a much elongated rect
angle , running from north to south on its
main axis, and with its facade to the south
(Fig. 416). Roughly speaking, the arrange
ment is the same as in the temple of Khonsu,
but the differences in detail are very great.
In the first place, in the temple of Khonsu,
as in that of Rameses III., and all the known
temples of the Theban age, the exterior
wall, which starts from one of the towers
of the pylon, turns twice at a right angle,
and comes back symmetrically to the other
tower, is not a free wall, forming an enclo
sure for the body of the building; it is
bound up indissolubly with it, in such a
224

when Egyptology
as yet that they
showed any strong
inventive faculty,
but it is clear that
they strove to get
new results from
the elements they
had inherited from
their predecessors,
and that they em
ployed them more
rigorously and lo
gically, if in a less
grandiose manner.
Egypt owes them
the magnificent and
harmonious plan
she applied in her
closing centuries
at Philas, Dende
rah, Edfu and Kom-
as to which it is

FIG. 430.
MIXED HATHOR
CAPITAL AT PH1L.E.

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 43I.— THE KIOSK OF NECTANEBUS
AT PHILjE. (Phot Fiorelli.)

manner that the rooms which
surround the sanctuary abut
upon it, and forms their
back wall. In the temple
of Horus, on the other hand,
it is independent, save at
the extremities, where it
joins the pylon, and it enve
lopes the temple without
touching it at any point;
it interposed like a screen
between the external world
and the domain of the god,
and prevented the profane
from seeing anything that
was going on inside. Some
times it was dispensed with,
when time or money was
lacking, and this was the
case at Denderah, and pro
bably also at Esneh. The
Saite and Ptolemaic plan
had then, as an addition to
the main features of the Ramesside plan, what I may call an iso
lating barrier, and
as soon as the
gateway is passed,
the differencesbe-
come more mark
ed. The Rames
side colonnade
ran along the
two lateral walls,
and joined the
facade or the se
cond pylon, as in
the Ramesseum,
or, if the facade
had its own raised
portico with a bal
ustrade between
the columns , as
432.— EAST FACADE OF THE MAMMISI , . .
at PHiLiE. (Phot. Fioretu.) in the temple ot
225 q

ART IN EGYPT

"^^^^

^^""**1**iU

V .4
¦
L X'
r i
1 |[j^m||M
!
|
1 . ..^"-.jdSti
1 1
FIG. 433.— CAPITALS OF THE COLUMNS OF THE
PRONAOS AT PHTL.E. (Phot. Beato.)
Khonsu and at Medinet-Habu, it was merged more or less
adroitly into the colonnade. In the temple of Horus the portico
is set into the back of
the pylon on either side
of the door (Fig. 417) ; it
then follows the lateral
isolating walls, and re
mains as distinct from the
main building as these;
it stops a short distance
from their two angles, and
leaves a narrow space
between them and itself.
The pronaos here has
three rows of columns,
but the balustrade of the
Ramessids was raised be
tween the columns of the first row, and its panels acted as
an effectual screen for the more intimate rites (Fig. 418). The
court was the only part of the divine house which was really
public; only those privileged by their religious calling or social
rank penetrated beyond it, and, the better to emphasise the
division , a partition-wall , the postern of which was carefully
closed in general, barred the ambulatory between the enclosing
wall and the sanctuary
to the height of the
pronaos; the vulgar were
never, it would seem,
admitted to view the
scenes from the life and
wars of Horus with which
the inner walls were
adorned. When the pro
naos had been passed
through, the sort of fore
court into which one
entered, consisting of a
hypostyle hall, a vestibule,
and its adjacent chambers,
was more or less on the
ancient plan , but the
private apartments of the god were arranged in the new manner.
Passing through an anteroom common to both staircases of the
226
FIG. 434. PTOLEMAIC DOORWAY BEFORE THE
TEMPLE OF KHONSU. (Phot Beato.)
THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 435— THE PROPYLAEA AND FACADE OF
THE ORATORY OF THE THEBAN PTAH.
(Phot. Legrain.)

terrace, the little court giving access to the Chapel of the New
Year, several dark chapels, and finally the tabernacle of the
sacred boat were reached.
In this the Bubastites had
replaced the wooden naos
of antiquity, by a naos
of chased and polished
stone ; under the Saites,
each temple contained at
least one of these, some
times of considerable size,
which was much more the
real home of the god than
the boat. That at Edfu
(Fig. 419) has only three
lines of inscriptions on
the door-jambs, but it is
the best of those we
know as regards beauty of material and finish of workmanship.
The passage which encloses the naos-chamber on three sides is
bordered by chapels assigned to the gods of the Enneas; that
at the end, where the rites of worship were carried on while
the chamber of the boat remained closed, was here called the
Forge , in memory of the blacksmiths who helped Horus to
conquer Egypt, and who were supposed to have been his first
priests. I may add in
conclusion that the ter
races, formerly forsaken,
or given up to the sacred
astronomers, had acquired
considerable importance,
thanks to the expansion
of the Osirian myths. On
appointed days the mys
teries of the passion and
resurrection of Osiris were
celebrated here in shrines
(Fig. 420), or before
stelae designed for this
purpose ; the parapets,
which were made very
high, prevented the people from seeing anything of the spectacle
offered to the priests and their associates.
227 q 2

FIG. 436.

-THE KIOSK OF TRAJAN AT PHILjE.
(Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

0 zo M> 50 90 log Metres

FIG. 437. — PLAN OF THE ISLAND OF PHIL.*.
(After Cne. Lyons).

Such was the final type of the Egyptian temple. It had already
taken form under Alexander, and it persisted throughout the
last centuries of paganism,
subject to the slight vari
ations which local worship
imposed on its architects.
As Denderah, for instance,
was the palace of Hathor,
the columns of the pronaos
had the Hathor - capital
with four faces, and the
ceiling rested on a forest
of immense sistra (Fig.
421). At Kom-Ombo,
where the worship of a
single divinity had given
way, under the Theban Pharaohs, to that of the twin gods Ho
rus and Set, and afterwards, when Set was proscribed for the
murder of Osiris, that of Horus and Sobek, a single dwelling
would not have sufficed for the habitation of two beings so
diverse as the falcon and the crocodile ; the temple was accord
ingly divided into two parallel aisles joined together in the
longer axis, but it cannot be described as two adjoining temples;
though there are
two separate rooms
for the boats, the
whole forms but a
single block en
compassed by a
corridor , along
which are the rooms
of the Enneas, those
on the south for
Sobek, those on
the north for Ho
rus. In the same
manner the other
constituents are not
doubled, but are
divided each into
two sectors belong
ing respectively to the hawk and the crocodile according as to
whether they are situated north or south of the diameter drawn
228

FIG. 438. — SOUTH FRONT OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS AT
PHILiE DURING THE INUNDATION. (Phot. Fiorelli.)

THE SAITE AGE

from east to west. Neither are there two pylons, but between
the towers of the usual pylon are twin doors, the openings of which
correspond to those giving access to the two chambers of the
sacred boats. We have thus a pronaos, a hypostyle hall, three
bi-lobate rooms, if I may so express it, and at their sides the
usual closets and staircases. Two stone walls with two ambu
latories ran round these ; the exterior wall abutted on the pylon
as at Edfu, but the in
terior wall formed a
prolongation of the
pronaos north and south;
it was furnished on the
east with a row of cells,
probably to lodge the
officiating priests, three
for Horus on the north
east, three for Sobek on
the south-east; in the
centre, on the line of
junction, a staircase led
to upper storeys now
demolished. The plan,
drawn on paper, shows
us a monument too wide
for its length, the dis
proportion of which must
have emphasised the hea
viness for which Egyptian
architects are blamed. We
ask, indeed, with some
uneasiness if the effect
of that gaping double
void between the towers of the pylon can have failed to be
disastrous; perhaps, however, there was no pylon, but merely a
wall like that which encloses the court of Amenophis III. at Luxor.
Apart from this point, as to which there is no certainty, the
scholars and travellers who visit Kom-Ombo find nothing to
offend the eye (Fig. 422) ; the master who conceived and executed
it under the Ptolemies reconciled the general traditions of the
school and the exigencies of religion with a great deal of tact.
Temples on a smaller scale, such as I have called the temple
of the small town, lent themselves less readily to changes than
the others. Although they remained faithful to the Ramesside

FIG. 439. — EAST BLOCK OF THE SECOND
PYLON AT PHIL7E. (Phot. Beato.)

ART IN EGYPT

tradition, the examples at Sanhur, at El-Kalaa, near Coptos, of
Assuan, of Dakhlah in the Great Oasis, of Kasr-Karun (Fig. 423)
and even that at Medinet-Habu
(Fig. 424), all dating from the
Roman period, have not proved
sufficiently attractive to engage the
attention of archaeologists. Others
are but the accessory features of
a greater building, such as the
delicate chapel of Hathor at Philae
with its dainty court and single
chamber. The best specimen of
these is the charming temple of
Hathor and Amenophis at Der-el-
Medinet, which fascinated the artists
of the French Commission, but has
been unduly neglected since their
time. It stands like a sentry towards
the entrance of the savage gorge
which leads from the base of Kurnet-
Murrai to the Valley of the Queens,
and the Coptic monks who occupied
it for a long time rebuilt the brick
rampart bestowed on it by the Ptolemies almost on the origin
al foundations. It
forms a rectang
le, the facade of
which looks to the
south-east, and it
is quite bare on
the outside , the
only ornaments
being the torus
and cavetto which
crown the walls
(Fig. 425). Inside
is a vestibule sup
ported by two col
umns with floriated
capitals, separated
from the pronaos
bv the usual parti- FIG' 441-- south-western angle of the mammisi
, • li/r— ,nn AK,D GREAT DOOR OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS AT PHTLjE.
tion-wall(r'ig.426); (Phot. Fioretu.)
230

FIG. 440.— PRONAOS AND HYPOSTYLE
HALL OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS AT
phll;e. (Phot. Beato.)

THE SAITE AGE

Jm&m&

-^--- - it

FIG. 442

-TEMPLE OF DABUD BEFORE RESTORATION.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the three sanctuaries adjoin the pronaos, side by side, and a
staircase against the western wall led to the terraces. The pro
portions, the co
lour, the illumina
tion , are all of
extraordinary re
finement, and even
the sculpture is
good for the peri
od; the seven masks
of Hathor in a line
over the door on
the front wall of
the pronaos, form
an unexpectedly
agreeable frieze.
The two other chapels in the plain on the left bank, south of
Medinet-Habu, are far from possessing the same attraction for
the traveller. The nearer of the two, called by the natives Kasr-
el-Aguz, which was dedicated to a local saint by the Ptolemies,
was preceded by a portico, but it consists only of a wide vesti
bule, and three dark chambers in a line one behind the other.
The other, the Kasr-el-Shalauit , was built for the Isis of Her-
monthis under Otho, Vespasian and Domitian , and finished by
Hadrian and Antoninus
Pius; it contains an iso
lated sanctuary in the
middle, two little rooms
on the north-west, three
on the south-west, and
in the last of these, the
narrow staircase leading
to the roof-terraces. These
little temples must not be
confused with the Mam-
misi, the house of re
treat to which the god
dess retired every year
to spend in ritual soli
tude the unclean weeks
of travail and convales
cence. We know by the scenes depicted at Luxor and Der-
el-Bahari, that the queens or mother-divinities were placed in
231

FIG. 443.— TEMPLE OF TAFEH BEFORE
RESTORATION. (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

RAT IN EGYPT

a kind of quarantine at the birth of their children, but their
usual prison was concealed in the interior of their houses. Com
plete isolation and retirement became
obligatory under the Ethiopians or the
Saites. and the first indubitable examples
of it are contemporary with the Ptole
mies. The Mammisi stood at a short
distance from the principal temple, in
front of the facade and to the right
on coming out of the pylon at Edfu
(Fig. 427), at Kom-Ombo, at Philae,
and to the left at Denderah; only in
one instance, at the temple of Khonsu
at Karnak , was it placed behind the
facade, almost in the shadow of the
western wall of the hypostyle hall. In
general , it was built in the form of
the hypaethral temple, which had been
abandoned since the Eighteenth Dyna
sty, and it consisted almost everywhere
of a single room, surrounded by a
colonnade, and preceded sometimes by a
court and a monumental doorway; the
columns are of the Hathoric order at Edfu, images of the god
Bes being applied to them at Denderah, with the complication
of a floriated capital at Philae. The Mammisi of Opet at Karnak
is conceived in a totally different spirit, which I attribute to a
purely local cause. Popular piety had enshrined the most deeply
venerated of Theban relics,
the head of Osiris, in the
very building where it was
supposed the godwasborn
of Opet and the shrine
had been placed against
the ordinary Mammisi.
New arrangements were
necessitated by anew use;
the chamber of travail with
its Hathor -columns was
accompanied by corridors
and rooms, the most re
mote of which, a sort of sculptured crypt, was the tabernacle,
or rather the cenotaph of the god.
232

FIG. 444. — PLAN OF THE
TEMPLE OF KALABSHAH
(After Barsanti).

FIG. 445.— TEMPLE OF DAKKEH
(After a drawing by Burton).

THE SAITE AGE

Like the plan, the elements of construction and decoration
were directly derived from those of the Ramesside age, but the
use of them had been systematised and defined. The idea that
not only the whole temple, but each of its chambers, was an
image of the world, predominates more and more, and manifests
itself even in minute details of ornamentation. Thus the lower
part of the walls was covered with a flora and a fauna the variety of
which increased from century to century, from Edfu to Kom-Ombo,
Denderah and Philae. Bouquets of field and river flowers, buds
and blossoms of lotus, thickets
and marshes in the midst of
which oxen wander and birds
nestle, processions of Niles and
Nomes bearing the customary
tribute in great profusion, all
that land and river produce was
figured by the Ptolemaic and
Roman architects, in places where
the Ramessids had prescribed
a plain, smooth band, painted
black, and separated from the
carved panels of the wall by
superposed lines of red, yellow
and white. This rustic deco
ration admitted, in addition
to natural forms, conventional
motives, flowers united into arti
ficial bouquets with interlace
ments, divine emblems such as
the lily crowned with feathers
of Nefer-temu, even prisoners bound together in couples at the
stake. The decoration of ceilings was no longer restricted to a
sprinkling of yellow stars on a dark blue ground, or a flight of
vultures; they exhibit the constellations of the Egyptian heavens
with their protecting divinities or their conventional animal sil
houettes ; in certain chambers in the Chapels of the New Year and
the Osirian processional altars on the terraces at Denderah, zodi
acs composed in imitation of those of the Greeks, replace the
stellar imagery of purely Egyptian origin. Between plinth and
cornice, that is to say, according to doctrine, between heaven
and earth, there was a like profusion of pictures. There are no
longer only two or three registers upon the walls, but five or
six or more, and their multiplication was the natural consequence
233

FIG. 446.— KIOSK OF KARTASSI.
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 447.— CHAPEL TN THE QUARRIES
OF KARTASSI. (Phot. Thedenat.)

of the auxiliary virtue attributed to divine figures and their actions. If
two or three scattered divinities preserved a chapel from destruction,
twenty or more would necessarily
increase the security. Moreover,
the empty spaces between the
figures were like so many
breaches, through which evil in
fluences might penetrate; artists
did their best to reduce them
by increasing the number and
length of formulae and explana
tory texts. Thus the Ptolemaic
and Roman temples are literally
peppered with scenes and in
scriptions, the closer and more
minute as the date of construction
advances ; a hall of medium size
at Edfu , Denderah , Ombo or
Philae (Fig. 428) contains more
than the great hypostyle hall
of Karnak. And in many cases,
the magic of this external defence
was doubled by an internal defence known only to the initiated.
In Pharaonic buildings there are few examples of secret chambers,
corridors or cabinets conceal
ed in the thickness of the walls.
I know of one at Abydos in
the Memnonium of Seti I.,
another at Medinet-Habu in
the cenotaph of Rameses III.,
and finally, one in the temple
of Khonsu to the left of the
sanctuary. The last is a veri
table crypt near the ceiling,
13 feet from the ground, in
the space between two acces
sible chapels, and was perhaps
the hiding-place of the priest
who pronounced the oracles.
On the other hand, the Ptole
maic and Roman temples al
ways contain a number more
FIG. 448.— THE EAST GATE OF i , . ,
kasr-lbrim. (Phot. Oropesa.) or less great, which are group-
234

THE SAITE AGE

ed in general round the sanctuary of the boat. They seem to
have been built after the downfall of the national dynasties to

fig. 449.-

-FIELD OF THE PYRAMIDS OF MEROE
(After Lepsius).

receive the sacred treasures, the precious utensils, the jewels, statues,
and mystic emblems, all the material used by Pharaoh in the
rites he alone could celebrate, which naturally fell into disuse
when foreign monarchs ascended the throne; it was stored in
subterranean cells, in the hope that the day would come when
the ancient sovereignty would be restored, and the antique rites
would reappear in all their splendour. Edfu possesses at least
two, and Denderah more than a dozen, some
of which are bare, while others are orna
mented with bas-reliefs which indicate the
uses to which they were destined. Although
they were entered only by a few priests,
their sculptures are as carefully executed and
as delicate in style as those of the public
rooms; the god, who could see everything,
would not have tolerated mediocrity in his
secret places , any more than in his public
domain. Such a room was entered by an aper
ture, sometimes on a level with the floor,
sometimes placed so high that it could not
be entered without a ladder; a movable stone,
concealed in the decoration, masked this in
gress, known only to the priests, who trans
mitted the secret from generation to genera
tion. Pillars and columns were modified by the
same influences as mural decoration, not in
the base and the shaft, which remained essen-
235

i

M

i J~~

Ztv\

¦¦

.

¦
¦.>•
_..
ii
¦
FIG. 450.— PLAN AND
ELEVATION OF AN
ETHIOPIAN PYRAMID
(After Lepsius).
ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 451.-

-THE TEMPLE OF MESAURAT
(After Lepsius).

tially identical with those of the Ramesside age, but in the capi
tal. The pillar was used much less than in earlier times; or at
least we rarely see it in
the temples which have
survived. On the other
hand, the evolution of
columns and their capitals,
once initiated, continued
rapidly, and a hasty survey
of some of the most fa
mous temples, those of
Edfu or Philae, show what
a variety of forms it en
gendered; the number was
so great as to suggest to
architects a highly ingeni
ous combination. Whereas their Ramesside predecessors had, as
a rule, allowed only a single kind in any one part of a building,
and even when they introduced two, as in their hypostyle halls,
rigorously restricted each to the special place assigned to it,
these later architects mingled them all,
but in such a manner that each kind
was represented by two symmetrical
examples in the general scheme; thus
at Edfu, the dactyliform or papyriform
capitals which succeed each other in
the west portico of the great court
have their counterpart at the same
height and in the corresponding row
in the east portico. When once this
principle had been laid down, it was
applied assiduously, and its effect was
to co-ordinate the somewhat vague
sensations evoked in the spectator's
mind by the infinite diversity of types.
When we enter the court at Edfu,
or the long porticoes of Tiberius at
Philae (Fig. 429), we are struck instinc
tively by the impression of unity they
give, and on reflection we perceive
that this unity arises from the symmetry
observed between one side and the other in the use of capitals.
In the beginning, the Saites were content to utilise the styles
236

FIG. 452.— STATUE OF A
SQUATTING FIGURE (Museum
Cairo). (Phot Legrain.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 453.-
(Museum, Cairo).

PETUBASTIS (Phot, E. Brugsch.)

for which the monuments of the past furnished models, even
those which might have been supposed to have been entirely dis
credited. Thus at Elephantine we
find polygonal columns with six
teen faces erected by Amasis
and bearing his name. This, how
ever , was exceptional , and the
so-called proto-Doric order was
never used after his time, save
in those cases where the Ptolemies
deliberately imitated the fashions
of the Eighteenth Dynasty, as in
the chapel of the Theban Ptah,
which they aspired to pass off as
a work of Thothmes III. Every
where else, they adhered to the
styles preferred by the Ramessids,
the lotus, papyrus, and dactyliform
columns, and in the places where
religion demanded them, Hathor-
columns, but so modified as to
be almost unrecognisable. It even
happened sometimes that their new
conception of an order so far triumphed over the old that the
Hathor capital no longer consisted merely of two female masks
welded together at the nape of the neck, not always with a very
happy effect, even at Der-el-Bahari; it was expanded into four
faces , united by
the folds of the
headdress, and the
square cube which
crowned them
showed over each
a naos between two
volutes (Fig. 430).
The column thus
terminated has the
form of a gigantic
sistrum , and in
spite of the want
of proportion be
tween the shaft and the head, it has a grand appearance; there
is nothing; more impressive in Egypt than the Hathor-portico at
237

FIG. 454.— OSORKON II. PUSHING A BOAT
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 455. — AMENARTAS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

Denderah. At Philae, in the kiosk of Necta-
nebus (Fig. 431) and in the colonnade of the
Mammisi (Fig. 432), the architect has intro
duced the Hathorian motive as a sort of
abacus or cube between the architrave and
other capitals with floriated decorations.
The combination has a certain bizarre grace
not unpleasing; the art with which the
sistrum is incorporated with the bouquet
from which it rises is truly admirable. The
modifications to which the papyriform column
was subjected are no less happy. The first
step was to apply four or more bunches of
flowers to the edges of the open corolla,
which clothed its nudity; the details of this
addition, conventionalised more and more,
soon gave the whole the appearance of a
heraldic lily. This same ornament laid upon
the lotus or palm-leaf capitals, reduced them
by degrees to identity with the papyriform

capital; towards the end of the Ptolemaic
age and under the Caesars, the original
forms of the three orders had become
hardly more than an almost invisible
support on which motives borrowed from
the flora of the country, leaves, flowers,
buds , grasses , clusters of dates and
bunches of grapes, rose in vigorous profu
sion. All these were not heaped up or
applied haphazard ; the various elements
were gradually combined with an exqui
site sense of arrangement and proportion;
designers did not create them all at
once, and we can follow the development
of their ideas from the relatively simple
essays of Edfu to the more cunning
complexities of Philae and Esneh. The
hypostyle hall of the great temple of
Isis at Philae undoubtedly contains their
most perfect achievement (Fig. 433).
Not only are the motives they carved
on each of the capitals inconceivably rich
and tasteful ; they heightened the effect
238

FIG. 456.
ANKHNASNUFIABRI (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsdi.)

