STONE FIGURES
ONE day an up-river man offered for sale some small stone figures, and
told me that he had others. I appointed a day to see them at Ibrahim’s
shop. The man, accompanied by a friend, came in before I arrived there,
and showed them to Ibrahim, to whom he swore by Allah that they were
genuine antiquities, and well worth buying. Failing in his attempt to
get Ibrahim to buy them, he asked his help to persuade me to do so,
offering him a commission out of what I should pay for them. Ibrahim, in
order to lead him on, said he would do his best.
When I arrived, a few poor specimens of worthless antiquities were taken
out of the many receptacles which these men have about their clothes.
These were put aside in silence, as unworthy of consideration. Then
there was a pause.
“What else have you?” I asked.
One by one the things were brought out, until all the objects shown on
Plate VI were lying before us.
The stone head (No. 1) is composed of green basalt. It is supposed to
represent a royal personage, possibly Akhnaton. It is peculiar in that
the eyes show a distinct oriental tilt. The sculpture is poor, the ears
badly made, the uræus—the sign of royalty—is cut in, instead of being
raised, as in all the old examples of sculpture, and the sculptor has
not placed the centre of the uræus in a line with the nose. These are
mistakes of which the ancient sculptor would hardly have been guilty.
The second head (No. 3) shows a different tilt of the eyes. The work is
by the same man, is also in green basalt, and is no better done.
After the heads were finished they were dipped in a kind of thin
plaster, and then buried in a manure heap, where they remained for a
time. The price asked was £1 each, and I eventually bought them for
3_s._ each.
No. 2 shows a bottle of steatite. This was made in two halves, one of
which broke. The fragments were embedded in a soft cement and moulded to
correspond with the other side, and then coloured. This is a favourite
way of faking various bowls or bottles. I have had small granite bowls
offered to me, one part of which was whole, but the remainder was
composed of small fragments embedded in a coloured wax, so soft that you
could indent it with your nail. In addition to this it had the smell of
wax.
Plate VI, No. 4 represents a ushebti figure, bearing the cartouche of
Thothmes III, and a passage from the Book of the Dead. It is composed of
ordinary Nile mud, and made in a mould. It was then taken out and left
to dry, and later on blackened over a charcoal fire. In many of the
houses in the vicinity of Gurna and Deir-el-Bahari, in a little hole
above the door, or in some other convenient place, these statues may be
seen, lying in their roughened condition, just as they have been taken
out of the mould.
The price paid for this was one piastre, or twopence halfpenny. Many
hundreds of these figures are sold all over Egypt during the season, and
many a museum, no doubt, considers itself enriched by the possession of
what is nothing more than a very crude modern model of a funerary
figure.
No. 5 represents a woman with a wig. She should not have been
represented carrying cylinders in her hands. The maker has mixed two
periods, the predominating one being probably the twelfth dynasty.
No. 6 is composed of serpentine, and represents the work of about the
twelfth dynasty, and possesses the dolichocephalic features of the skull
which, according to Elliot Smith, are characteristic of the ancient
Egyptian race. This, however, is not apparent in the illustration.
Generally speaking, the artist has not quite conformed to the Egyptian
style. The ancient sculpture at all periods acquired its distinctive
features from being produced in conformity with a canon. As everything
was done by rule, there was an absolute certainty that each article of
the period would have the distinguishing marks of this rule upon it, and
that no stroke of the chisel, however rough or hastily applied, would be
tentative. The effect would be produced rapidly and surely, and the
amount of labour expended upon these statues would have produced a
greater amount of detailed modelling.
[Illustration: PLATE V. WOODEN ARTICLES. Representing objects found in
the tombs.
1 & 4. Paint boxes. 2. A model of a plough. 3. A dove.]
Plate VI, No. 7, is a copy of a ushebti of the nineteenth dynasty, made
of soluble composition, probably plaster of Paris, with a weight inside,
and representing basalt. The materials are very fine, and hold tightly
together. It was roughly modelled first, then trimmed and cut. The maker
has observed ancient modelling sufficiently to make the ears large, but
he has not carried his observation to the point of studying by what
conventional strokes of the chisel the details of the ears and the
features of the face were produced. All Egyptian features were produced
by conventional means with hardly any variety. The tools were held and
the strokes made in the same manner, or the same effect could not be
arrived at.
