DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0059
TOMB STATUES OF THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE. 27
mourning. Still another quietly kneels on the ground, with hands folded to-
gether, and a smiling, expectant look on his face. A youth carries a sack over
one shoulder, and holds a bunch of flowers in the free hand. This figure upsets
the theory once held, that the Egyptians never represented the human form in
entire nudity.
But, besides these statues in wood and stone, a few in bronze have also been
discovered which seem to mount up to this high antiquity. The use of bronze
in Egypt, at a very early date, is confirmed by inscriptions as old as the pyra-
mids, and the discovery of this metal in the Great Pyramid, as well as the
existence of the bronze ferule from Pepi's sceptre (Sixth Dynasty), now in the
British Museum.
A bronze, sixty-seven centimeters high, belonging to M. Gustave Posno,
has the stocky form, round features, and thick hair, of the wood and stone
statues of the Memphitic period, be-
sides their careful rendering of the
muscles of arms and legs, as well as
details of the knee. The technical
Perfection of this figure is most note-
v°rfhy. The oldest existing bronzes
rom Greece or Etruria are rudely cast
m one solid mass ; but, in this bronze
Sure of thousands of years ago, we
have the perfected and far more skilful
follow casting, all the irregularities of
ne surface being repeated in the in-
terior,
■ -
'.,:
Fig. 10. Boy Kneading. Boolak. Cairo.
Trunk, legs, and head are in
one piece, the arms alone being at-
tached ; and yet the bronze is thin
and light, the outer surface being skilfully finished by the use of chisellers'
tools.63
Besides such single statues, there are many groups, offering in their compo-
sition the original motives for later works. Sometimes the man is represented
as seated, his wife standing beside him, and having one arm over his shoulder
as if to express affection.
The bulk of statues from the Memphitic period are in wood, or soft calcare-
ous stone. But still others have been found in hardest diorite and basalt,
^uch are the eight statues of King Chephren, the builder of the second pyra-
mid- These were discovered in a well full of water in the so-called Temple of
tr»e Great Sphinx, and are now in the Boolak collection. In the most famous
these the sculptor has represented the king in somewhat more than life-
SlZe, 1.06 meter in height (Fig. n). The inscription on the pedestal removes
al doubt as to its being a representation of the all-ruling Chephren, who sits
mourning. Still another quietly kneels on the ground, with hands folded to-
gether, and a smiling, expectant look on his face. A youth carries a sack over
one shoulder, and holds a bunch of flowers in the free hand. This figure upsets
the theory once held, that the Egyptians never represented the human form in
entire nudity.
But, besides these statues in wood and stone, a few in bronze have also been
discovered which seem to mount up to this high antiquity. The use of bronze
in Egypt, at a very early date, is confirmed by inscriptions as old as the pyra-
mids, and the discovery of this metal in the Great Pyramid, as well as the
existence of the bronze ferule from Pepi's sceptre (Sixth Dynasty), now in the
British Museum.
A bronze, sixty-seven centimeters high, belonging to M. Gustave Posno,
has the stocky form, round features, and thick hair, of the wood and stone
statues of the Memphitic period, be-
sides their careful rendering of the
muscles of arms and legs, as well as
details of the knee. The technical
Perfection of this figure is most note-
v°rfhy. The oldest existing bronzes
rom Greece or Etruria are rudely cast
m one solid mass ; but, in this bronze
Sure of thousands of years ago, we
have the perfected and far more skilful
follow casting, all the irregularities of
ne surface being repeated in the in-
terior,
■ -
'.,:
Fig. 10. Boy Kneading. Boolak. Cairo.
Trunk, legs, and head are in
one piece, the arms alone being at-
tached ; and yet the bronze is thin
and light, the outer surface being skilfully finished by the use of chisellers'
tools.63
Besides such single statues, there are many groups, offering in their compo-
sition the original motives for later works. Sometimes the man is represented
as seated, his wife standing beside him, and having one arm over his shoulder
as if to express affection.
The bulk of statues from the Memphitic period are in wood, or soft calcare-
ous stone. But still others have been found in hardest diorite and basalt,
^uch are the eight statues of King Chephren, the builder of the second pyra-
mid- These were discovered in a well full of water in the so-called Temple of
tr»e Great Sphinx, and are now in the Boolak collection. In the most famous
these the sculptor has represented the king in somewhat more than life-
SlZe, 1.06 meter in height (Fig. n). The inscription on the pedestal removes
al doubt as to its being a representation of the all-ruling Chephren, who sits