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801 | ra of the Nile valley.
A little case at Gizeh is carved in the shape of a couchant calf, the body
being hollowed out, and the head and back forming a removable lid. A spoon
in the same collection represents a dog running away with an enormous fish
in his mouth (fig. 246), the body of the fish forming the bowl of the
spoon. Another shows a cartouche springing from a full-blown lotus;
another, a lotus fruit laid upon a bouquet of flowers (fig. 247); and here
is a simple triangular bowl, |
802 | the handle decorated with a stem and two buds
(fig. 248). The most elaborate specimens combine these subjects with the
human figure. A young girl, clad in a mere girdle, is represented in the
act of swimming (fig. 249). Her head is well lifted above the water, and
her outstretched arms support a duck, the body of which is hollowed out,
while the wings, being movable, serve as a cover. We have also a young girl
in the Louvre collection, but she stands in a maze of lotus plants (fig.
2 |
803 | 50), and is in the act of gathering a bud. A bunch of stems, from which
emerge two full-blown blossoms, unites the handle to the bowl of the spoon,
which is in reverse position, the larger end being turned outwards and the
point inwards. Elsewhere, a young girl (fig. 251) playing upon a long-
necked lute as she trips along, is framed in by two flowering stems.
Sometimes the fair musician is standing upright in a tiny skiff (fig. 252);
and sometimes a girl bearing offerings is substitut |
804 | ed for the lute player.
Another example represents a slave toiling under the weight of an enormous
sack. The age and physiognomy of each of these personages is clearly
indicated. The lotus gatherer is of good birth, as may be seen by her
carefully plaited hair and tunic. The Theban ladies wore long robes; but
this damsel has gathered up her skirts that she may thread her way among
the reeds without wetting her garments. The two musicians and the swimming
girl belong, on the contrary, |
805 | to an inferior, or servile, class. Two of
them wear only a girdle, and the third has a short garment negligently
fastened. The bearer of offerings (fig. 253) wears the long pendent tresses
distinctive of childhood, and is one of those slender, growing girls of the
fellahîn class whom one sees in such numbers on the banks of the Nile. Her
lack of clothing is, however, no evidence of want of birth, for not even
the children of nobility were wont to put on the garments of their sex
befor |
806 | e the period of adolescence. Lastly, the slave (fig. 254), with his
thick lips, his high shoulders, his flat nose, his heavy, animal jaw, his
low brow, and his bare, conical head, is evidently a caricature of some
foreign prisoner. The dogged sullenness with which he trudges under his
burden is admirably caught, while the angularities of the body, the type of
the head, and the general arrangement of the parts, remind one of the
terra-cotta grotesques of Asia Minor. In these subjects, a |
807 | ll the minor
details, the fruits, the flowers, the various kinds of birds, are rendered
with much truth and cleverness. Of the three ducks which are tied by the
feet and slung over the arms of the girl bearing offerings, two are
resigned to their fate, and hang swinging with open eyes and outstretched
necks; but the third flaps her wings and lifts her head protestingly. The
two small water-fowl perched upon the lotus flowers listen placidly to the
lute-player's music, their beaks rest |
808 | ing on their crops. They have learned
by experience not to put themselves out of the way for a song, and they
know that there is nothing to fear from a young girl, unless she is armed.
They are put to flight in the bas-reliefs by the mere sight of a bow and
arrows, just as a company of rooks is put to flight nowadays by the sight
of a gun. The Egyptians were especially familiar with the ways of animals
and birds, and reproduced them with marvellous exactness. The habit of
minutely obs |
809 | erving minor facts became instinctive, and it informed their
most trifling works with that air of reality which strikes us so forcibly
at the present day.
[Illustration: Fig. 254.--Spoon.]
Household furniture was no more abundant in ancient Egypt than it is in the
Egypt of to-day. In the time of the Twelfth Dynasty an ordinary house
contained no bedsteads, but low frameworks like the Nubian _angareb_; or
mats rolled up by day on which the owners lay down at night in their
clothes |
810 | , pillowing their heads on earthenware, stone, or wooden head-rests.
There were also two or three simple stone seats, some wooden chairs or
stools with carved legs, chests and boxes of various sizes for clothes and
tools, and a few common vessels of pottery or bronze. For making fire there
were fire-sticks, and the bow-drill for using them (figs. 255 and 181);
children's toys were even then found in great variety though of somewhat
quaint construction. There were dolls with wigs and mo |
811 | vable limbs, made in
stone, pottery, and wood (fig. 256); figures of men, and animals, and
terra-cotta boats, balls of wood and stuffed leather, whip-tops, and tip-
cats (fig. 257).
[Illustration: Fig. 255.--Fire-sticks, bow, and unfinished drill-stock,
Twelfth Dynasty; _Illahûn, Kahun, and Gurob,_ W.M.F. Petrie, Plate VII., p.
11.]
[Illustration: Fig. 256.--Remains of two Twelfth Dynasty dolls; _Kahun,
Gurob and Hawara,_ W.M.F. Petrie, Plate VIII. p. 30.]
[Illustration: Fig. |
812 | 257.--Tops, tip-cat, and a terra-cotta toy boat,
Twelfth Dynasty; _Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara,_ W.M.F. Petrie, Plates VIII.,
IX., p. 30.]
[Illustration: Fig. 258.--Chest]
[Illustration: Fig. 259.--Chest.]
[Illustration: Fig. 260.--Chest.]
