or Luxor, although some of the pictures, those of the lion-hunt
192
vui. 373-ā f-ra(;mknt from thk tomb ok
MAlPTAH (Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
FIG. 374.ā THE TWO NILE
FIGXRES (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
and the aurochs-hunt, for instance, are
very spirited; it is probable that the
king's individual taste miHtated 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.ā piece of in-
rapidly when the political and military crustation in g^een
' ā¢' ^ 11 Vi ā¢ā ā¢ f ii .1 ENAMEL (Museum , Cairo).
power devolved on the cities of 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.ā ONE OF THE COF-
FINS OF THUAA (Museum
Cairo). (Phot. Quibell.)
FIG. 377.ā Bt'ST ON THE COFFIN OF
RAMESES n. (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.J
194
FIG. 37s.
SANDSTONE BUST OF RAMESES TV.
(Museum , Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsclt.)
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
the bas-reliefs from contcmj)orary tombs preserved at Cairo.
Might
we not supp
KKt. 37y. ā STATIKTTK OF
AMENOPHISII. IN BLACKKNED
WOOD (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
thi
that the personage
from the tomb
of luaa orKha-
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.
The compo-
sition and per-
spective are
distinctly The-
is especially noticeable
of Fig. 370 came
FIG. 380.ā STATUETTE OF
HERU-EM-HEB IX BLACKENED
WOOD (Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
in the tomb of Harmin
ban , and
(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
381.ā 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
KK;. ^Hv Till-. KMI'IKK AHM-(HAIW
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. lirugsch.J
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 fTheL
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.ā WOOD-
EX SPOON" FOR
COSMETICS
ouvre, Paris).
FIG. 385.ā 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 , v^hich 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
conveyinor mummies to the tomb, boxes and chests for Canopic
198
FIG. 386.ā 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.ā PERFIME-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 luaa
(Fig. 376) , the father and mother of Queen
Thi, gilded and incrusled 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. 3HS.
STATIETTE 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 bc-ck
and form a lid. Certain statuettes, which look to our modern
eyes like drawing-room ornaments, are (/oi//)/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. ā STATUETTE
OF A WOMAN
(Phot. Chassinat).
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
i
FIG. 390.
THE LADY NAI
(The Louvre, Paris).
fidelity, as in the little ncgress 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 Nai 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 Nai; 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
|\^ :\:^.it \ a flourishing industry, and for the twenty odd
HHHHjl specimens that have survived, how many must
WKKtml 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
HG. syi.
STATUETTE OF
A HRIEST.
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
FIG. ?92.ā YOUNG GIRL lackiup- , aud there are some very fine spe-
(Museum, lunn). . ^ . i .1 .
(Phot. Lanzone.) cimcus m our muscum, 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 b^xk 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
ik;. \h\. dish oi' maiivai
(Museum , Cairo). (Phot. E. Brujfsch.)
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 accompanied 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. 3Q4.ā STATUETTE
OF AN OFFICER
(Museum, Berlin).
FIG. 395. ā 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
against two golden flower-calyces, which spring horizontally from
the silver surface, her muzzle quivering; a ring inserted in her
nostrils served to hang
FIG. 3g6.ā THE TWO GOLD JARS FROM ZAKAZIK
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot E. Bvugsch.)
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
FKi. 3^7. -TiiK jrc; with thk
fiOAT FROM ZAKAZIK
(Museum, Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
THE SECOND THEBAN AGE
FIG. 308.ā IVORY HANDLE
OK A MIRROR (Museum,
Cairo). (Phot. E. Brugsch.)
FIG. 3QQ.ā MIRROR-CASE
(Museum, Cairo).
(Phot. E. Brugsch.)
bull in the presence
of four great gras-
shoppers, and fif-
./tjk teen flowers unfold
. JP' their petals in a
"3 fh^ delicate damascen-
ed gold pattern. It
recalls the Achaean
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
205
FIG. 400. ā SELECTION OF THE
JEWELRY OF AAH-HETEF
(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