THE SAITE AGE

of these by shades of green, blue, red, and yellow incomparably
soft and harmonious; those painted columns, which the enlarge
ment of the barrage at Assuan will
soon destroy, are among the purest
and most delicate creations not only
of Egyptian, but of any art. It would
seem that in Upper Egypt, at any
rate, the first Ptolemies merely
cleaned and restored the buildings of
the Theban Pharaohs. Thus Ptolemy
Soter, under the name of Philip
Arrhidaeus and Alexander Aigos,
transformed the columned chapels
in which Thothmes III. and Ameno
phis III. had kept the sacred boat at
Karnak and Luxor respectively, into
dark sanctuaries; he retained the
two doors of the original plan, one
of which, however, that at the back,
soon disappeared. The great temple
of Amon was encumbered with ex-
voto offerings and statues, and the
ruins which the Ethiopian and As
syrian invasions had accumulated
here, had never been restored com
pletely. All this rubbish, which was
of no interest to contemporaries, was
buried in an immense favissa dug
out between the hypostyle hall and
the seventh pylon; then the eastern
walls of the hypostyle hall were
consolidated, the level of the floor
was raised a little, the pavement was
replaced, and the bases of the col
umns , already eaten away by salt
petre, were restored. The monumen
tal doorway in front of the temple
of Khonsu was entirely rebuilt (Fig.
434). The oratory of the Theban
Ptah (Fig. 435) was restored, and
a last pylon , more immense than
any of the others, was being built in front of the pylon of Rameses II.,
when, the town having revolted, Ptolemy Soter II. destroyed it
239

FIG. 457.— HEAD OF A STATUE
OF TTRHAKAH (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 458.— PSAMMETICHUS I.
(British Museum, London).

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 45g..-PSAMMETICHUS in.
(The Louvre, Paris).

in the year 87 B. C. On the other bank
of the river Ptolemy IV. Philopator and
Ptolemy Euergetes founded, in the place
of a ruined shrine of Amenophis III., the
little temple of Der-el-Medinet, dedicated,
as I have already said, to the goddess
Hathor and the magician Amenophis, son
of Hapu , whose worship was then so
popular. Their activity was not confined
to the limits of the ancient capital ;
wherever we go in Middle Egypt and in
the Delta, we find grandiose traces of
it, at Sebennythos, at Xois, at Bubastis,
at Heracleopolis , at Oxyrrhynchos, at
Hermopolis, at Kau-el-Kebir, at Akhmim,
and chaotic though the remains of their
work are , we are obliged to admit
that in dimensions at least they bear
comparison with the most important monu

ments of the Theban age. We should, however,
have some difficulty in determining what was
its general character, if the Said had not pre
served certain temples, intact, or nearly so,
at Esneh, Edfu, Kom-Ombo, Assuan, and Philae
(Fig. 409). The Romans continued the work of
the Ptolemies; the few buildings or fragments
of buildings which date from their domination,
such as the pronaos of Esneh and the kiosk at
Philae (Fig. 436) , show that the schools of
architecture had not degenerated under their
rule. Philae was to the later centuries what
Karnak had been to the earlier ages, the fa
voured spot where all the sovereigns had work
ed uninterruptedly , and consequently where
the successive phases of the evolution of art
may be most clearly observed (Fig. 437), Amasis
had built a chapel there , and in front of this
Nectanebus had put up first a gateway and then
a pavilion which marked the southern landing-
stage for travellers coming from the south.
Ptolemy Philadelphus demolished the building
of Amasis , and devised the present temple
(Fig. 438), pylons (Fig. 439), courts, hypostyle
240

FIG. 400.
STATUETTE OF A
QUEEN
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

hall (Fig. 440), sanctuary, and mammisi (Fig. 441), which where
decorated by his Macedonian or Ethiopian successors. Towards
the northern end of the
island, Augustus erected
a chapel in the Roman
style, as if to emphasise
the rights of the Empire,
but having accomplished
this act of annexation,
he returned to the native
tradition in the great
southern colonnade and
the unfinished kiosk, in
correctly called the Kiosk
of Trajan. It was also
purely on the Egyptian
system that Claudius
built the sanctuary and
Hadrian the propylaea of
the west. The town occupied all the space not filled by the
temple ; towards the close of the third century of our era, it was

FIG. 461. — MENTEMHET (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. £. Brugsch.)

FIG. 462. — NSIPTAH (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. Legrain.)

FIG. 463. — MENTEMHET
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot.E. Brugsch.)

a kind of museum, in which the later manifestations of Egyptian
art could be studied almost reign by reign.
241 R

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 464.— THOUERIS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

Beyond lay what was still Egypt for a
time, but an Egypt which had relapsed
into a semi-barbarous state, and in which
artistic life was only maintained by the effort
of a foreign will. The kings of Ethiopia,
who disputed the possession of the Nubian
marches first with the Ptolemies and then
with the Caesars, have left few traces of
their supremacy there. They founded two
temples, however, at least, one near Dabud
(Fig. 442), some half dozen miles south of
Philae. the other atDakkeh, on what was prob
ably the site of an oratory of Thothmes III. ;
the Ptolemies completed the first, the Ro
mans enlarged the second, and when they
had thoroughly colonised the country, they
built small chapels here and there-, at Tafeh
(Fig. 443), at Kartassi, at Dendiir, at Mahar-
raka, and a great temple at Kalabshah. The
plan (Fig. 444) is that used in Egypt proper
at the same period, but the execution is less careful. Kalabshah
is not unlike Edfu, and is imposing in spite of the obliquity
of its pylon and the disproportion between its depth on the
main axis and the breadth of
its facade; but Dakkeh (Fig.
445) when it was intact, made
a far more favourable impres
sion. The Ethiopian king Er-
gamenes first raised a small
shrine to Thoth-Paotnuphis, to
commemorate the taking of
Dodecaschoenus, (i. e. the terri
tory of the Cataract between
Philae and Syene), from the
Macedonians. Ptolemy Philo-
pator and Ptolemy Physcon
successively added to it a sekos,
a pronaos with two columns
in the facade, and a pylon;
less than a century later, Au
gustus surrounded the primi
tive chapel with a number of
new buildings ; on the east, an

FIG. 465.
HEAD OF A SAITE KING
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsdi.)

242

THE SAITE AGE

aedicula dedicated to the two lions of the Heliopolitan Enneas,
Shu and Tefnut, on the south a sanctuary with its naos in

FIG. 466.— STATUE
OF A PRIEST
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 467.
STATUE OF PSAM-
METICHUS I.
(Museum , Turin).

FIG. 468.— STATUE
OF HORUS AS A
CHILD(Mus., Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

granite, on the west a flight of steps leading to the terrace of
the sanctuary, and finally, a double stone wall, which made the
whole a kind of donjon destined to protect the village of Pselchis
against the barbarians.
Dendur is set against the
mountain, in front of the
grotto in which lies the
local saint who was wor
shipped here, and its
quay, the triumphal gate
which precedes the pro
naos, and the pronaos itself
are agreeable in design.
The chapel hewn in the
sandstone of the quarries
of Kartassi in the first
century of our era is happy
in its effect (Fig. 447). The kiosk (Fig. 446), which is all that
remains of the local temple, recalls the kiosk of Trajan at Philae
243 R 2

FIG. 460- — STATUETTE OF RECUMBENT OSDSIS
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 470. — STATUE OF
ISIS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 471. — STATUE OF
OSIRIS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

from a distance, but it owes its more picturesque charm to its
position on a kind of rocky spur on the river-bank. Mahar-
raka, the southernmost temple built by the Emperors, is also
the latest. Seen from outside,
it is a rectangular box, dull and
heavy in appearance; inside, it
is a court bordered by colonnades
on the south, west, and north,
and towards the north-east angle,
a block of masonry in the thick
ness of which is a spiral staircase,
the only one of its kind in the
southern regions. Beyond Mahar-
raka, there are no memorials of
the Latin domination save at Ib-
rim , where the eastern door of
the wall still exists (Fig. 448),
while towards the northern ex
tremity of the plateau there is a
nondescript building, half temple,
half barrack, which certainly dates
from the time of Septimius Sever- FIC" 472.— the cow hathor of
Ti • . . r .1 r- • SAKKARAH (Museum, Cairo).
us. 1 his outpost of the Empire /phot. e. Brugsch.)
244

THE SAITE AGE

evidently remained its artistic, as well as its
political dependency, but did its influence ex
tend further south, to the territories connected
with the kingdom of Meroe? We know so
little of the history of Ethiopia after the time
of Tirhakah and his immediate successors, that
it is difficult to say anything definite on this
head. The tombs of the Ethiopian Pharaohs,
the plans and designs of which have survived,
are obviously derived from the pyramid-mastabas
of the Theban age. (Fig. 449). They include a
pyramid, in fact, but it rests on a low base,
has a sharper point than the Memphite pyramids,
and tori dividing its faces ; a monumental door,
or even a pylon, marks the entrance of the
chambers, which are frequently decorated with
bas-reliefs (Fig. 450). Long after Tirhakah, the
temples continued to be purely Egyptian in type,
though they show a slovenliness of execution
which betrays the unskilfulness of their archi
tects and stone-cutters, but
towards the close of the first
century after Christ, Greek

FIG. 473-
STATUE ROUGHLY
BLOCKED OUT
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 474.— STATUE
FINISHED BUT FOR
THE HEAD
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

elements began to mingle with the Pharaonic,
and a hybrid style was formed, of which the
temple of Messaurat is the best known example
so far (Fig. 451). It dates from the third
century of our era, that is to say, from the
last days of the monarchy. Meroitic art may
have long survived the downfall of the dynasties
of Egyptian origin; I am inclined to recog
nise its influence in what we know of Axu-
mitan art.
Architecture then had been dead for some
time in Egypt proper, when the last and most
obscure of its progeny perished on foreign
soil. It was still so vital and so magnificent
in the third century, when it produced Ombos
and Esneh, that we cannot explain its sudden
downfall by inherent causes. Up to its supreme
moment, its masters knew their craft thoroughly,
and applied its principles with incontestable
superiority ; it would surely have subsisted for
245

ART IN EGYPT

centuries longer, if it had not been
so thoroughly impregnated with
the religious conceptions to which
it owed its inspirations , that it
could not survive them. The Ro
man basilica, and even the Greek
temple, had hardly any constituent
elements which were exclusively
pagan ; at the price of certain
modifications of no great impor
tance, they lent themselves to the
requirements of triumphant Chris
tianity, and furnished it with sui
table churches. But the arrange
ments which made the Egyptian
temple the mysterious abode of
Amon, Horus, or Isis and their
court, had no longer any reason
for existence in relation to the
new God. What need was there
for the chambers of the boat, the shrine of statues, the chambers
of the Enneas , the hypostyle halls , the pronaos , in a religion
the whole ritual of which was performed in public, and in which

FIG. 475. — HEAD OF A STATUE
(Museum, Berlin).

476.— HEAD OF A STATUE
(The Louvre, Paris).

246

FIG. 477.— BUST OF A STATUE
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot.E.Brugsdi.)

THE SAiTE AGE

the paraphernalia of images and vases was reduced almost to
nothing? Christ and his saints did not hide in dim recesses,
and did not rigorously exclude certain categories of the faithful;
they flung wide their doors, and allowed all who joined their
community to approach them freely. Those of the Egyptians
who rallied to them could not help renouncing their national
architecture, as they had renounced their national
writing ; both were too close a reflection of the
antique religion to survive it.
B. SCULPTURE.
Sculpture did not offer such a vigorous resis
tance to the action of centuries as architecture;
yet it had its happy seasons, and at various
times produced works which deserve to rank
very highly in the estimation of our contempor
aries. Many of these works were still of the Theban
school. We know how, rather more than a
century after the death of Rameses III., the
priests of Amon usurped authority and ruled
over the Thebaid, sometimes under the title of
High Priest, sometimes under that of King.
They allowed their relatives to set up statues
in the temples, and this privilege, continuing
throughout five or six centuries, ended by en
cumbering the halls with works, many of which,
if not actually bad, lack originality. The favour
ite attitude was inelegant. It represents the
sitter swathed in the closely fitting mantle from
which only the hands emerge, squatting on
the ground, the thighs drawn up to the chest,
the arms crossed on the knees (Fig. 452). How was it possible
to get any effect out of an attitude which condemned the model
to be nothing but a bundle with a head? It had been popular
since the Twelfth Dynasty, and there are good examples of it
of the time of Thothmes III., in the Senmut of Cairo and that
of Berlin ; but under the High Priests and the Sai'tes, it became
almost obligatory for the ex-votoes of the temples. All the merit
of these figures lies in the head, which is often very delicate,
as in the Pedishashi at Berlin, in which an expression of joyous
youth and good-nature atones for the clumsiness of the whole,
and the Petubastis at Cairo (Fig. 453). In cases where the model
247

FIG. 478.— COLOS
SAL STATUE OF
AMENOPHIS, SON
OF HAPU
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 47g.
TANITE STATUE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch)

consented to adopt a less irksome position,
our admiration is no longer confined to
the head, and the fine qualities of the school
are revealed. They proclaim themselves in
the limestone statuette of Osorkon II., drag
ging himself along the ground, and pushing
before him a boat (now mutilated), as an
offering to his god (Fig. 454); and again,
though in a lesser degree, in the alabaster
Amenartas so much admired by Mariette
(Fig. 455); the face is doleful and lifeless,
but the modelling of the bust and abdomen
is chaste and delicate. The Ankhnasnufiabri
(Fig. 456) of Cairo might almost bear com
parison with the Amenartas, but for the
headdress which weighs down her head, and
the heavy pillar against which she is set;
the features have a somewhat affected
delicacy, but the rest is poor in design.
This, indeed, is characteristic of the works
of this period : the limbs are often neglected,
while the face is very

carefully treated. For
every one or two passable bodies, we
shall find some twenty fine heads, such
as the energetic head of the Ethiopian
Tirhakah (Fig. 457) , with his almost
negroid face , the intelligent head of
that crafty old peasant, Psammetichus
I. (Fig. 458), the melancholy head of
Psammetichus III. (Fig. 459). The muti
lated queen at Cairo, which dates from
the Ethiopian period (Fig. 460) is a little
rough, perhaps because of the material
in which it is carved, the pink granite
of the cataract, but it does not lack
decision and nobility. The portrait of
Mentemhet (Fig. 461), who ruled at
Thebes at the end of the Twenty -fifth
Dynasty, is the most vigorous example
known to us of this last Theban school.
The man was common, even brutal in
appearance, and the singular wig with
248

FIG. 480.— ALEXANDER
A1GOS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

which he thought well to crown himself
on this occasion, was not calculated to
temper the mulish vulgarity of his counten
ance; all the more credit is due to the
artist for having built up a work of such
power that it remains superb in spite of
mutilation, on such an unpromising foun
dation. The statues of Nsiptah (Fig. 462
and 463) son of Mentemhet and his heir
in the administration of the principality
of Amen, are not marked by the same
almost excessive realism ; nevertheless, the
sculptor has faithfully reproduced the
expression of self-sufficiency and aristo
cratic inanity which differentiates this per
sonage from his father. I might enumerate
some nine or ten examples which, though
not equal to this, will bear comparison
with it; one among them, the Thoueris at
Cairo.demands speci-

FTG. 481.— STATUETTE
OF A WOMAN
(Museum, Alexandria).
(Phot. Breccia.)

FIG. 482. — THE SAME
IN PROFILE
(Museum, Alexandria).
(Phot. Breccia.)

al mention for its
monstrosity of con
ception. It repre
sents neither a hu
man being nor a normal animal (Fig. 464),
but a hippopotamus with a huge muzzle,
smiling jaws, flabby breasts, and swollen
abdomen, the form in which the Egyptians
incarnated one of the divine protectresses
of maternity. Rising elegantly upon her
hind legs, her two forepaws resting upon
symbolical knots of rope, she is cut out
of a block of green breccia with a
precision which somewhat redeems the
strangeness of her appearance, but all
the skill of the technique fails to mask
her hideousness ; one cannot but pity the
master- craftsman whose religion obliged
him to treat a motive so unfavourable
to art seriously.
All the schools of Northern Egypt put
together have not given us one half of
that which has been bequeathed us by
249

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 483.— THE ALEXAN
DRIAN HORUS (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the Theban School. The Memphite School
has left us a few busts of kings, Saite or
Ptolemaic, (Fig. 465) and certain rare statues,
distinguished by that characteristically soft
and delicate execution which has made it
possible for us to recognise its existence:
these are , a full-length statue of Psammet
ichus I. (Fig. 467) , a statue of a priest
holding an Osiris before him (Fig. 466), a
statue of a youthful Horus, naked, his finger
to his lip, the plait over his ear, the uraeus
on his forehead (Fig. 468), a statuette of an
Osiris mummy, lying face downwards on his
base, and raising his head in the first spasm
of resurrection. The four monuments of
Psammetichus in green breccia preserved in
the Cairo Museum, which belong to the be
ginning of the Persian period, are the most
remarkable. I deliberately pass over the table
of offerings, which is merely a good piece of
work by the marble-cutter of some necropolis ; the Isis (Fig. 470),
and theOsiris (Fig. 471), at whose feet it originally stood, are mark
ed , it must be admitted , by a flatness of
inspiration in painful contrast to the supreme
skill of their technique. The modelling is correct,
but soft and nerveless, the eyes empty, the
smiles inane, the faces inanimate ; they are, in
fact, a perfect anticipation of those religious
figures which abound in our modern eccle
siastical warehouses. The cow which accom
panied them (Fig. 472) is posed in the same
manner as that of Naville, and also wears the
two huge feathers of Hathor; Psammetichus is
standing in the shadow of her head, in the
attitude of Amenophis II. The Sai'te sculptor,
like his Theban predecessor, was unable to
disengage the legs of his beast, and has retained
a stone partition between her belly and the
ground; nevertheless, he was determined to
show her complete on either side, so to her
one head, she has two chests in profile, two
bodies and two sets of legs. The contours have
an unpleasant dryness due to the hardness of
250

FIG. 484.
MEMPHITE STATUE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

the stone, but the modelling is extraordinarily
fine and the faces both of man and goddess
are marked by a serenity touched with melan
choly. It is, in fact, an excellent example,
and one we greatly admired before seeing the
group of Der-el-Bahari. The mythological con
vention is perhaps less embarrassing than in
the latter, but the formula of the [workshop
manifests itself more aggressively. Hathor is
a conventionalised heifer which has lost the
natural grace and freedom of the good Egyptian
milch-cow; she has all the elegance and all the
insipidity of the Isis and Osiris. Beyond these
pieces, I know of none which deserve mention,
but there are so many statues of the Saite age
scattered in museums with no indication of their
origin, that we may be sure some of these will
have to be assigned to the Memphite School,
when we are better acquainted with its charac
teristics at this period. The
other schools of the Delta

FIG. 485.— MEM
PHITE STATUETTE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 486.
MEMPHITE STATUE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

are no more familiar to us, and for the same
reason; we must be content for the present
to recognise the general features of the period,
without attempting to distinguish local pecu
liarities. Saite artists did not forsake either granite
or the softer materials, limestone and sand
stone ; they showed, however, a marked prefer
ence for hard, close-grained stones such as
basalt, breccia, and serpentine, and excelled
in the art of rendering them supple. Their
fine works may therefore be recognised
generally at a glance by the beauty of the
substance, and the pellucid polish with which
they clothed it; but in addition to these
material indications, there are others more
subtle which result from the manner in which
they interpreted the human form. On the
one hand, they tended to conventionalise
it more and more, and they modelled it
from the drawings of masters, and the pattern-
books of the workshop rather than from
251

ART IN EGYPT

487. — HEAD AND BUST OF A
WOMAN (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

nature; excavators have found,
and are still finding in the ruins,
what may be described as ready-
made statues, some entirely
blocked out in the rough (Fig. 473),
others with the bodies finished,
and a shapeless block of stone
left for the head (Fig. 474), to
await the client whose likeness
it was to receive ; also feet, hands,
arms and heads in different stages
of preparation, which were used
for the instruction of pupils, or
were the products of their ex
periments. Under the influence of
this method, the science of ana
tomy languished, contours became
soft, the muscles relaxed and were
incorrectly placed, the planes of
the flesh were merged one into
the other and became perfectly smooth. On the other hand,
great pains were taken to make the head as exact a reproduction
of the original as possible, and in order
to succeed in this, sculptors were no longer
content to render the features of the face
very faithfully in the stone ; they gave much
attention to the modelling of the neck and
skull, which had hitherto been neglected.
Our museums contain examples of these
disconcerting statues, in which the feebleness
of the body is in such striking contrast to
the truth of the face. The wrinkles of the
forehead are emphasised with scrupulous
insistence, the sunken eyes and the crows'
feet at the corners, the muscles which
encircle the nostrils, the laughing lines of
the mouth, the curve or the flatness of the
nostrils; the double- statues no longer re
present their master as uniformly young;
if he is mature or old they show the
stigmata of age. The head at Berlin
(Fig. 475) like that in the Louvre (Fig. 476),
is the unflattered portrait of a Memphite
252

FIG. 488. — HEAD AND
BUST OF A WOMAN
(Barracco Collection).
(Phot. Bissing.)

