DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0456
43S A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
diorite statue of Khafra (Chephren), the builder of the
second pyramid, the two marvelous sitting statues of Prince
Ra-liotep and Princess Nefer-t, are all portraits; and, like
their tombs, were executed during the lifetime of the per-
sons represented. Crossing the threshold of the great vesti-
bule,* one is surrounded by a host of these extraordinary
figures, erect, colored, clothed, all but in motion. It is
like entering the crowded ante-room of a royal palace in
the time of the ancient empire.
The greater number of the Boulak portrait statues are
sculptured in what is called the hieratic attitude; that is,
with the left arm down and pressed close to the body, the
left hand holding a roll of papyrus, the right leg advanced
and the right hand raised, as grasping the walking-staff.
It occurred to me that there might be a deeper significance
than at first sight appears in this conventional attitude,
and that it perhaps suggests the moment of resurrection,
when the deceased, holding fast by his copy of the book of
the dead, walks forth from his tomb into the light of life
eternal.
Of all the statues here — one may say, indeed, of all
known Egyptian statues — those of Prince Ra-hotop and
Princess Nefer-t are the most wonderful. They are prob-
ably the oldest portrait-statues in the world, f They come
from a tomb of the third dynasty, and are contemporary
with Snefru, a king who reigned before the time of Kliufu
and Khafra. That is to say, those people who sit before
us side by side, colored to the life, fresh and glowing as the
day when they gave the artist his last sitting, lived at a
time when the great pyramids of Glnzoh were not yet
built, and at a date which is variously calculated as from
about six thousand three hundred to four thousand years
before the present day. The princess wears her hair pre-
cisely as it is still worn in Nubia, and her necklace of
cabochon drops is of a pattern much favored by the modern
chap, ix, p. 72. Lond., 1873. Also "La Sculpture Egyptienne," par
E. Soldi, p. 57. Paris, 1876. Also "The Ethnology of Egypt," hy
Professor Owen, C. B. "Journal of Anthropological Institute," vol.
iv, 1874, p. 2S7. The name of this personage was Ka-em-ka.
* It is in the great vestihule that we find the statue of Ti. See
chap, iv, p. 55.
f There is no evidence to show that the statues of Sepa and Nesa
in the Louvre are older than the fourth dynasty.
diorite statue of Khafra (Chephren), the builder of the
second pyramid, the two marvelous sitting statues of Prince
Ra-liotep and Princess Nefer-t, are all portraits; and, like
their tombs, were executed during the lifetime of the per-
sons represented. Crossing the threshold of the great vesti-
bule,* one is surrounded by a host of these extraordinary
figures, erect, colored, clothed, all but in motion. It is
like entering the crowded ante-room of a royal palace in
the time of the ancient empire.
The greater number of the Boulak portrait statues are
sculptured in what is called the hieratic attitude; that is,
with the left arm down and pressed close to the body, the
left hand holding a roll of papyrus, the right leg advanced
and the right hand raised, as grasping the walking-staff.
It occurred to me that there might be a deeper significance
than at first sight appears in this conventional attitude,
and that it perhaps suggests the moment of resurrection,
when the deceased, holding fast by his copy of the book of
the dead, walks forth from his tomb into the light of life
eternal.
Of all the statues here — one may say, indeed, of all
known Egyptian statues — those of Prince Ra-hotop and
Princess Nefer-t are the most wonderful. They are prob-
ably the oldest portrait-statues in the world, f They come
from a tomb of the third dynasty, and are contemporary
with Snefru, a king who reigned before the time of Kliufu
and Khafra. That is to say, those people who sit before
us side by side, colored to the life, fresh and glowing as the
day when they gave the artist his last sitting, lived at a
time when the great pyramids of Glnzoh were not yet
built, and at a date which is variously calculated as from
about six thousand three hundred to four thousand years
before the present day. The princess wears her hair pre-
cisely as it is still worn in Nubia, and her necklace of
cabochon drops is of a pattern much favored by the modern
chap, ix, p. 72. Lond., 1873. Also "La Sculpture Egyptienne," par
E. Soldi, p. 57. Paris, 1876. Also "The Ethnology of Egypt," hy
Professor Owen, C. B. "Journal of Anthropological Institute," vol.
iv, 1874, p. 2S7. The name of this personage was Ka-em-ka.
* It is in the great vestihule that we find the statue of Ti. See
chap, iv, p. 55.
f There is no evidence to show that the statues of Sepa and Nesa
in the Louvre are older than the fourth dynasty.