ARCHITECTURE, PAINTING, SCULPTURE, ETC.
=Architecture.=—The history of the earliest form of Egyptian architecture
cannot be written because, with the exception of the ruined tombs of
the Archaïc Period, all the remains of the earliest temples have been
destroyed or have perished. The oldest form of the =house= was, no doubt,
a hut built of reeds, the roof of which was supported by a pole, _i.e._,
a tree trunk, or poles; its shape was round or oblong. The cold winds
of winter prompted the Egyptian to make the walls of his abode of Nile
mud; this he mixed with water until it acquired the consistence of stiff
paste, and then piled it up with his hands until the walls were as thick
and high as he wanted them to be. All the walls inclined inwards, and so
each helped to support the other; the roof was made of a layer of mud
which rested on a number of pieces of palm trunks or small trees. The
door probably faced the south, and an aperture, which served as a window,
was cut high up in the north wall. (See the model of an early house,
No. 174, North-West Staircase Landing.) Before the house was a small
yard enclosed by thick walls made of mud, which inclined inwards, and a
flight of solid mud steps led up to the roof. (See the =models of early
houses= in Wall-cases Nos. 105-108 in the Third Egyptian Room.) Walls
made of mud in this way are unsatisfactory, for they sag or bulge, and
soon fall down. The invention of the =brick= marked a great improvement
in the stability of buildings; and its use in the construction of houses,
granaries, government buildings, forts, etc., became universal. A theory
has been recently put forward that brickmaking was introduced into Egypt
from Mesopotamia, but there is no reason why, in a land where all the
soil is mud, which when well sun-dried becomes exceedingly hard, the idea
of making bricks should not have been indigenous. Few things in the East
last as long as a well-made brick, especially if it has been carefully
baked; and buildings, even when made of crude bricks, last for several
hundreds of years, unless they are destroyed by the hand of man. The
invention of the brick permitted the Egyptians to build the elliptical
=arch=, which is frequently found in brick-built buildings; the
knowledge of the arch is of ancient standing in Egypt. The early mud or
brick house of the man of means was provided with a =portico= (the modern
_rakûbah_), which was supported on palm trunks; this portico suggested
the colonnade of later days, and the palm trunks the stone pillars with
palm-leaf capitals.
[Illustration: Pylon and court of the Temple of Edfû.
Ptolemaïc Period.]
The “house of the god,” or =temple=, was at first built of mud, but what
such a building was like is not known. Under the Ancient Empire the
Egyptians built their temples of stone, and the oldest known example is
that called the “Temple of the Sphinx” at Gîzah. It is built on a simple
plan, and consists practically of a large hall, in the form , containing
16 pillars, each about 16 feet high; the materials used were granite
and limestone. It had neither formal door, nor windows, and such light
as entered must have made its way in through oblique slits in the roof.
It has no inscriptions, or bas-reliefs, or paintings, and even in its
present state its massiveness, dignity, and solidity greatly impress the
beholder.
[Illustration: Gateway in the Temple of Rameses III, at Madînat Habû, in
Western Thebes.
About B.C. 1200.]
