DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4858#0085
scene
THE TOMB OF NAKHT
The lower j^ ft certainly enhances the beauty of the scene for us, being more
true to Oriental coloring than the light flesh tints usually adopted.
Where the feet of the women are untouched by the varnish they show
the same hue as those of the guests. One girl plays the double flute;
another (who wears her hair shorter) plays the great harp. Both
these are clothed exactly like the guests, except that an additional
bracelet is worn loosely on the forearm. The player on the lute,
however, is so little hampered by her instrument as to be able to
dance to her own playing. She is represented, as dancing girls occa-
sionally are, as absolutely unclothed save for a scanty belt of beads,
yet quite unabashed.1 An interesting feature is that the artist,
^hen troupes of female musicians or of professional female mourners are depicted, there is generally
shown among them a child who is unclothed, probably as a natural consequence of her immaturity. The
age up to which this freedom was customary may well have extended among the Egyptians, as among
many less advanced peoples, to a period shortly preceding an early marriage. (In the Tomb of Menena,
No. 69, a well-grown girl who forms one of a family party in a boat is shown unclothed, possibly for artistic
reasons.) That the artists often give an aspect of comparative maturity to such nude figures need not be
interpreted too pedantically; the impulse is natural. At any rate, if a moral judgment is contemplated,
the sentiments of a dark-skinned people to whom complete, or almost complete, nudity was a very
familiar sight must be entered into, if that is possible to us. For if it were a question of age only,
the transgression of the usual limit would be a comparatively venial act, especially where there was
reason for freedom of action and bodily pose, as with dancing-girls and acrobats. There is also another
way of escape from the suspicion that this picture may be an indication of gross moral laxity. It is quite
open to us, I think, to deny the picture its full prima facie evidence, and to regard it as an instance, not of
social, but of pictorial license; the girl having been actually clothed. The possession of perfect bodily
form being specially desired in slaves and dancing-women, it may be that the artist now and then omitted
their tenuous robes for artistic reasons. We know how little he allowed himself to be hindered by dress
from showing the lines of the female figure. And as at one period, in deference to artistic impulses, even
royalty submitted to appear nude in public pidorially (cf. Davies, El Amarna VI, p. ai), dancing-girls could
hardly refuse. Were a description of our own social customs derived from our art-galleries alone, there
would be strange aberrations of judgment! In the Tomb of Thotemhab (No. 45), the nude serving-girls
of the XVIIIth dyn. have been provided with gowns by a later artist who worked over the picture. But
this is more likely to be a protest against artistic impressionism or levity than against lack of decency.
As a matter of fact, dancers are generally shown in ordinary woman's dress. The portrayal of nude
figures is rare and perhaps limited to a very short period and to two or three designers. In Tombs 38 and
75 the female lute-player is nude, as well as a young dancing-girl; but both these pictures seem to have
followed the design used in Nakht's tomb (Scheil, Mem. Miss. Francaise, V, pp. 571-579; Wilkinson,
Manners and Customs I, p. 439). Cf. also a slab from the tomb of Ptahmay, in Cairo; Davies, Der el
Gebrdwi II, PI. VII and p. 8, and Sheikh Said, PI. IV; Erman, Egypt, p. 25o. Nude serving-maidens are
depicted more frequently; no doubt they were young and generally employed in the harem. The female
musicians also were probably members of the household as a rule. Finally, the guests before whom they
perform in this case are very likely intended to be three married couples. The chain of beads round the
hips is still worn by nude female children in Egypt and the Soudan, and should be regarded as an amulet
rather than as a travesty of clothing. (Cf. Doughty, Wanderings in Arabia, I, p. 168.)
58
THE TOMB OF NAKHT
The lower j^ ft certainly enhances the beauty of the scene for us, being more
true to Oriental coloring than the light flesh tints usually adopted.
Where the feet of the women are untouched by the varnish they show
the same hue as those of the guests. One girl plays the double flute;
another (who wears her hair shorter) plays the great harp. Both
these are clothed exactly like the guests, except that an additional
bracelet is worn loosely on the forearm. The player on the lute,
however, is so little hampered by her instrument as to be able to
dance to her own playing. She is represented, as dancing girls occa-
sionally are, as absolutely unclothed save for a scanty belt of beads,
yet quite unabashed.1 An interesting feature is that the artist,
^hen troupes of female musicians or of professional female mourners are depicted, there is generally
shown among them a child who is unclothed, probably as a natural consequence of her immaturity. The
age up to which this freedom was customary may well have extended among the Egyptians, as among
many less advanced peoples, to a period shortly preceding an early marriage. (In the Tomb of Menena,
No. 69, a well-grown girl who forms one of a family party in a boat is shown unclothed, possibly for artistic
reasons.) That the artists often give an aspect of comparative maturity to such nude figures need not be
interpreted too pedantically; the impulse is natural. At any rate, if a moral judgment is contemplated,
the sentiments of a dark-skinned people to whom complete, or almost complete, nudity was a very
familiar sight must be entered into, if that is possible to us. For if it were a question of age only,
the transgression of the usual limit would be a comparatively venial act, especially where there was
reason for freedom of action and bodily pose, as with dancing-girls and acrobats. There is also another
way of escape from the suspicion that this picture may be an indication of gross moral laxity. It is quite
open to us, I think, to deny the picture its full prima facie evidence, and to regard it as an instance, not of
social, but of pictorial license; the girl having been actually clothed. The possession of perfect bodily
form being specially desired in slaves and dancing-women, it may be that the artist now and then omitted
their tenuous robes for artistic reasons. We know how little he allowed himself to be hindered by dress
from showing the lines of the female figure. And as at one period, in deference to artistic impulses, even
royalty submitted to appear nude in public pidorially (cf. Davies, El Amarna VI, p. ai), dancing-girls could
hardly refuse. Were a description of our own social customs derived from our art-galleries alone, there
would be strange aberrations of judgment! In the Tomb of Thotemhab (No. 45), the nude serving-girls
of the XVIIIth dyn. have been provided with gowns by a later artist who worked over the picture. But
this is more likely to be a protest against artistic impressionism or levity than against lack of decency.
As a matter of fact, dancers are generally shown in ordinary woman's dress. The portrayal of nude
figures is rare and perhaps limited to a very short period and to two or three designers. In Tombs 38 and
75 the female lute-player is nude, as well as a young dancing-girl; but both these pictures seem to have
followed the design used in Nakht's tomb (Scheil, Mem. Miss. Francaise, V, pp. 571-579; Wilkinson,
Manners and Customs I, p. 439). Cf. also a slab from the tomb of Ptahmay, in Cairo; Davies, Der el
Gebrdwi II, PI. VII and p. 8, and Sheikh Said, PI. IV; Erman, Egypt, p. 25o. Nude serving-maidens are
depicted more frequently; no doubt they were young and generally employed in the harem. The female
musicians also were probably members of the household as a rule. Finally, the guests before whom they
perform in this case are very likely intended to be three married couples. The chain of beads round the
hips is still worn by nude female children in Egypt and the Soudan, and should be regarded as an amulet
rather than as a travesty of clothing. (Cf. Doughty, Wanderings in Arabia, I, p. 168.)
58