EGYPTIAN ART.
According to their most ancient traditions, the Egyptian race descended
from a point high up on the Nile, or the land of Ethiopia, but modern
science proves them to belong to a Caucasian race, and not of the Negro
type. The name Egypt has been derived from “Het-ka-Ptah,” one of the
titles of the city of Memphis, which means “The Temple of the Genius of
Ptah,” and has been interpreted by the Greeks as “Aiguptos,” the latter
being the old name for the Nile.
On the south of Egypt dwelt the Nubians or Ethiopians; on the west the
Libyans, a fair-skinned race, who, being a warlike people, were employed
by the Egyptians as mercenary troops; and on the north-east the nomadic
Semitic tribes of Edom and Southern Syria. The latter people often
wandered west to feed their flocks in the Delta of Lower Egypt, and in
course of time formed, with the Phœnician traders, a large proportion of
the population of the lower kingdom of Egypt. It was on the north-east
frontier, on the Isthmus of Suez, that Egypt had most to fear from her
foreign enemies.
Nearly all the art of the various peoples and nations of the world was
developed in relation to their religion, and most of it—as elsewhere
stated—originated in symbolic signs that represented, under various
forms, human or otherwise, the original objects or phenomena which they
worshipped. This was the case especially so in Egypt; and this must be
our plea to describe here briefly the principal outlines of the Egyptian
religion.
[Illustration: Fig. 82.—Isis nursing her Son, Horus. (P. & C.) Height,
19 ins.]
The religion of the Egyptians had two developments, one tending towards
Monotheism, and the other to Polytheism. They believed in one god, who
was the king of all gods; and, on the other hand, they had their
mythical gods, who personified whatever was permanent in natural
phenomena, such as the sun, moon, sky, stars, earth, light, darkness,
floods, the seasons, the year, and the hours. The goddess Nut
represented the sky, and was known also under the names of Neith, Isis,
Hathor, Sekhet, &c., which were the names of the sky at sunrise or
sunset (Fig. 82). The sun had names without number, as Rā, Horus, Ptah,
Tmu, Setek, Amen, &c. (Figs. 83, 84). Osiris and Sekru are names of the
sun after he has set, or is “dead and buried” (Fig. 85). Osiris is king
of the dead, and, in mythological language, he is slain by his brother
Set, who personified night, who in his turn is slain by Horus (Fig. 82),
who is the heir of Osiris. Horus signifies the “one above,” and Amen-Rā,
the great king of all the gods, signifies “the one who hides himself.”
The great Amen-Rā was the mightiest god in all the Egyptian pantheon. He
was the great god of Thebes.
The gods were represented in human shape, and also m animal form. The
animals, or animal combinations, were simply symbolical of the gods on
account of certain attributes common to each, or in some cases because
they bore the same name.
The Egyptians were intense believers in a future state, hence the great
care bestowed on their dead, for they believed that the body should be
preserved in order to insure a state of bliss for the soul in the future
world. Every human being had its “double,” or ghost “Ka,” as well as its
ghost “Ba,” which we often find represented under the form of a human
being with a hawk’s head. Sometimes the image of a man was buried with
him. This was to represent his “double,” and is, therefore, called a
“Ka” statue, or image. The “Ba,” or soul, was supposed to be “luminous.”
[Illustration: Fig. 83.—Amen, or Ammon, bronze. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 84.—Ptah, from a bronze Actual Size. (P. & C.)]
It is supposed that many of the animals and animal forms buried with and
painted on the coffins of the Egyptian dead were, in remote times, the
sacred animals or “Totems” belonging to the dead man’s family. “Totem
worship” may have been the most ancient form of the Egyptian religion.
The Temple of Bubastis (in the Delta) was sacred to the goddess Bast, or
Pasht, the cat-headed goddess (Fig. 86). The cat was, therefore, a
sacred animal or a “Totem,” in ancient Egypt, like the ibis, hawk, asp,
beetle, &c., totems; and so in the district or town of Bubastis the Cat
Clan, or worshippers of the cat-headed goddess Pasht, built the rock-cut
temple called Speos Artemidos, near Beni-Hasan, and dedicated it to her
worship.
[Illustration: Fig. 85.—Osiris. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 86.—The Goddess Bast, or Pasht. Actual Size. (P. &
C.)]
The writing of the Egyptians is classified under three heads: the
“Hieroglyphic,” or the form in which it appears on the monuments; the
“Hieratic,” or priestly writing, as used on the papyrus documents; and
the “Demotic,” a cursive or running kind of writing similar to the
Hieratic, and a later development of it. In the year 1798 the famous
“Rosetta Stone,” now in the British Museum, was found near the Rosetta
mouth of the Nile by a French officer. It passed into the hands of the
British in 1802. On this stone is inscribed a decree of the priests of
Memphis conferring divine honours on Ptolemy V., King of Egypt, B.C.