The art of the cabinet-maker was nevertheless carried to a high degree of
perfection, from the time of the ancient dynasties. Planks were dressed
down with the adze, mortised, glued, joined together by means of pegs cut
in hard wood, or acaci |
813 | a thorns (never by metal nails), polished, and
finally covered with paintings. Chests generally stand upon four straight
legs, and are occasionally thus raised to some height from the ground. The
lid is flat, or rounded according to a special curvature (fig. 258) much in
favour among the Egyptians of all periods. Sometimes, though rarely, it is
gable-shaped, like our house-roofs (fig. 259). Generally speaking, the lid
lifts off bodily; but it often turns upon a peg inserted in one of t |
814 | he
uprights. Sometimes, also, it turns upon wooden pivots (fig. 260). The
panels, which are large and admirably suited for decorative art, are
enriched with paintings, or inlaid with ivory, silver, precious woods, or
enamelled plaques. It may be that we are scarcely in a position justly to
appraise the skill of Egyptian cabinet-makers, or the variety of designs
produced at various periods. Nearly all the furniture which has come down
to our day has been found in tombs, and, being dest |
815 | ined for burial in the
sepulchre, may either be of a character exclusively destined for the use of
the mummy, or possibly a cheap imitation of a more precious class of
goods.
The mummy was, in fact, the cabinet-maker's best customer. In other lands,
man took but a few objects with him into the next world; but the defunct
Egyptian required nothing short of a complete outfit. The mummy-case alone
was an actual monument, in the construction of which a whole squad of
workmen was employ |
816 | ed (fig. 261). The styles of mummy-cases varied from
period to period. Under the Memphite and first Theban empires, we find only
rectangular chests in sycamore wood, flat at top and bottom, and made of
many pieces joined together by wooden pins. The pattern is not elegant, but
the decoration is very curious. The lid has no cornice. Outside, it is
inscribed down the middle with a long column of hieroglyphs, sometimes
merely written in ink, sometimes laid on in colour, sometimes carved i |
817 | n
hollowed-out signs filled in with some kind of bluish paste. The
inscription records only the name and titles of the deceased, accompanied
now and then by a short form of prayer in his favour. The inside is covered
with a thick coat of stucco or whitewash.
[Illustration: Fig. 261.--Construction of a mummy-case, wall scene,
Eighteenth Dynasty.]
[Illustration: Fig. 262.--Mask of Twenty-first Dynasty coffin of Rameses
II.]
[Illustration: Fig. 263.--Mummy-case of Queen Ahmesnefe |
818 | rtari.]
Upon this surface, the seventeenth chapter of _The Book of the Dead _was
generally written in red and black inks, and in fine cursive hieroglyphs.
The body of the chest is made with three horizontal planks for the bottom,
and eight vertical planks, placed two and two, for the four sides. The
outside is sometimes decorated with long strips of various colours ending
in interlaced lotus-leaves, such as are seen on stone sarcophagi. More
frequently, it is ornamented on the left |
819 | side with two wide-open eyes and
two monumental doors, and on the right with three doors exactly like those
seen in contemporary catacombs. The sarcophagus is in truth the house of
the deceased; and, being his house, its four walls were bound to contain an
epitome of the prayers and _tableaux_ which covered the walls of his tomb.
The necessary formulae and pictured scenes were, therefore, reproduced
inside, nearly in the same order in which they appear in the mastabas. Each
side is di |
820 | vided in three registers, each register containing a dedication
in the name of the deceased, or representations of objects belonging to
him, or such texts from the Ritual as need to be repeated for his benefit.
Skilfully composed, and painted upon a background made to imitate some
precious wood, the whole forms a boldly-designed and harmoniously-coloured
picture. The cabinet-maker's share of the work was the lightest, and the
long boxes in which the dead of the earliest period were bur |
821 | ied made no
great demand upon his skill. This, however, was not the case when in later
times the sarcophagus came to be fashioned in the likeness of the human
body. Of this style we have two leading types. In the most ancient, the
mummy serves as the model for his case. His outstretched feet and legs are
in one. The form of the knee, the swell of the calf, the contours of the
thigh and the trunk, are summarily indicated, and are, as it were, vaguely
modelled under the wood. The head, |
822 | apparently the only living part of this
inert body, is wrought out in the round. The dead man is in this wise
imprisoned in a kind of statue of himself; and this statue is so well
balanced that it can stand on its feet if required, as upon a pedestal. In
the other type of sarcophagus, the deceased lies at full length upon his
tomb, and his figure, sculptured in the round, serves as the lid of his
mummy-case. On his head is seen the ponderous wig of the period. A white
linen vest and a |
823 | long petticoat cover his chest and legs. His feet are shod
with elegant sandals. His arms lie straight along his sides, or are folded
upon his breast, the hands grasping various emblems, as the _Ankh_, the
girdle-buckle, the _Tat_;[69] or, as in the case of the wife of Sennetmû at
Gizeh, a garland of ivy. This mummiform type of sarcophagus is rarely met
with under the Memphite dynasties, though that of Menkara, the Mycerinus of
the Greeks, affords a memorable example. Under the Eleven |
824 | th Dynasty, the
mummy-case is frequently but a hollowed tree-trunk, roughly sculptured
outside, with a head at one end and feet at the other. The face is daubed
with bright colours, yellow, red, and green; the wig and headdress are
striped with black and blue, and an elaborate collar is depicted on the
breast. The rest of the case is either covered with the long, gilded wings
of Isis and Nephthys, or with a uniform tint of white or yellow, and
sparsely decorated with symbolic figures, |
825 | or columns of hieroglyphs painted
blue and black. Among the sarcophagi belonging to kings of the Seventeenth
Dynasty which I recovered from Deir el Baharî, the most highly finished
belonged to this type, and were only remarkable for the really
extraordinary skill with which the craftsman had reproduced the features of
the deceased sovereigns. The mask of Ahmes I., that of Amenhotep I., and
that of Thothmes II., are masterpieces in their way. The mask of Rameses
II. shows no sign of p |
826 | aint, except a black line which accentuates the form
of the eye. The face is doubtless modelled in the likeness of the Pharaoh
Herhor, who restored the funerary outfit of his puissant ancestor, and it
will almost bear comparison with the best works of contemporary sculpture
(fig. 262). Two mummy-cases found in the same place--namely, those of Queen
Ahmesnefertari and her daughter, Aahhotep II.--are of gigantic size, and
measure more than ten and a half feet in height (fig. 263). Standi |
827 | ng
upright, they might almost be taken for two of the caryatid statues from
the first court at Medinet Habû, though on a smaller scale. The bodies are
represented as bandaged, and but vaguely indicate the contours of the human
form. The shoulders and bust of each are covered with a kind of network in
relief, every mesh standing out in blue upon a yellow ground. The hands
emerge from this mantle, are crossed upon the breast, and grasp the _Ankh_,
or Tau-cross, symbolic of eternal life. |
828 | The heads are portraits. The faces
are round, the eyes large, the expression mild and characterless. Each is
crowned with the flat-topped cap and lofty plumes of Amen or Maut. We
cannot but wonder for what reason these huge receptacles were made. The two
queens were small of stature, and their mummies--which were well-nigh lost
in the cases--had to be packed round with an immense quantity of rags, to
prevent them from shifting, and becoming injured. Apart from their abnormal
size, th |
829 | ese cases are characterised by the same simplicity which
distinguishes other mummy-cases of royal or private persons of the same
period. Towards the middle of the Nineteenth Dynasty, the fashion changed.
