DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27180#0147
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
an extremely sharp distinction between building and sculp-
ture. The best naked statues date from the same period as
the pyramids. If the coffin-principle of the kneeling figure
had been generalized and systematized, the whole art of
Egypt would soon have run to coffin-making. Fortunately
that was not the case. The draped kneeling type is one of
the many notions of the Middle Kingdom, typical of the
cheapening of artistic inquiry in those days, but not univer-
sally applicable. Its happiest results are obtained on a small
scale; in one of the cases in the third room there is a small
kneeling figure in striped alabaster that I should like to
pocket.
In the Middle Kingdom one’s predatory instincts are
often aroused. We don’t often visit the upstairs rooms at the
museum; but when we do, Babuschka makes straight for the
light room where the jewelry is kept, and that keeps us fully
occupied, as a rule, for the rest of the morning. The show-
cases of the Middle Kingdom are very seductive. In times
gone by they too had costly things of every sort: the famous
gold head of Horus, from the sixth dynasty, for instance, and
even in the first dynasty they wore gold and polished stones.
Very soon came a taste for necklaces of gold and small
coloured plaques. Nefret had herself painted thus with an
ornamental band in her hair. These simple but in no way
crude objects are accessories, as far as we are concerned: our
interest is not really aroused till we get to the Middle King-
dom. You try the things on in your imagination and forget
where they came from thousands of years ago. The people
who made them were specialists in female luxury and carried
on a highly complicated craft. They had all the quips and
cranks of the cosmetic art at their fingers’ ends and gave
themselves all the airs of a Parisienne born and bred. At
this period they took to making chains of round polished
semi-precious stones in numberless variety. Such were those
of Princess Khnumuit, fashioned of tiny gold and turquoise-
an extremely sharp distinction between building and sculp-
ture. The best naked statues date from the same period as
the pyramids. If the coffin-principle of the kneeling figure
had been generalized and systematized, the whole art of
Egypt would soon have run to coffin-making. Fortunately
that was not the case. The draped kneeling type is one of
the many notions of the Middle Kingdom, typical of the
cheapening of artistic inquiry in those days, but not univer-
sally applicable. Its happiest results are obtained on a small
scale; in one of the cases in the third room there is a small
kneeling figure in striped alabaster that I should like to
pocket.
In the Middle Kingdom one’s predatory instincts are
often aroused. We don’t often visit the upstairs rooms at the
museum; but when we do, Babuschka makes straight for the
light room where the jewelry is kept, and that keeps us fully
occupied, as a rule, for the rest of the morning. The show-
cases of the Middle Kingdom are very seductive. In times
gone by they too had costly things of every sort: the famous
gold head of Horus, from the sixth dynasty, for instance, and
even in the first dynasty they wore gold and polished stones.
Very soon came a taste for necklaces of gold and small
coloured plaques. Nefret had herself painted thus with an
ornamental band in her hair. These simple but in no way
crude objects are accessories, as far as we are concerned: our
interest is not really aroused till we get to the Middle King-
dom. You try the things on in your imagination and forget
where they came from thousands of years ago. The people
who made them were specialists in female luxury and carried
on a highly complicated craft. They had all the quips and
cranks of the cosmetic art at their fingers’ ends and gave
themselves all the airs of a Parisienne born and bred. At
this period they took to making chains of round polished
semi-precious stones in numberless variety. Such were those
of Princess Khnumuit, fashioned of tiny gold and turquoise-