Plate 4

EGYPTIAN ORNAMENT

The history of Egypt extends from nearly 4000 B.C. to 340 B.C.

The capitals of the Ancient Empire comprised Memphis and Abydos ; of the Middle Empire, Thebes, Luxor and Tanis ; and of the New Empire, Sais and Bubastes. The remarkable civilization of these early dynasties is attested by the many fine remains of architecture, sculpture, and decorative arts that enrich our national museums. The three great periods of Egyptian art are Memphite (fourth, fifth, and sixth dynasties) in which figure sculpture appears somewhat heavy, but accurate ; the Theban Age (from the eleventh to the twenty-first dynasty) ; and the Sait or Neo-Memphite Age. The sculptures of the second Theban Empire are important and numerous.

The Sphinx, half animal and half human, is probably of the VI. dynasty, yet it is singular that all the earliest sculptures of the III. and IV. dynasties with which we are acquainted were realistic portraiture, remarkable for fidelity to nature. Kings, queens, and individuals of note were finely sculptured, frequently of a colossal size. But the Deities, Amen Sekhet, Horus, Hathor, Isis, and Osiris were represented in the later dynasties by small votive statuettes, noticeable for their number rather than for their artistic qualities, never reaching the excellence or vitality of the earlier period. Much of the architectural enrichment was in Cavo Relievo, a peculiarly Egyptian mode of ornamentation, the outline of the figures, birds, or flowers being sunk into the surface of the granite or basalt, and then carved within this sunk outline, leaving the ground or bed raised, these reliefs being invariably painted red, blue, green, and yellow. The frieze, which in the hands of the Greeks, at a later period, became their principal ornamental field, was used by the Egyptians in superposed bands, showing, in cavo relievo, the industrial arts and pursuits—weaving, glass blowing, and the making of pottery; ploughing, sowing, and reaping ; also hunting and fishing. The composition and sculpture of these incidents was simple, refined, and purely decorative, with a naïveté and unaffectedness appropriate to the architectonic conditions. Mingled with these incidents were the beautiful hieroglyphs, or picture writing of the Egyptians. Figs. 7-13 are examples of painted decorations showing the spiral construction of lines, together with the symbolic treatment of the Lotus, the latter being regarded by the Egyptians as a symbol of fertility and of a new life, hence the profusion with which it was used in their decorative work. Great fertility of invention was displayed in enriching their architectural capitals with the Lotus, the Papyrus, and the Palm. A singular feature introduced during the XVIII. dynasty was the Hathor Capital, surmounted by a small Naos. During the Ptolemaic period—300 B.C.—the Hathor Capital was placed upon the vertical bell-shaped capital (fig. 3).