DOI Artikel:
Blackman, Aylward M.: Egypt Exploration Fund: the archaeological survey
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12419#0029
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Egypt Exploration Fund.
Upon the lintel of a doorway in chapel No. 5 are the cartouches of
Amenemhat II. Thus chapel No. 2, that of Senbi I., Ukhuhotep II.'s
great-grandfather, cannot he later than Amenemhat I., while No. 6, that
of his son, was probably decorated under Sesostris II. or early in the
reign of Sesostris III.
The reliefs in the tomb-chapel of Pepiankh are executed in the usual
style of the Vlth Dynasty, and many of the scenes are of considerable
interest. One of them shows Pepiankh seated in a large palanquin borne
on the shoulders of twelve footmen. He carries a short staff in his left,
and a whip, the lash of which consists of three fox-skins, in his right
hand. In front of him march male and female servants. Some of the
former lead his hounds, or carry his pet monkeys on their shoulders, one
of which has escaped from its keeper and has jumped on to the roof of the
palanquin.
On the walls of an inner room there are some very interesting funerary
scenes in ink outline only, but in an excellent state of preservation.
But the reliefs and paintings in the Middle Kingdom tomb-chapels are
far more striking. The style is wonderfully free, in this way resembling
the best El-Amarna work, while the technique is beautiful. There is no
contemporary work on private monuments, such as the tomb-chapels at
Beni Hasan and El-Bersheh, that can be compared with them.
In their naturalistic treatment of human and animal forms, and in their
rendering of plant-life, these artists of Cusae have broken away entirely
from the old traditions and developed a style of their own. This local
school must have arisen after the fall of the Vlth Dynasty, during which
time, as we have seen, the Memphite influence prevailed; by the com-
mencement of the Xllth Dynasty it had blossomed forth into maturity.
A fishing and fowling scene in the chapel of Senbi I. is most beautiful.
Above the usual papyrus thicket flutters a swarm of most delightfully
natural birds; the reeds too, instead of being stiff and straight, are
depicted as swaying to and fro in the breeze, while the stalks of the
lotus-flowers and other water-plants bend to the motion of the current-
There is also a fine group of hippopotami who bellow at the intruding
sportsman skimming over the water in his frail canoe, and display their
gleaming white tusks.
Among the most remarkable representations are those of Bedawi (?)
herdsmen (Fig. 1) in charge of cattle, of which there are seven. Clbdat
has published two of them in Institut d'Arclieologie Orientate, Bulletin I.,
p. 21, along with the old peasant engaged in conversation with one of the
boat-builders. These three examples of the Meir reliefs are from the
Egypt Exploration Fund.
Upon the lintel of a doorway in chapel No. 5 are the cartouches of
Amenemhat II. Thus chapel No. 2, that of Senbi I., Ukhuhotep II.'s
great-grandfather, cannot he later than Amenemhat I., while No. 6, that
of his son, was probably decorated under Sesostris II. or early in the
reign of Sesostris III.
The reliefs in the tomb-chapel of Pepiankh are executed in the usual
style of the Vlth Dynasty, and many of the scenes are of considerable
interest. One of them shows Pepiankh seated in a large palanquin borne
on the shoulders of twelve footmen. He carries a short staff in his left,
and a whip, the lash of which consists of three fox-skins, in his right
hand. In front of him march male and female servants. Some of the
former lead his hounds, or carry his pet monkeys on their shoulders, one
of which has escaped from its keeper and has jumped on to the roof of the
palanquin.
On the walls of an inner room there are some very interesting funerary
scenes in ink outline only, but in an excellent state of preservation.
But the reliefs and paintings in the Middle Kingdom tomb-chapels are
far more striking. The style is wonderfully free, in this way resembling
the best El-Amarna work, while the technique is beautiful. There is no
contemporary work on private monuments, such as the tomb-chapels at
Beni Hasan and El-Bersheh, that can be compared with them.
In their naturalistic treatment of human and animal forms, and in their
rendering of plant-life, these artists of Cusae have broken away entirely
from the old traditions and developed a style of their own. This local
school must have arisen after the fall of the Vlth Dynasty, during which
time, as we have seen, the Memphite influence prevailed; by the com-
mencement of the Xllth Dynasty it had blossomed forth into maturity.
A fishing and fowling scene in the chapel of Senbi I. is most beautiful.
Above the usual papyrus thicket flutters a swarm of most delightfully
natural birds; the reeds too, instead of being stiff and straight, are
depicted as swaying to and fro in the breeze, while the stalks of the
lotus-flowers and other water-plants bend to the motion of the current-
There is also a fine group of hippopotami who bellow at the intruding
sportsman skimming over the water in his frail canoe, and display their
gleaming white tusks.
Among the most remarkable representations are those of Bedawi (?)
herdsmen (Fig. 1) in charge of cattle, of which there are seven. Clbdat
has published two of them in Institut d'Arclieologie Orientate, Bulletin I.,
p. 21, along with the old peasant engaged in conversation with one of the
boat-builders. These three examples of the Meir reliefs are from the