DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4859#0066
DESCRIPTION OF THE MURAL PICTURES
school of sculptors. Facial character is much more easily depicted by
the statuary than by the painter; and though Egyptian painting in its
subsequent course made no advance on Nebamun's achievement, Sa'ite
sculptors, strongly influenced by early models, showed great ability in
this direction.
The mad gestures of the women, who even invade the lower deck
and weep in the very face of the steersman, are in humorous contrast
with the resignation of the men, who squat dejectedly on the edge of
the upper deck, as if their part at funerals was merely to act as a cordon
to the emotional violence of their women. This agitated scene is balanced
by the rhythmical movement of the rowers, as its simple colors are set
off by the rich decorations on the cabin and the painted panels on the
ship's side. The delicate brushwork in this register has all the more
merit as it has been used at so slight a distance from the ground that a
severe effort was demanded to avoid rough execution. What survives
has been saved by purest chance; had rain-water invaded the tomb but
a little more freely, this master-work would have been lost in the sea
of mud which has swamped the main deck, stopping short just at the
feet of the group above.
The ornamentation on ships of this class is almost invariable, and
need not be further referred to here. The funeral barge, too, calls for no
remark, except that the lonely figure of the bereaved wife beside the
shrouded bier becomes the accepted design from this time onwards. Our
artist was the first also to realize the full decorative value of the leop-
ard's skin, and to paint with real success mingled smoke and flame (cf.
Plates XI, XIX). It may be noted that the transverse lines on the sheet
of papyrus which the lector holds represent its rolled ends, as examples
in relief show.
We may gather from the pictures and accompanying texts that
bright hours spent in the midst of family and friends might be looked
forward to by the happy dead. But we should be much mistaken if we
supposed that it was a prospect clearly envisaged and provided for by
rite, by prayer, or by magical aids, pictorial or otherwise. For, as an
5i
Facial
expression
of sorrow
Other fea-
tures of the
scene
Banqueting
scenes in
general
school of sculptors. Facial character is much more easily depicted by
the statuary than by the painter; and though Egyptian painting in its
subsequent course made no advance on Nebamun's achievement, Sa'ite
sculptors, strongly influenced by early models, showed great ability in
this direction.
The mad gestures of the women, who even invade the lower deck
and weep in the very face of the steersman, are in humorous contrast
with the resignation of the men, who squat dejectedly on the edge of
the upper deck, as if their part at funerals was merely to act as a cordon
to the emotional violence of their women. This agitated scene is balanced
by the rhythmical movement of the rowers, as its simple colors are set
off by the rich decorations on the cabin and the painted panels on the
ship's side. The delicate brushwork in this register has all the more
merit as it has been used at so slight a distance from the ground that a
severe effort was demanded to avoid rough execution. What survives
has been saved by purest chance; had rain-water invaded the tomb but
a little more freely, this master-work would have been lost in the sea
of mud which has swamped the main deck, stopping short just at the
feet of the group above.
The ornamentation on ships of this class is almost invariable, and
need not be further referred to here. The funeral barge, too, calls for no
remark, except that the lonely figure of the bereaved wife beside the
shrouded bier becomes the accepted design from this time onwards. Our
artist was the first also to realize the full decorative value of the leop-
ard's skin, and to paint with real success mingled smoke and flame (cf.
Plates XI, XIX). It may be noted that the transverse lines on the sheet
of papyrus which the lector holds represent its rolled ends, as examples
in relief show.
We may gather from the pictures and accompanying texts that
bright hours spent in the midst of family and friends might be looked
forward to by the happy dead. But we should be much mistaken if we
supposed that it was a prospect clearly envisaged and provided for by
rite, by prayer, or by magical aids, pictorial or otherwise. For, as an
5i
Facial
expression
of sorrow
Other fea-
tures of the
scene
Banqueting
scenes in
general