The single mummy-case, soberly decorated, was superseded by two, three, and
even four cases, fitting the one into the other, and covered with paintings
and inscriptions. Sometimes the outer receptacle is a sarcophagus with
convex lid and square ears, upon which the deceased is pictured |
830 | over and
over again upon a white ground, in adoration before the gods of the Osirian
cycle. When, however, it is shaped in human form, it retains somewhat of
the old simplicity. The face is painted; a collar is represented on the
chest, a band of hieroglyphs extends down the whole length of the body to
the feet, and the rest is in one uniform tone of black, brown, or dark
yellow. The inner cases were extravagantly rich, the hands and faces being
red, rose-coloured, or gilded; the jew |
831 | ellery painted, or sometimes imitated
by means of small morsels of enamel encrusted in the wood-work; the
surfaces frequently covered with many-coloured scenes and legends, and the
whole heightened by means of the yellow varnish already mentioned. The
lavish ornamentation of this period is in striking contrast with the
sobriety of earlier times; but in order to grasp the reason of this
change, one must go to Thebes, and visit the actual sepulchres of the dead.
The kings and private pe |
832 | rsons of the great conquering dynasties[70] devoted
their energies, and all the means at their disposal, to the excavation of
catacombs. The walls of those catacombs were covered with sculptures and
paintings. The sarcophagus was cut in one enormous block of granite or
alabaster, and admirably wrought. It was therefore of little moment if the
wooden coffin in which the mummy reposed were very simply decorated. But
the Egyptians of the decadence, and their rulers, had not the wealth of
|
833 |
Egypt and the spoils of neighbouring countries at command. They were poor;
and the slenderness of their resources debarred them from great
undertakings. They for the most part gave up the preparation of magnificent
tombs, and employed such wealth as remained to them in the fabrication of
fine mummy-cases carved in sycamore wood. The beauty of their coffins,
therefore, but affords an additional proof of their weakness and poverty.
When for a few centuries the Saïte princes had succeede |
834 | d in re-establishing
the prosperity of the country, stone sarcophagi came once more into
requisition, and the wooden coffin reverted to somewhat of the simplicity
of the great period. But this Renaissance was not destined to last. The
Macedonian conquest brought back the same revolution in funerary fashions
which followed the fall of the Ramessides, and double and triple mummy
cases, over-painted and over-gilded, were again in demand. If the
craftsmen of Graeco-Roman time who attired |
835 | the dead of Ekhmîm for their
last resting places were less skilful than those of earlier date, their bad
taste was, at all events, not surpassed by the Theban coffin-makers who
lived and worked under the latest princes of the royal line of Rameses.
[Illustration: Fig. 264.--Panel portrait from the Graeco-Roman Cemetery at
Hawara, now in the National Gallery, London. (_Hawara, Biahmu, and
Arsinoe_, W.M.F. Petrie, Plate X., page 10.)]
A series of Graeco-Roman examples from the Fayûm |
836 | exhibit the stages by
which portraiture in the flat there replaced the modelled mask, until
towards the middle of the second century A.D. it became customary to
bandage over the face of the mummy a panel-portrait of the dead, as he was
in life (fig. 264).
The remainder of the funerary outfit supplied the cabinet-maker with as
much work as the coffin-maker. Boxes of various shapes and sizes were
required for the wardrobe of the mummy, for his viscera, and for his
funerary statuette |
837 | s. He must also have tables for his meals; stools,
chairs, a bed to lie upon, a boat and sledge to convey him to the tomb, and
sometimes even a war-chariot and a carriage in which to take the air.[71]
The boxes for canopic vases, funerary statuettes, and libation-vases, are
divided in several compartments. A couchant jackal is sometimes placed on
the top, and serves for a handle by which to take off the lid. Each box was
provided with its own little sledge, upon which it was drawn in t |
838 | he funeral
procession on the day of burial. Beds are not very uncommon. Many are
identical in structure with the Nubian _angarebs_, and consist merely of
some coarse fabric, or of interlaced strips of leather, stretched on a
plain wooden frame. Few exceed fifty-six inches in length; the sleeper,
therefore, could never lie outstretched, but must perforce assume a
doubled-up position. The frame is generally horizontal, but sometimes it
slopes slightly downwards from the head to the foot |
839 | . It was often raised to
a considerable height above the level of the floor, and a stool, or a
little portable set of steps, was used in mounting it. These details were
known to us by the wall-paintings only until I myself discovered two
perfect specimens in 1884 and 1885; one at Thebes, in a tomb of the
Thirteenth Dynasty, and the other at Ekhmîm, in the Graeco-Roman
necropolis. In the former, two accommodating lions have elongated their
bodies to form the framework, their heads doin |
840 | g duty for the head of the
bed, and their tails being curled up under the feet of the sleeper.