195. The inscription is in three forms, the Hieroglyphic, the Demotic,
and in Greek characters. From this inscription was first obtained the
key to the decipherment of the hieroglyphics, and interpretation of the
ancient language of Egypt, and the names of the kings which in the
hieroglyphics are enclosed in cartouches or oblong rings. Thus the clue
was obtained to the identification of the letters of the Egyptian
alphabet, which had hitherto baffled all the attempts of Egyptologists
to find out. The credit of the identification is chiefly due to the
French savant, Champollion, but a considerable share of the honour must
be given to Thomas Young, who was the first to find out the correct
value of many of the phonetic signs. The Egyptians, from the earliest
period known, were acquainted with and skilled in medicine, in
astronomy, in mathematics, philosophy, poetry, and fiction. The oldest
literary papyrus at present known dates from the Third to the Fifth
Dynasties (3966 to 3333 B.C.).
Egyptian art was at its best in the earliest Dynasties. The Fourth
Dynasty was the great pyramid-building period, and the statues of this
great epoch were more natural and artistic, and altogether were less
conventional than those of later times.
It is notable that in the Eighteenth and Twenty-sixth Dynasties, after a
long period of art depression, the artists went back for inspiration and
better models to the work of the men of the Fourth and Twelfth
Dynasties.
The history of Egypt can be traced back from 4,400 years before the
Christian era, and is divided into thirty Dynasties, whose succession
was the result of failure in any of the original lines of marriage, or
marriage with a female of lower rank, or of a revolution. The thirty
Dynasties are divided into three groups:—
Dynasties I.-XI. (B.C. 4400-2466) The Ancient Empire.
” XII.-XIX. (B.C. 2466-1200) The Middle Empire.
” XX.-XXX. (B.C. 1200-340) The New Empire.
These dates and arrangements are formulated chiefly on the basis of a
work written in Greek, and compiled by Manetho, an Egyptian priest who
lived in the third century B.C.
The kings of Egypt have been named Pharaohs from the title
“Peraa”—"great house." The seat or centre of the government shifted its
position according to dynastic reasons, or from policy. During the
ancient empire it was first at Memphis, and then moved to Abydos and
other places in the south as the empire extended. When Egypt was in the
height of its glory the centre of government was chiefly at Thebes, but
moving often according to revolution or foreign oppression. Rameses and
his near successors held their court at the northern city of San, or
Tanis. The time of the New Empire was chiefly a period of foreign rule
and slow decadence, the seat of the empire shifted to nearly all the
former places or capitals and to Bubastis or Sais with each political
change.
[Illustration: Fig. 87.—The Great Pyramid of Kheops, and Small Pyramids;
from Perring. (P. & C.)]
Menes was the first historical king of Egypt, and was supposed to have
founded Memphis, where the worship of the god Ptah, “Creator of gods and
men,” was first instituted, as well as that of Apis or Hapi, the sacred
bull—the Serapis of the Greeks. For the next six hundred years we know
scarcely anything of Egyptian history except the names of the kings,
until we come to the great period of the Fourth Dynasty (B.C.
3766-3566). Seneferu was the founder of this Dynasty. He conquered the
peninsula of Sinai, and worked the valuable mines of copper and
turquoise found in that country. His son and successor, Khufu, better
known as Kheops (B.C. 3733-3700), was the builder of the Great Pyramid
at Gizeh (Fig. 87), which he erected for his tomb. The king Kha-f-Rā
(Kephren) (B.C. 3666-3600), built the Second Pyramid, and his son,
Men-kau-Rā (Mykerinos) was the builder of the Third Pyramid. Men-kau-Rā
was a wise and humane sovereign, and it is recorded to his honour, as an
exceptional qualification, that “he did not oppress his people.” In this
he was different to most of the Pharaohs. His mummified remains are now
in the British Museum. The Sphinx, or man-headed lion, carved out of the
solid rock, is near the Great Pyramid, and is supposed to be the work of
a much earlier period (Fig. 91).
[Illustration: Fig. 88.—Section through the Great Pyramid of Kheops. (P.
& C.)]
The Fifth Dynasty (B.C. 3566-3300) is not an important one as far as art
is concerned.
The Sixth (B.C. 3300-3100) was noted for the erection of its pyramid
tombs and for the religious texts that were inscribed on their interior
walls.
[Illustration: Fig. 89.—The Stepped Pyramid. (P. & C.) Supposed to be
the most ancient building in Egypt.]