THE SAITE AGE

citizen, whose ugliness has been transferred to green schist
or serpentine with the mechanical precision of a photographic
plate. The skull of the shaven
priest at Cairo (Fig. 477) is
as minutely modelled as if the
sculptor had been commis
sioned to make an anatomical
model for a medical school ;
it shows every bump , every
depression, all the asymmetries,
and a doctor could tell at a
glance if there were congenital
defects in the original.
This recrudescence of realism
is not to be attributed to the
appearance of the Greeks on
the scene; the Greeks of the
fifth and fourth centuries B. C.
did not carry this almost painful
striving after resemblance so
far. It was the natural develop
ment, and as it were the con
sequence of the ancient theory
of the double, and was produced

fig. 48g.-
(Museum ,

HEAD AND BUST OF A MAN
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

under the influence of the
changes introduced into
costume by the fashion of
the period. After the
Twenty -sixth Dynasty it
would seem that the use
of the wig gradually be
came less general , and
that it disappeared entirely
under the Persians. The
priests, who kept their
skulls bare for reasons of
professional cleanliness,
lived, it may be said, with
uncovered heads , and
those members of the
other upper classes who
were not affiliated in
to the priesthood, acquired the habit of wearing
Once again it was religious dogma which drew art
253

FIG. 490. — SPHINX OF THE ROMAN PERIOD
(Museum, Alexandria). (Phot Breccia.)

some way
short hair.

ART IN EGYPT
into a new path, and when artists copied the head so exactly,
it was in the hope of securing for the double all the benefits

FIG. 491.— CROWNED COLOSSUS IN THE ISLAND OF ARGO.

he had enjoyed on earth. It is not surprising, therefore, that
the example thus set by the Memphite School should have
been followed by all the others. The few Theban statues of
Ptolemies which have survived betray a
like interest in the accidents of the face.
Those of the princes of Asyut, which seem
to be related to the Hermopolitan School,
show traces of the same influence, and
those of the Tanite School which we find
at Cairo (Fig. 479) have not escaped it,
a fact which will surprise no one, seeing
that an analogous tendency makes itself
felt in the earliest of its productions, the
sphinxes of Amenemhat III. Nevertheless,
in the cities colonised by the Macedonians,
at Alexandria , at Memphis , and even at
Thebes, the sight of Greek statues, and
perhaps contact with the masters who exe
cuted them , had finally made some im
pression on the natives, and though they
never entirely abandoned their ancestral
traditions, they hellenised them to some
extent. The Theban Colossus of Ameno
phis, son of Hapu (Fig. 478), is purely
254

FIG. 492.
THE GOD AMON AND AN
ETHIOPIAN CANDACE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 493. — ETHIOPIAN STATUES OF SOULS
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

Egyptian, and that which represents an Alexander Aigos (Fig. 480)
has no exotic elements save the arrangement of the hair and
the cast of the face. In .
the Alexandrian statuette
(Figs. 481, 482), the atti
tude and costume are, on
the other hand, purely
Egyptian, but the Greek
afflatus has passed over
the body, animating every
part of it, the rounded
bust, the small, firm
breasts, the closely mo
delled belly, the well-
developed hip, the slen
der, nervous leg. The
priest Horus (Fig. 483),
less delicate in handling, is much more advanced in evolution;
it looks like a Greek work executed by an Egyptian rather than
a purely Egyptian creation. Here again the body is open to
criticism ; the shoulders are not broad enough, the chest is too
narrow, and the artist had a difficulty in rendering both the
fall of the arms and the folds of the chlamys.
The head is not bad; the nose is thin
and straight, the chin square, the jaw ob
stinate, and the whole has a certain general
resemblance to the portraits of the young
Augustus. These hybrid statues were also
produced at Memphis at this period. One,
which is of basalt (Fig. 484), is not unlike
our Horus in costume and attitude, while
the other (Fig. 485), in limestone, represents
a priest walking and holding a naos in both
hands; the eyes are inserted, and the eye
brows have been blackened with kohol; the
whole work is uninteresting. There is the
same unskilfulness in the large limestone
figure of our museum (Fig. 486), and al
though the heads, male (Fig. 489) and female
(Figs. 487, 488), near it give the impression
of faithful . likenesses , the dryness of the
chisel has played the excellent intentions
of the sculptor false. 255

FIG. 494.— STATUE RE-
CARVED AS A C/ESAR
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 495-
COLOSSUS OF THE
ROMAN PERIOD
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

Certain ancient types were modified in this
last stage of sculpture; that, for instance, of
the female sphinx, who began to lean her head
to one side and to cross her forepaws (Fig. 490).
No original type was born of this belated
alliance between the Greek and the Egyptian
spirit; the remnant of creative vigour which
the old tradition kept alive, had taken refuge
in Ethiopia. It is not manifested in the crowned
Colossus of the island of Argo (Fig. 491), nor
in the few royal statues which have come down
to us from Argo, Napata, and Meroe; the
Cairo group (Fig. 492) , in which a Queen
Candace stands beside an Amon, has some
pride and spirit , in spite of the imperfection
of the execution, but it has no elements which
are not purely Egyptian. And yet recent exca
vations have revealed a new conception of the
soul among this people which was relapsing
into barbarism (Fig. 493). Taking as their point
of departure the bird with a human head which
had in all times served to express it, they
substituted a human body for that of the falcon, at first without
altering the proportions; but soon, enlar
ging the miniature body to normal dimen
sions, they produced what I have called
the soul-statue in contradistinction to the
double-statue, the figure of a man or woman
over whose shoulders the falcon's skin
hangs like a cloak. It does not seem that
this type ever penetrated into Egypt proper.
Indeed, soon after its appearance, the purely
indigenous schools of sculpture were either
closed, or, all along the valley, merely
produced artisans incapable of a passable
work; when, about the beginning of the
third century, certain towns of the Fayum
or the Delta wished to erect monuments
in honour of the Caesars, Commodus or
Caracalla, they were reduced to borrowing
an antique statue and re-carving the face
(Fig. 494), or, if they demanded an original,
the artist gave them the caricature of a
256

FIG. 496.— STATUE OF A
MONKEY (Museum of the
Vatican). (Phot. Petrie.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 497.— LION PASSANT
(Museum of the Vatican). (Phot. Petrie.)

Colossus in the antique style (Fig. 495). The hybrid art of
Alexandria was on a higher level, as we learn from the two
statues of a man and
woman of the tomb of
Kom-es-Shugafa, and the
animal - sculptors were
able for some time yet to
produce figures of monk
eys (Fig. 496), sphinxes
(Fig. 498), and lions
passant or seated (Figs.
497, 499), which may be
taken for living animals
at a first glance. The
pacific lion of Fig. 500,
and the Kom-Ombo statue, of which only the crowned head has
survived (Fig. 501) , were probably among the last efforts of
Egyptian or Egyptianistic art; none of the monuments I have
met with so far seem to me later than the second half of the
third century after Christ.
The history of the Saite and Graeco-Roman bas-relief is anal
ogous to that of the statues. It had its glorious moments from
the eighth to the third century before Christ; it then passed
through a long period of decadence, and closed towards the
middle of the third century of our era. A few stelae , the
rescript of Nectanebus on Naucratis, and the Horus with the
crocodiles (Fig. 502) in
the Cairo Museum, will
bear comparison with the
best works of the Ah-
messide age, and the frag
ment of a decree of
Ptolemy Euergetes has a
motive unknown in earlier
periods, that of a Pharaoh
on horseback charging the
enemy, sarissa in hand
(Fig. 503). The bas-reliefs
of buildings anterior to
the Greek conquest are of
a very pure style in the

FIG. 498.— SPHINX OF THE PTOLEMAIC PERIOD
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

Delta, at Beh-bet, for instance, where Nectanebus I. restored
the temple of Isis ; even certain fragments of a temple of Akoris,
257 s

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 499. — SEATED LION
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

found at Sakkarah, would be almost equal
to those of Seti I. at Abydos, if their deli
cacy were not marred by a certain insipidity.
Over-roundness of modelling, and softness
of contours are indeed the defects we note
in the decoration, defects which became
more and more marked towards the end.
They make themselves felt even in the ex
perimental pieces, and the collection of
models which every studio possessed, relics
which are found in quantities in the ruins
of the great towns, from Tanis to Edfu and
Philae. Figures of kings and queens are
the most frequent (Fig. 504) , and this is
natural, for the reigning Pharaoh and the
women of his family had an immemorial
right to be represented on the walls of the
temples, and it was also customary to lend
their features to the gods and goddesses
with whom they consorted; animals and
hybrid forms of godhead, half man, half
beast, also abound , and this again is not
surprising, for sculptors were perpetually called upon to execute
them , both in pictures and inscriptions. One of the masters
would trace on thin slabs of limestone, sometimes squared
on the surface, the better to instruct the tyro in the proper relation
of parts, the portrait of a Pto
lemy or a Cleopatra (Fig. 505),
in various skilfully graduated
stages , from the moment of
sketching in the silhouette and
the relief (Fig. 506), until that
when they are finished in their
slightest details (Fig. 507).
Several of these examples are
masterpieces, and there are
things in the Cairo Museum,
such as the head of a lioness
and the image of a bull, no
whit inferior in delicacy of
touch to the best in the temple
of Abydos or the tomb of Seti I.
Yet even in these we discern
258

FIG. 500.— THE LION OF KOM-OMBO
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

the tendencies which, becoming more and more pronounced,
brought about irremediable decline. It is not good for an ap
prentice to be kept exclusively at the reproduction of models,
however perfect. He loses touch with reality, he becomes a
machine , and soon he prides himself on being nothing but the
servile copyist of antique forms. Plato, no doubt, reflected the
state of mind of his Egyptian contemporaries when he praised
as admirable the persistence with which they had produced the
same types without change for thousands of years. If, thanks to
the beauty of its stereotyp
ed designs , late Saite art
retained a certain elegance,
it soon had nothing of its
primitive originality and crea
tive vigour left. Its figures
had become mere puppets
without any anatomical basis;
the nose became rounder,
the lips more pouting, the
chin thicker, the cheeks hea
vier, the mouth was set in
a smile which lifts it at the
corners and draws up the
nostrils towards the eyes.
This contraction of the whole
countenance, slight under the
first Ptolemies, degenerates
under their successors and
the Caesars into a grimace,
which gives the person re
presented a distressingly silly expression.
Thebes and Philae are almost the sole places where we may
trace the progress of this decadence. The bas-reliefs of the gate
of Nectanehus on the east of the great temple of Amon are dignified
and agreeable, if they have no claim to supreme excellence, and
the same qualities reappear at Luxor in the sanctuary of
Alexander II., at Karnak, on the walls of the granite chamber
constructed by Philip Arrhidaeus in the shrine of the sacred boat
of the time of Thothmes III. They begin to die out in the little
temple of Ptah (Fig. 508), and the decoration of the large door
built by Ptolemy Physcon for the hypostyle hall is frankly
detestable; above all, in the places where sculptors presumed
to fabricate bas-reliefs in the names of Thothmes (Fig. 509) or
259 s 2

FIG. 501.— HEAD OF A STATLTE
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 502.— STELE OF HORUS
ON THE CROCODILES
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

Rameses (Fig. 511), the handling is so
feeble that the imposture is obvious to
the most ignorant eye. The material
in which they are carved is in part
responsible for their shortcomings.
Whereas the architects of the Saite
period used a close, durable sandstone,
capable of keeping the play of the
chisel firm, those of the Ptolemaic age
were content, no doubt for economical
reasons, with a soft, coarse-grained
sandstone which did not lend itself to
precise lines or delicate transitions in
relief. Sculptors were accordingly ob
liged to suppress in the contours and
the modelling of their figures minutiae
for which the stone was unsuitable,
and as, even by avoiding these as
much as possible, they did not alto
gether escape such accidents as the
splitting or crumbling of the work,
they substituted for relief on a sunk surface (relief en creux),
which had been almost obligatory in former centuries relief on
the normal surface of the
wall , which they applied
even to inscriptions. It thus
became easier for them to
complete their decoration
without endangering their
figures and hieroglyphics
unduly; but, on the other
hand, they secured integrity
at the cost of flexibility;
their works, reduced to the
utmost simplicity of model
ling for fear of accidents
during execution , look as
if they had lost their skin,
and were presenting hastily
flayed figures to view. At
Philae the decadence, though
slower, was not less sure,
and was brought about by

FIG. 503.
PTOLEMY EUERGKTES CHARGING
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.) 260

THE SAITE AGE

the same causes as at Karnak; we follow it step by step, from
the pavilion of the doorway of Nectanebus II. to the shrine of
Euergetes II. , the porticoes of Augustus and Tiberius, the doors
of Hadrian and Trajan. In such of the temples as were decor
ated on a homogeneous plan, without too long a period between
the dates of beginning and completing
the work, Edfu, for instance, there is
no distressing contrast between room
and room, and the unity of the deco
ration conceals its feebleness to a
certain extent. No very keen study
is needed, however, to perceive that
the sculptor here was a workman, who
mechanically transferred a stereotyped
design to the wall, and was no longer
capable of giving it a personal impress
(Fig. 510); his main preoccupation was
the correct reproduction of costume
and liturgical accessories (Fig. 512).
For the great Theban School, which
had inspired all the provincial schools
of the Said for centuries, was dying,
if indeed it was not already dead at
the moment when Edfu and Denderah
were decorated, and the local work
shops could only reproduce mechani
cally the motives the architect ordered,
as in those pictures where the Emperor
Domitian comes to worship the gods
of Thebes; where architecture, a mathe
matical art, had retained its vitality
for centuries, a few years had sufficed
to cause sculpture to degenerate and
bring it to the point of death. The
stelae of the Fayum (Fig. 514) and the bas-reliefs of Macrinus
and Diadumenianus at Kom-Obos (Fig. 515), the last which bear
a date, have neither life nor style, nor anything else; they are
mere hieratic lumber, timidly manufactured by an ignorant work
man. Ethiopia was no better equipped than Egypt proper. The
heads of some of her kings (Figs. 516 — 517) look like caricatures,
so clumsy is their execution. Even in Nubia, where, it might
have been thought, the domination first of the Ptolemies and
then of the Caesars would have tended to preserve the Theban
261

FIG. 504. — MODELS OF HEADS
AT DIFFERENT STAGES
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

tradition, the bad taste characteristic of Meroe prevailed. The
sculptures at Dakkeh (Fig. 518) and Kalabshah, which are for the
most part of the time of Augustus , are worse than those of
Ombo, later by over 200 years. The temple of Dakkeh, as
we know (cf. p. 242) received its final form under Augustus,
who added the sanctuary and pylon. The pylon-towers have
a few reliefs on the outside. The sanctuary reliefs show an
unknown Emperor doing homage to various deities. Among the
reliefs of a chamber built by the Ethiopian Ergamenes (con
temporary with Ptolemy II.),
is one of the king pouring
a libation. The reliefs in the
temple of Kalabshah were
never completed, and the
crudity of those which were
executed is such as to obviate
any regrets on this score. They
decorate the pronaos and the
three following rooms , and
represent Augustus sacrificing
to the gods of Egypt.
At Maharrakah , the ancient
Hierasycaminos, side by side
with certain execrable bas-
reliefs purely Egyptian in
style , I must instance a last
attempt to fuse the Alexand
rian and Pharaonic styles, Isis
and Horus in Greek draperies,
sitting or moving after the
manner of Roman deities (Fig. 519). The intention was praiseworthy,
but no more barbaric work ever disgraced an Egyptian chisel.
The funerary bas-relief of the Saite age is considered by
archaeologists an evidence of the renascence of ancient Memphite
art, and the purity and tenderness which characterise it are
readily attributed to direct imitation of the Ancient Empire.
It cannot be denied that the Egyptians of this period must often
have penetrated into the earlier hypogea, but if, after pillaging
and demolishing them to make fresh use of their materials, they
derived texts and magic formulae from them, they had no need
to borrow school motives. The designs prescribed for use in
the mastabas had never been completely abandoned, although,
under the Ahmessids and the Ramessids, the imitation of Theban
262

FIG. 505. — FIGURE OF A QUEEN OR
GODDESS AT TWO DIFFERENT STAGES
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 506. — SKETCH
FIGURE OF A KING
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

processes had loaded them with details
alien to the primitive conception. When
the political hegemony of Thebes was over
thrown, its artistic influence vanished rapid-
lv, and soon, towards the end of the
Bubastite age, or under the Ethiopians,
local inspiration, casting off these adven
titious elements , returned to an almost
primitive simplicity. Thus, in the tomb of
Patanafi or that of Psammetiknufisashmu,
the general scheme is that of the bas-reliefs
of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, for the
bearers of offerings walk in single file,
separated and juxtaposed (Fig. 520), not
superposed in profile; but as soon as we
give more than a superficial attention to
the work, we note combinations which
we had not perceived at first. The primi
tive fiction of the wakf, indicating a
number of domains, each with its geo
graphical individuality, had been replaced
by the idea of a tribute levied once for all upon the entire
patrimony; the procession of the domains is therefore merely
an artistic survival, a motive of earlier
times, used to symbolise the rendering
of dues to the dead man, but no longer
corresponding to rites performed round
the tomb. An indifferent staff of priests,
professional mourners, musicians and
dancers was now employed for the
ceremonies, in place or the deceased's
own servants. It is not surprising that
this perversion of the original idea should
have entailed modifications in the treat
ment of the scenes. On the bas-relief
of Zanufi in the Cairo Museum , the
women are not drawn from a uniform
pattern. The artist has made them
young, in accordance with the ancient
tradition, but they have no longer the
dainty roundness and the virginal appear
ance which pleased in earlier ages;
he has eiven them the heavy breasts,
5 263

FIG. 507.— FINISHED FIGURE
OF A KING (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

thick waist , full abdomen , wide hips , and firm gait of married
women, and often of mothers (Fig. 521). As was natural, the
men are little changed, but their attitudes are less conventional
than formerly, and one of them, the man in the middle, brings
his left shoulder forward with an attempt at perspective of which
no one seems to have thought before the Theban period. The
desire for variety is even more strongly marked in the animals;
not a single one of the eight
bullocks the men are leading
is in the same attitude as
its fellows. It is, however,
in a bas-relief in the Museum
of Alexandria that the dif
ference between the old style
and the new is most pron^
ounced (Fig. 522). Here,
every head of a man or a
woman has been studied
separately, as in a modern
bas-relief, and the rendering
has been carried very far;
I doubt if we shall ever find
in any example of the time
of the Pyramids an equi
valent for the player of the
triangle or the female mu
sician who is striking the
drum. Not only have the
figures each a different phy
siognomy, suggesting the
probability of portraiture,
but their gestures, their costumes, their draperies and accessories
are all diversified. The painter, too, came to the aid of the
sculptor with a daring impossible to an artist of the Fifth or
Sixth Dynasty. His brush supplied the portions of the dresses
which the chisel could not have expressed clearly enough; he
even added shades which his colleague was accustomed to neglect
entirely, so that where the colour has disappeared the work is
incomplete. It is for this reason that we are puzzled at first by
the cut of the wrapper worn by one of the wives of Psamme-
tiknusashmu, a curious garment, which though drawn up round
the neck and fitting closely to the limbs, seems to leave the
bust, abdomen and thighs bare, while draping the shoulders,
264 ^ S

I

FIG. 508.— A BAS-RELIEF IN THE TEMPLE
OF THE THEBAN PTAH.
(Phot. Legrain.)

THE SAITE AGE

back, and loins. This peculiarity did not exist originally; the
painter had supplied the sculptor's omissions by a few discreet
touches, and, thanks to him, the body, revealing its contours
under a wash of red or blue, was clothed in a semi-transparent robe.
At this period there was no longer much question of local
schools, but this particular style spread throughout Egypt, and
even penetrated to Thebes ; we find it in several of the hypogea
of Asasif, notably that of Abai, where it has the same character-

EIG. 509. — PASTICCIO OF EIGH
TEENTH DYNASTY RELIEF ; TEMPLE
OF THE THEBAN PTAH. (Phot.Legrain.)

510. — BAS-RELIEF IN THE
TEMPLE OF EDFU.
(Phot. Beato.)

istics as at Memphis, and this is not surprising, since the "divine
spouses of Amon" of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty were Saite prin
cesses who brought their households with them ; the persons of
their suite either prepared their tombs in accordance with the
usages of their own country, or imposed its fashions on the
Thebans. Here, at least, no foreign influence intervened at first,
and we have to come down to the first Caesars to find hybrid
works, in which the Egyptian manner is wedded to the Greek,
as in the figures of Antaeus and Isis in the Cairo Museum
(Fig. 523), At Memphis, the case was very different, and as we
gradually advance, under the Persians, under the last Saites,
under the Ptolemies, we feel that by living in contact with the
Greeks, first those of Naucratis, and then those of Alexandria,
the people of the Delta had ended by drawing inspiration from
v 265

ART IN EGYPT

them. The ample pallium cut into battlements below in which
Psammetiknufisashmu, his scribe, and the musician with the
triangle, are draped, was a garment borrowed from neighbouring
Greece. The mantle of the woman playing the drum is also
Greek; she herself bears a strong likeness to her companions
on painted Alexandrian
stelae. Such , however,
was the strength of tradi
tion among this singular
people, that, although they
consented to disguise a
sculptured relief by pain
ting over it, they declined
to modify the foundation
itself; the silhouette of the
figures remained archaic,
even when colour had
modernised their super
ficial detail. The foreign
influence, was moreover,
very slow in its action;
the fragments of the tomb
of Psammetiknufisashmu,
in which it is incontes
table, are not earlier than
the Twenty-ninth or Thir
tieth Dynasty, and I do
not hesitate to assign the
two bas-reliefs of the
tomb of Zanufi to the
reign of one of the first
Ptolemies. This would
make them the latest, as
they are certainly the fin
est that we know. With these may be classed those admirable
Memphite sarcophagi of the families of Tchaho and Ankh-Hapi
at Cairo, on which every little figure and even every hieroglyph,
is carved as conscientiously as if it were a motive on a cameo;
their artistic merit is very slight, but they are the perfection of
craftsmanship. After them not only art but craftsmanship de
clined suddenly, save perhaps in the neighbourhood of Alexandria,
where bas-reliefs in a mixed style analogous to that of the statues
of Horus are occasionally excavated. At Kom-es-Shugafa, the
266

FIG. 511.— PTOLEMAIC PASTICCIO OF THE
STYLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY.
(Phot Legrain.)

