DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0105
A THIRD FAMILY
our synthetic intelligence, not as it was or might be. We
can grasp what is visible with our eyes alone.
Thus we are justified in disregarding a coat of paint
which is not there, and which — to return again to our show-
piece for the moment — is liable to hinder and estrange our
taste. Thus the matter is solved, and we can leave Rahotep
and his wife under their glass case. Still the question, once
raised, goes on tickling us: what about that paint? We are
too closely involved with these people now to be able to
disregard anything that concerns them. Babuschka is always
hammering away at it. She disputes with all the Doctors on
the score of the authenticity of the Rahotep family and
maintains that they have been touched up; then she shows
me the remains of the beautiful reliefs which were in the
same tomb at Medum and are now in the museum. Because
the reliefs are in bad condition she considers the untouched
surface of the two figures as suspicious. I am afraid there
isn’t much to be said for this ingenious theory. The poor
preservation of the reliefs proves nothing, since the two
statues were naturally found in a special chamber, and when
this was opened in 1871 it was apparently intact. It seems
impossible to test it now. There still remains the remarkable
difference between the floor on which their feet rest and the
other parts. The floor is free from the gleaming white which
covers everything else, and its colour appears to date from
long ago. A little piece has peeled off Madame Rahotep’s
knee, and there too a quieter colour shows through. Changes
of colour in otherwise intact sculpture are not uncommon.
The scribe in the hall of Chefren, and his counterpart
(supposed to represent the same man), are disfigured by a
rim of verdigris round the eyes which is certainly a later
development. Likewise the enamelled surface of the flesh-
colour in the second piece hardly looks original.
It is a difficult matter, in any case, to imagine an ela-
borate colour-scheme for any sculpture, and especially for
89
our synthetic intelligence, not as it was or might be. We
can grasp what is visible with our eyes alone.
Thus we are justified in disregarding a coat of paint
which is not there, and which — to return again to our show-
piece for the moment — is liable to hinder and estrange our
taste. Thus the matter is solved, and we can leave Rahotep
and his wife under their glass case. Still the question, once
raised, goes on tickling us: what about that paint? We are
too closely involved with these people now to be able to
disregard anything that concerns them. Babuschka is always
hammering away at it. She disputes with all the Doctors on
the score of the authenticity of the Rahotep family and
maintains that they have been touched up; then she shows
me the remains of the beautiful reliefs which were in the
same tomb at Medum and are now in the museum. Because
the reliefs are in bad condition she considers the untouched
surface of the two figures as suspicious. I am afraid there
isn’t much to be said for this ingenious theory. The poor
preservation of the reliefs proves nothing, since the two
statues were naturally found in a special chamber, and when
this was opened in 1871 it was apparently intact. It seems
impossible to test it now. There still remains the remarkable
difference between the floor on which their feet rest and the
other parts. The floor is free from the gleaming white which
covers everything else, and its colour appears to date from
long ago. A little piece has peeled off Madame Rahotep’s
knee, and there too a quieter colour shows through. Changes
of colour in otherwise intact sculpture are not uncommon.
The scribe in the hall of Chefren, and his counterpart
(supposed to represent the same man), are disfigured by a
rim of verdigris round the eyes which is certainly a later
development. Likewise the enamelled surface of the flesh-
colour in the second piece hardly looks original.
It is a difficult matter, in any case, to imagine an ela-
borate colour-scheme for any sculpture, and especially for
89