[Illustration: Fig. 90.—The Southern Pyramid of Dashour. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 91.—The Great Sphinx. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 92.—Colossi of Amenophis III. Statues of Memnon at
Thebes. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 93.—Amenophis III. Presenting an Offering to Amen.
(P. & C.)]
From the Seventh to the Eleventh Dynasty (B.C. 3100-2466) is a period
whose history is almost lost. It meant to the Egyptians a period of more
than six hundred years of tribal jealousies and fighting, at the end of
which Egypt was consolidated from north to south, and a powerful Dynasty
succeeded these internal struggles. The Twelfth Dynasty was a brilliant
one for the arts, and for great works of engineering skill. The names of
the Pharaohs of this dynasty, Amenemhāt and Usertsen, are among the most
renowned in Egyptian history. Great temples were restored or newly built
at Thebes, Heliopolis, Tanis, and Abydos. The great artificial lake,
Mauur (Moeris of the Greeks), or “great water,” was constructed to
receive the surplus waters of the Nile, and to control its floods. The
Arabs call this lake “El-Fayyum,” from another of its Egyptian names
“Phiom,” the sea. It was completed in the reign of Amenemhāt III. (B.C.
2300-2266). The same king built the celebrated Labyrinth, the
“Erpa-re-hent,” or “Temple at the entrance of the Lake,” in which the
king himself was interred. His successor was the last king of the
Twelfth Dynasty. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties are dark
periods in which the invasion of the Elamites and the Nomad tribes from
Syria and Western Asia took place. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties
are the “Hyksos” dynasties. The Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, were the
chief of the above Nomad Asiatic tribes, and consequently usurpers of
the native rule. A revolt took place in the reign of one of these kings
of the Seventeenth Dynasty, and under Amāsis I., the founder of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, the Shepherd Kings were finally driven out of Egypt.
About the end of the Hyksos rule the patriarch Joseph was sold into
Egypt. King Nubti (B.C. 1750) is supposed to have been the Pharaoh of
that time, and the Hyksos king, Apepa II., is supposed to have been the
king that raised Joseph to power. The explorer, M. Jacques de Morgan,
expresses the opinion that the Shepherd Kings were the tomb-robbers,
who, either from cupidity, or a wish to annihilate the last traces of a
conquered race, pillaged every pyramid of its dead, and the treasures
there concealed, for not a single pyramid has been found unviolated that
was built before the Hyksos Dynasty. Thothmes III. (B.C. 1600) was a
powerful and warlike king who compelled Assyria to pay him tribute. In
the Eighteenth Dynasty, Egypt was more powerful than at any other period
of her history. The great Temples of Thebes, Karnak, and Luxor were
built during this dynasty.
A later monarch of this dynasty, Amenophis III., erected on the west of
the Nile at Thebes two colossal statues of himself, that the Greeks have
named the statues of Memnon, the fabled king of Egypt that was supposed
to have been slain in the Trojan wars (Fig. 92).
Another king of this dynasty, Amenophis IV., made himself exceedingly
notorious by trying to introduce a new religion, and for this he had his
memory execrated, and was deeply cursed as a heretic by priests and
people of the succeeding generations. It appears he had imbibed from his
mother, Ti, who was an Assyrian princess, certain religious opinions
which he determined to force on his own people. In order to do this he
removed his capital from Thebes, where the national worship of the great
god Amen was celebrated, to Khu-en-aten, the modern Tell-el-Amarna,
which name he took for himself, and which means the “splendour of the
sun-disk”; there he set up the sun-disk god, Aten (the radiant sun). The
new religion, however, was obnoxious to the conservative Egyptians, and
soon died out (Fig. 94).
The Nineteenth Dynasty (B.C. 1400-1200) was founded by Rameses I. He was
a successful king, but his son Seti (Fig. 95) was a greater one, and had
the reputation of being a great builder. It was he who built the great
“Hall of Columns,” at Karnak, which joins the pylon of Amenophis III.
(Fig. 96).
[Illustration: Fig. 94.—The Adoration of the Solar-disk by Amenophis IV.
(P.)]
He also built the temple at Kûrnah, and remains of his work is seen at
Abydos, Memphis, and Heliopolis. He was succeeded by his famous son
Rameses II., the Sesostris of the Greeks, the supposed oppressor of the
Israelites. He was a very powerful monarch, and, from all accounts, in
order to glorify himself in the eyes of posterity, did not scruple to
erase the names of former kings from off their cartouches on their
monuments and inscribe his own in their place. That he has accomplished
the end he had in view by so doing there is not the slightest doubt, for
no monarch of Egypt is better known than he. But apart from this he was
certainly a mighty chieftain, who “enriched the land with memorials of
his name.”