Of the temples of the XIIth dynasty nothing is known, but of the New
Empire several temples exist, and their general characteristics may be
thus summarized. A broad path brought the worshipper to the gateway in
the wall which enclosed the temple precincts; on each side of the path
was a row of sphinxes, or rams, which symbolized the guardian spirits of
the place. Passing through the gateway he soon reached the =main pylon=,
which consisted of a massive doorway and two towers. During festivals
long painted poles, flying coloured streamers, were attached to the
face of the pylon at regular intervals. On each side of the gateway was
a =colossal statue= of the king, and statues of the king were often
arranged at intervals along the front of the pylon. Before the pylon
stood a =pair of obelisks=, and sometimes a =pair of sphinxes=, or sacred
animals. The original signification of the obelisks is unknown; it is
probable that they were connected with a solar, or even phallic cult,
but as the texts afford no explanation of their meaning it is useless to
theorize. Beyond the great pylon was an =open court=, with a colonnade,
which was used as a sort of bazaar where holy objects, amulets, and
things for offerings could be bought by the public. Here, too, the sick
were laid that alms might be given to them, and here beggars of all
kinds congregated, as they do in a modern mosque. Passing through a
=second pylon=, the hypostyle hall, or =hall of columns=, was entered,
and here the priests made their processions, and received the offerings
of the faithful. Beyond the hall, or halls of columns, the laity were
not permitted to penetrate. The other chambers of the temple formed
the sanctuary of the god, and contained his =shrine=. The little rooms
round about the shrine contained the temple library, and the dresses,
jewellery, and other sacred properties of the god, or gods, worshipped
in the temple. At the extreme end of the temple was the shrine of the
god, which was entered by no one except the king and the priests; in it
were kept a sacred boat, or ark, and a figure, or symbol, of the god, or
animal sacred to him.
[Illustration: Gateway of Ptolemy IX at Karnak.]
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
Columns in the Temple of Seti I, B.C. 1370, at Abydos.]
[Illustration: Granite obelisks at Karnak. That on the right bears the
name of Queen Ḥātshepset, and that on the left the name of Thothmes I.
XVIIIth dynasty, B.C. 1550.]
[Illustration: Pillars with ornamental capitals in the Temple of Isis at
Philae.
Ptolemaïc Period.]
The temples of Egypt from the XVIIIth dynasty to the Roman Period vary
greatly in detail, but the general plan is always the same. The great
temples of Karnak (see =Plate XXX=), Luxor, Abydos (see =Plate XI=),
etc., awe the spectator by their size and majestic dignity; the smaller
temples of the Ptolemaïc and Roman Periods are less grand, but are much
more graceful buildings. The severity of the interiors of the older
buildings is moderated by the reliefs and inscriptions with which walls,
pillars, pilasters, architraves, etc., are covered profusely, and the
bright colours, reds, blues, greens, and yellows, in which many of the
painted scenes were executed, added greatly to their general effect. The
massive =square pillars= were replaced in later times by pillars with
eight sides, and the whole character of the simple round column was
changed when its shaft was made to resemble a =papyrus= or =lotus stalk=,
and its upper part was sculptured in the form of the flower of either
plant. Both pillars and =pilasters= were sometimes decorated with figures
of Osiris, cut on the front face in high relief, as at Abû-Simbel, and
the capitals were often sculptured in the form of the head of Hathor (the
Cow-goddess), surmounted by a sistrum. The pillar with the Hathor-headed
capital was suggested by the pole, or small tree trunk, surmounted by the
head of a bull, ox, or cow, which the primitive Egyptians set up over the
graves of their chiefs, a custom which survives to the present day among
certain of the tribes of Central Africa. Every temple had a =sacred lake=
within its precincts, just as every large house possessed a garden with
an ornamental lake in it. Each temple also was surrounded by a =girdle
wall=, which was usually made exceedingly strong and was provided with
fortified gateways. The space between the temple buildings and this wall
was occupied by gardens and storehouses for the property of the priests,
and also by the dwellings of private folk. Thus the girdle wall of the
temple actually enclosed a small city, which in cases of popular panic or
invasion became a city of refuge.
[Illustration: Painted portrait statue of Ȧn-kheft-ka, a royal kinsman.
IVth dynasty, about B.C. 3700.
[Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 1, No. 33.]]