[Illustration: Fig. 265.--Carved and painted mummy canopy.]
[Illustration: Fig. 266.--Canopied mummy-couch, Graeco-Roman.]
[Illustration: Fig. 267.--Mummy-sledge and canopy.]
[Illustration: Fig. 268.--Inlaid-chair, Eleventh Dynasty.]
The bed is surmounted by a kind of canopy, under which the mummy lay in
state. Rhind had already found a similar canopy, which is now in the Museum
o |
841 | f Edinburgh[72] (fig. 265). In shape it is a temple, the rounded roof
being supported by elegant colonnettes of painted wood. A doorway guarded
by serpents is supposed to give access to the miniature edifice. Three
winged discs, each larger than the one below it, adorn three superimposed
cornices above the door, the whole frontage being surmounted by a row of
erect uraei, crowned with the solar disc. The canopy belonging to the
Thirteenth Dynasty bed is much more simple, being a mere b |
842 | alustrade in cut
and painted wood, in imitation of the water-plant pattern with which temple
walls were decorated; the whole is crowned with an ordinary cornice. In the
bed of Graeco-Roman date (fig. 266), carved and painted figures of the
goddess Ma, sitting with her feather on her knee, are substituted for the
customary balustrades. Isis and Nephthys stand with their winged arms
outstretched at the head and foot. The roof is open, save for a row of
vultures hovering above the mummy, |
843 | which is wept over by two kneeling
statuettes of Isis and Nephthys, one at each end. The sledges upon which
mummies were dragged to the sepulchre were also furnished with canopies,
but in a totally different style. The sledge canopy is a panelled shrine,
like those which I discovered in 1886, in the tomb of Sennetmû at Kûrnet
Murraee. If light was admitted, it came through a square opening, showing
the head of the mummy within. Wilkinson gives an illustration of a sledge
canopy of th |
844 | is kind, from the wall paintings of a Theban tomb (fig. 267).
The panels were always made to slide. As soon as the mummy was laid upon
his sledge, the panels were closed, the corniced roof placed over all, and
the whole closed in. With regard to chairs, many of those in the Louvre and
the British Museum were made about the time of the Eleventh Dynasty. These
are not the least beautiful specimens which have come down to us, one in
particular (fig. 268) having preserved an extraordinary |
845 | brilliancy of
colour. The framework, formerly fitted with a seat of strong netting, was
originally supported on four legs with lions' feet. The back is ornamented
with two lotus flowers, and with a row of lozenges inlaid in ivory and
ebony upon a red ground. Stools of similar workmanship (fig. 269), and
folding stools, the feet of which are in the form of a goose's head, may be
seen in all museums. Pharaohs and persons of high rank affected more
elaborate designs. Their seats were som |
846 | etimes raised very high, the arms
being carved to resemble running lions, and the lower supports being
prisoners of war, bound back to back (fig. 270). A foot-board in front
served as a step to mount by, and as a foot-stool for the sitter. Up to the
present time, we have found no specimens of this kind of seat.[73]
[Illustration: Fig. 269.--Inlaid stool, Eleventh Dynasty.]
[Illustration: Fig. 270.--Royal throne-chair, wall-painting Rameses III.]
[Illustration: Fig. 271.--Women w |
847 | eaving. From wall-scene in tomb of
Khnûmhotep, Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty.]
We learn from the tomb paintings that netted or cane-bottomed chairs were
covered with stuffed seats and richly worked cushions. These cushions and
stuffed seats have perished, but it is to be concluded that they were
covered with tapestry. Tapestry was undoubtedly known to the Egyptians, and
a bas-relief subject at Beni Hasan (fig. 271)[74] shows the process of
weaving. The frame, which is of the simplest |
848 | structure, resembles that now
in use among the weavers of Ekhmîm. It is horizontal, and is formed of two
slender cylinders, or rather of two rods, about fifty-four inches apart,
each held in place by two large pegs driven into the ground about three
feet distant from each other. The warps of the chain were strongly
fastened, then rolled round the top cylinder till they were stretched
sufficiently tight. Mill sticks placed at certain distances facilitated the
insertion of the needles w |
849 | hich carried the thread. As in the Gobelins
factory, the work was begun from the bottom. The texture was regulated and
equalised by means of a coarse comb, and was rolled upon the lower cylinder
as it increased in length. Hangings and carpets were woven in this manner;
some with figures, others with geometrical designs, zigzags, and chequers
(fig. 272). A careful examination of the monuments has, however, convinced
me that most of the subjects hitherto supposed to represent examples of |
850 |
tapestry represent, in fact, examples of cut and painted leather. The
leather-worker's craft flourished in ancient Egypt. Few museums are without
a pair of leather sandals, or a specimen of mummy braces with ends of
stamped leather bearing the effigy of a god, a Pharaoh, a hieroglyphic
legend, a rosette, or perhaps all combined. These little relics are not
older than the time of the priest-kings, or the earlier Bubastites. It is
to the same period that we must attribute the great cut |
851 | -leather canopy in
the Gizeh Museum. The catafalque upon which the mummy was laid when
transported from the mortuary establishment to the tomb, was frequently
adorned with a covering made of stuff or soft leather. Sometimes the
sidepieces hung down, and sometimes they were drawn aside with bands, like
curtains, and showed the coffin.