[Illustration: Fig. 95.—Seti with Attributes of Osiris between Amen and
Chuoam. (P. & C.)]]
The greatest of his many battles (he was always fighting) was fought
with the Khita (Hittites), under the walls of Kadesh, in the valley of
the Orontes. His forces were almost defeated when by his personal valour
he turned the tide of the battle and entirely routed the Khita (Fig.
97).
[Illustration: Fig. 96.—Entrance to the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of
Amen at Karnak. (M.)]
The most famous building of his time is the rock-hewn temple, the “Great
Temple,” that he built and dedicated to Amen, Ptah, and Harmachis, which
faces the Nile at Ipsamboul, in Nubia.
[Illustration: Fig. 97.—The Rout of the Khita; Egyptians to the left,
the Khita to the right. (M.)]
On the façade of this temple are sculptured _in situ_ four seated
colossal figures of Rameses, two on each side of the doorway. From the
soles of the feet to the top of the pschent on the head measures
sixty-five feet; they are the largest statues in Egypt, and the
workmanship is careful in finish. Over the entrance is carved in relief
on the rock a colossal figure of the god Rā, and on either side of it
are single figures in low-relief of Rameses in the act of adoration
(Fig. 98).
[Illustration: Fig. 98.—Façade of the Great Rock-cut Temple at
Ipsamboul.]
[Illustration: Fig. 99.—Principal Hall in the Great Temple. (H.; P. &
C.)]
Menephthah (B.C. 1300-1266) was the successor of Rameses II. and his
successor was Seti II. The latter was the last king of the Middle
Empire. With the commencement of the Twentieth Dynasty the New Empire
dates (about B.C. 1200-358). Towards the Twenty-second Dynasty (B.C.
966-776) Egypt began to pass into a state of dissolution. In the
Twenty-fourth Dynasty (B.C. 733-700) she was at the mercy of Assyria on
the north and Ethiopia on the south. In 672 B.C. the Assyrian King
Esarhaddon invaded Egypt and occupied the whole of the Delta, afterwards
capturing Memphis and Thebes, which he pillaged. The Assyrian king died
suddenly, and Taharka, a native usurper, succeeded in driving out the
Assyrians, but soon after Egypt was again conquered by Ashurbanipal, a
powerful Assyrian King (B.C. 666). The Assyrians, however, after a short
time of occupation withdrew from Egypt, owing to their troubles at home
with the Medes, who were laying siege to Nineveh, and Egypt again
revived. Under Amāsis the country enjoyed peace for about forty years
(B.C. 572-528). The Egyptians possessed a fleet at this time with which
they advanced to the Phœnician coast and took the city of Sidon, and
also annexed the island of Cyprus to Egyptian rule.
[Illustration: Fig. 100.—Portrait of Rameses II. (Louvre; P. & C.)]
Egypt submitted to the Persian army under Cambyses in B.C. 527, and was
for more than one hundred years afterwards a mere vassal of Persia. The
Twenty-seventh Dynasty (B.C. 527-424) was composed solely of Persian
kings. A successful revolt broke out in the last Persian king’s reign,
Darius II., when Egypt was free once more. Amenrut was the only king of
the Twenty-eighth Dynasty, and after the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth
Dynasties were ended, the latter, by the conquest of Egypt once more by
the Persians under Artaxerxes III. (B.C. 340), we find the country under
Persian rule for the space of eight years. About this time the Persian
monarch was defeated by Alexander the Great, which brought Egypt under
the Greek rule. At the death of Alexander Egypt was governed by the
Macedonian kings, the Ptolemies, from 330 to 30 B.C. After the Roman
wars and the death of Cleopatra, Egypt found itself a Roman province.
[Illustration: Fig. 101.—The Egyptian “Gorge.”]
In A.D. 638 the Arabs under Omar conquered the country, and it was ruled
by them till 1517, when it passed into the hands of the Turks.
[Illustration: Fig. 102.—General Appearance of an Egyptian Temple.]
The Pyramids of Egypt have doubtless derived their shape from the
prehistoric grave mounds. Although elaborately and ingeniously contrived
for the concealment of the remains of the kings, and are stupendous
monuments of building skill, they are not examples of architecture in
the true sense of the word. Perhaps the earliest examples of Egyptian
architecture, properly speaking, are seen in the ancient shrines, with
sloping walls and flat roof, and having the peculiar cavetto cornice
moulding called the Egyptian “Gorge” (Figs. 101 and 109). Horizontally
is the great feature of Egyptian architecture, which is typically
expressed by the illustration Fig. 102, an ideal generalisation of an
Egyptian temple.