A favourite price with these men is £40, and this is what the man asked
for the first figure he brought out; £20 for the mummy figure, and £10
for the other. I offered £1 for the three. On hearing this he very
scornfully packed them up again, and we proceeded to bargain for the
smaller antiquities he had brought with him. Then the touch of the money
in his palm seemed to quicken his desire for more. Quickly some black
beads, a forged wooden paint-pot, alabaster pots, scarabs, and various
other things changed hands for a shilling or two each. Then I prepared
to go.
“What you give for these?” demanded his companion, indicating the
figures.
“They are frauds, and useless,” I replied.
“But you are well known. You buy new things.”
“Yes, at a price.”
“What you give then? You say something.”
Eventually for £2 15_s._ I became owner of the statuettes and four other
things, for which they had, in the first place, asked nearly £100.
* * * * *
A few years ago a large hotel was erected near Cairo, and Italian
workmen were brought over to make scagliola, or imitation stone, for
pillars, &c. There is no doubt that the Egyptians seized the opportunity
to acquire further knowledge, which has been applied to the forging of
antiquities.
The maker of these stone forgeries is an up-river man with a keen,
clever face. The skin of his left hand is soft, but that of his right
hand is much harder; the fingers and thumb of this hand are bent back,
showing that they have been used for hard pressure. He informed me that
he always copied from a genuine antiquity or from one of the ancient
carvings upon a temple wall.
A collector was approached one day by a young man who offered some small
objects for sale. These were worthless, colourless scarabs and sacred
eyes. Some were real enough, but broken, and of no value. The collector
bought a few, and the man hinted at a statue, and gave certain vague
particulars about it. A time was appointed, and in a hole in a room,
which had been covered up by boards, the statue was seen, standing
upright and at least two feet in height. It was taken out, and the
collector examined it carefully. It seemed to be a splendid piece of
work. The features were finely chiselled, and it was apparently the work
of one of the best periods.
“Let me show it to the museum authorities,” said the collector. But the
owner objected.
“No,” he said. “They will keep it, and send me to prison for having it.”
In the end a bargain was struck for £220, and the money paid. One day
the collector showed it to a friend, who after some time made a remark
which aroused the owner’s suspicions. He then sought the advice of an
expert, who was extremely guarded in expressing his opinion. After a
long and careful examination, however, he pronounced it a forgery.
It is only fair to say that in this instance the money was returned. The
seller was willing to do this rather than run the risk of a prosecution,
which would give him a bad name, and possibly a long term of
imprisonment.
I saw recently a forged granite statue which was of quite good
workmanship, and another which had a fault, in that the face was turned
ever so slightly to one side.
In Plate VII, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5 are supposed to represent the sons of
Horus. They are made of bone and have some plaster sticking on the
reverse side. Badly cut, they are not even correct in form, as the faces
should be those of a man, a dog-faced ape, a jackal, and a hawk.
No. 3 is an Osiris figure of unusual form.
No. 6 shows a ram’s head in red Aswan granite. This was the first
example of forgery in granite that I had seen. The work is crude, and
the features are not well brought out, but it is a remarkable example of
the length to which these natives will go, and the trouble they will
take in order to impose upon the credulous and get money. There is no
doubt that a large number of the Egyptians have learnt to work the
harder kinds of stone while employed in building the Aswan Dam.
No. 7 is a small stone hawk of incorrect shape.
No. 8 represents a frog cut in serpentine.
No. 9 is a crocodile made of slate. Part of the tail is lacking.
Nos. 10 and 11. Few people buy these as antiquities now. Their principal
use seems to be that of paper-weights. They are made of plaster of
Paris, and coloured. The price is about 1_s._ or less, but there is no
doubt that some years ago they were freely sold as genuine antīcas.
[Illustration: Sandstone Tablet and kneeling figure]
The figure on page 54 shows the statue of a kneeling man holding a
tablet. It was said to have been taken out of a serdab, but the
inscription has no meaning. The statue was some fifteen inches in
height, and the maker had reproduced the old colours very cleverly.
The history of this tablet is somewhat curious. It was bought at Luxor
for £50, and brought down to Cairo, where a doubt was cast upon its
authenticity. A corner of the tablet was cut off with a saw, and it was
found to be composed of sandstone. Eventually the owner became convinced
that it was not a real antīca, and being unwilling to burden his luggage
with so heavy a weight, gave it away. I found it standing in an
out-of-the-way corner, with its face to the wall. It is an undoubted
fraud.