THE SAiTE AGE

piety of a great family suggested the construction of a Pharaonic
hypogeum, at the beginning of the third century of our era
(Fig. 524). The principal
scenes of ancient times
were reconstituted , the
mummy on its lion-footed
couch given over to the
care of Horus, Anubis
and Thoth (Fig. 525), the
sovereign before an Apis
bull which an Isis shelters
under her wings, priests
reciting the office of the
dead, or offering sacri
fice to Isis, but the whole
is bedaubed with crude
colours and the technique
shows how utterly the Egyptian style was forgotten; even our
own artists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were
not more remote from their originals, when they published so-
called facsimiles of the Ramesside stelae and bas-reliefs.

FIG. 512. — A BAS-RELIEF OF THE TEMPLE
OF OMBOS. (Phot Beato.)

C. PAINTING AND THE MINOR ARTS.
Independent painting played an increasingly important part as
the antique artistic
conception of the
Egyptians declined.
This could hardly
have been other
wise , seeing that
they had been
brought into daily
contact with a
people like the Hel
lenes, among whom
painting had eman
cipated itself from
sculpture to become
an art in itself; but
their works, execu
ted upon non-dur
able materials, wood or canvas, have perished for the most part.
The remnant is chiefly made up of papyri, the panels of funerary
267

513. — THEBAN BAS-RELIEF OF THE TIME
OF DOMIT1AN. (Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 514.— STELE OF THE FAYUM
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

caskets, stelae, coffins or
cartonnages of mummies,
the most ancient of which,
those of the priests of
Amon or Mentu, carry on
the tradition of the Ra
messide workshops. The
vignettes of the papyri are
often veritable miniatures,
perfect in line and fresh
in colour; the best of them
are unquestionably those
of the Ritual of Queen
Mat-ka-Ra, wife of one
of the king-priests of the
Twenty-first Dynasty (PI.
III). The panels are less
carefully executed , but
they lack neither vigour nor harmony, as is shown by that of
Pakheri in the Cairo Museum (Fig. 526), where we see the deceased
bringing offerings to Hathor
the cow, who is emerging from
the western mountain. The
stelae generally represent the
dead man or woman adoring
Amon or Mut, or, from the
Twenty - first and Twenty-
second Dynasties onward,
more frequently Harmachis.
They are generally speaking
the work of some -scrupu
lous artisan who executed
them conscientiously accord
ing to the principles of the
school, but several were paint
ed by artists of talent, and
bear comparison with the best
miniatures of the Theban
School. I may instance that
of the priestess Zadamonefo-
nukhu (PI. II) in the Cairo
Museum; half naked under
her flowing robe, she raises

FIG. 515. — BAS-RELIEF OF MACRINUS
AND DIADUMENIANUS AT KOM-OMBO.
(Phot. Thedenat.)

268

THE SAITE AGE

her hands to the god, claiming her share of the offerings heaped
before him. She is charming in the deliberate rigidity of her
hieratic pose, and never did a more

ft; 1 1

--

m

f- -IwiS

FIG. 516.
HEAD OF AN ETHIOPIAN KING
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

supple line envelope a young body
more gracefully slender. The colour,
at once rich and tender, relieves the
melancholy proper to a funerary
monument by its gaiety, and the gray-
blue background against which the
figures and inscriptions are set mod
ifies their vivacity. Under the princi
pal scene, in the midst of a land
scape almost unique so far, the corner
of the burial ground where the de
ceased rests is indicated very effec
tively. A sandy mountain, yellow
streaked with red, descends from
left to right. The facades of three
tombs are set against it, and before
them a kneeling woman smites her
forehead with her hands, bewailing the priestess; a nabeca and
three date-trees loaded with fruit rise on the right, and between
the two latter is the table of offerings on which the soul will
presently alight to take its meal. The composition is not badly
balanced, and the solitary mourner in the middle commands the
spectator's attention. If we compare
it with other stelae of the same
category, we shall recognise in it
a desire to renew the expression
of the religious idea they set forth,
and to bring it closer to reality
than had hitherto been done. In
the earlier conception , the lowest
register represented the scenes that
passed on earth, the rites performed
by survivors in honour of the rela
tive they lamented, while in the
upper register the deceased was seen
arriving in the other world and re
ceiving from the gods his share of
the sacrifice. The artist commission
ed to execute the stelae of Zadamonefonukhu , conscious of the
absurdity of associating as in contemporary life persons some
269

FIG. 517. — HEAD OF AX ETHIOP
IAN KING (After Lepsius).

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 518. — BAS-RELIEF AT DAKKEH
(Phot Oropesa.)

of whom were still living on the earth, while others had left it,
and thinking further that the distinction between the terrestrial
ceremony and the apo
theosis in the abode of
the gods was not suffi
ciently marked, took upon
himself to accentuate the
contrast to the eye as
strongly as to the spirit.
Retaining the upper pic
ture unaltered, he replac
ed the fictitious tete-a-
tete of the lower register
by an episode of real life,
one that might have been
seen any day in cemete
ries. The dead woman is
invisible, but one of the
women of the family has come to bring her the homage of her rela
tives, and to weep for her ; the antique idea persisted under a reju
venated form, better adapted to the tendencies of contemporary art.
Like all the other attacks upon tradition, this one failed.
Three stelae of the
same period and
origin show that
the Cairo example
was no solitary
caprice ; in these
the landscape is
less elaborate and
the lower register
contains only a con
ventional sketch,
either of the moun
tain (Fig. 527) or '
of the garden
where the soul was
supposed to shel
ter during the heat
of the day, a group
of date-palms and
sycamores very hastily painted. It was the same with the coffins
and cartonnages. For these the Theban artists continued to invent,
270

FIG. 519.— BAS-RELIEF OF MAHARRAKAH
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE
if not new forms, at least new beauties. In some cases the lid
reproduced not only the mask, but the contours and relief of

FIG. 520. -BAS-RELIEF OF PSAMMETIKNUFISASHMU (Museum, Cairo). (Phot.E.Brugsdi.)
the whole body, with all the details of the costume, the wig,
the plain or pleated skirt , the gauze robe , the sandals , so that
it has the appearance of a statue of the defunct, lying in state.
Towards the end of the Twentieth Dynasty and under those
that followed, it was sometimes as carefully executed as a real
statue; the work is comparable to work in limestone, but it is
more sincere and less in bondage to a school convention. The
subject , of course , admitted of no fancy in the attitude ; the
model had to lie flat on his back, his head straight, his chest
expanded, his legs and his feet joined; the only variation was
in the position of the arms, which sometimes lie along the sides,
sometimes are crossed on the breast. The whole is, however,
so true in its proportion,, the colours which heighten each part
are so happily har
monised , that we
get almost an illu
sion of life. These
cartonnages, espe
cially those of wo
men, almost attain
ed to perfection to
wards the Twenty-
second Dynasty.
Thus the Princess
Tantkalashiri, who

FIG. 521. — BAS-RELIEF OF ZANUFI (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

died in the reign,
of Osorkon II. , is
wrapped in a dra
pery of pale pink which defines the contours without indiscreet
emphasis. Her arms are free, and one of them is laid upon
271

ART IN EGYPT
her bosom under the breasts ; some half dozen amulets, the sign
of life, the buckle, the altar with four tablets, hang from her

1 ' 'il't "'

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te J uA

¦¦

*v'\': -¦ ;- •'; .

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f/7U H
> i •?/ j '• '
¦- ' ¦ ;'
v^iv^ffiiJI
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WMmBHaMIMIUiiH
FIG. 522.— BAS-RELIEF OF PSAMMETIKNUFISASHMU (Museum, Alexandria).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
wrist and protect her. The face , enframed by the puffed wig,
is a rather flat oval, with small but merry eyes, a thick mouth,
a short nose , and an expression of gaiety and good humour.
Even on inferior coffins , the carved wooden mask is often ex
cellent down to the beginning of the Persian era, after which
the decadence of Thebes
was complete , and her
funeral - furnishers produ
ced nothing but com
mercial articles, barbarous
both in colour and mod
elling. The workshops
of Lower Egypt held their
own better, and partici
pated in the revival of
Saite art. Under the first
Ptolemies, when they were
relieved from the necessity
of copying in wood the
uncouth masses of green
schist or granite coffins,
they executed works comparable to the best Theban examples;
such are the coffin of Psammetichus, discovered at Wardan (Fig. 528)
FIG. 523.— ANT*US AND ISIS (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
THE SAITE AGE

and that of the lady Tataharsiasi , which belongs to the Berlin
Museum (Fig. 529). The Greek influence is supreme here in
the arrangement of
the headdress, but
the technique is
Egyptian; the sculp
tor belonged to one
of those mixed
schools whose exis
tence at Memphis
and Alexandria to
wards the end of
the Ptolemaic age I
have already noted.
The Egyptian pa
lette had enriched
itself; it included
at least two kinds
of pink, five or six
shades of green,
blue, and yellow,
violets , lilacs, and mauves, notably in the regions colonised by
the Greeks, round Alexandria, in the Fayum, at Ptolemais in the
Thebaid. The Egyp-

FIG. 524-
ROOM IN THE HYPOGEUM OF KOM-ES-SHUGAFA.

tian painters promptly
yielded to the temp
tation to paint por
traits or decorate
walls in the manner
of the works they saw
in the Hellenic villas.
We must go to the
Oases to find in the
temples or the hypo
gea some fragments
of these mural paint
ings , in which the
drawing is incorrect
and the touch unskil
ful (Fig. 530).
Portraits, on the
other hand, have come down to us in considerable numbers,
thanks to a caprice of fashion. Towards the middle of the last
273

FIG. 525-
DECORATION ON THE TOMB OF KOM-ES-SHUGAFA.

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 526.— PAINTED PANEL OF PAKHERI
(Museum, Kairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

century before our era, the rich families of the Fayiim and Upper
Egypt, disgusted by the heaviness and coarseness of the wooden
coffins, conceived the idea
of substituting for carv
ed masks some equivalent
in which their artistic
tastes would be more
respected , and likeness
better observed. They
had recourse to two differ
ent methods. The first,
that of which we have
the oldest examples, con
sisted in replacing the
face in relief by a panel
painted with wax and
slightly re -touched with distemper, or even painted entirely in
distemper; it was set into the cartonnage, above the mummified
head, and the deceased seemed to be looking through a window
to see what was going on in the world of the living, just as
his ancestors had done by means of the eyes formerly painted
on the sides of the coffin. The
majority of these portrait -coffins
were found in the burial grounds
of Dimeh or Hawara, and date
from the century before or the
first century after Christ; several,
now in the Louvre, come from
Thebes and represent members of
the noble clan of the Soters, who
flourished under the Antonines.
Some of them are so excellent in
design and colour that they might
almost be ascribed to a good Ital
ian master of the fifteenth century,
but though painted by native Egyp
tians, they have nothing in common
with Pharaonic art; their source
of inspiration is Alexandrian. The
second method is less completely
exotic (Fig. 531); it required, in
stead of the wooden mask, a plaster bust, in the hollow of which
the veiled head of the mummy was encased, and the lower edges
274

FIG. 527.— PAINTED STELE
(Museum , Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 528. — COFFIN FROM WARD AN
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

of which disappeared beneath the bandages of the chest. The
design as a whole was Greek; but certain details remained
specially Egyptian, such as the custom of
inserting the eyes, and imitating their
natural effect by incrustations of talc
or glass. This fashion obtained towards
the second century of our era among
the higher classes of Heptanomis
(Middle Egypt) from the Fayiim to the
confines of the Thebaid. Even in the
Fayum it did not exclude the use of
cartonnage masks modelled in the
semblance of the dead, but treated
in the Greek manner, with indications
of the upper part of the clothing, faces
enlivened by paint, jewels, curled locks
and wreaths of flowers; seeing them
in our glass cases, we might take them
for busts of coloured wax (Fig. 532).
At Akhmim and in its outskirts, the
custom of laying the dead in their out
door costumes upon their tombs came
into favour again towards the times of Severus, but instead of
giving them the loin-cloth and archaic
wig, they were dressed in their modern
costume, tunics, peplums, mantles made
by some fashionable modiste, whose
inventions were probably some months
behind the latest creations of Alexandria
or Rome (Fig. 533). The box is made
of Nile mud, plastered on a framework
of cardboard or stuccoed cloth ; it was
given a form approximating to that
of the person for whom it was destined,
and over the modelling was painted,
in distemper or tempera, the face, the
flower-crowned head, the hands, jewels,
and multi-coloured stuffs.
This was the last effort towards
originality of the artists who worked
for the burial-grounds. Mummy-paint
ing and sculpture ceased towards the
middle of the third century, at the
275 t 2

FIG. 529-
COFFIN OF TATAHARSIASI
(Museum. Berlin).

ART IN EGYPT

same time as ordinary sculpture and painting, and for the same
reasons; the civil wars, the effects of which were felt in Egypt,
and then the invasion of Christianity, destroyed all the arts which
depended for their existence on the maintenance of the antique
religions. Sculpture in metal and ceramics were also affected.
As they overcame the technical difficulties of casting, the Saite
masters were emboldened to increase the size of their works until
at last they succeeded in casting figures larger than life in a
single piece. Not one of these metal colossi has come down to
us intact, but we
possess fragments
which enable us to
reconstitute their
appearance , such
as the hand grasp
ing the hydra, now
in the Cairo Mu
seum, which Dani-
nos found among
the ruins of Mem
phis: it is termin
ated at the wrist
by a rectangular
tenon which held
it to the arm, and
the effigy of the
kneeling king to
which it belonged
must have been
about 6 '/a feet in
height. But this is exceptional. The statue of Petukhanu, the
torso of which was in the Stroganoff collection, was barely life-
size, and the most important pieces we have of the Bubastite
or Saite ages are rarely as much as 3 feet in height. Several
of them are finer than the best contemporary examples in lime
stone or granite, notably the little sphinx of Apries in the Louvre
(Fig. 534) and the kneeling Tirhakah at Cairo (Fig. 535). The
Karomama in the Louvre (Fig. 537) bought by Champollion of
a dealer who had himself bought it at Luxor, is Theban in hand
ling. The queen is standing, dressed in a long, closely - fitting
gown with flowing sleeves, her head crowned with a ceremonial
wig, the forelocks of which overhang her brow; the eyes are
inserted, and the divisions of the wig, as well as the folds of
276

FIG. 530.— PAINTING OF A HYPOGEUM TN THE OASIS
OF BAHRIYAH. (Phot. Moritz Bey.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 53T. — PLASTER MASK OF
A MUMMY (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

the dress, were incrusted with gold.
The body is finely modelled under the
stuff, but the head is above praise.
Karomama was certainly no beauty,
with her long , beak - like nose , her
sunken nostrils, her dry mouth and
bony chin. But as she had a lofty
bearing, the artist, unable to make her
attractive, concentrated all his powers
on the pride and energy of the face;
his Karomama is the incarnation of
what he conceived the wife of Pharaoh
and Queen of Egypt should be. The
Takushit of the Athens Museum (Fig.
536) on the other hand is a woman
of the middle class, a worthy lady of
Bubastis, and her statuette, probably
the product of a local workshop, is a
contrast in the somewhat flaccid round
ness of its contours to the nervous
spareness of the Karomama. The good dame has started off
with the left foot, and she walks without haste, her right arm
hanging, her left held against her breast; her drapery moulds
while affecting to conceal her full hips
and abdomen , and her round , heavy
breasts. The face is broad and fat
under the wig of short locks rising
in tiers one above the other, and her
narrow eyes, her short nose, her fleshy
lips and rounded cheeks are those of
a fellah woman without any touch of
race. The bronze with its mixture of
gold and silver, is irradiated by soft
reflections which seem to animate the
forms; the dress is covered as with
an embroidery by religious scenes and
inscriptions incised and filled in with
a silver line.
We can hardly say whether the
activity of the Theban foundries relax
ed from the beginning of the Saite
period, or whether the lack of Theban
bronzes is due merely to the perversity 277

FIG. 532. — MASK OF A MUMMY
IN PAINTED CARTON
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

of chance. But with the exception of an enormous Osiris found
in the favissa at Karnak, the finest and most important bronzes
of our collections all come from Memphis or the Delta. Bubastis
was the home of the four bronzes bought by the Louvre at the
Posno sale. The first, one Masu, whose name is tattooed on his
breast (Fig. 538) near the heart, advances towards the spectator
with a proud, confident movement; the face, somewhat disfigured
by the loss of the eyes, which were of enamel
encircled with silver, breathes energy and
arrogance. The second is less vigorous in
bearing, but the third (Fig. 539), a Horus who
originally lifted up a jar from which he poured
water over a king kneeling before him, is
harsher and drier, and was perhaps cast in
the same workshop as the kneeling Horus at
Cairo ; the composition of the metal seems to
be identical in each, the handling is similar,
and the manner in which the bird's head is
adjusted to the human bust is marked by the
same exactness. It must, indeed, be allowed
that these divine monsters, in whom the hu
man and animal natures are allied, inspired
the makers of bronzes more happily than the
statuaries. The Basts and Sekhets discovered
by Barsanti at Sais (Fig. 540) are not only
comparable to the black granite Sekhets of
Amenophis III., but superior to them in dignity
of attitude, and the suggestion of restrained
vitality. Their cat or lion heads rest more
easily on their feminine shoulders, and they
are less in the nature of a defiance to the
laws which rule the division of species. The
lions of Thmuis and Tell - es - Sab are no earlier than the first
Ptolemies. Those of Horbet were cast under Apries (Fig. 541).
They were part of a mechanical contrivance for closing the doors
of a temple , and they had a wooden beam prosaically inserted
in their hind-quarters, but the artist turned the conditions imposed
by their functions to excellent decorative account; he imagined
them lying flat on the ground, in an oblong cage, the lateral
walls of which were pierced to show their bodies, while their
heads and forepaws emerged from the open trap in front. He
simplified the lines, but in the manner of which the Egyptians
were masters, neither suppressing nor weakening any of those
278

FIG. 533.— COFFIN
OF AKHMIM
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 534.— LITTLE BRONZE SPHINX OF
APRIES (The Louvre, Paris).

which give the animal its character; the face is calm and soberly
majestic. The cat is treated no less happily than the lion, and
it may be said without
exaggeration that among
the thousands , either
whole cats or heads of
cats, brought out in 1878
from the favissa of Bubas
tis, very few were bad,
or even mediocre (Fig.
542) ; no people ever
showed more skill in seiz
ing the undulating grace
of the beast, the treach
erous softness of its atti
tudes, and the expression
of its mask, now dreamy, now mutinous. The other animals —
rams, Apis or Mnevis bulls (Fig. 543), crocodiles, cynocephali,
the innumerable figurines of Amon (Fig. 544), Osiris, Isis, Horus,
Nit, Anubis with a dog's muzzle (Fig.
545), Sekhet with a lion's face (Fig. 546),
Thoth with the head of a monkey or
an ibis, do not bear comparision with
the cats and lions ; though many of them
are remarkable for the perfection of
their casting, or the delicacy of their
chasing, the majority are the prosaic
reproductions of non-artistic types de
vised for the edification of the faithful.
They bear the same relation to the
splendid bronzes at Cairo and in the
Louvre as do the gilded and painted
saints of the St. Sulpice quarter to the
works of the great Christian sculptors
of France and Italy.
And here we are confronted by a
problem the solution of which we can
only divine at present. Among the
innumerable bronzes found in the same
places, where they seem to have been
deposited at the same time, we find
some so different from the rest in style, that were we not certain
of their orisrin, we should be disposed to attribute them to very
279

FIG. 535.— BRONZE
STATUETTE OF TIRHAKAH
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 536.— THE LADY
TAKUSHIT
(Museum, Athens).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

diverse periods and localities. It is in the
cats above all that these divergences are most
strongly marked. Some are vigorous and
realistic after the manner of the best Theban
sculptors; their silhouettes have a certain
harsh abruptness of contour which is not the
result of any lack of skill in the artist, but
the effect of a determination to express the
energy and strength rather than the grace
and ease of the animal's movements. With
others, however, the desire for elegance gets
the mastery, and the contours are softened
to the verge of flaccidity; we recognise the
Memphite technique in its most trivial aspect.
Noting these contrasts, we are inclined to
ask whether the fact that such dissimilar
works were all buried together in the favissa
of the temple of Bast is sufficient evidence
that they were all manufactured at Bubastis.
May not the pilgrims who dedicated them to
the goddess have brought
native towns? Their dissi-

them from their
milarity would be comprehensible enough in
this case ; those in which we seem to distinguish
the impress of Theban or Memphite art would
then have made their way hither from Thebes
or Memphis. But even if we accept this
hypothesis, we shall not have resolved the
difficulties entirely. Carefully examined, these
groups do not present a homogeneous appear
ance, for whereas some of the examples
really reveal the characteristics of the Saite
age, many others would seem from their
treatment to be earlier by several centuries:
and yet the circumstances of the find and the
nature of the bronze hardly permit us to
doubt that they were all cast within the space
of a few years. An observation I made in the
ruins of a pottery workshop discovered last
winter behind one of the mounds of Eshmunen,
may help to explain this anomaly. The majority
of the moulds for lamps and of the kiln-refuse
it still contained, belonged to the Christian
280

FIG. 537.— QUEEN
KAROMAMA
(The Louvre, Paris).