[Illustration: Fig. 103.—Square Building.]
[Illustration: Fig. 104.—Oblong Building.]
As hardly any, or no, rain falls in most parts of Egypt, a sloping roof
was not a necessity. The external walls in the case of a square building
are in the form of a trapezium, making the whole edifice of the shape of
a truncated pyramid, and pyramid-like in either the square or
rectangular-planned buildings (Figs. 103 and 104), except when the end
walls are vertical (Fig. 104), then it tends toward the ridge-form.
[Illustration: Fig. 105.—Model of an Egyptian House. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 106.—Plan of the Temple of Luxor. (P. & C.)]
In regard to the scarcity of voids and narrow sloping doorways, the
similarity in Egyptian buildings of every kind is very striking (Fig.
105). This absence of voids gives a dark and gloomy character to the
buildings, when compared with the architecture of other countries. The
horizontal element and solidity of construction impart a look of
powerful strength and of deep repose to the Egyptian temple. Even the
tall and slender obelisks placed in front of the mighty pylons have
little, if any, effect in removing the horizontal appearance of the
whole building. We give the ground plan, perspective view, and front
elevation of the great Temple of Luxor, as a typical illustration of an
Egyptian temple from restorations by Chipiez (Figs. 106, 107, and 108).
Its construction is described by Champollion as the “Architecture of
giants.”
This double-temple was the work of two kings. From the second pylon to
the further end of the Temple is the portion built first, by the King
Amenophis III. The other portion, from first to the second pylon, is the
part built by Rameses II. The sanctuary is placed in the centre of a
hall, surrounded by small chambers. It has two doors, one at either end,
and on the axis of the building it has a vestibule in front and a hall
beyond, supported by twelve columns. Another hall in front of the _Naos_
(or interior apartment) is supported by thirty-two lofty columns. In
front of this again is a large square open court. This court is
connected to the larger front peristylar court by a grand and lofty
gallery, similar to a hypostyle hall. It is 176 ft. long, enclosed and
covered, and richly decorated like the hypostyle hall at Karnak (Fig.
96). Four colossal seated statues are in front of the first pylon, and
two obelisks, one on each side of the door-way. Four large flagstaffs
and a double row of sphinxes in front of the temple complete the
accessories to this great edifice. The whole building and obelisks were
covered over with bas-reliefs and inscriptions.
[Illustration: Fig. 107.—Bird’s-eye View of Luxor, as restored by
Chipiez. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 108.—Principal Façade of the Temple of Luxor,
restored by Chipiez. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 109.—Column of Thothmes III.; from the Ambulatory of
Thothmes at Karnak. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 110.—Column of the Hypostyle Hall of the Ramesseum;
from Horeau. (P. & C.)]
The typical Egyptian columns or supports are of two distinct and
well-marked kinds, the _lotus-headed_ and the campaniform or
bell-shaped. The former is so called from its resemblance to a closed
lotus-bud (Fig. 109), and the latter from its resemblance to a bell with
the mouth uppermost (Fig. 110). An earlier and simpler form of column or
support is the quadrangular pier (Fig. 111), and the next development is
the tapering quadrangular pier (Fig. 112), both undecorated. Next we
have the pier with a capital which, in profile, is a simple cavetto or
“gorge,” and square abacus (Fig. 113).
[Illustration: Fig. 111.—Quadrangular Pier (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 112.—Tapering Quadrangular Pier. (P. & C.)]
Between the abacus and the entablature or beam is a square thickness of
stone; this is the great defect in the Egyptian orders, and
distinguishes the latter from the Greek orders. This space between the
abacus and the architrave is bad, both from a scientific and artistic
point of view. It robs the capital of its legitimate appearance as a
supporting member. This pier, with capital and the Hathoric pier (Fig.
114), with the head of the goddess Hathor, are both decorated.
[Illustration: Fig. 113.—Pier with Capital. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 114.—Hathoric Pier. (P. & C.)]
We next come to the octagonal (Fig. 115), and the sixteen-sided pillars
(Fig. 116), which are almost Greek in their classic simplicity; the
latter is fluted. All forms of Egyptian columns have either square slabs
or circular discs as bases, on which the column rests. The two latter
mentioned pillars are exceptional, and therefore not typical Egyptian,
in having the abacus directly under the architrave; the sixteen-sided
pillar is especially Doric-like in this respect, and also in its fluted
shaft (Fig. 116).
[Illustration: Fig. 115.—Octagonal Pillar, Beni-Hassan. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 116.—Sixteen-sided Pillar; Fluted. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 117.—Osiride Pillar from Medinet-Abou. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 118.—Column from Bas-Relief. (P. & C.)]