On another occasion a Jewish collector of antiquities was approached by
a Bedouin who said that he had some things to sell. A day was arranged,
and they proceeded to inspect the find. There was a large stone statue
and some small, almost worthless articles. After long haggling, a price
was agreed upon, £75 for the lot, apportioned in the following way. The
small articles were priced by the Bedouin at £35, £30, and £5
respectively, leaving £5 only as the price of the statue.
The Arab seemed very stupid and it was hard to make him understand, but
eventually the bargain was struck, and the relics were taken to the
Jew’s house. There photographs of the statue were taken, and sent to
Paris and Berlin. After a time, the reply came back that the statue was
an imitation.
The Jew made a great outcry, but the Bedouin, who no longer appeared
stupid, pointed out that no question had been raised about the
genuineness of the smaller objects, nor could there be, as they were
real, and that only £5 had been paid for the statue. To show his good
faith, he would return the £5 and let the Jew keep the other antīcas at
the price he had paid for them, and this was eventually accepted.
[Illustration: PLATE VI. STONE AND COMPOSITION FIGURES. 1 & 3. Heads cut
in green basalt. 2. A bottle made of steatite. 4. Ushebti figure made of
Nile mud and blackened. 5. Composition figure representing granite. 6.
Statue made of serpentine. 7. Statue made of plaster of Paris with a
weight inside.]
Here is a curious story about another statue. There were two very clever
men who lived in a village not far from the Great Pyramid. Both sold
antiquities, but for some reason one was under the suspicion of the
Government Department. A beautiful statue came into his possession, but
he was afraid to offer it for sale himself, so he applied secretly to
his _confrère_ for assistance.
Shortly afterwards his people called me in to see him medically. At
first sight the case was a perplexing one. There were no evidences of
disease, and yet the man was sunk in a profound depression; he could not
sleep, nor take any interest in the affairs of his family. He sat,
sighing and silent, clasping and unclasping his fingers, day after day,
surrounded by his sympathising men-friends, who smoked and drank coffee,
as their custom is. The action of the heart got weaker and weaker, and
his stomach would not “walk well,” while he said that he was very tired
and thought he would like to die. One day I ordered all his friends out
of the room, and then, after rolling out a verse of the Koran, asked him
what it was that was taking “the blood from his heart”?
At first he would not answer, but after I had pointed out to him that he
was walking with his eyes open towards the tomb, where the angels Munker
and Nakir would not be so gentle in questioning him as I had been, he
gave way and told me the whole story.
He had bought a statue from some of the fellaheen who had dug it up out
of their fields. They had been hard to deal with, but he had sat for
days, threatening them with the police and the wrath of the Antiquities
Department. In the end he had bought the statue for the price of a
feddan of land. He was as innocent as milk of doing wrong things, but
some _kelb_ (dog) had told the Department of Antiquities lies, and now
he could not conduct his business without fear. It was best to be
honest, as he had always said, but what could one do with men whose
breath poisoned the air around them? Life was hard, and only fools went
out of their way to seek for trouble. Therefore had he called in his
neighbour to assist him in disposing of his treasure. His neighbour had
taken the statue into his house, and in a week came an up-river man, who
stayed there for a time. After many weeks, his neighbour had sent back a
statue which was not the original, but a good copy, made by the man from
up the river. Now, he could not take an action in the Courts to recover
his statue, which was worth many hundreds of pounds, and meant, as the
Pasha would understand, many acres of land, so “it is finished.”
Sorrowfully he rocked himself to and fro in the most abject misery as he
told the tale, and looked appealingly at me for sympathy.
It was difficult to treat a man hit so hard as this man was. It was “his
chance,” which comes only once in a lifetime, and he had missed it.
Bromides procured a little sleep, but the patient wasted away, and
seemed not to want to live.
Then one day came some news. His neighbour had sold the statue to a
museum in America for a large sum. It had been discovered to be a fraud,
and had been returned; the money had had to be refunded, and the man had
lost the cost of making the second statue, also his good name, and
incurred sundry other expenses.
When the patient heard this, his eyes brightened forthwith. He got up
from his bed, called for water, and ordered food to be prepared. Then he
washed and prayed, and after that he ate a hearty meal.
Later I found that he had inspected his land, ordered alterations to his
house, and given his wives extra money. I came across him in one of his
fields, and he told me the news with many pious sayings. When we parted
he clasped my hand warmly, saying, “Good-bye, oh Doctor Pasha. Allah
kerim [God is merciful], and we are all his children; but, as my father
said, it is always best to be honest.”
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