DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4859#0075
Carpenters
at work
Interpreta-
tion of a
drawing
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
than at the mass of meretricious cobbling which passes under the hands
of the archaeologist. The cabinet-makers of the necropolis were mostly
kept busy on the catafalques of the dead, whose sides in a first-class burial
were formed of what looks like pierced work, but was in reality a very
complex piece of fitting, each symbolic J and J device being carved sepa-
rately, and secured to the rails by little tenons. These ornaments were
ranged in pairs, less for reasons of beauty, probably, than that they
might be read as divine promises of "doubled stability" and "doubled
protection (?)." These little insets of four to six inches high are, for con-
venience, shown many times that size when in the hands of the workmen.
They are cut in dark and light woods, but apparently not for use in the
same panel. They are shaped, it seems, chiefly by an adze on a block,
the chisel being used mainly for engraving lines of decoration. The man
on the left is evidently intending to paint in the details, as a scribe's case
is before him. A tool which it is difficult to identify lies by the block on
which one of the men is sitting. If the use of the plane could be attribu-
ted to the ancients, this might be its nature.1 An unkempt old rascal
is doing the more difficult work of fitting in the carved ornaments by
tapping on them with a light hammer. His physiognomy would not lead
us to expect much from his work, any more than in the case of his
comrade who does the skilled job of sawing up a log into thin lengths
for the carvers. Our artist has shown a humorous contempt for the old
fellows with thin hair, stubbly beards, gaping mouths, flabby stomachs,
and shrunken legs; we could wish that this critical outlook which has
given us men, instead of dolls from a mould, had been more developed
in the profession.2
Egyptian drawing, not being a mirror of visual appearances, any
more than the national script reflects elementary sounds alone, is hiero-
1 In Tomb 75, from which it has been taken over, it lies curiously athwart the field, but there the
angles are so much sharper that it might possibly be a square for measuring angles of 90 and 45 degrees. No
actual instrument of this sort is forthcoming, but it must have been almost indispensable for mitering.
2 A puzzling feature is to be observed throughout this scene. The noses of many of the men have been
defaced, but had previously been marked with little splashes of light orange paint. It looks as if some joker
of the period had imposed a fit of infectious sneezing on the workshop, and then had carried the jest to a
more unpardonable length. Some of the tools seem similarly marked, however.
6o
at work
Interpreta-
tion of a
drawing
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
than at the mass of meretricious cobbling which passes under the hands
of the archaeologist. The cabinet-makers of the necropolis were mostly
kept busy on the catafalques of the dead, whose sides in a first-class burial
were formed of what looks like pierced work, but was in reality a very
complex piece of fitting, each symbolic J and J device being carved sepa-
rately, and secured to the rails by little tenons. These ornaments were
ranged in pairs, less for reasons of beauty, probably, than that they
might be read as divine promises of "doubled stability" and "doubled
protection (?)." These little insets of four to six inches high are, for con-
venience, shown many times that size when in the hands of the workmen.
They are cut in dark and light woods, but apparently not for use in the
same panel. They are shaped, it seems, chiefly by an adze on a block,
the chisel being used mainly for engraving lines of decoration. The man
on the left is evidently intending to paint in the details, as a scribe's case
is before him. A tool which it is difficult to identify lies by the block on
which one of the men is sitting. If the use of the plane could be attribu-
ted to the ancients, this might be its nature.1 An unkempt old rascal
is doing the more difficult work of fitting in the carved ornaments by
tapping on them with a light hammer. His physiognomy would not lead
us to expect much from his work, any more than in the case of his
comrade who does the skilled job of sawing up a log into thin lengths
for the carvers. Our artist has shown a humorous contempt for the old
fellows with thin hair, stubbly beards, gaping mouths, flabby stomachs,
and shrunken legs; we could wish that this critical outlook which has
given us men, instead of dolls from a mould, had been more developed
in the profession.2
Egyptian drawing, not being a mirror of visual appearances, any
more than the national script reflects elementary sounds alone, is hiero-
1 In Tomb 75, from which it has been taken over, it lies curiously athwart the field, but there the
angles are so much sharper that it might possibly be a square for measuring angles of 90 and 45 degrees. No
actual instrument of this sort is forthcoming, but it must have been almost indispensable for mitering.
2 A puzzling feature is to be observed throughout this scene. The noses of many of the men have been
defaced, but had previously been marked with little splashes of light orange paint. It looks as if some joker
of the period had imposed a fit of infectious sneezing on the workshop, and then had carried the jest to a
more unpardonable length. Some of the tools seem similarly marked, however.
6o