=Painting and sculpture.=—The Egyptians, from the IVth dynasty downwards,
were in the habit of painting the bas-reliefs in their temples and
tombs, and also their statues, and they seemed to have relied greatly
upon paintings in bright colours to enhance the effect of the work of
the sculptor. The earliest wall decoration consists of series of figures
of men, animals, etc., traced or cut in outline, or sculptured in low
relief, on tolerably smooth slabs of limestone; sometimes the surfaces
of the slabs were prepared with a sort of limewash, and the paintings
painted upon it. The skill of the painter, even in the remote period
of the IVth dynasty, is marvellous, and the accuracy with which he
represented every detail and characteristic of animate and inanimate
objects is beyond praise. At all periods, however, general scenes are
more or less hard, a fact due to want of perspective. The Egyptians
loved colour, and they used it wherever it could possibly be employed. A
striking instance of this is afforded by the elaborately painted papyri
of the Book of the Dead, which when once buried in the tomb were intended
to be seen by no other eye than that of the spirit of the deceased!
[Illustration: Alabaster figure of a priest seated on a throne with steps.
IVth-VIth dynasty.
[No. 156, Wall-case 99, Third Egyptian Room.]]
[Illustration: Head of a painted statue of Neb-ḥap-Rā Men-thu-ḥetep.
XIth dynasty.
[Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 3, No. 104.]]
[Illustration: Diorite statue of Sebek-nekht.
XIIth dynasty.
[No. 164, Wall-case 100, Third Egyptian Room.]]
The wall sculptures were of two kinds, the =bas-relief= and the =sunk
relief=. In the bas-relief the sculpture is raised a little above the
surface of the slab, and in the sunk relief it is a little below. The
sunk relief is one of the most characteristic features of Egyptian
sculpture. Of the first kind there are many examples in the Egyptian
Galleries of the British Museum, especially in the Vestibule at the north
end of the Northern Gallery, where the slab from the tomb of Rā-ḥetep at
Mêdûm (Egyptian Vestibule, No. 40), of the IVth dynasty may be specially
noted. Several portions of fine and delicately painted bas-reliefs from
the temple of Neb-ḥap-Rā; Menthu-ḥetep, of the XIth dynasty, at Dêr
al-Baḥarî, which are exhibited in Bay 2 of the Northern Gallery, are
worthy of careful study. The sepulchral tablet of Sebek-āa, of the XIth
dynasty, should be noted (Bay 4, No. 120; see =Plate XXIII=). Examples
of the sunk relief will be found in the Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay
1. Both paintings and reliefs, however, are unsatisfactory from the
modern point of view, for while the head is given in profile, the eye is
represented as if the figure were in a full-faced position. A front view
is given of the shoulders, but the view of the other portions of the body
is a mixture of profile and full face. These facts are calculated to give
a false impression of the skill of the painter and sculptor, which, as
is admitted on all hands, was very great.
[Illustration: Figure of a king.
XIIIth dynasty.
[No. 178, Wall-case 102, Third Egyptian Room.]]
The artist was at a very early period fettered by tradition and
conventionality, but sufficient proofs have survived to show that when
free to give rein to his fancy he could produce even =caricatures= and
comic pictures of the most amusing character. Thus, in Papyrus No.
10,016, we see the lion and the unicorn playing a game of draughts, a
fox playing a double pipe while animals of the gazelle class strut in
front of him, a cat driving geese, and a cat presenting a palm branch to
a mouse which is seated on a chair and holding a lotus. Behind the chair
is another mouse bearing a fan and a bag with toilet requisites (see
pages 27-30). In the reign of Ȧmen-ḥetep IV, about B.C. 1420, there was a
revolt against the conventional forms of painting and sculpture approved
by the priests. For about twenty-five years, new designs and new colours
were introduced, but they did not find favour among the people generally,
and, when the king died, traditionalism promptly re-asserted itself,
and the new capital which he founded near the modern village of Tell
al-Amarna fell into ruin, and its splendours were forgotten.
[Illustration: Queen Tetȧ-Kharṭ, about B.C. 1600.
[No. 187, Wall-case 102, Third Egyptian Room.]]