[Illustration: Fig. 272.--Man weaving hangings, or carpet. From Beni Hasan,
Twelfth Dynasty.]
[Illustration: Fig. 273.--Border pattern of cut leathe |
852 | r canopy of
Isiemkheb, Twenty-first Dynasty.]
The canopy of Deir el Baharî was made for the Princess Isiemkheb, daughter
of the High Priest Masahirti, wife of the High Priest Menkheperra, and
mother of the High Priest Pinotem III. The centrepiece, in shape an oblong
square, is divided into three bands of sky-blue leather, now faded to
pearl-grey. The two side-pieces are sprinkled with yellow stars. Upon the
middle piece are rows of vultures, whose outspread wings protect the mummy.
|
853 |
Four other pieces covered with red and green chequers are attached to the
ends and sides. The longer pieces which hung over the sides are united to
the centre-piece by an ornamental bordering. On the right, scarabaei with
extended wings alternate with the cartouches of King Pinotem II., and are
surmounted by a lance-head frieze. On the left side, the pattern is more
complicated (fig. 273). In the centre we see a bunch of lotus lilies
flanked by royal cartouches. Next come two antelope |
854 | s, each kneeling upon a
basket; then two bouquets of papyrus; then two more scarabaei, similar to
those upon the other border. The lance-head frieze finishes it above, as on
the opposite side. The technical process is very curious. The hieroglyphs
and figures were cut out from large pieces of leather; then, under the open
spaces thus left, were sewn thongs of leather of whatever colour was
required for those ornaments or hieroglyphs. Finally, in order to hide the
patchwork effect pres |
855 | ented at the back, the whole was lined with long
strips of white, or light yellow, leather. Despite the difficulties of
treatment which this work presented, the result is most remarkable.[75] The
outlines of the gazelles, scarabaei, and flowers are as clean-cut and as
elegant as if drawn with the pen upon a wall-surface or a page of papyrus.
The choice of subjects is happy, and the colours employed are both lively
and harmonious.
[Illustration: Fig. 274.--Bark with cut leather sail; |
856 | wall-painting tomb of
Rameses III.]
The craftsmen who designed and executed the canopy of Isiemkheb had
profited by a long experience of this system of decoration, and of the kind
of patterns suitable to the material. For my own part, I have not the
slightest doubt that the cushions of chairs and royal couches, and the
sails of funeral and sacred boats used for the transport of mummies and
divine images, were most frequently made in leather-work. The chequer-
patterned sail repres |
857 | ented in one of the boat subjects painted on the wall
of a chamber in the tomb of Rameses III. (fig. 274), might be mistaken for
one of the side pieces of the canopy at Gizeh. The vultures and fantastic
birds depicted upon the sails of another boat (fig. 275) are neither more
strange nor more difficult to make in cut leather than the vultures and
gazelles of Isiemkheb.
[Illustration: Fig. 275.--Bark with cut leather sail; wall-painting tomb of
Rameses III.]
We have it upon the au |
858 | thority of ancient writers that the Egyptians of
olden time embroidered as skilfully as those of the Middle Ages. The
surcoats given by Amasis, one to the Lacedaemonians, and the other to the
temple of Athena at Lindos, were of linen embroidered with figures of
animals in gold thread and purple, each thread consisting of three hundred
and sixty-five distinct filaments. To go back to a still earlier period,
the monumental tableaux show portraits of the Pharaohs wearing garments
with bo |
859 | rders, either woven or embroidered, or done in _appliqué_ work. The
most simple patterns consist of one or more stripes of brilliant colour
parallel with the edge of the material. Elsewhere we see palm patterns, or
rows of discs and points, leaf-patterns, meanders, and even, here and
there, figures of men, gods, or animals, worked most probably with the
needle. None of the textile materials yet found upon royal mummies are thus
decorated; we are therefore unable to pronounce upon the q |
860 | uality of this
work, or the method employed in its production. Once only, upon the body of
one of the Deir el Baharî princesses, did I find a royal cartouche
embroidered in pale rose-colour. The Egyptians of the best periods seem to
have attached special value to plain stuffs, and especially to white ones.
These they wove with marvellous skill, and upon looms in every respect
identical with those used in tapestry work. Those portions of the winding
sheet of Thothmes III. which enfolde |
861 | d the royal hands and arms, are as fine
as the finest India muslin, and as fairly merit the name of "woven air" as
the gauzes of the island of Cos. This, of course, is a mere question of
manufacture, apart from the domain of art. Embroideries and tapestries
were not commonly used in Egypt till about the end of the Persian period,
or the beginning of the period of Greek rule. Alexandria became partly
peopled by Phoenician, Syrian, and Jewish colonists, who brought with them
the methods |
862 | of manufacture peculiar to their own countries, and founded
workshops which soon developed into flourishing establishments. It is to
the Alexandrians that Pliny ascribes the invention of weaving with several
warps, thus producing the stuff called brocades (_polymita_); and in the
time of the first Caesars, it was a recognised fact that "the needle of
Babylon was henceforth surpassed by the comb of the Nile." The Alexandrian
tapestries were not made after exclusively geometrical design |
863 | s, like the
products of the old Egyptian looms; but, according to the testimony of the
ancients, were enriched with figures of animals, and even of men. Of the
masterpieces which adorned the palaces of the Ptolemies no specimens
remain. Many fragments which may be attributed to the later Roman time
have, however, been found in Egypt, such as the piece with the boy and
goose described by Wilkinson, and a piece representing marine divinities
bought by myself at Coptos.[76] The numerous |
864 | embroidered winding sheets
with woven borders which have recently been discovered near Ekhmîm, and in
the Fayûm, are nearly all from Coptic tombs, and are more nearly akin to
Byzantine art than to the art of Egypt.
