DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4858#0084
FAMILY INTERCOURSE
gested by the draughtsman. He plays a six-stringed harp, the frame
of which ends above in a female head, perhaps that of the goddess
Maat.1
Six more guests are shown in the lower picture. Three are men
and sit on low stools holding impossibly rigid lotus flowers to their
noses. The three women sit more easily on low chairs. Near them
are ranged four handsome vases containing provision for their gratifi-
cation. There is a water-jar protected from the heat and the flies by
lotus flowers laid across the mouth, a breccia vase piled up with oint-
ment for the heads of the guests, a blue-glaze pot of salve for the skin,
and a pottery dish containing four fresh fillets for the ladies' hair.2
These two sets of guests need not be thought of as separate, nor
the musicians who accompany them, for the two forms of harp shown
here, of six and of fourteen (?) strings, could be played together.3
The troupe of three girls forms an extremely attractive composition,
spoilt only by the exceptionally bad drawing of the legs and feet
(Frontispiece). Their dark color, however, is adventitious, being due
to a varnish which was applied to the figures and has darkened with
time.4 It does not indicate, therefore, any difference of age or class,
xAs the guardian of true time and rhythm? Cf. the harp in Tomb ioo (Rekhmire). Elsewhere the
device is the head of a man, a woman, a king, a hawk, or an animal.
2These fdlets were perhaps made only of flowers, petals, and other such simple materials; but even
if, as is more likely, they are formed of glazed trinkets, they would still be inexpensive enough. The
Metropolitan Museum possesses interesting specimens of these ephemeral ornaments found in the work-
shops attached to the palace of Amenhotep III. The similarity of the substance in the vase to that on the
hair, and scenes in which it is actually being conveyed from the pot to the person of the guests leaves no
doubt about the interpretation. That it is depicted resting on what seem to be artificial wigs is no serious
objection, in my opinion. It may be that the grossness of the custom was already felt, as there is reason to
think that a cap of some sort which imitated in aspect the lump of ointment was substituted for it at times.
(Cf. Davies, El Amarna VI, PI. I; Bulletin of Metropolitan Museum, March, 1911, Frontispiece.)
3Cf. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs I, Fig. 211 (Tomb 81). There are fourteen pegs but eleven
strings, a number that is also shown in the similar picture in Tomb 38 (Joserkerasonb). In other examples
the number varies from four to twenty-two, according to Wilkinson.
4The use of varnish may be seen in several tombs at Thebes, particularly in that of Kenamon
(No. 93; time of Amenhotep II), where all the walls are covered with it. It was certainly put on as a clear
varnish, the inevitable discoloration not being foreseen. In this case it was applied only to the musicians
and to the bunch of birds carried by Amenemapt, apparently because the artist regarded these creations
of his with especial pride, and wished to ensure them a longer life and perhaps also to bring out the sheen
on the anointed limbs of the girls and the gloss of the birds' plumage. The original transparency of the
varnish is proved by the carelessness with which it was applied.
57
Description
of the upper
scene
The lower
scene
gested by the draughtsman. He plays a six-stringed harp, the frame
of which ends above in a female head, perhaps that of the goddess
Maat.1
Six more guests are shown in the lower picture. Three are men
and sit on low stools holding impossibly rigid lotus flowers to their
noses. The three women sit more easily on low chairs. Near them
are ranged four handsome vases containing provision for their gratifi-
cation. There is a water-jar protected from the heat and the flies by
lotus flowers laid across the mouth, a breccia vase piled up with oint-
ment for the heads of the guests, a blue-glaze pot of salve for the skin,
and a pottery dish containing four fresh fillets for the ladies' hair.2
These two sets of guests need not be thought of as separate, nor
the musicians who accompany them, for the two forms of harp shown
here, of six and of fourteen (?) strings, could be played together.3
The troupe of three girls forms an extremely attractive composition,
spoilt only by the exceptionally bad drawing of the legs and feet
(Frontispiece). Their dark color, however, is adventitious, being due
to a varnish which was applied to the figures and has darkened with
time.4 It does not indicate, therefore, any difference of age or class,
xAs the guardian of true time and rhythm? Cf. the harp in Tomb ioo (Rekhmire). Elsewhere the
device is the head of a man, a woman, a king, a hawk, or an animal.
2These fdlets were perhaps made only of flowers, petals, and other such simple materials; but even
if, as is more likely, they are formed of glazed trinkets, they would still be inexpensive enough. The
Metropolitan Museum possesses interesting specimens of these ephemeral ornaments found in the work-
shops attached to the palace of Amenhotep III. The similarity of the substance in the vase to that on the
hair, and scenes in which it is actually being conveyed from the pot to the person of the guests leaves no
doubt about the interpretation. That it is depicted resting on what seem to be artificial wigs is no serious
objection, in my opinion. It may be that the grossness of the custom was already felt, as there is reason to
think that a cap of some sort which imitated in aspect the lump of ointment was substituted for it at times.
(Cf. Davies, El Amarna VI, PI. I; Bulletin of Metropolitan Museum, March, 1911, Frontispiece.)
3Cf. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs I, Fig. 211 (Tomb 81). There are fourteen pegs but eleven
strings, a number that is also shown in the similar picture in Tomb 38 (Joserkerasonb). In other examples
the number varies from four to twenty-two, according to Wilkinson.
4The use of varnish may be seen in several tombs at Thebes, particularly in that of Kenamon
(No. 93; time of Amenhotep II), where all the walls are covered with it. It was certainly put on as a clear
varnish, the inevitable discoloration not being foreseen. In this case it was applied only to the musicians
and to the bunch of birds carried by Amenemapt, apparently because the artist regarded these creations
of his with especial pride, and wished to ensure them a longer life and perhaps also to bring out the sheen
on the anointed limbs of the girls and the gloss of the birds' plumage. The original transparency of the
varnish is proved by the carelessness with which it was applied.
57
Description
of the upper
scene
The lower
scene