The supports known as “Osiride” pillars are chiefly of the date of the
Nineteenth Dynasty. They have a kind of analogy to the caryatid Grecian
pillars, but are unlike them in respect that they do not support the
entablature, as they are only placed in front of the quadrangular
supporting pier for purposes of decoration, and are usually meant as
representations of the kings who erected the temples they decorate, with
a head-dress ornament consisting of the attributes of Osiris (Fig. 117).
Another variety of column has a fanciful combination of floral forms for
its capital (Fig. 118). This and others of fanciful design are from the
bas-reliefs and wall-paintings, and remind us of similar creations of
the artist’s pencil, as seen in the Pompeian wall decorations.
The upper parts of the capital are developments from the calyx of the
lotus, with the sepals curled outwards, and look very much like the
first notions of the Greek Ionic capital, as indeed we shall find the
Ionic volute to be a development of the lotus calyx more than anything
else. An example of the faggot-shaped column, with its base,
lotus-capital, and entablature, is given at Fig. 109. The ornamental
parts of this column were painted in bright yellow and blue, and, as a
rule, the sculptured ornament of the Egyptian columns, architrave, and
cornices were relieved by the painter in bright colours.
[Illustration: Fig. 119.—Palm-Capital from Sesebi. (P. & C.)]
The illustration at Fig. 119 is that of the palm-shaped capital from
Sesebi. This type of capital is a frank imitation of a bunch of
palm-leaves tied by the circular bands around the top of a column. A
later development of the palm capital shows the bell shape with a more
complicated decoration, and has the Hathor-headed abacus, surmounted by
a _Naos_ (Fig. 120).
EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT AND INDUSTRIAL ART.
[Illustration: Fig. 120.—Hathor-headed Campaniform Capitals, Temple of
Neetanebo, at Philæ. (P. & C.)]
A great part of Egyptian ornament and decoration is composed of symbolic
forms, the remainder is made up of geometrical ornament, such as
checkers, meanders, frets, rosettes, diapers of lotus and other forms.
Natural forms of flowers and foliage were not copied direct, but only
used in shape of geometric abstractions, and their arrangement as
diapers in surface decoration was derived, in the first instance, from
the older arts of weaving and matting. The old Egyptians were skilled in
weaving both plain and figured fabrics, chiefly from flax and hemp
fibre. The lotus form was pre-eminently the leading motive in Egyptian
floral ornament. The papyrus (from which our word paper is derived) and
the palm are next in importance as motives from which Egyptian ornament
is derived.
The lotus-plant (_Nymphæa nelumbo_) the variety in which the leaves grow
up out of the water and do not lie on its surface, is shown at Fig. 121,
and drawings, evidently from nature, at Fig. 122, from the tomb of
Ptah-Hotep.
The lotus flower in ornament may be seen in the ceiling decorations from
tombs at Fig. 123, Nos. 3 and 5; at Figs. 118, 124; and in the painted
frieze from Thebes (Fig. 125), where the similarity between this and the
Assyrian lotus, fir-cone and daisy may be noticed (see Fig. 167).
[Illustration: Fig. 121.—The Nymphæa nelumbo; Flower, Leaf, and Fruit.
(P. & C.)]
The bi-lateral rendering of the lotus plant is not common in Egyptian
ornament, though it is the oldest form of the lotus known, as it occurs
on the prehistoric pottery of Koptos, and on tombs of the Fourth Dynasty
(Fig. 126), and earlier. Two lotus flowers are here seen tied together;
the general outline of the flower is only rendered which would enclose
the sepals and petals when seen in a side view.
[Illustration: Fig. 122.—Drawings of the Lotus from the Tomb of
Ptah-Hotep. (P. & C.)]
The lotus flower and bud alternating in a border ornament may be
regarded as the prototype of the Greek palmate borders. We are inclined
to believe in Professor Goodyear’s theory, that the egg and tongue
decoration on the Greek ovolo moulding is nothing more than a disrupted
lotus and bud ornament developed in transition through the Rhodian
pottery decoration. The shells and the tongue were originally the lotus
calyx, and the egg or pebble the lotus bud.
[Illustration: Fig. 123.—Specimens of Ceiling Decoration at Thebes; from
Prisse. (P. & C.)]
Other plants, as the thistle, convolvulus, daisy, vines, and grapes,
&c., were used very much in decoration, especially during the Akhenaten
period (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties), when the decoration was of
a florid kind. The papyrus is seen in the ceiling ornament Fig. 123, No
6, at Fig. 127, and on the perfume spoon of carved wood (Fig. 151). The
ceiling decorations (Fig. 123), from the Theban tombs, show the fine
sense and feeling the Egyptians had for the appropriate decoration of
flat surfaces, and the judicious balance maintained in the contrasting
units of the ornament.