JUDGMENT BEFORE OSIRIS
(Vignette from the funerary Papyrus of Queen Mat-ka-Ra,
Twenty-first Dynasty)

piw^

J
jjgff* ¦--"¦
c=.
THE SAITE AGE

FIG. 538. — BRONZE
STATUETTE OF MASU
(The Louvre, Paris).

FIG. 539-
BRONZE HORUS
(The Louvre, Paris).

era, as we learn from
the crosses and in
scriptions, but others
are decorated with
pagan figures and
legends, and cannot
be later than the
second or third cen
tury of our era; the
potter must have
had in the back of
his shop old models
which came from
his distant predeces
sors , and these,
slightly altered to
suit the require
ments of the new
religion , were still
sold occcasionally.
It is probable that founders also preserved old-fashioned moulds,
and continued to cast with them from time to time for their
clients. Thus some Theban devotee of Bast might, before starting
for Bubastis, have provided himself
with ex-votoes, cats, or cat -headed
statuettes, or other figures of divinities
which, though of new metal and fresh
from the furnace , were none the less
the work of older generations by virtue
of the moulds used.
The same may be said of the
countless divinities made of different
compositions or of terra-cotta, which
swarm in the tombs and cities of
the Saite period and of the Graeco-
Roman epoch. The last centuries of
paganism were above all centuries of
pious imagery for the use of dead
and living, at least in the Delta and
the northern part of Middle Egypt,
for the Said never fell into these ex
cesses, and the use of amulets was
not much more general here than in
281

FIG. 54O.— BRONZE SEKHET
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 541.— BRONZE LION OF APRIES
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

in the glorious days of the second Theban Empire. It was
inevitable that manufacturers and dealers should spare them
selves the trouble of in
venting new types and
sacrificing their old
models, so long as these
could be made to suffice
for the demand and
content their customers.
And , naturally , objects
prepared by the hundred,
and even by the thou
sand, for daily sale, could
not fail to be mediocre
and lacking in originality.
There are many of which
we can only say that
they faithfully express the hieratic attitude, the gesture, costume,
head-dress, and exterior attributes of the god they represented;
this was all the devout asked, and it was the same with the
Ushabtiu (substitutes). Provided they vaguely suggested the
mummy by their forms , and the name of their master had
been traced on them, together with the opening words of the
consecrated prayer, they served
for the rite, and this was all-
sufficient; at the beginning of
the Roman period many were
sold which are hardly more than
pieces of clay or paste length
ened out, with a vague indi
cation of the head and the feet,
things more barbarous than the
most barbarous Polynesian idols.
Here and there, however, we
meet with examples which stand
out from the general level of
ugliness, and are almost finer
than those of the great period.
They come generally from the
wells of Sakkarah, and belong
to the time of the Persian do
mination, or to the early reigns
of the Macedonian dynasty. The
282

FIG. 542.
BRONZE CAT (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE

fig. 543-
statuette of apis
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

best , those of a certain Admiral Patanesis,
varied in size from 4 to 10 inches. Modelled
in a very pure paste , and fired with extra
ordinary skill, they were glazed with a non-
lustrous clear, vivid blue, the freshness and
evenness of which are unimaginable; I have
seen nothing to approach them in modern
porcelain. The head is a gentle, melancholy
portrait; the only thing comparable to it in
its own genre is the little blue porcelain head
at Cairo (Fig. 547) , perhaps an Apries or
Necho II. Others, though not so beautiful as
these, show a laudable effort to produce
something new ; I may instance the little group
of green enamelled frit, which, inspired perhaps
by a motive of the time of Amenophis IV.,
represents queen Amenartas seated on Amon's
lap and passing her arms lovingly round his
neck (Fig. 548); the kohol jar, the body of
which is formed by a head of. Apries in a
Greek helmet (Fig. 549), and the votive
statue in green paste of Nufiabres, standing on a high pedestal
and holding the naos of the Osiris-
mummy in front of him with both
hands. Some twenty of the Nits,
Ras, Horuses, Ptahs and Nefer-
Atmus in porcelain preserved in
the Cairo Museum, were executed
by workmen brought up in the
good school. Whereas their neigh
bours in the glass cases show the
rounded, flaccid forms which pleased
the Ptolemaic sculptors, we note
in them the nervous, and some
times rather dry handling of an
earlier age. Of course it was not
very easy to mark the play of
muscles in works barely ten or
twelve inches high, sometimes con
siderably less. Artists accordingly
adopted the plan of enclosing the
limbs in a series of frankly cut
planes with sharp angles, and exag- 283

FIG. 544-
HARPOCRATES, OSIRIS, AND
AMON. BRONZE STATUETTES
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

gerating the proportions of the anatomical details which they
preserved in the knees, feet, arms and face, but with such an
intelligent sense of effect
that we have to examine
them a second time , if
we have not been already
informed of the device,
before we notice the
exaggeration. If they had
respected the true di
mensions , certain ele
ments of the human
body would have been
so attenuated as to be
come almost invisible,
and the general impres
sion of truth would have
suffered. Several of these
figurines are treated so
skilfully that instead of
appearing what they are,
miniatures of men or
animals, we feel when we
examine them as if we
were looking at colossal figures from the wrong end of a field-glass.
The Egyptians of the Pharaonic age had used plain earthen
ware, neither glazed nor coloured,
only for the manufacture of coarse
domestic utensils and amulets,
chiefly articles intended for the poor,
ubshabti, beads, figures of the
gods, more especially Bes; it is
only exceptionally that we find, to
wards the close of the second Theban
age, heads of Canopic vases in clay
as delicately executed as if they had
been in stone or enamelled ware.
From the accession of the Ptolemies,
and probably under the influence of
Greece, taste developed. We know
what masterpieces were bequeathed
to us by the potters of Alexandria;
several of the statuettes found in
284

FIG. 545.— BRONZE
STATUETTE OF ANUBIS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 540.— BRONZE
SEKHET
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. S47-— ROYAL HEAD IN
BLUE ENAMEL (Museum, Cairo).
(P hot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE
the burial grounds of Meks equal those of Tanagra. The natives
imitated their foreign comrades, and gradually the use of
earthenware, baked or unbaked, but
always painted in bright colours, be
came general from one end of the
valley to the other. It found favour
more especially in localities where
there were colonies of Hellenes, in the
Delta, at Memphis, in the Fayiim, at
Hermopolis, at Akhmim, at Syene, but
it also made its way into places that
had remained purely Egyptian. Its
manifestations are innumerable, from
the decorative plaques in temples and
public buildings to household utensils,
lamps, domestic lares, groups represent
ing episodes in private life, grotesque
and sometimes obscene figurines, camels
(Fig. 551), elephants (Fig. 550), birds,
and the majority are industrial rather
than artistic creations (Fig. 552). Nev
ertheless, some of the subjects are
treated with a most amusing dexterity
(Fig. 553), and bronze was even used
in some cases (Fig. 555). A study of Perichon Bey's collection
is particularly instructive for this genre. It all came from the
tells of Eshmunen, the ancient city
of Thoth, and the majority of the
pieces composing it do not go back
further than the second century of
our era. Yet at Cairo there are
heads of dwarfs and idiots of sur
prising truth (Fig. 554). Sugar-loaf
skulls, narrow retreating foreheads,
eyes overhung with bushy eyebrows,
crooked noses, bony cheeks, hanging
lips, minute chins, enormous ears set
on each side of the head like the
handles of an ill-made pitcher — no
feature is lacking of all that makes
up well-observed human deformity;
two or three strokes of the thumb
lengthened and kneaded the paste
285

FIG. 548.— AMON
AND QUEEN AMENARTAS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. Legrain.)

FIG. 549. — VASE IN THE FORM
OF A HEAD IN A HELMET
(The Louvre, Paris).

ART IN EGYPT

FIG. 550. — TERRA-COTTA ELEPHANT
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

to the desired module; then a pinch here and another there
to bring out the protuberances of the face, a stroke of the
graver for the mouth, two pellets for the eyes, and there it
was, as ugly as nature, but
more amusing. Animals
are treated with no less
spirit , dogs especially,
not the thin greyhound,
the prototype of the so-
called jackal Anubis, but
the pug, with the angry
muzzle , pointed ears,
long waving hair and
curly tail , or the good
fellow of no particular
breed (Fig. 556), who
thinks his constant bark
ing protects the house,
but whose true function
is to be tormented by
the children in it. Here
and there are feminine heads so graceful that they would not
disgrace the Alexandrian series; they are purely Greek. The
only persons who have not entirely forsworn their Egyptian
character are the fashionable divinities. Harpocrates chubby as
a Pompeian Cupid, but adorned with a minute pschent, Agatho-
demons with a uraeus body and an Isis head (Fig. 557), Isis cha
stely draped (Fig. 558), and others destined to serve as wives
to the dead, their tunics rolled
up on their breasts ; these replac
ed the statuettes of blue and
green porcelain towards the
close of the first century after
Christ, and until the definitive
triumph of Christianity they
sufficed for popular devotion.
The same transformation took
place in the other minor arts,
though we are not yet in a po
sition to note its successive
stages. Furniture retained the
ancient forms in its essentials,
FIG. 55T.— TERRA-COTTA CAMEL . 1 , il J
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot e. Brugsch.) at least among the poor and
286

THE SAITE AGE

the lower middle classes; the domination of the foreigner had,
in fact, altered nothing, or almost nothing, in the habits of the
fellahin and the artisan, and even
the introduction of a current coinage
had not affected the conditions of
their domestic life as might have
been expected. They did not want
a single piece of furniture more than
their ancestors had used under the
Pharaohs, and the little they required
they continued to make on the con
secrated models, beds and arm-chairs
with lion's feet incrusted with ivory,
bone or ebony, stools and benches
with leather seats and many-coloured
cushions, linen - chests , bread -bins,
jewel -caskets, kohol -pots, perfume-
boxes; they admitted innovations
only in certain funerary articles. The
catafalque in which the mummy
journeyed to the tomb, under the
Tanites of the Twenty-first Dynasty,
an enormous rectangular case laid
upon a sleigh, became under the Ptolemies a carved wooden
bed with a canopy. The one in the Edinburgh Museum, which
Rhind got at Sheik -Abd -el -Kurnah, simulates a kiosk with a

FIG. 552.
TERRA-COTTA GROTESQUE
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 553.— GROTESQUE HEAD IN
TERRA-COTTA (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

287

FIG. 554.— GROTESQUE HEAD
IN TERRA-COTTA (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT
barrel -vault, three sides of which are upheld by little columns
of coloured wood. The fourth, that of the head, has a facade
with three superposed cornices, each decorated with its winged
disc, the whole bordered by a row of rampant uraei; a door
between two columns, guarded by serpents, was supposed to
give access to the interior. The mummy within was, as it were,
in a peripteral temple the sanctuary of which was his coffin.
The catafalque in our Museum (Fig. 559) which I found at
Akhmim in 1885, is conceived in a spirit
more attuned to its funereal function. Its
lateral columns are replaced by cut out
pieces of painted wood representing the
goddess Maat, the Truth who protected the
doubles at the tribunal of Osiris ; she crouches
on her haunches, her pen on her lap, and
beside her the winged Isis and Nephthys of
the ordinary sarcophagi fill up the space
at the short ends. The vault is of open
work, and on each of the seven curves
which compose it are painted vultures, spread
ing out their wings above the mummy;
two statuettes of Isis and Nephthys, posted
at the two extremities, lament as prescribed
by ritual. The work is agreeable to the
eye, and if provincial artisans were capable
of productions so tasteful, we may imagine
what those of Memphis could do ; here
again, the cult of the dead prevented art
from falling too low, when it sank into
decadence in civil life. There is reason to
believe that Hellenism made way among the rich, and that the
same class who under the first Caesars substituted their wax portrait?
for wooden coffin-masks, furnished their houses in the western
fashion, like modern Egyptians, who buy the furniture for their
dining, reception, and bed-rooms in Venice, Paris, and London.
None of these Hellenistic pieces of furniture have come down
to us, but in 1901 Daninos found at Memphis fragments of
several carrying-chairs which had belonged to one of the last
Saite Pharaohs. The wood, which was in bad condition, was
profusely decorated with small bronze plaques, some in very
low relief, others cut out flat in the metal and incised the
designs being Niles (Fig. 560) and Osirises bringing offerings
(Fig. 562), or helmeted kings (Fig. 561), Thothmes III., Osorkon III.
288

fig. 555-
grotesque figur
ine in bronze
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE
Psammetichus II, Amasis. It is possible that they came from
Ihebes, in the trousseau of some princess married at Memphis;
whatever their origin, they are mediocre in design and even
more so in execution.
Goldsmith's work and jewelry alone flourished to the end, and
were transmitted, by a complete cycle of transformations, to the
Byzantines and then to the Arabs, thus escaping to some extent
the destruction of the Pharaonic civilisation. In the beginning,
under the Twenty-second
and Twenty -sixth Dy
nasties, these productions
differed only by almost
imperceptible shades from
those of the Theban age.
The shallow goblets, some
Egyptian, others Cypriot,
but in the Egyptian style,
discovered in the palaces
of theSargonids in Assyria,
resemble those in the
treasure of Bubastis ; ne
vertheless, martial scenes
occur frequently in them,
and the progress of military
art complicates them with
incidents unknown to the
strategy of earlier gener
ations , cavalry charges
side by side with chariot charges. But for this, the composition
is very little changed; as formerly, it is arranged in concentric
bands, in which the incidents are separated by florets or trees.
The influence of Greece began to make itself felt towards the
end of the Saite period, and several of the pieces from Tukh-
el-Karamus are importations from Ionia , as , for instance , the
bracelet with the Eros, the rhyton, the two perfume-burners in the
form of altars ; but others were manufactured in Egypt by Egyp
tians, and these are not the least remarkable. The oxide from
which we have not been able to free them mars their purity of
contour and delicacy of ornamentation; but it does not prevent
us from recognising that they are covered with true Egyptian
motives, treated in the Egyptian manner, lotus-flowers or buds,
running ornament, foliage, and clusters of aquatic plants. We
distinguish these still more plainly on the silver vessels of Thmuis,
289 u

fig. 556-
TERRA-COTTA DOG (Museum
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

ART IN EGYPT

where no extraneous matter clogs the surfaces (Fig. 563). They
are deep libation-cups, rounded at the bases, the bodies of which,
slightly compressed
towards the top, open
out widely at the lip.
A rosette enclosed
in a circle marks
the centre of gravity,
and focusses the
external decoration,
lotus - blossoms al
ternately in bloom
and in bud, then
narrow leaflets laid
closely together, their
points separated by
ovae in relief. The
handle of the cover
! is formed by two
lotus-flowers laid flat
upon the surface and
united by the stems.
Some of the pieces
were beaten out in
a mould of hard stone , or repousse , and then retouched with
the point; others were chased solidly upon the silver; in seveial
cases the most salient parts of the decoration, the ovae, for instance,
were cast and worked separately, and then soldered to the sur
face. It is hard to say which is more admirable in the majority,

fig. 557.
serpent-isis
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 558.
TERRA-COTTA ISIS
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 559.

-CATAFALQUE OF AKHMIM (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
290

THE SAITE AGE
the mastery of the technique or the perfection of the taste dis
played in the composition. When we compare them with the
treasure of Bosco Reale, we cannot but think that the Egyptian
goldsmiths' work of the Saite and Ptolemaic periods must have
sometimes furnished models for the metal-workers of imperial
Rome. The jewelry of the Bubastite and Tanite dynasties carries on
the tradition of preceding ages almost without a break, in the

1

FIG. 560.
NILE IN PIERCED
BRONZE

FIG. 56l.— FIGURE
OF PHARAOH IN
PIERCED BRONZE
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

FIG. 562. — FIGURE
OF AN OSIRIS-NILE
IN PIERCED BRONZE

form of bracelets, rings, earrings, broad necklaces and slender
chains. We have to come down to the Psammetichan kings to find
new designs among them. I have said elsewhere that the ves
sels • made by the Ionians for Necho II. probably inspired the
craftsman who chased the clasps of the necklace in the Louvre
(Fig. 564) ; these are imitations of galleys, with their flat chamber,
their spur, their swan or goose-necked poop. The little amulets
which served as a kind of magic cuirass to the mummies of the
great Saite dignitaries entombed at Sakkarah, owe nothing to
the foreigner, and the original types to be met with among them
are exclusively national — the tiny gold palm-trees, with scaly
trunks and heavy clusters of dates, and the cynocephalous figures
worshipping before a cartouche crowned with feathers (Fig. 565).
™ 291 u 2

ART IN EGYPT

Some are composed of thin flakes of gold hammered out and
soldered together; others are worked upon miniature ingots to
which the accessories have been added, and we admire the dex
terity of the chasing. The seated cat, the two cynocephalous
figures standing on each side of the Osirian fetich, the Isis suck
ling Horus, the boat of Sokaris resting upon its cradle, with its
crew of tiny fish and falcons, lose nothing on close examination
through a microscope. And the most surprising thing is, that
the patient work of the tool has not produced dryness or awk
wardness : the proportions of the parts are calculated as skilfully
as those of the faience or lapis-lazuli figurines, and nowhere do
we see better how completely the Egyptians had mastered human
and animal forms than
in these infinitesimal ob
jects. Some of the figures
of Osiris, of Isis, of Thoth
and of Amon discovered
by Edgar with the treasure
of Tukh-el-Karamus, sug
gest decadence only by
a touch of affectation and
over -refinement. Soon,
however, the Greek mod
els, so free and so
various in conception,
spread throughout the
country, to the detriment of the Pharaonic types. From the
accession of the first Caesars , only jewels and amulets in
the Italian or Hellenic style were sold in the towns , or
bestowed on mummies. These were twisted serpents with
emerald or garnet eyes, for bracelets, keepsake-rings for hair,
the bezel composed of a massive gold plaque or a cameo, chains
with heavy links, earrings in the form of bunches of grapes,
crescents, shells, diadems of Gorgons' heads with crinkled hair,
the entire jewel-case of the Roman or Byzantine lady. The
mania for western jewelry obtained even at the court of the last
Meroitic Pharaohs, and the jewels Ferlini stripped from the mummy
of a Candace a century ago , came from a workshop more
than half Greek. The exotic designs executed in gold for the
rich, were transferred to silver for the benefit of the poor, and,
interpreted by rustic goldsmiths, they regained something of the
ancient technique under their hands. In the more modern exam
ples of the treasure of Ben-ha there are bracelets with checkered
292

-SILVER PLATE OF THMUIS
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)

THE SAITE AGE
ends or twists which recall the old types of the Ramessids: if we
compare them with contemporary Egyptian ornaments, we shall
tind that they differ from them only in insignificant details, and
it they were offered for sale in a village shop, the fellahin would
buy them without suspecting their antiquity.

FIG. 564. — CLASP FOR A NECKLACE IN THE
FORM OF A BOAT (The Louvre).