[68] We have a considerable number of specimens of these borderings,
cartouches, and painted tiles representing foreign prisoners, in the
British Museum; but the finest examples of the latter are in the
Ambras Collection, Vienna. For a highly interesting and |
865 | scholarly
description of the remains found at Tell el Yahûdeh in 1870, see
Professor Hayter Lewis's paper in vol. iii. of the _Transactions_
of the Biblical Archaeological Society.--A.B.E.
[69] The _Tat_ amulet was the emblem of stability.--A.B.E.
[70] That is, the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties.
[71] There is a fine specimen of one of these sledges in the Leyden Museum,
and the Florentine Museum contains a celebrated Egyptian war-chariot
in fine prese |
866 | rvation.--A.B.E.
[72] See the coloured frontispiece to _Thebes; its Tombs and their
Tenants_, by A.H. Rhind. 1862.--A.B.E.
[73] Since the publication of this work in the original French, a very
splendid specimen of a royal Egyptian chair of state, the property of
Jesse Haworth, Esq., was placed on view at the Manchester Jubilee
Exhibition. It is made of dark wood, apparently rosewood; the legs
being shaped like bull's legs, having silver hoofs, and a solid gold |
867 |
cobra snake twining round each leg. The arm-pieces are of lightwood
with cobra snakes carved upon the flat in low relief, each snake
covered with hundreds of small silver annulets, to represent the
markings of the reptile. This chair, dated by a fragment of a royal
cartouche, belonged to Queen Hatshepsût, of the Eighteenth Dynasty. It
is now in the British Museum.--A.B.E.
[74] In this cut, as well as in the next, the loom is represented as if
upright; b |
868 | ut it is supposed to be extended on the ground.--A.B.E.
[75] For a chromolithographic reproduction of this work as a whole, with
drawings of the separate parts, facsimiles of the inscriptions, etc.,
see _The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen_, by H. Villiers
Stuart.--A.B.E.
[76] An unusually fine specimen of carpet, or tapestry work from Ekhmîm,
representing Cupids rowing in papyrus skiffs, landscapes, etc., has
recently been presented to the British Museum by |
869 | the Rev. G.J.
Chester. The tapestry found at Ekhmîm is, however, mostly of the
Christian period, and this specimen probably dates from about A.D. 700
or A.D. 600.--A.B.E.
3.--METALS.
The Egyptians classified metals under two heads--namely, the noble metals,
as gold, electrum, and silver; and the base metals, as copper, iron, lead,
and, at a later period, tin. The two lists are divided by the mention of
certain kinds of precious stones, such as lapis lazuli and m |
870 | alachite.
Iron was reserved for weapons of war, and tools, in use for hard
substances, such as sculptors' and masons' chisels, axe and adze heads,
knife-blades, and saws. Lead was comparatively useless, but was sometimes
used for inlaying temple-doors, coffers, and furniture. Also small
statuettes of gods were occasionally made in this metal, especially those
of Osiris and Anubis. Copper was too yielding to be available for objects
in current use; bronze, therefore, was the favourit |
871 | e metal of the
Egyptians. Though often affirmed, it is not true that they succeeded in
tempering bronze so that it became as hard as iron or steel; but by varying
the constituents and their relative proportions, they were able to give it
a variety of very different qualities. Most of the objects hitherto
analysed have yielded precisely the same quantities of copper and tin
commonly used by the bronze founders of the present day. Those analysed by
Vauquelin in 1825 contained 84 per cen |
872 | t. of copper 14 per cent. of tin, and
1 per cent. of iron and other substances. A chisel brought from Egypt by
Sir Gardner Wilkinson contained only from 5 to 9 per cent. of tin, 1 per
cent. of iron, and 94 of copper. Certain fragments of statuettes and
mirrors more recently subjected to analysis have yielded a notable quantity
of gold and silver, thus corresponding with the bronzes of Corinth. Other
specimens resemble brass, both in their colour and substance. Many of the
best Egyptia |
873 | n bronzes offer a surprising resistance to damp, and oxidise
with difficulty. While yet hot from the mould, they were rubbed with some
kind of resinous varnish which filled up the pores and deposited an
unalterable patina upon the surface. Each kind of bronze had its special
use. The ordinary bronze was employed for weapons and common amulets; the
brazen alloys served for household utensils; the bronzes mixed with gold
and silver were destined only for mirrors, costly weapons, and stat |
874 | uettes
of value. In none of the tomb-paintings which I have seen is there any
representation of bronze-founding or bronze-working; but this omission is
easily supplemented by the objects themselves. Tools, arms, rings, and
cheap vases were sometimes forged, and sometimes cast whole in moulds of
hard clay or stone. Works of art were cast in one or several pieces
according to circumstances; the parts were then united, soldered, and
retouched with the burin. The method most frequently em |
875 | ployed was to
prepare a core of mixed clay and charcoal, or sand, which roughly
reproduced the modelling of the mould into which it was introduced. The
layer of metal between this core and the mould was often so thin that it
would have yielded to any moderate pressure, had they not taken the
precaution to consolidate it by having the core for a support.
[Illustration: Fig. 276.--Bronze jug.]