[Illustration: Fig. 124.—Lotus and Water Ornament.]
[Illustration: Fig. 125.—Painted Border: from Thebes, after Prisse. (P.
& C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 126.—Flattened Form of Lotus-leaf Ornament; Front
View and Section 1. (P. & C.)]
In animal forms found in Egyptian decoration there are a few distinct
and typical varieties, that have been used times without number, both in
painting and in carving in the round, and in the bas-reliefs of stone,
wood, and in gold, silver, ivory, and bronze. Among the most frequent is
the vulture, with outstretched wings, having sacred symbols in his
claws. It has been used appropriately in this form as ceiling decoration
in the great temples at Thebes, on a blue ground diapered with golden
stars; the ceilings thus are symbolic representations of the heavens at
night (Fig. 128).
[Illustration: Fig. 127.—Hunting in a Marsh; from a Bas-Relief in the
Tomb of Ti. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 128.—Vultures on a Ceiling. (P. & C.)]
Similar outstretched wings have been added to the scarabs or sacred
beetles. These winged scarabs, together with similar winged-globe and
uræus creations, have been used as ceiling decorations in tombs and on
mummy-cases, and sometimes the goddess Isis, or Nepththys, was furnished
with these wings as guardian of the tomb (Figs. 129 and 130).
[Illustration: Fig. 129.—Winged-Globe with Uræus. (P. & C.)]
The Uræus and winged-globe was a favourite decoration for cornices and
for heads of doorways (Fig. 108). The colouring of the winged-globe
decoration was generally, in the case of the globe, a red colour, as the
emblem of the sun; the wings green, and the striped ground behind the
figure was painted in alternating stripes of red, blue, and white, which
produced an effective arrangement of colour. The Egyptians excelled in
the drawing of animals and birds in outline, and in bas-relief carvings
of them, some examples of which are given at Figs. 131, 132, 133.
[Illustration: Fig. 130.—Painting on Mummy-Case. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 131.—Hunting in the Desert. (M.)]
Many chimerical animals or monsters were used in Egyptian decoration, as
sphinxes, or imaginary animals of the desert, which were really fanciful
creations of the artist’s pencil (Figs. 134, 135, 136, 137).
Their representations of lions always have an expression of dignity,
though more mild in aspect than the Assyrian lion in art (Fig. 138).
[Illustration: Fig. 132.—Antelope and Papyrus. (P. & C.)]
Pottery, glass, and earthenware were manufactured in Egypt from the
earliest times. The country was well supplied with good potter’s clay;
bricks were made and dried in the sun, not burned, and were used very
much in building. The common pottery was unglazed, and their decorated
pottery was in glazed earthenware, but not so highly decorated as many
other objects of industrial art. Fig. 139 is a common pitcher of fairly
good form, in red earth. The decoration on the enamelled earthenware
dish (Fig. 140) is composed of bouquets of lotus flowers; and that on
the larger basin or bowl is a design of lotus and mystic signs (Fig.
141). The three objects are in the British Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 133.—Netting Birds; from a Tomb. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 134.—Quadruped with Head of a Bird. (P. & C.)]
Rosettes and plaques have been found enamelled in colours, and probably
used for floor or wall tiles. The doorway to the stepped pyramid at
Sakkarah is decorated with rows of convex-shaped rectangular plaques of
enamelled earthenware of a greenish-blue glaze. Some are black in
colour.
[Illustration: Fig. 135.—Sphinx or Man-Headed Lion, in Black Granite,
from Tanis. (P. & C.)]
The Egyptians were particularly skilful in glass making, but they never
produced quite a clear glass; it was always slightly opaque, but
generally bright and rich in colour. Vases, cups, pateræ, statuettes,
necklaces, goblets, bracelets, and, above all, enormous quantities of
beads, which they used to make a network of to cover their dead. Great
quantities of glass objects were exported in trade with the Phœnicians.
[Illustration: Fig. 136.—Ram, or Kriosphinx, from Karnak. (P. & C.)]
The Venetians during the Middle Ages imported soda in large quantities
from Alexandria, for purposes of glass making, the soda of Egypt being
famed for this purpose, as it was prepared from the many marsh-loving
plants that grew luxuriantly in the Delta.
[Illustration: Fig. 137.—Sphinx with Human Hands; Bas-Relief from
Prisse. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 138.—Lion from a Theban Bas-Relief. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 139.—Pitcher of Red Earth, British Museum. (P. &
C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 140.—Enamelled Earthenware Dish, British Museum. (P.