BIBLIOGRAPHY TO PART III
Saite Age. — The Saite and Grseco-Roman ages have been neglected by most of the
writers who have treated the history of art in Egypt They have been content for the
most part to describe a few of the monuments, without attempting to sum up their general
character. Architecture. — A. Tombs — For the tombs of the Saite and Ptolemaic period, see
Barsanti-Maspero, Fouilles autour de la pyramide d'Ounas (Extract from Annales du Service
des Antiquitis, vol. I, 99), p. 36-174, 8vo, Cairo 1900-1909 (unfinished); — Rhind, Thebes,
its Tombs and their Tenants, 8vo, London 1862. — B Temples. — For the manner in
which the style of columns developed from the time of the Ramessids to thatiof the Saites,
see A. Kcester, Die agyptische Pflanzensdule der Spdtzeit. in the Recueil de Travaux, 1901,
vol. XXV, p. 86-119. — The temples of Ethiopia arc only imperfectly known to us by
Cailliaud, Voyage a Meroe, 8vo, Paris 1823, atlas fol., pi. IX-LXXXV. — Lepsius, Denk-
maler aus Agypten und Athiopien, I, pi. 120, 126-130, 135-139, 144; — E. Wallis Budge,
The Egyptian Sudan, 1907, 8vo, London, vol. I, p. 337-435, vol. II, p. 1 — 184; the same
may be said of those of the Saite period: Cailliaud, Voyage a I'Oasis de Thebes, fol.,
Paris 182-186; — H. Brugsch, Reise nach der grossen Oase El-Khar geh, 4to, Leipzig 1878,
VI-93 p. and XXVII pi.; — Honroth-Rubensohn-Zucker, Bericht iiber die Ausgrabungen auf
Elephantine, in the Zeitschrift fiir agyptische Sprache, 1907, p. 14-61 and 9 pi. — The
principal temples of the Grgeco-Roman age have been the subject of some fairly exhaustive
monographs Plulee: G. Benedite, Le Temple de Phila? (Mernoires de la Mission permanente
du Caire, vol. XIII, XVII), 4to, I 1895, 388 p. and vignettes, II 1909, 356 p.; Kom-Ombo;
J. de Morgan, Kom-Ombo 4to , Vienne, 2 vols. 1895-1909; Edfu J. Dumichen, Bau-
urkunde der Tempelanlagen von Edfu, in the Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache, 1870, p. 1-14,
1871, p. 25-32, 88-89, 105-111, 1872, p. 33-42, 1873, p. 109-130; — M. de Rochemonteix,
Le Temple dEdfou, 4to (Mernoires de la Mission frangaise, vol. X-XI), Vienne, 1892-1899
293

ART IN EGYPT
(unfinished); — E. Chassinat et Pieron, Le Mammisi dEdfou (Memoires de I'Institut frangais
dArcheologie. vol. XVI), 4to, Cairo, 1909, 208 p. and LII pi.; le Kasr-el-Agouz, a Thebes:
D. Mallet, Le Kasr-el-Agouz (Memoires de I'Institut frangais d'Ardieologie. vol. XI), 4to,
Cairo 1909, 103 p. and I pi.; the temple of Opet at Karnak: — M. de Rochemonteix,
CEuvres diverses. 8 vo, Paris 1894, p. 167-318, and pi. I-XV1; the temple of the Theban Ptah,
at Karnak: G. Legrain, Le Temple de Ptah-Ris-anbouf , a Thebes, in the Annales du
Service des Antiquites, vol. Ill, p. 38-56, 97-115; the temple of Der-el-Medinet, in the
Commission d'Egypte, Ant. vol. II, p. 317-340 and plates, vol. II, pi. 34-37; — the temple
of Denderah- J. Dumichen, Baugeschichte der Tempelanlagen von Denderah, 4 to, Leip
zig, 1865, 46 p. and XIX pi.; — Mariette, Denderah, text 4 to, Paris 1875, VI-347 p.,
atlas fob, Paris 1873, I-IV, Supplement 1874, 9 pi. — For the temples of Nubia, see
Gau, Les Monuments de la Nubie, fol., Paris, Stuttgart, 1823, pi. 1-11-15-26, 33-41; —
Maspero-Barsanti, Les Temples immerges de la Nubie, Rapports, 4to, Cairo, 1909-1911,
XXIII-215 p. and CLIX plates, with plans in addition.
Sculpture. — For the general character of sculpture in Saite and Graeco-Roman times
see Maspero, Le Musee egyptien, 4 to, Cairo, 1906, vol. II, p. 74-92 and pi. XXXII-XLII,
— Mariette, Album du Musee de Boulag, fol, Cairo, 1872, pf. 33-35; — Fr. W. de Bissing,
Denkmaler agyptischer Skulptur, fob, Munich, 1906-1911, pi. 60-75, 98-119, and the corres
ponding portions of the text; — L. Borchardt, Kunstwerke aus dem agyptischen Museum
zu Kairo, fob, Cairo, 1908, pi. 16, 24-30, 48 and p. 8-9, 13-14, 19; — C. C. Edgar,
Sculptor's Studies and unfinished Works (Catalogue general du Musee du Caire), 4to,
Cairo, 1906, XII-91 p. and 43 pi. Various questions of detail and several isolated monu
ments have been studied by Gourlay-Newberry, Mentu-em-hat, in the Recueil de Travaux,
1896, vol. XX, p. 188-192; — G. Benedite, Une Tete de Statue royale, in the Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 1897, vol. XVIII, p. 35-42; — W. Golenischeff , Eine neue Darstellung des
Gottes Antams, in the Zeitschrift fiir agyptische Sprache, 1894, vol. XXXII, p. 1-2; —
Fr W. de Bissing, Les Bas-Reliefs de Kom-el-Chougafa, Munich, 1902, text 8vo, 9 p.
and atlas fob, 13 pi.; Sur une Statue de la Collection Barracco, in the Recueil de Travaux,
1895, vol. XVII, p. 105-113, with three plates; — C. C. Edgar, Remarks on Egyptian
Sculpture Models, in the Recueil de Travaux, 1905, vol. XXVII, p. 137-150; — Maspero,
la Vache de Deir-el-Bahari , in the Revue de I Art ancien et moderne, 1907, vol. XXII,
p 5-18, with a photogravure plate.
Painting and the minor Arts. — This is the section in art-history in which the biblio
graphy is most scanty. A. Painting. The only general work is: C. C. Edgar, Graico-
Egyptian Coffins, Masks and Portraits (Catalogue general du Musee du Caire, 4to,
Cairo, 1895, XIX-136 p. and XL VIII pi.; for details see Maspero, Melanges de Mythologie
et dArcheologie egyptiennes. 8vo, Paris, vol. IV, p. 241-248 and 1 pi.; — C. Watzinger,
Griechische Holzsarkophagen aus der Zeit Alexanders des Grossen, Abusier III (Wissen-
schaftliche Verbffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, vol. VI), 4to Leipzig,
1905, 96 p. and 4 pi.; — H. Schafer, Priestergrdber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des
alten Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ne-user-Re (Wissenschaftliche
Verbffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, vol. VIII), 4to, Leipzig, 1908, VIII-185
p. and 13 pi. — B Work in bronze. — Only one general treatise: Edgar, Greek Bronzes
(Catalogue general du Musee du Caire), 4 to, Cairo, 1904, XI-99 p. and XIX pi.; various
studies on points of detail: G. Daressy, Une Trouvaille de bronzes a Mitrahineh, in the
Annales du1 Service des Antiquites. 1902, vol. Ill, p. 139-150 and 3 pi.; Statuette grotesque
egyptienne, in the Annales, 1903, vol. IV, p. 124-125; — G. Benedite, Une Statuette de reine
de la Dynastie Bubastite au Musee du Louvre, in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1896, vol. XV.
p. 447-485 and 1 pi.; Un Guerrier Libyen, figure egyptienne en bronze incruste d 'argent,
conservee au Musee du Louvre, in the Memoires et Monuments de la fondation Piot,
1902, vol. IX, p. 123-133; — £.. Chassinat, Une Statuette en bronze de la reine Karomama,
in the Memoires et Monuments de la fondation Piot, 1897, vol. IV, p. 15-25 and pi. Ill; —
G. Maspero, Melanges de Mythologie et d'Ardieologie egyptiennes, 8vo Paris, vob IV,
p. 259 — 266 and 2 pi. and Sur une chatte de bronze egyptienne, in the Revue de VArt
ancien et moderne, 1902, vol. XI, p. 377-380; — Mariette, Monuments divers, folio, Paris,
pi. 41; Album du Musee de Boulaq, pi. 5, 9. — C. Ceramics. — Two collections of Egypto-
Grecian figurines, that of C. C. Edgar, Greek Moulds (Catalogue general du Musee du
Caire), 4to, Cairo 1903 XVII-89 p. and XXXlII pi., and that of Valdemar Schmidt, De
Grazsk-Agyptiske Terrakote i Ny Carberg Glyptothek , 1911 , Copenhagen 94, p. and
LXIII-VII pi.; — For certain isolated monuments cfr. G. Legrain, Sur un groupe d'Amon
et d'Ameniritis I., in the Recueil de Travaux, 1909, vol. XXXI, p. 139-142; — On porcelain
and pottery in general down to the Graeco-Roman period cf. Fr. W. de Bissing, Fayence-
gefasse (Catalogue general du Musee du Caire), 4to, Vienna, 1902, XXI-114 p. —
294

THE SAITE AGE
D. Joinery. — For carved and painted wooden catafalques, see Rhind, Thebes, its Tombs
and their Tenants, 8vo, London 1862, p. 111-112 and frontispiece. — Maspero, Archeologie
egyptienne, l*t ed., 1888, p. 278-279 and fig. 256-257. — E. Goldsmith's Work and Jewelry.
In addition to the two works by Vernier quoted above, see, for the treasure of Tukh-el-
Karamus: Maspero, Causeries d'Egypte, 8vo, Paris, 1907, p. 305-310; — C. C. Edgar,
Report on an Excavation at Toukh el-Garamous, in the Annales du Service des Antiquites,
1906, vol. VII, p. 205-212; for Saite goldsmith's work, Maspero, Lettre sur une trouvaille
de bijoux egyptiens faite a Sakkarah, in the Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne, 1900,
vol. VIII, p. 353-358; — for Meroitie goldsmith's work, Schafer-Mbller-S chub art, Azgyptische
Goldschmiedearbeiten (in the Mitteilungen aus der agyptischen Sammlung), II, Svo Berlin,
1910, 243 p. and 36 pi., where also we shall find the jewels and goldsmith's work of
earlier ages owned by the Berlin Museum.

1

565. — GOLDEN AMULETS OF THE SAITE PERIOD (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)

295

CONCLUSION
SUCH, in its main lines, is the history of Egyptian Art. Its
first pages, those which deal with its origin are completely
lacking ; and if several chapters of its more recent ages have been
reconstituted, others are still full of lacunae, or break off ab
ruptly. We know not how long it lasted, but more than forty
centuries intervene between the moment when it begins for us
and that at which it ends. Up to the present, this is the longest
period through which it has been given to us to follow more or
less continuously the evolution of one of the great artistic nations
of antiquity.
Is it possible for us to discern already some of the causes
which made Egyptian art what it was, and preserved its character?
I have shown more than once in these pages that it did not seek
to create or to record beauty for its own sake. It was originally
one of the means employed by religion to secure eternal life
and happiness for the dwellers upon earth. This end attained,
if beauty resulted in addition, it was received with joy, though
it was by no means looked upon as indispensable to the per
fection of the work undertaken; no effort was made to ensure
it, if such effort could be held in any way to interfere with the
desired consummation. As art owed to the gods and the dead
dwellings secure against destruction, it was concerned from the
beginning to choose among materials and forms those which seem
ed to it best fitted to secure the longevity of temples and
tombs. It therefore invented, from purely utilitarian motives,
that prodigious architecture, the colossal masses and powerful
lines of which leave on the mind of the spectator the strongest
impression of indestructibility that any works by human hands
have ever produced. And since bas-reliefs and statues had at
first no reason for existence beyond that of affording an imper
ishable lodging for the souls of divinities, and the doubles of
the incarnate, art in the beginning aspired only to express faith
fully the idea of divine types formed by the people, and to per
petuate in stone, in metal, or in wood, the features of persons
296

CONCLUSION
whose rank or fortune had secured for them the privilege of
immortality. Soon, however, the same interested motive which
had induced it to carve faithful portraits, led it to disregard
this exactitude in certain points. It was, of course, necessary
that the doubles should find their fictitious bodies sufficiently
like their actual ones to feel at ease in them; but their second
existence would hardly have seemed a blessing to them, had they
been condemned to spend it with limbs weakened by all the
infirmities of age. By substituting for the sickly or decrepit
reality the figure of the individual as he was in his youth or in
the vigour of his maturity, the artist conferred on him more
certainly the full enjoyment of his strength and faculties. This
is why there are so few statues of old men before the Saite
period; even when a centenarian was represented, Amenophis,
son of Hapu, or Rameses II, their portraits are not very different
to what they must have been in their youth. And if we go
further into details, was it not an analogous scruple which caused
the rarity of nude statues? Nudity was a sign of low condition
for all but children, and persons of good family, inflicting it on
their statues, would have risked finding themselves confounded
with the proletariat, and losing caste in the next world. If
there are some few exceptions to this rule, it was because some
superior interest made the model's singularity of advantage to
him. The Anisakha at Cairo showed, by laying aside his loin
cloth, that he was circumcised, and thus gained the advantages
due to the faithful who bore this mark of ritual initiation ; other
wise would he have given his double a body naked as that of
a labourer, with loins and thighs exposed?
It was then the desire for utility which gave Egyptian sculpture
that combination of hieratic idealism and realism to which it
owes its most personal charm. This was not without disadvan
tages to it, since it robbed it of some part of its liberty, but
what it gained, if it did not entirely compensate for this loss,
at least went far to minimise it. The case was very different
with painting. I have said that it played an honourable part in
the civilisation of archaic times, whether it was charged with the
ornamentation of the house or the tomb, or whether — though
of this we have no certain proof as yet — it had its allotted
task in palaces and temples. It had, in short, this advantage
over the other arts, that its apparatus was simpler, and its pro
cesses less expensive. Nevertheless, as the fragility of its methods
left the gods and the dead ill protected against supreme disso
lution it yielded to sculpture as soon as the latter had acquired
297

ART IN EGYPT
facility in its technique, and became a secondary art almost
everywhere; where a certainty of immortality was insisted on, it
was no more than the humble servant of its comrade. When it was
laid down that the gods could only become imperishable in a medium
itself imperishable, it could not serve them independently, and was
reduced to being a mere play of artificial tones without any form
but those of the sculptured reliefs over which it was spread. It
succeeded nevertheless in emancipating itself by degrees in the
tombs, but this was not the result of a spontaneous effort of
development ; it was simply because the conceptions of the after
life were modified and enlarged. As long as universal belief
tied the double to the spot where the corpse rested, care for its
well-being demanded that it should be surrounded by indestruct
ible scenes ; colour remained an accessory, and it was only toler
ated by itself in places where the nature of the rock was recal
citrant to the chisel. From the day when it began to be ima
gined that the soul, no longer inhabiting the vault, could dispense
with an eternal decoration, the number of painted hypogea in
creased. It might have been supposed that the painter, left to
himself, would speedily have discovered the resources of his
craft, and would have developed them in directions where the
sculptor was powerless to follow him. But this was by no means
the case; the traditions and routines to which it had been
subjected for centuries had obtained such mastery over him, that
he had no longer the energy to cast them off. He discarded
some of the stereotyped forms bequeathed to him by his prede
cessors, he treated others with greater breadth and liberty, he
intermingled his lines more harmoniously, he gained greater flexi
bility in his processes, but on the whole he remained what ages
of subjection had made him. He utilised all the ingenuity and
the experience of centuries to copy with his brush the silhouettes
the sculptor had cut out with his chisel, and persisted in filling
them in artlessly with uniform planes, without any effort to model
their reliefs by combinations of shade and half-tones scientifically
opposed or graduated. The fatality of utilitarianism continued
to enslave him, when it had long ceased to have any raison
d'etre. It will be readily understood that a people among whom the
manifestations of art were so strictly subordinated to the material
advantage of those who evoked them, was very little concerned
to preserve the names of their authors. Thus many of the
masterpieces which are anonymous for us were equally so for
their contemporaries. The temple raised at Luxor by Amen-
298

CONCLUSION
ophis HI. in honour of his father Amon, the statue which
the Sheikh-el-beled had hidden in his tomb, the bas-relief on
which Sesostris struck down the Libyan heroes — in all these
the interest of the person they immortalised would not have
tolerated that the merit of their execution should have been claimed
in any degree by their creators. If the name of the artist had been
associated with that of the master, the former would have parti
cipated in the benefits they conferred, and by so much would
the bliss to which the double or the god had a right have been
diminished. It happened sometimes, when the artist belonged to
the household of a great personage, that the master would asso
ciate him by special favour with his posthumous destiny, and
we owe our knowledge of one or two sculptors to this unusual
condescension; but the exception is one of those which prove
the rule. In a general way we shall not be mistaken if we
assume that the principle of utility forbade all those who prac
tised an art to sign their works, and consequently condemned
them to oblivion. We should like, indeed, to know what they
were called, what was their native city or their condition of life,
who had been their first teachers, and by what efforts those
geniuses who made the plans of Der-el-Bahari or the Hypostyle
Hall , raised the Pyramid of Chephren , and carved the Seated
Scribe in the Louvre, the Thothmes III. and the Amenartas at
Cairo, the Seti I. and the goddesses of Abydos, outstripped the
crowd of their competitors. The choice that fell on them to
undertake these great tasks proves sufficiently that they did not
pass unnoticed among their immediate circle, and that they
enjoyed in their day the reputation of being the most skilful
and the most gifted in their craft. Fame was not lacking to them,
at least in their lifetime, and among those who surrounded them,
but when their generation had passed away, the admiration of
the new races was poured out on the Pharaohs or the rich men
who had employed them ; the memory of the bold craftsman who
dared to design and execute the speos of Abu Simbel was not
handed down with his work as was that of Ictinus with the
Parthenon. It was thus that, ignorant of the ambition of immor
tality by fame, the action of which is so powerful among the
moderns, the Egyptian masters were for the most part content to
observe conscientiously, as they would have done in any ordinary
calling, the rules which the teachings of their predecessors had
assured them were necessary to the well-being of souls human
and divine. When by chance any were born whose inventive
minds rebelled against the half technical, half religious education
299

ART IN EGYPT
of the workshop, their efforts towards progress or reform had
no serious results. Might it not well be that by changing some
thing in the recognised processes, they would compromise the
salvation of their models? In doubt, the crowd stood aloof from
them, and held prudently to the old customs; I have described
above how an attempt at picturesque painting failed in the
Theban necropolis under the Twenty-first or Twenty-second
Dynasty, and yet painting was of all the arts that which tended
at the time to dissociate itself most from the useful. By refusing
thus to modify the themes and types of an earlier age save in
details, Egypt gave her art that character of uniformity which
strikes us. The personal temperament of the individual is reveal
ed only by almost imperceptible shades of handling, and the
majority of visitors carry away with them from museums and
ruins the sense of a collective impersonality, slightly varied here
and there according to time and place by the greater or lesser
degree of skill in the executant. They do not understand what
an amount of natural talent and acquired science the unknown
authors of great temples and fine sculpture expended, to make
themselves more than mere skilful craftsmen.
I am far from asserting that religious utility was the sole
consideration here; it was the main one, that which after having
inspired the dawning arts, governed their developments to the
last, and had I leisure, I should like to show how its influence
appears in every direction , not only in the major arts but in
industry. Not that the Egyptians were conscious of it each time
that it determined a momentary progress or decadence among
them , but that , by instinct and by routine , they followed the
incline on which they had been launched at the beginning of
their history. Other antique nations were influenced by it as
well as they, and throughout the world, in Assyria, in Chaldaea,
in Asia Minor, in Syria, architecture, sculpture, and painting
were, as in Egypt, means for ensuring to gods and men together
with eternal life, prosperity before and after death; but whereas
in Greece the desire for pure beauty soon triumphed , Egypt,
falling behind more and more in her archaic methods of thought,
ended by becoming incapable , I will not say of adopting the
nobler conceptions that were growing up around her, but of
realising their value. The divorce between her inveterate routine
and the enterprising spirit of the new world was so profound
when Christianity rose before her, that she could offer it nothing
it could adapt to its needs, even with many alterations of artistic
expression. The western arts lent it their basilicas, their statues,
300

CONCLUSION
their bas-reliefs, their frescoes, and it readily evolved from these
forms suitable to its ideas and its beliefs. But as for Egypt,
how could the Christ find an abode in those dark and massive
temples, where every line, every chamber, every decorative motive,
every accessory of furniture, would have recalled dogmas and
practices he reprobated? How could his priests and people
have metamorphosed into images of their saints and prophets,
or reconciled with their hopes of immortality those bestial or
half-human statues, and those pictures, the elements and compo
sition of which they declared to have been governed throughout
antiquity by the most impure of demons? There was in a Ju
piter enough beauty, independent of all religious faith, to enable
an artist, stripping it of its heathen trappings, to make it the
Christian conception of the one God ; but to what person or
what incarnation would it have been possihle to assimilate the
cold , inanimate figures of an Amon , a Ptah , an Osiris , even
when their characteristic insignia and attitudes were taken from
them? The demands of utility, which had made them what they
were, had riveted them by bonds so numerous and so solid to
the dying creed, that they had no choice but to depart with it.
The art of Egypt, like its literature, its science, its current civi
lisation , was one with its religion ; the blow which struck at
the one struck at the others and crushed them.
It died completely, and the world lost sight of it; for some
fifteen centuries, nothing was known of it, save that classical
writers described it as marvellous, and that rare travellers had
seen some gigantic remains of it in the neighbourhood of Cairo,
or in the deserts of the Thebaid. The draughtsmen and scholars
of the French expedition having brought it to light again some
hundred years ago, it has reconquered that place in the esteem
of the present generation from which the neglect of former ages
had dethroned it. To tell the truth, it is not, and I fear it never
will be, one of those arts which fire the student at first sight.
Some of the works it has bequeathed us command instant admir
ation, and a first glance suffices to enable us to understand
them as easily as the finest works of Greece or Rome. The
merits of the rest are not at once apparent; we can only grasp
them after patient study, and they must be pointed out to people
who have not time to discover them for themselves. Is not this
the same in literature, and are there not poets, Pindar, for
instance, whose verses are the delight only of a chosen few?
Their beauty is as real as when thev were first composed, but
the long commentary they require before yielding their charm
301

ART IN EGYPT
has obscured it to the eyes of the multitude. Artists and men
of letters, who were disconcerted at first by Egyptian sculpture
and painting, have recovered from their stupefaction; they take
an extreme pleasure in appreciating them, and it is primarily of
them I have been thinking in writing these pages. It is not to
be supposed that professional Egyptologists and critics will endorse
without considerable reserve all the opinions and judgments they
will have read in them; but should they reject them all, they
will nevertheless , I hope , have gained something. For is not
this , in fact , the first time that an attempt has been made to
relate in a consecutive fashion the history of an art as extinct
as the races of monsters we find imbedded in the lower strata
of our globe? By studying closely the vicissitudes of its existence,
its hesitations , its progress , its failures , its recoveries , and its
long agony, they will learn to recognise more precisely than
they have hitherto done some of the principles which regulate
the incubation, the birth, the efflorescence and the death of the
arts of other nations.

302

INDEX

INDEX

References lo Illuslrations are indicated by an '

Aah-hetep. 204.
Aahmes, 148. 170*.
Aahmes-Nefert-ari, 179.
Aat-tcha-Munt, see Medinet-
Habu.
Abai. 265.
Abahuda. 143.
Abu'l-hol. 192.
Abuni. the soldier. 20. 20*.
Abu-Roash. 38. 83.
Abu-Simbel. 144, 189. 190. 191,
208, 299; Esplanade before
great Speos at, 139*; Fa
cade of great Speos at, 1 39* ;
Facade of little Speos at,
138*.
Abusir. 45, 48, 57, 62.
Abydos, 3. 4, 6. 7. 19,60.77,91,
99, 101, 102, 110, 112, 114,
153. 154. 162, 187-190,299;
School of, 24, 105.
.Cdicula on Terrace of Temple of
Hathor, 219'.
^Lgean peoples, 1 25.
Afai, Hypogeum of, 37.
African mud architecture, 23,
28*.
Agathodemons, 286.
Aha. Tablet of. 3.
Ahmessids, 139, 163, 169. 171.
176, 177. 194,218.262.
Akhmim, 37, 60, 240, 275, 285.