[Illustration: Fig. 277.--Same jug seen from above.]
Domestic utensils and small househ |
876 | old instruments were mostly made in
bronze. Such objects are exhibited by thousands in our museums, and
frequently figure in bas-reliefs and mural paintings. Art and trade were
not incompatible in Egypt; and even the coppersmith sought to give elegance
of form, and to add ornaments in a good style, to the humblest of his
works. The saucepan in which the cook of Rameses III. concocted his
masterpieces is supported on lions' feet. Here is a hot-water jug which
looks as if it were precis |
877 | ely like its modern successors (fig. 276); but on
a closer examination we shall find that the handle is a full-blown lotus,
the petals, which are bent over at an angle to the stalk, resting against
the edge of the neck (fig. 277). The handles of knives and spoons are
almost always in the form of a duck's or goose's neck, slightly curved. The
bowl is sometimes fashioned like an animal--as, for instance, a gazelle
ready bound for the sacrifice (fig. 278). On the hilt of a sabre we find a |
878 |
little crouching jackal; and the larger limb of a pair of scissors in the
Gizeh Museum is made in the likeness of an Asiatic captive, his arms tied
behind his back. A lotus leaf forms the disk of a mirror, and its stem is
the handle. One perfume box is a fish, another is a bird, another is a
grotesque deity. The lustration vases, or _situlae_, carried by priests and
priestesses for the purpose of sprinkling either the faithful, or the
ground traversed by religious processions, merit |
879 | the special consideration
of connoisseurs. They are ovoid or pointed at the bottom, and decorated
with subjects either chased or in relief. These sometimes represent
deities, each in a separate frame, and sometimes scenes of worship. The
work is generally very minute.
[Illustration: Fig. 278.--Spoon (or lamp?).]
[Illustration: Fig. 279.--Bronze statuette of the Lady Takûshet.]
[Illustration: Fig. 280.--Bronze statuette of Horus.]
[Illustration: Fig. 281.--Bronze statuette of |
880 | one Mosû.]
Bronze came into use for statuary purposes from a very early period; but
time unfortunately has preserved none of those idols which peopled the
temples of the ancient empire. Whatsoever may be said to the contrary, we
possess no bronze statuettes of any period anterior to the expulsion of the
Hyksos. Some Theban figures date quite certainly from the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Dynasties. The chased lion's head found with the jewels of Queen
Aahhotep, the Harpocrates of Gize |
881 | h inscribed with the names of Kames and
Ahmes I., and several statuettes of Amen, said to have been discovered at
Medinet Habû and Sheikh Abd el Gûrneh, are of that period. Our most
important bronzes belong, however, to the Twenty-second Dynasty, or, later
still, to the time of the Saïte Pharaohs. Many are not older than the first
Ptolemies. A fragment found in the ruins of Tanis and now in the
possession of Count Stroganoff, formed part of a votive statue dedicated by
King Pisebkhanû |
882 | . It was originally two-thirds the size of life, and is the
largest specimen known. A portrait statuette of the Lady Takûshet, given to
the Museum of Athens by M. Demetrio, the four statuettes from the Posno
collection now at the Louvre, and the kneeling genius of Gizeh, are all
from the site of Bubastis, and date probably from the years which
immediately preceded the accession of Psammetichus I. The Lady Takûshet is
standing, the left foot advanced, the right arm hanging down, the lef |
883 | t
raised and brought close to the body (fig. 279). She wears a short robe
embroidered with religious subjects, and has bracelets on her arms and
wrists. Upon her head she has a wig with flat curls, row above row. The
details both of her robe and jewels are engraved in incised lines upon the
surface of the bronze, and inlaid with silver threads. The face is
evidently a portrait, and represents a woman of mature age. The form,
according to the traditions of Egyptian art, is that of a yo |
884 | unger woman,
slender, firm, and supple. The copper in this bronze is largely intermixed
with gold, thus producing a chastened lustre which is admirably suited to
the richness of the embroidered garment. The kneeling genius of Gizeh is as
rude and repellent as the Lady Takûshet is delicate and harmonious. He has
a hawk's head, and he worships the sun, as is the duty of the Heliopolitan
genii. His right arm is uplifted, his left is pressed to his breast. The
style of the whole is dry, a |
885 | nd the granulated surface of the skin adds to
the hard effect of the figure. The action, however, is energetic and
correct, and the bird's head is adjusted with surprising skill to the man's
neck and shoulders. The same qualities and the same faults distinguish the
Horus of the Posno collection (fig. 280). Standing, he uplifted a libation
vase; now lost, and poured the contents upon a king who once stood face to
face with him. This roughness of treatment is less apparent in the other
|
886 | three Posno figures; above all in that which bears the name of Mosû
engraved over the place of the heart (fig. 281). Like the Horus, this Mosû
stands upright, his left foot advanced, and his left arm pendent. His right
hand is raised, as grasping the wand of office. The trunk is naked, and
round his loins he wears a striped cloth with a squared end falling in
front. His head is clad in a short wig covered with short curls piled one
above the other. The ear is round and large. The eyes |
887 | are well opened, and
were originally of silver; but have been stolen by some Arab. The features
have a remarkable expression of pride and dignity. After these, what can be
said for the thousands of statuettes of Osiris, of Isis, of Nephthys, of
Horus, of Nefertûm, which have been found in the sands and ruins of
Sakkarah, Bubastis, and other cities of the Delta? Many are, without doubt,
charming objects for glass-cases, and are to be admired for perfection of
casting and delicacy of ex |
888 | ecution; but the greater number are mere
articles of commerce, made upon the same pattern, and perhaps in the self-
same moulds, century after century, for the delight of devotees and
pilgrims. They are rounded, vulgar, destitute of originality, and have no
more distinction than the thousands of coloured statuettes of saints and
Virgins which stock the shelves of our modern dealers in pious wares. An
exception must, however, be made in favour of the images of animals, such
as rams, sp |
889 | hinxes, and lions, which to the last retained a more pronounced
stamp of individuality. The Egyptians had a special predilection for the
feline race. They have represented the lion in every attitude--giving chase
to the antelope; springing upon the hunter; wounded, and turning to bite
his wound; couchant, and disdainfully calm--and no people have depicted him
with a more thorough knowledge of his habits, or with so intense a
vitality. Several gods and goddesses, as Shû, Anhûr, Bast, Se |
890 | khet, Tefnût,
have the form of the lion or of the cat; and inasmuch as the worship of
these deities was more popular in the Delta than elsewhere, so there never
passes a year when from amid the ruins of Bubastis, Tanis, Mendes, or some
less famous city, there is not dug up a store of little figures of lions
and lionesses, or of men and women with lions' heads, or cats' heads. The
cats of Bubastis and the lions of Tell es Seba crowd our museums. The lions
of Horbeit may be reckoned amo |
891 | ng the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of Egyptian statuary.