& C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 141.—Enamelled Earthenware Bowl, British Museum. (P.
& C.)]
Gold had always been more plentiful than silver in ancient Egypt. It was
found in the hills of Ethiopia, but silver had to be imported from Asia.
This accounts for the great quantities of gold objects and ornaments
that have been found in the tombs, and the scarcity of silver ornaments.
The Egyptian goldsmiths made all kinds of vessels and personal jewellery
in gold, set with lapis lazuli and other precious stones. We shall have
to be content with giving, as examples of this art, the famous pectoral
of Kha-em-uas, son of Rameses II. (Fig. 142), and the golden hawk (Fig.
143).
[Illustration: Fig. 142.—Pectoral; Actual Size. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 143.—Golden Hawk; Actual Size. (P. & C.)]
The former is a splendid and unique specimen of a pectoral, or breast
ornament for the dead. These pectorals have been found in great numbers,
made of wood, metal, and earthenware. The general shape is that of a
_naos_, or little temple. The Kha-em-uas pectoral is made of gold inlaid
with lapis lazuli, and is thus described by M. Pierret: “Jewel in the
form of a naos, in which a vulture and an uræus are placed side by side;
above them floats a hawk with extended wings, in his claws are seals,
emblems of eternity. Under the frieze of the naos an oval, with the
prenomen of Rameses II., is introduced. Two _tet_ (or _dad_, symbol of
stability) are placed in the lower angles of the frame.” The golden hawk
is a similar kind of ornament, with crescent wings and seals in its
claws, emblems of reproduction and eternity. The workmanship in these
articles looks like that of _cloisonné_ enamels, but they are not
enamels. The thin ribs of gold that surround the lapis lazuli stones in
the pectoral and hawk are _cloisons_, but the stones are cut to fit into
the spaces accurately, and are therefore inlaid, while in the true
enamels the enamel is put in the cells and fused to the metal by fire
afterwards. Enamelling as known to the Chinese was not practised in
Egypt.
As ivory could be obtained from Ethiopia in great quantities, it was
natural that the Egyptians would make good use of it. It was a favourite
material with the sculptors, and many fine examples of ivory carvings
and incised work have been found in the tombs. The incised outlines on
the ivory were usually filled in with black (Figs. 144 and 145).
[Illustration: Fig. 144.—Fragment of an Ivory Castanet, Louvre.]
[Illustration: Fig. 145.—Ivory Plaque; Late Work. (P. & C.)]
Gold, silver, ivory, and ebony were worked in usually by the same
Egyptian artist, as we learn from an inscription on a stele of Iritesen,
an Egyptian sculptor, thus translated by Maspero: “Ah! there is no one
excels at this work except myself, and the eldest of my legitimate sons.
God decided that he should excel, and I have seen the perfection of his
handiwork as an artist, as the chief of those who work in precious
stones, in gold, silver, ivory, and ebony.”
[Illustration: Fig. 146.—Egyptian Chair. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 147.—Chair or Throne. (P. & C.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 148.—The Carpenters Making Chairs. (M.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 149.—Coffer in Wood. (P. & C.)]
Judging from the small remains left to us, the furniture and woodwork of
the Egyptians must have been of an excellent description. We have
evidence also of this in the wall paintings and bas-reliefs that give
representations of tables, chairs, and couches. Some of the chairs or
thrones are of special beauty (Figs. 146 and 147). A carpenter’s shop
showing the workmen making chairs is seen at Fig. 148, and a coffer
(Fig. 149). The feet of chairs and thrones were usually imitated from
those of animals.
[Illustration: Figs. 150-51.—Perfume Spoons, Louvre. (P. & C.)]
In wood-carving nothing could be daintier than the perfume spoons with
figures and water plants decoratively treated (Figs. 150, 151).
[Illustration: Fig. 152.—An Egyptian Ship, Sailing and Rowing. (M.)]
The Egyptian ships were singularly beautiful in their outlines, with
their prows and sterns ending usually in a metal stalk and carved lotus
flower or ram’s head (Figs. 152, 153). The “bari,” or sacred boat which
transported the dead, decorated at each end with the carved metal lotus,
and pavilion or chapel in the centre, with its freight of the mummy and
the mourners (Fig. 152), is represented as it sails off towards Abydos,
the city of the dead, to the west of Thebes, and the crowds of friends
on the banks of the river will salute the dead, saying: “In peace, in
peace towards Abydos! Descend in peace towards Abydos, towards the
Western Sea!”
[Illustration: Fig. 153.—The River Transport of a Mummy from Maspero.]