Akoris, Temple of. 257.
Alexander the Great, 228.
Alexander II.. 223. 259.
Alexander Aigos, 239, 248*. 255.
Alexandria, 254, 257, 265. 266,
273, 275, 284.
Alexandria Museum, 264.
Amada, 132-135; Facade of
Temple of, 131*.
Amasis, 129, 204, 237,240, 289.
Amelineau, 7.
Amenemhlt III., 116, 118, 120;
Statue of. 115*; Statuette
of, 115*.
Amenartas, 223, 238*. 248. 299;
and Amon, 283, 285*.
Amenemhat. 100. 110. 124, 133,
206. 254.
Ameni, 101.
Amenophis the Scribe. 168*, 176.
Amenophis, son of Hapu, 167',
176. 240, 254. 297; Colos
sal Statue of, 247*.
Amenophis I., 139, 150; Statue
of. 160*.
Amenophis II., 150, 172, 173,
180. 199, 204; and the Ser
pent Maritsakro, 158*;
Wooden Statuette of, 195*.
Amenophis III.. 130, 131, 134,
140, 150, 156, 173, 176,
180, 181. 184,200,219.239.
240, 278, 299; Statue of
Amenoohis III. in Assyrian
305

Dress. 166*; and Queen
Thi. 166*.
Amenophis IV.. 139, 181. 184,
195, 283; Cast of Head of.
174*; Head of Canopic Jar
of, 172*. 181 ; and his Queen,
173*; with the Queen and
their Children. 174*. 183;
Statuette of, 172*.
Amentit, 57.
Amon or Amen, 138. 151, 167.
184-187.201.218.219.239.
246. 247, 249. 256. 265. 268.
279.292.299.301; Bust of.
175*; Temple of. 259; with
Amenartas, 283, 285*; with
Candace, 254*; with Mut.
178*.
Amon-Ra, 114.
Amorrhsans, 165.
Amulets. 198. 281. 291. 292;
golden, 295*.
Animals in Egyptian Art, 173-
175, 278.
Anisakha. 84. 304.
Ankh-Hapi, 266.
Ankhmara, 71; Dancers in
Tomb of, 69*.
Ankhnasnufiabri, 238*. 248.
Anonymity of Egyptian artists,
66. 298-300.
Anonymous Statue, 112*.
Antasus and Isis, 265, 272*.
Antef dynasty, 113, 114.

INDEX

Antef. Prince, 113.
Antonines, the, 55, 274.
Antoninus Pius, 231.
Anubis, 152, 267, 279, 286;
Bronze Statuette of, 284*.
Apis. 267, 279; Statuette of.
283*.
Apries. 278. 283; Sphinx of. 276.
Arabs. 289.
Archaic Statuette, 78*.
Architecture, 125.
Argo, Isle of, 256.
Arm of a Chair in form of a fe
line Animal. 195*.
Asasif, 148.265
Ashu. 57.
Asia, 206; Minor. 125, 300.
Assuan, 27, 230. 239, 240.
Assyria. 206, 289, 300.
Asyflt, 254.
Athens Museum, 277.
Atlantes, 155; at Medinet-Habu.
124*; of the Ramesseum,
127*.
Atlas of Thothmes I., Head of.
161*. 170.
Aton or Aten. 182, 184.
Augustus, 241, 242, 261. 262.

B.
Bakers, 88*.
Barsanti, 278.
Bas-relief. 179-181; at Abusir,
57; in Alexandria Museum,
264; from Chapel of Sahu-
Ra, 59*; of the Cow Ha
thor. 165*; at Dakkeh, 270;
at Edfu, 265*; of Macrinus
and Diadumenianus, 261,
268*; ofMaharrakah.270*:
Memphite, 190*; in the
Memnonium of Seti I. at
Abydos, 180*; of Psamme
tiknufisashmu, 263, 266,
271*. 272*; of Seneferu.
58*; of Seti I., 179*; at
Sinai, 22*; in the Temple of
Ombos, 267*; in the Tem
ple of the Theban Ptah,
264*; in the Tomb of Mek-
hu, 61*; from Tomb of
Mcnthuhetep, 111*; of the
time of Domitian, 267*; of
Zanufi, 271*.
Bast (goddess). 278; temple of.
280.

Battle of Kadesh, in Ramesseum,
155*. 165.
Beh-bet. 257.
Beket, 105. 109.
Ben-ha. 292.
Beni-hasan. 101, 103. 106. 108.
110, 182.
Beni-Mohammed, 60.
Berlin Museum, 87. 201, 247,
252.
Bersheh, 101, 106.
Bes (god), 202, 219. 232.
Betchau, see Neter-baiu.
Bet-el-Wali, 113, 190; Hemi-
speos of, 137*.
Bet-Khallaf, 7, 38, 39; Plan of
Tomb at, 8*; Tomb, 8*.
Birket-el-Kurun, 96.
Biban-el-Muluk. 149, 153.
Blue enamel Head, 284*.
Blunted Pyramid, 100.
Boat, sacred or solar, 46.
Boat of Queen Aah-hetep, 207.
Book of the Dead, 66, 216.
BoscoReale, 291.
Box for Cosmetics, 197*. 198*.
Bracelets from Abydos, 2*.
Bracelets of Rameses II. , 209*.
Brawl on the Water, 68*.
Brewer, 71*.
Brick Boat of Ra-en-user, 46,
50*.
Bronze Statues, Two, 75*.
Brooch of rChamuasit, 210*.
Brussels Museum, 80.
Bubastis, 118, 129,202, 214,217,
240. 278-281.
Bull lassoed by the King, 56*.
Bust of a Statue, 246.
Byzantines, 289.

Caaar. 215. 238, 242. 256, 259,
261. 265, 288; Statue re-
carved as a, 255*.
Cairo. Museum of , 22, 5 1 , 7 1 . 79.
81. 86, 87, 88, 90, 92. 118,
119, 170, 173. 176, 181. 185,
187, 192, 194, 199,201.206,
247-250, 254, 256, 258, 265,
266, 268, 276. 278, 279, 283,
285. 288, 297. 299.
Camel, terra-cotta, 286*.
Candace, Queen, 256, 292.
Canopic jars, 181.
306

Capitals, 97, 103, 232; bell-
shaped, 129; lotus. 129;
palm-leaf, 129;- Hathor. 97,
224*. 228, 237; irregular,
129. .
Caracalla, 256.
Caramania, 77, 273.
Cartonnages, 270-273.
Cat. Bronze, 282*.
Cat watching for Prey, 106*.
Catafalque, 287, 288; of Akh
mim. 290.
Cataracts, 143, 215.
Chairs. 200; "Empire" Chair,
196*.
Chaldcea, 330.
Champollion, 103, 190, 276.
Chapel of Apis, 146; of Cheops.
44; of Chephren. plan, 48*;
of ths Cow Hathor, 164';
of Mekhu, 38, 43*; of Ra-
en-user, 49*; of Sabni, 38,
43*; of Sahu-Ra, plan, 49*.
Chapels, sepulchral, 146, 147.
Chassinat, 83. 201.
Cheops, 26, 41, 62, 77; in ivory,
74*.
Chephren, 47; the aged, 70*;
alabaster, 79*; the Great,
79*; Pyramid of, 41, 299;
Statue of, 81-84.
Chinese artists, 69.
Christianity destructive to Egyp
tian Art, 246, 276, 286, 301.
Clandius, 241.
Clasp for Necklace in form of a
Boat. 293*.
Cleopatra, 258.
Coffin of Akhmim, 278*; of Ta-
taharsiasi, 275; of Wardan,
275.
Coffins, 199,271.272.
Column of the Ambulatory at
Karnak, 129*; of Ra-en-
user, 54*; of Shepses-Ptah,
53*.
Colossi. 191, 192,256.257,276;
at Abu Simbel, 185*. 191;
of the Ramesseum, 192; of
Luxor, 132*.
Colossus of Argo, Crowned,
254*; of the Roman period,
256*.
Columns, 127, 235-238; loti
form, 49; palmiform, 53.
Commodus, 256.
Concert. 90*.
Cook, 87.

INDEX

Coptic Monastery. 151.
Coptos, 1 13.
Copts. 230:
Cow of Der-el-Bahari, 165*, 174,
175; of Sakkarah, 244*.
250. 251; turning to her
Calf. 66*. See also Hathor.
Crouching Figure holding a Di
vinity. 156*.

D.

Dabud, Temple of, 231*. 242.
Dagger of Amasis, 206*.
Dahshur. 26, 33. 38. 41, 62. 100,
111, 120, 122.
Dakhleh, Temple of, 216*. 230.
Dakkeh, Temple of, 232*. 242,
262.
Daninos. 276. 288.
Daressy, 202.
Darius I., 223.
Daughter of Rameses II., 184*.
Daughters of Amenophis IV.,
153*. 163.
Decadence of Egyptian Art, 259.
Decoration of Interiors, 50-56:
in Palace at Medinet-Habu,
146*; of tombs and temples,
51-73; in Tomb-chamber
of Rameses V-, 141*; in
Tomb of Kom-es-Shuga'a,
273*.
Decorative Art in Egypt, 162-
166.
Delta, 19. 24.36 162. 195, 213,
220,240 256.251,265,278.
281.285; School of the. 54.
Denderah, 36, 60, 113.224. 225,
228,229.232-234,238,261.
Dendflr. 242, 243.
Der-el-Bahari, 99, 113. 114, 129,
148, 149, 151-153. 174, 179,
231, 237, 299; Esplanade
at, 142*; General View of,
142*.
Der-el-Medinet. 148, 230. 240;
Facade of Temple at, 221*;
Pronaos of Temple at, 222*.
Der-el-Melak. 37.
Derr. 144, 189, 219.
Deshasheh, Scene in a Siege at.
107*, 108.
Diadem of Khnemit, 123*.

Diadumenianus. 261, 268*.
Didufriya, Statue of, 81*. 83.
Dimeh. 274.
Dish of Hatiyai, 202*.
Dodecaschcenus, 242.
Dog. terra-cotta, 289*.
Domitian. 231. 261.
Double or Ka. 10, 17.20.31,32,
37, 38, 41, 73, 77. 86, 89,
253, 254.
DouWe-Statues, 168, 200. 201,
250.
Drah-Abu'l-Nekkah. 148.
Du^a/(appanage), 15.
Dwarf of Gizeh. 82*.
Dwarf Khnemu-hetep, 82*.

Earring of Rameses XII., 208*.
Earrings of Seti I., 208*.
Edfu. 15. 224. 227, 228. 233, 236,
238, 240. 242, 258, 261;
Nomes bringing offerings.
14*.
Edgar. 292.
Edinburgh Museum, 287.
Egypt, Lower, 53, 272; Middle,
96. 100, 101, 240, 281;
Upper, 36, 38, 53, 96, 239,
274.
Egyptian Fleet, at Der-el-Ba
hari, 170.
EI-Amarna. 158, 163, 181-185.
El-Armarna. 195; Wall in Tomb
at, 173*.
Elephant, terra-cotta, 286*.
Elephantine. 60, 129, 130, 132,
194. 237: Chapels at, 38:
East Temple at (section),
130*; a Prince of, 61*.
El-Kab, 36, 131, 194.
El-Kalaa, 230.
Ellahun, 100.
Enamelled Chamber of King
Zoser, 92*.
Enneas, 227, 228, 243, 246.
Ergamenes, 242.
Erment, 113.
Eshmunen, 280, 285.
Esneh, 225, 238, 240. 245.
Ethiopia, 24. 126, 206, 218, 242.
245,261.
Ethiopian King, Head of an,
269*. 307

Ethiopian Pyramid, plan and
elevation, 235.
Ethiopian Statues of Souls, 255.
Euergetes II. , 261.

False Doors, 31-33; of Atoti,
37*; of Mereruka, 37*; of
Neferseshem-Ptah, 38*.
False Pyramid at Medu-n, 44*.
Fayum, the. 36. 100, 110. 124.
261, 273-275.285.
Female Figure, 58*.
Ferlini, 292.
Figure of a Queen or Goddess at
two different Stages, 262*.
Figurines of Animals, 3*.
Finished Figure of a King, 263*.
Fortress of Kom-el-Ahmar
(plan), 4*.
Fortresses, 159, 160.
France, 2, 279.
French Expedition, 230, 301.
Frontality, Law of. 73.
Furniture, 286, 287.

G.
Garf-Husen, 138*, 144.
Garstang, 7; Hemi-speos.
Gebel-Barkal, 173.
Gebel-Silsileh, Chapel at, 135*.
142.
Geese of Medum, 51. 55*.
German excavations, 45.
Gizeh, 33, 38. 45, 62, 80, 114.
216; corner of Necropolis
at. 30*.
Goblet of Zakazik, 203*.
Gold Jars of Zakazik, 204*.
Grffico-Egyptian Sculpture, 255,
262, 265.
Greece, 161, 174,301.
Greeks, 253, 273, 289.
Grooved Facade of Thinite For
tresses, 4*.
Grotesque Figures in Bronze,
288*.
Grotesque Head, Terra-cotta,
287*.
Grotesque, Terra-cotta, 287.
Grotesque Slave bearing a Jar,
159.

INDEX

Grotesques, 285.
Group of Persons standing or
sitting, 17*.

H.
Habi Sadu (festival). 79.
Hadrian. 231,241,261.
Hapu, 240, 297; the dwarf, 19*.
20.
Hapsefai, 101.
Harmachis, 268.
Harmin, 195; Mourners in
Tomb of. 191*; Offering-
bearers in Tomb of, 191*.
Harpocrates, 286; with Osiris
and Amon, 283*.
Hathor, 22, 83. 152, 168, 174-
175, 228, 240; and Ameno
phis, Temple of, 221*. 230;
Chapel of, 230; Columns,
219*; Cow, 250, 251. 268:
Cow at Sakkarah, 244*;
heads, 145, 231; Pillars.
131. See also under Capi-
ta's and Cow.
Hatiyai, 202.
Hatshepset, Queen, 130, 150.
151. 173, 179.
Hawara, 100, 116, 274.
Hawk's Head, Golden, 94*.
Head in the Louvre, 85*.
Head of a Colossal royal Statue,
117*.
Head of a Man. 169*.
Head of a Statue. 246*. 259*.
Hebt, 223; East Facade of Tem
ple, 215.
Heliopolis, 19, 44,54.61,97.
Heptanomis, 275.
Heracleopolis, 60, 104, 110, 194.
240.
Hermonthis, 231.
Hermopolis. 60. 96, 162. 182,
194,240,285; School of. 24,
106-108.
Heru-em-heb, 139, 143, 150,
184-187, 199; Head of a
Statue of. 178*; Wooden
Statuette of, 195*.
Her-Heru, 218.
Hesi, Wooden panels of, 59, 60*.
Hieraconpolis, 4, 6, 7, 78.
Hierasycaminos, 262.
Hittites, 165.
Holy Mountain, 218.

Horbet. 278.
Horus, 21,32, 112, 153, 155, 168,
222, 227-229. 246, 250, 266.
267, 278, 279, 283, 292:
Alexandrian, 250*; Bronze,
281*; as a Child, 243*; with
the Crocodiles, 257*; Tem
ple of. at Edffl (plan), 216*.
224, 225; Court and porti
coes of Temple of, 217*;
Pronaos and Terraces of
Temple of. 218*; Pylon cf
Temple of, 217.
Humorous Episode, 65*.
Husband and Wife seated, 72*;
standing, 72*; of unequal
Height, 73*.
Hyksos or Shepherd Kings. 1 17,
124, 125, 159, 171, 196.
Hypogea, 36, 37. 147-150, 215-
217.
Hypogeum of Ameni, 102*; of
Amenophis II. , 141*; of
Khnemu-hctep, 101*; of
Kom-es-Shugafa (room in),
273*; of Paheri wall in,
188*; of Seti I. Sketch in,
148*.
Hypostyle Hall, the, 127. 128;
at Karnak, Clerestory, 118*.
and Transverse Section,
128*; in the Memnonium
of Seti I.*, 143; in the Ra
messeum, 127*.

Ibrim. 244.
Ictinus. 299.
Incrustation in green Enamel,
193*.
Infantry from Meir, 91*.
Influences, foreign, in Egyptian
minor arts, 197. 289.
Ionia, 289.
Isis (goddess). 231. 246, 251.
267, 279. 288. 292; and
Horus (relief), 262. 270;
statue of, 244*; in terra
cotta, 290*; Temple of, 14*.
257*.
Isis, Queen, 161*. 171.
Italy, 279.
Iuaa. 181, 182. 195, 199; and
Thuaa, 200*.

Ivory, use of, 77; bas-relief, 74*;
Feet of Bed and Stool, 2*;
Mirror -handle, 205*.

J
Japanese Artists. 69.
Jewel-casket of Amenophis III.,
196*.
Jewelry. 92. 120-122, 200, 204-
206, 289-293; of Aah-he
tep, 205*; from Dahshur,
121*.
Jug with Goat from Zakazik.
204*.

K.
Ka-apiru. 32; see also Sheikh-
el-beled.
Kadesh. Battle of. 165, 166; re
liefs, 155*. 189.
Kalabshah, 242, 262; plan of
temple, 232*.
Karnes, 148.
Karnak, 97, 113, 116, 127, 129,
130, 133, 136. 139-141, 145.
171, 176.179, 180, 187, 188,
208.214,218,220,222,223,232, 234. 239, 240, 260;
Avenue of Rams at, 133*;
Court of the Temple of Ra
meses III. at, 131*; Fa
vissa, 191; Great Temple
of Amon, 95*; Ruins of
Propylasa of Tirhakah, 215;
Workshops at, 193.
Karomama, Queen, 276, 277.
280*.
Kartassi. 242, 243; Chapel in
Quarries of, 234*; Kiosk of.
233*.
Kasr-el-Aguz, 231.
Kasr-el-Shalauit, 231.
Kasr-es-Sayad, 37, 60.
Kasr-Ibrim, East Gate, 234*.
Kasr-Karun, 220*. 230.
Kau-el-Kebir, 37. 60. 240.
Kauit, Princess, 1 13.
Kha-emhet, 181, 195.
Khamuasit, Prince, 200.
Khasakhmui, 76*.
Khayanu, 124.
Kheti, 105, 108, 109.

308

INDEX

Khnemit. 121; Crown of, 122*;
Diadem of, 123*.
Khnemu, Chapel of. 132.
Khnemu-hetcp, 101; hypogeum
of. 101*. 106, 107.
Khonsu (god). 15, 185. 186. 218.
219; Bust of, 176*; Tem
ple of, II*. 221. 224, 226,
232; Temple at Thebes (sec
tion), 132*. 135-137.
Khonsu, Temple of, 239.
Khu-en-Aton. 201.
Khufu-enekh, 27; Sarcophagus,
of. 27*.
Kiblah, 52, 53.
Kitchen, 89*.
Kneeling Figure carrying a
Triad. 157*.
Kneeling Man, 77*.
Kokome, 40.
Kom-el-Ahnw, 11*. 37, 79. 92;
Door-jamb in Temple of.
7*.
Kom-es-Sagha, 96; Temple of.
96*; Interior of Temple cf
96*.
Kom-es-Shugafa, 257, 266.
Kom-Ombo, 55, 224. 228, 229,
232, 233. 240. 257; Double
Court and Pronaos at, 220*.
Koseir-el-Amarna, 37.
Kurnah, 187; Facade of sepul
chral Temple. 144*.
Kumet-Murrai, 14S, 230.

L.
Legrain. 116, 191.
Libyan Chief struck down by
Sahu-Ra. 56*.
Libyan Desert, 38.
Lion passant, 257*; seated,
258*.
Lion at Gebel-Barkal, 164*;
Bronze, time of Apries,
282*; of Kom-Ombo. 258*;
of Sakkarah, 52*.
Lisht. 97, 100, III. 170.
London (British Museum). 22,
169. 288.
Louvre. The, 57, 75, 80, 87, 1 19,
181,201,202,206.252,274,
276. 279.
Luxor. 138-140, 161. 165, 166,
192 208,214.219.220,221,
223, 231. 239. 259. 276;

Court, of Amenophis III. at,
133*; Court of Rameses II.
at. 135*; Temple of Amen
ophis III. at. 137*.

M.
Maat (goddess), 288.
Macrinus. 261; Bas-relief of,
268*.
Maharrakah, 242, 244, 262.
Maiptah, 195; Fragment from
Tomb of, 192*.
Mammisi, or Birth-house, 231,
232. 238. 241; at Edfu,
222*.
Man, Head and Bust of a, 253*.
Mariette, 81, 117, 124, 180,248.
Maritsakro, 168, 173.
Mastaba. the. 29, 30, 31, 36, 37,
38. 41. 45, 62, 98-100, 102,
215. 216; with hollow
Chamber and discharging
Arch, 42*; at Gizeh, 30*.
and Shaft in same, 29*; of
Ka-apiru, Cell and Fore
court, 34*; of Khabeuptah,
35*; of Menefer, Facade,
34*; of Mereruka, 33, 36*,
37. 65. 73; of Ne er-hetep.
Forecourt, 35*; of Ti, Por
tico of, 36*; of Zazamenekh
35*.
Masu, 278; Bronze Statuette of.
281*.
Mat-ka-Ra. Queen. 268.
Medinet-Habu, 127, 130. 131,
134. 149, 155. 160, 161. 192.
219. 221, 223. 226. 230;
Facade of Temple of Ra
meses III. at, 146*; Migdol
of, 148*; Roman Temple
at, 221*; Second Court in
Temple of, 145*.
Mediterranean, 215.
Medum, 26, 33, 38, 45, 62, 80,
167; False Pyramid at, 40;
Geese of. 51, 72; Tomb at,
51; Statues of. 81.
Meir, 37; decorations at, 61 ;
Fat Men of, 62*; Lean Men
of, 62*; Soldiers of, 90, 91*.
Mekhu, 38.
Meks. 285.
Memnon-Colossi at Thebes,
167*. 176.