Upon one of the largest among them is inscribed the name of Apries (fig.
282); but if even this evidence were lacking, the style of the piece would
compel us to attribute it to the Saïte period. It formed part of the
ornamentation of a temple or naos door; and the other side was either built
into a wall or imbedded in a piece of wood. The lion is caught in a trap,
or, perhaps, lying down in an oblong cage, with only his head and fore feet
|
892 | outside. The lines of the body are simple and full of power; the expression
of the face is calm and strong. In breadth and majesty he almost equals the
fine limestone lions of Amenhotep III.
[Illustration: Fig. 282.--Bronze lion from Horbeit, Saïte.]
[Illustration: Fig. 283.--Gold worker.]
The idea of inlaying gold and other precious metals upon the surface of
bronze, stone, or wood was already ancient in Egypt in the time of Khûfû.
The gold is often amalgamated with pure silver |
893 | . When amalgamated to the
extent of 20 per cent, it changes its name, and is called electrum
(_asimû_). This electrum is of a fine light-yellow colour. It pales as the
proportion of silver becomes larger, and at 60 per cent. it is nearly
white. The silver came chiefly from Asia, in rings, sheets, and bricks of
standard weight. The gold and electrum came partly from Syria in bricks and
rings; and partly from the Soudan in nuggets and gold-dust. The processes
of refining and alloying ar |
894 | e figured on certain monuments of the early
dynasties. In a bas-relief at Sakkarah, we see the weighed gold entrusted
to the craftsman for working; in another example (at Beni Hasan) the
washing and melting down of the ore is represented; and again at Thebes,
the goldsmith is depicted seated in front of his crucible, holding the
blow-pipe to his lips with the left hand, and grasping his pincers with the
right, thus fanning the flame and at the same time making ready to seize
the ingot |
895 | (fig. 283). The Egyptians struck neither coins nor medals. With
these exceptions, they made the same use of the precious metals as we do
ourselves. We gild the crosses and cupolas of our churches; they covered
the doors of their temples, the lower part of their wall-surfaces, certain
bas-reliefs, pyramidions of obelisks, and even whole obelisks, with plates
of gold. The obelisks of Queen Hatshepsût at Karnak were coated with
electrum. "They were visible from both banks of the Nile, an |
896 | d when the sun
rose between them as he came up from the heavenly horizon, they flooded the
two Egypts with their dazzling rays."[77] These plates of metal were forged
with hammer and anvil. For smaller objects, they made use of little pellets
beaten flat between two pieces of parchment. In the Museum of the Louvre we
have a gilder's book, and the gold-leaf which it contains is as thin as
the gold-leaf used by the German goldsmiths of the past century. Gold was
applied to bronze surfac |
897 | es by means of an ammoniacal solvent. If the object
to be gilt were a wooden statuette, the workman began by sticking a piece
of fine linen all over the surface, or by covering it with a very thin coat
of plaster; upon this he laid his gold or silver leaf. It was thus that
wooden statuettes of Thoth, Horus, and Nefertûm were gilded, from the time
of Khûfû. The temple of Isis, the "Lady of the Pyramid," contained a dozen
such images; and this temple was not one of the largest in the Mem |
898 | phite
necropolis. There would seem to have been hundreds of gilded statues in the
Theban temples, at all events in the time of the victorious dynasties of
the new empire; and as regards wealth, the Ptolemaic sanctuaries were in no
wise inferior to those of the Theban period.
Bronze and gilded wood were not always good enough for the gods of Egypt.
They exacted pure gold, and their worshippers gave them as much of it as
possible. Entire statues of the precious metals were dedicated b |
899 | y the kings
of the ancient and middle empires; and the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Dynasties, who drew at will upon the treasures of Asia,
transcended all that had been done by their predecessors. Even in times of
decadence, the feudal lords kept up the traditions of the past, and, like
Prince Mentûemhat, replaced the images of gold and silver which had been
carried off from Karnak by the generals of Sardanapalus at the time of the
Assyrian invasions. The quantity of met |
900 | al thus consecrated to the service
of the gods must have been considerable, If many figures were less than an
inch in height, many others measured three cubits, or more. Some were of
gold, some of silver; others were part gold and part silver. There were
even some which combined gold with sculptured ivory, ebony, and precious
stones, thus closely resembling the chryselephantine statues of the Greeks.
Aided by the bas-relief subjects of Karnak, Medinet Habû, and Denderah, as
well as by |
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