The sculptured reliefs of the IVth and Vth dynasties, and the =statues=
and =portrait figures= were in beauty and fidelity rarely equalled in
later times, and certainly never surpassed. The chief employers of
both painter and sculptor in the later dynasties were the priests, who
required statues of gods and kings for the temples; massive strength, an
expression of impassibility, and close adherence to existing models were
the traditional characteristics of such works. With private employers the
case was different, for they demanded of the sculptor portrait figures
which should be representations of their friends at once faithful and
pleasing. Among early portrait figures of fine work in the British
Museum may be mentioned the =ivory figure of a king=, wearing a robe
of elaborate pattern (Table-case No. 197, in the Third Egyptian Room;
see page 24, No. 7); the statue of the official =Nefer-hi= of the IIIrd
dynasty (No. 150, Wall-case 99, Third Egyptian Room); the statue of
=Betchmes=, of the IIIrd dynasty (No. 3, in the Egyptian Vestibule, see
page 110), and the statue of =Ȧn-kheft-ka=, of the IVth dynasty, (Bay 1,
No. 33, in the Northern Egyptian Gallery, see page 109).
[Illustration: Head of a colossal statue of Ȧmen-ḥetep III, B.C. 1450.
[Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 4, No. 416.]]
[Illustration: PLATE XII.
Head of a stone figure of a priestess of the XVIIIth dynasty.
[From the cast, No. 38,430, Wall-case 102, Third Egyptian Room.]]
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.
Limestone seated figures of Khā-em-Uast and his wife.
XIXth dynasty.
[No. 41,603, Wall-case 105, Third Egyptian Room.]]
On the second shelf of Wall-cases 99-109 in the Third Egyptian Room
is exhibited a typical series of =portrait figures= in stone which
illustrate the work of the period between the IIIrd dynasty and the Roman
Period. Special attention may be given to the =head of an official= (No.
186) in crystalline limestone; the figure of =Queen Tetȧ-Kharṭ=, a wife
of Ȧāḥmes I, B.C. 1600 (No. 187, see page 113); the portion of the head
of a figure, the “heretic king,” =Ȧmen-ḥetep IV=, or Khu-en-Ȧten, B.C.
1420 (No. 212); the figure of =Queen Ȧmenȧrṭās=, of the XXVth dynasty,
B.C. 700 (No. 232); the seated figures of Khā-em-Uast and his wife
(Wall-case 105, Third Egyptian Room; see =Plate XIII=); the seated figure
of Ḥarua, one of the officials of Ȧmenȧrṭās (No. 234); the two figures
of officials of the Roman Period (Nos. 269 and 270); and the head of a
priestess (see =Plate XII=).
[Illustration: Statue of Isis, holding a figure of Osiris. Dedicated by
Shashanq, a high official.
Ptolemaïc Period.
[Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 28, No. 964.]]
In the Northern and Southern Egyptian Galleries among the finest examples
of large statues may be mentioned the three grey granite =statues
of Usertsen III=, B.C. 2330, each of which represents the king at a
different period of his life (Nos. 158, 159, 160; see =Plate XXV=); the
dark granite =head of Ȧmen-em-ḥāt III=, of the XIIth dynasty (No. 774;
see =Plate XXVI=); the red granite statue of =Sekhem-uatch-taui-Rā=,
a king of the XIIIth dynasty (No. 276, =Plate XXVII=); the =head
of Thothmes III=, B.C. 1550 (No. 360; =Plate XXXI=); the heads of
=Ȧmen-ḥetep III=, B.C. 1450 (Nos. 416, 417); the white limestone statues
of an official and his wife, of very fine work (No. 565); and the granite
statue of Isis holding a figure of Osiris between her wings (No. 964).
The statues and portrait figures of the latter part of the XVIIIth, XIXth
and XXth dynasties lack the fidelity to nature of those of the Ancient
and Middle Empires, and it is clear that about B.C. 1200 both statues and
figures were kept in stock by funerary masons, who merely added the names
of deceased persons to them after they were sold.
Under the Saïte kings of the XXVIth dynasty a =Renaissance= took place,
and for a short time painters, sculptors, and scribes modelled their
works on examples drawn chiefly from the monuments of the Ancient Empire.