Memnonium, 153, 187. 188. 190;
of Seti I. at Abydos, plan,
143*.
Memphis, 19. 29. 37. 38. 95. 106.
114.126. 148, 162, 189. 192,
216,254.265.273,276,278.280, 285, 288, 289.
Memphite Dynasties, 23.
Memphite School, 24, 26, 61, 79.
81, 105, 107, 108, 110. 113,
213, 251, 254; contrasted
with Theban School, 115.
Memphite Statue, 250*; Stat
uette, 251.
Meneptah, 186, 189, 192, 220;
Bust of a Statue of, 187*;
with two Ensigns, 156*.
Menes, 6, 23.
Menkhau-Heru, 57; Statue of,
57*; Statuette of, 82.
Mentcmhct, 241*. 248.
Menthu-hetep. 99. 114, 115. 143.
1 52; in the Costume of
Apotheosis. 112*; Tomb of,
113.
Mentu (god). 120, 263; Temple
of, 134.
Mereruka, 33, 37. 65. 73. See
also under Tomb.
Meroe, 245. 256. 262.
Mesaurat, Temple of, 245; 236*.
Mesopotamia, 125, 206.
Metal, casting, 202, 276; use of,
77. 78; utensils. 92.
Migdol. 160.
Mirmashau. 1 18; Colossal Statue
of, 117*.
Mirror -case, 205*.
Mitrahineh, 192.
Mnevis, 279.
Models of Heads at different
Stages, 261 *.
Mond's Statuette, 169*, 177,
178.
Monkey, Statue of a, 163*. 256*.
Mummy, Mask of a, 277*.
Munich Museum, 80, 110.
Mural Decorations, 18.
Musician-priestesses, 152*.
Mut (god). 167. 187. 219. 268.
Mut-emua, Queen, 138.
Mycena:, 205.
Mycerinus, 27; Pyramid of, 41;
Sarcophagus of, 27*; Statue
of, 16*. 83; Statuette of,
82; Triad of, 81*; and his
Wife, 80*.
Myers' Bust, 85; Statuette, 83*.

309

INDEX

N.
Nai, 187; the Lady, 201*.
Nakadah, 7, 26, 27, 113; Plan
of Tomb, 7*.
Nakht, 165.
Name Horus of Chephreu, 32*.
Napata, 218, 219, 256; most
ancient Temple at, 214*;
Sanctuary of Tirhakah at,
214*.
Naples Museum, 80.
Napriti, 58.
Nasi, The Lady, 77*. 80.
Naucratis, 257, 265.
Naville. 174. 250.
Necklace with Heads of Falcons,
Gold, 207*.
NechoII., 291.
Nectanebus, 238, 240. 257, 259;
Naos of, 218*.
Nectanebus II., 223, 261.
Nefer-Atmu, 283.
Nefer-hetep, 32.
Nefer-ka-Ra. 43, 48.
Nefer-ka-Ra-Huni, 26.
Neferseshemptah, 34, 68*.
Nefert, 80; Queen, 116*, 118,
Nefert-ari, Queen, 144.
Nefer-temu, 233.
Neferu, 85*; Statuette of, 86.
Neferu-Ri, 172.
Negress, Statuette of, 199*, 200.
Nephthys, 288.
Neter-baiu, 22; Tablet of (ob
verse), 23*; (reverse), 24.
Newberry, 202.
Nibfl, the Dog. 18*. 20.
Nile, 38, 90, 139, 159, 185, 218;
Figure of the, 196.233,238;
in pierced Bronze. 291*;
Twin Figures of, 193*.
Nit (goddess), 279, 283.
No. I. Statue at Cairo, 77*. 79.
Nomes (divisions of Egypt), 8,
16,63.233.
Nsiptah. 241,249.
Nubia, 24, 143, 189, 190, 261.
Nufiabres, 283.
Nutir, the Lady, 19*. 20.

0.
Oases, 273.
Obelisks. 97; at Karnak, 125*;
of Ptah-hetep and Maiti,
41*; of Heliopolis, 98*.

Obelisk-worship, 46.
Offering-bearers, 89*.
Officers. Statuettes of. 201, 203*.
Ombos, 234, 245, 262.
Opening of the Mouth, 199*.
Opet (goddess), 232.
Orontes, 165.
Osiris, 79, 115, 134, 145, 154.
218,227.228,232,250.251,279, 288, 292. 301 ; Bronze.
278; Osiris-Nile in pierced
bronze, 291*; Recumbent,
'243*; Statue of, 244*.
Osorkon II. , 214, 248; pushing
a boat, 237.
Osorkon III., 288.
Ostraka at Cairo and Turin,
149*-151*, 163.
Otho. 231.
Oxford, 79
Oxyrrhynchos, 240.

Painted bas-relief in Tomb of
Seti I., 179*.
Painted Decoration of a Pri
vate House, 1 03*.
Painted Stele, 274*.
Painting, Egyptian, 50, 51, 267-
270.
Painting of a Hypogeum at Bah-
riyeh, 276*.
Painting and Sculpture, com
bination of, 103.
Painting without sculptured
Background. 103*.
Pakheri, 258; Painted Panel of,
274*.
Paris, 22, 288.
Parthenon, 152, 299.
Pasticcio Ptolemaic, 266*; in
Temple of Theban Ptah,
265*.
Patanafi, 263.
Patanesis, 283.
Pavement in Palace at EI
Amarna, 147.
Peasant Squatting, 106*.
Pectoral of Amenemhat, III.,
121*; of Rameses II.; of
Sesostris III., 120*.
Pedishashi, Statue of, 247*.
310

Pelizjeus Collection, 202.
Pepil., 202; Bust of. 76*; Head
of Statuette of, 76*; Statue
of, 78*.
Pepi IL, 95.
Perfume-spoon in Form of
Woman swimming, 199*.
Perichon Bey, 285.
Persians, 253.
Person seated with one Leg flat.
157*.
Person of the time of Ameno
phis IV , 174*
Petrie, Flinders, 3, 77, 91, 96,
201.
Petubastis, 237*; Statue of,
247*.
Petukhanu, 276.
Pharaoh in a Helmet, Head of,
187*, 193; Horus, 110*;
Khasakhmui, 76*, 79; in
pierced Bronze, 291*.
Pharaohs. 9. 10, 16, 17, 18,21.
27, 52. 55, 57, 62, 95, 96.
100,112, 113, 114, 119, 130.
135. 151, 156, 158, 159. 175,
176, 183,207, 217,228,239.
257, 288; Ethiopian, 220,
245; Palaces of, 156-159;
Tombs of, 38.
Phila:, 224, 230. 232, 233, 236-
240, 242, 243, 258-260;
General View of, 213*;
Capitals of Pronaos, 226*;
East Block of second Pylon,
229*; Kiosk of Nectanebus,
225*, 238; Kiosk of Trajan,
227*. 240; Mammisi, 225*;
Mammisi and Great Door,
230*; Plan of Island of,
228*; Pronaos and Hypo
style Hall, 230*; Temple
of Isis during Inundation,
228*; Wall in Temple of
Isis, 223*; Western Portico,
224*.
Philip Arrhidsus, 223, 239.
259.
Piankhi, 218.
Pillar at Karnak, 97*.
Pillars, 235-238.
Pinotchem. 207.
Plaques, polychrome, 198.
Plate, gold and silver, 202, 203,
289, 290.
Plato, 259.
Portraits, 273, 275.
Posno, Sale, 278.

INDEX

Pottery, 91, 284.
Priest and Monkey, 188*. 193.
Priest, Statuette of a, 201*.
Private Person, Statue of a 119
120.
Pronaos, the, 221.
Proto-Doric or primitive Order.
103,129, 144.237; at Kar-
nak. 129*.
Psammetichus I., 223, 239*
243*. 243, 250.
Psammetichus II., 289.
Psammetichus III., 240*.
Psammetiknufisashmu, 263, 266;
Bas-relief of, 271,272.
Pselchis, 243.
Ptah, 113, 194, 201, 239, 283,
301; Memphite, 189*; The
ban, 129; PropyUea and
Facade of Oratory of The
ban, 227*; Temple of, 133.
237.
Ptah-enekh. 65*. 66.
Ptah-hetep, 66, 71 ; and his
Wife. 67*.
Ptahmes, 198.
Ptolemais, 273.
Ptolemaic Doorway. 226*.
Ptolemies, 215. 223, 230, 231,
232, 237. 239, 240, 242, 254,
259,261,266 272,278,287.
Ptolemy, 258; Euergetes, 240.
257; Euergetes charging,
260*; Philadelphus, 240;
Philopator, 242; Philopa-
tor IV.. 240; Physcon, 242,
259: Soter. 239.
Punt. 180.
Pylon, the, 48, 97, 126, 127; of
Heru-em-Heb at Karnak .
126*.
Pyramid, of Cheops, 42; of
Chephren, 41. 299; False,
40. 44*; Great Pyramid
and Sphinx, 45*; with Obe
lisk, 44; origin cf the, 40;
of Pepi II., 35; of Ra-en-
user, 45*; of Unas, Door
in, 47*; of Unas, plan, 46*.
Pyramidium, the, 146, 147; of
Dahshur, 100*.
Pyramid-mastaba, the, 100. 101.
146, 147; of an Apis. 140*;
ofDrah-Abu'I-Nekkah.98*:section of a, 98*.
Pyramids, 26,40,42,48 62,81,
83, 98. 113: of Gizeh, 45:
of Meroii, 245.

Qa-au Stele, 20*. 21.
Queen, Statuette of a, 240*.
Quibell, 9, 92.

R.
Rameses I., 140, 154.
Rameses II., 139, 140. 143, 150,
154,155,165-167.185, 188-
191, 194,214,219,220,239,
260, 297; Alabaster Statue
of, 184*. 185*; Bust on
Coffin of, 194*; Coffin of.
199; Colossal Figure of,
189*; Colossal Head of,
186*; pushing a Boat, 158.
Rameses III., 133, 145, 151, 155,
159, 189, 192. 198,208, 224.
247.
Rameses IV., 162, 199. 202; and
a Libyan Prisoner, 186'.
193;SandstoneBustof, 194.
Rameses XII., 206.
Rameses of the Twentieth Dy
nasty, the, 140. 151.
Rameses, Prince, afterwards
Rameses II., 181*.
Ramesesnakht, 1 93.
Ramesseum, 127, 144, 154, 156.
165, 166, 221, 225; Gen
eral View of, 144*.
Ramessids, the, 194, 213, 218,
219, 233, 262, 293.
Ramosis, 181.
Ra (the sun-god). 44, 46, 283.
Ra-hetep, 80, 84. 87. 167.
Ra-en-user, 44, 45. 49; Chape
of, 49*. 56; Statuette of, 82.
Ra-nefer, 71, 82.
Reindeer Period, 2.
Reisner's Mycerinus, 80*.
Rekaknah, 7.
Relief en creux. 1 2. 260.
Renascence of Egyptian Art,
262.
Rhind, 287.
Ritual of the Pyramids, 216.
Rome, 161. 174, 275,301.

Sabni, Chapel of, 38
es-Sabua, 189.

Sadunimet, 87*.
Saft-el-Henneh, Naos of, 6.
Sahu-Ra, 56; adopted by the
goddess, 57*; Chapel of.
44. 49*; Temple of, 49.
Said, the, 20, 83. 215, 218, 223.
240.
Sais, 213, 278; School of. 24.
Saite period, 15, 48, 242, 265.
Sakkarah, 32-34, 38, 44. 62, 63.
77, 80, 91. 114, 216, 217.
258, 282, 291
Sanhur, 230.
Sapui, 80.
Sarcophagus of Khefu-enekh,
27*; of Mycerinus, 27*; of
Princess Kauit, 111*. 113.
Sa-Renput, Portico of, 100*;
Tomb of, 101.
Sargonids, 289.
Scribes, Statues of, 86-88, 119;
crouching, 86*; kneeling,
87*; seated, 87, 299.
Sebek-emsef, 118*. 119.
Sebek-hetep. 118*. 119. 124.
240.
Secret chambers, 234, 235.
Sckhet, 173, 278. 279, 281;
Bronze, 284*; at Karnak,
163*.
Seneferu, 20, 40. 41, 44, 51, 62.
80.
Senmut. 171, 247.
Sennefcr, 177; with his Wife
and Daughter, 1 68*.
Septah Meneptah, 189; Scene
in Tomb of, 183*; in his
Tomb, 182*.
Septimius Severus, 244.
Serdab. 34, 37. 42.
Serpent-Isis, 290*.
Serpent, King, 21, 23; Stele of,
21*.
Servant carrying his Master's

Servant tarring a Jar, 10*.
Service of Antiquities, 96.
Sesostris I., 97, 100, 111-113.
116. 119; Head of, 113*;
Statues of. 108*. 109*.
Sesostris II., 118. 120.
Sesostris III., 114, 120; Head
of, 114*.
Sesostris IV., 116; Head of.
114*.
Sesostris fighting, 183*. 190, 206.
299.
Set (god), 168. 228.

311

INDEX

Seti I., 21, 140, 151. 153, 154,
162, 185, 187-191. 258; at
Abydos, 180*; and the
three Goddesses. 181*. 188,
299.
Seti II.. 189, 206; in his Tomb,
182*.
Severus, 275.
Sheikh -Abd -el -Kurnah, 148,
149. 153*. 163-165, 177.
180, 287.
Sheikh-el-beled, 83*. 84, 85, 1 12,
195. 299; supposed Wife of
the, 83*.
Shepherd Kings, see Hyksos.
Shepsestah, 49.
Shoulder Movement, Tomb of
Khnemu-hetep, 105*.
Shu (god). 243.
Shunet-ez-Zebib. 1 *.
Siege of a Fortress, 104*; at
Deshasheh, 107*.
Siesis. Ill; Portrait of. 108*.
Silsileh. 143; Speos at; Plan
and Facade, 136*.
Silver Plate of Thmuis, 292*.
Simon, James, 201.
Sinai. 21. 26, 96; bas-reliefs at,
21.22*. 59.
Siut, 108, 110.
Sketch Figure of a King, 263*.
Sketch in a Tomb. 1 53*.
Slave bearing a Jar, 1 59*.
Sloping Passage in Tomb of Ti,
29*.
Smendes, 196.
Sobek, 228, 229.
Sokaris, 292.
Soldiers at Siut, 105*.
Solar Temple of Ra-en-user, 50*.
Soul Statues, 256*.
Spain, 2.
Speos. the, 141-146.
Sphinx, 80, 81. 117, 118, 173;
of Amenemhaal III., 116*.
124. 196; of Apries, 276,
279*; of Gizeh. 78*; of the
Ptolemaic Period, 257*; of
the Roman Period, 253*;
Temple of the. 47. 48, 51*;
Interior of Temple, 51*.
52*.
Squatting Figure. 236*.
Statue, with body in Sheath,
18*; finished but for the
Head, 245*; full face, 15*;
full face, walking, 16*; of
the Hyksos Period, 125*;

"ready-made," 252; roughly
blocked out, 245; seated.
74*; standing, bearing en
signs, 17*.
Statuette of petrified Wood,
176*.
Statues, 17.
Stelae, 20, 21, 23, 33, 52,54.62,
148,261, 266, 268, 270.
Stele Door of Nibera, 39*; of
Usiru, 33*; of the Fayum,
268*; in form of False Door,
31*; of Horus and Croco
diles, 260*; of King Ser
pent, 21*; of Nikhafitka,
40; of Prince Antef. 113;
of Ta-au, 20*; of Sesostris
III., 112; of Seti, 28*.
Step Pyramid, 39, 40, 43*, 91;
Section of, 44*.
Storehouses with Brick vaults in
Ramesseum, 145*.
Stroganoff, 276.
Surveyor with Line. 1 57*.
Syene. 110, 242, 285.
Syria, 77, 159,206,300.

Table of offerings, 32, 38, 46.
Tafeh. Temple of. 231*. 242.
Takushit, 277. 280*.
Tanagra, 285.
Tanis, 117, 217,258; School of,
24, 195.
Tanite Statue. 248*.
Tantkalashiri, 27 1 ,
Tataharsias , 273; Coffin of,
275*.
Tchaho. 266.
Tefnut, 243.
Tcfyeh, 105.
Tell-es-Sab. 278.
Temenos, the, 41.
Temples, 130; decoration of the,
18; small. 229, 230.
Teye, see Thi.
Thebaid. 220, 247, 273, 275. 300.
Theban Citizens, 152*.
Theban School, 24, 113, 213.
Thebes, 48, 101, 104. 114. 116,
117. 125, 127, 135, 147, 162,
179, 183, 189, 190, 193. 196,
206,213.218,254.259,261, 263, 265. 274, 280, 289.

Thi. Queen. 171, 176, 181, 185.
186, 200; so-called Head
of, 177*; Head of Statuette
of. 171*.
Thinite Tablet, 25*; Period, 6,
7; Pharaohs, 7; School, 26,
61,79,81.
This, 80.
Thmuis, 278, 289.
Thoth, 60, 168, 193, 267, 285,
292.
Thoth Paotnuphis, 242.
Thothmes I., 148. 149, 170.
Thothmes II., 130.
Thothmes III., 113, 129, 130,
132,133, 140, 150, 151,171,
172, 173, 179, 199.202,214,
237, 239, 242, 247, 259, 288.
299; Head of a Statue of.
162*.
Thothmes IV., 140, 150, 151,
172, 198; and his Mother.
162*.
Thoueris, 242. 249.
Thuaa, 199; Coffin of. 194*.
Thuti, 202.
Ti, see under Tomb.
Ti, Statue of, 84.
Tiberius, 236.
Tirhakah, 219, 220. 222. 245.
248. 276; Head of, 239*;
Statuette of, 279*.
Toilet utensils, 200, 204.
Tomb of Adu, Denderah, 42*.
Tomb of Ankhmara, Dancers
in, 69*.
Tomb of Heru-hetep, Painted
Interior in, 102*.
Tomb of Kha-em-het, Sketch in,
149.
Tomb of Mekhu, 38, 43*.
Tomb of Menthu-hetep, Plan,
99*.
Tomb of Nakht, wall in, 154*.
Tomb of Ptah-hetep, Brawl
between Boatmen, 69*;
Herdsman driving Bulls.
67*; Perspective of Regis
ters, 66*; Sacrifice, 63*.
Tomb of Ra-hetep, wall, 63*.
Tomb of Sabni. 43*.
Tomb of Sa-Renput II., 101.
Tomb of Ti, 34, 65. 72. 73;
Bringing Corn, 13*; Cram
ming Geese, 70*; Harvest
Scenes, 12*; Hippopotamus
Hunt. 55*; Plan of, 41*;
Servants of Ti bringing of-

312

INDEX

ferings. 12*. Slaughter of
Cattle. 13*; Sloping Pas
sage in. 29*.
Tomb with pyramidal summit.
Theban. 140*.
Tombs. 27. 28. 29. 97, 98; dec
oration of, 18.
Torso and Head of a Woman,
169*.
Traian. 261: Kiosk of, 241, 243.
Triad of Heracleopolis, 1 90*.
Triumphal bas-relief of Seti I.,
175.
Tuitishere, Queen, 160*. 169.
Tukh-el-Karamus, 289. 292.
Tuosret. 203. 206.
Turah limestone. 47, 67, 75, 84.
Turin Museum. 80, 169, 170,
171, 186, 191, 201.
Tut-ankhamen. 177*. 184-186.
Twin Statues at Cairo. 1 1 8*.
Two Prisoners tied Back to
Back. 159*.
Types of archaic Chapels and
Temples, 5*.

U.
Unas. 41, 56; Pyramid of, 43;
Temple of, 49.
Ushabtiu. 198, 282, 284.

Utilitarian clement in Egyptia
art. 300.
Uzueri, 58.

Valley of the Kings, 164; of the
Queens. 230.
Vase in the form of a Head in a
Helmet, 285*.
Vassalli. 51.
Venice, 288.
Vespasian, 231 .
Vienna Museum. 119.

W.
Wadi-es-Sabua, 144, 219; Av
enue of Sphinxes at, 137*.
War-Dance. 104*.
Wood, use of, 77.
Wood-carving. 198.
Wooden Head from Lisht, 109*.
Wooden Naos, 5*.
Wooden Spoon for Cosmetics,
197*.
Wooden Statue, Bust of, 75*.
Wooden Statue, 84*. 85.
Wooden Statuettes. 168.

Woman grinding Corn, 9*. 72*.
Woman, Head and Bust of a,
252*; Torso and Head of a.
169*.
Woman in sculptured groups,
74.
Woman. Statuette of a, 200*.
249*.
Wrestling, Beni Hasan, 107*.

Xois. 240.

Young Girl, 202*; Statuette of,
201*.

Zadamonefonukhu. 268.
Zai. 187; and Nai, 178*.
Zakazik, 202.
Zanufi, 263, 266.
Zauti 37.
Zawyet-el-Aryan, 26, 43; '
and Libation-trough,
Inclined Way, 47*.
Zoser, 38, 39. 40. 91.

313

ERRATA.
P. 44, 1. 18. Substitute for lines 18-22 the following: "Sahu-Ra and Ra-en-user. They were
approached by propylaea built at the foot of the plateau (Fig. 81), beyond which a long
incline rose to the body of the building, the arrangements of which varied. In the chapel
of Sahu-Ra (Fig. 82), for instance, there was a dark passage, then a colonnaded court, then
a complicated series of cells and storehouses, and in the obscurity of the background, the
stele, in the form of a closed door, where the office of the dead king was celebrated. It was
a temple ", etc.
P. 48. inscription of Fig. 79, for "Foor" read "Floor."
P. 49, inscription of Fig. 81, for "Plan of the Chapel" read "Plan of the Propylaea."
P. 268, inscription of Fig. 515, for " Diadumenian*' read "Diadumenianus."

314