DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0094
62
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
planned sketch. Even in the mechanical contrivances for moving colossal
statues, the Egyptians of this Theban Empire seem to have used very simple
means, as is illustrated from a relief in a tomb at Beni-Hassan, and dating from
the Twelfth Dynasty.95 Here the colossal figure rests on a sledge drawn by
multitudes of human hands : a man stands in the lap of the statue, and beats
time, that the workmen may draw in unison. One pours water on the runners;
and numbers of overseers with short whips are scattered along, to urge the
workmen in their task. Such scenes, taken from life when Egypt was at the
height of its civilization, show that thousands of human hands took the place
of pulleys, capstans, and other mechanical appliances.
By comparing monuments from different places, it may be noticed, that
while the same general character marked the sculptures of the whole land dur-
ing this New Theban period, still the art of different cities had some slight
local coloring. The sculptures, executed during the reign of Rameses II., at
Abydos, are evidently the work of men superior to
their contemporaries at Thebes. Those who work
at Thebes are, again, different from those whose
skill shows itself at Memphis, or in the cities of the
Delta.
As marked peculiarities in the statues of this
period may be noticed the support at the back, as
well as the "reserved" arms and legs in seated,
standing, or kneeling figures. These strange ad-
juncts increase the already rigid impression of all
the figures at this time, both large and small, which
are not in wood or bronze. The greater freedom in
statues of these latter materials may be seen in the large wooden statues of
Seti in the British Museum, where these ungainly adjuncts are omitted, and
also in the bronze negro of the New-York Historical Rooms.
A general survey of all Egyptian sculptural monuments, thus far discussed,
leads to their division into two general classes : first, those of a freer sort,
mostly belonging to earlier periods, almost always in wood, bronze, or soft stone,
and having small proportions ; second, those chiefly of the later period, larger
and more conventional, in which sculpture becomes architectural in its spirit.
To this latter class belong the so-called Osirid pillars lining the temple-courts,
the seated royal colossi before the entrances, the sacred apes hocking on the
cornices of the pylons or around the bases of the obelisks, the sphinxes border-
ing the avenues, and the lion-headed goddesses symmetrically arranged in tem-
ple-areas. But it is to be noticed, that these sacred objects never support any
thing. They simply supplement architectural lines. In scarcely more than
two cases does the human form bear the roof. Such duty is only performed
by prisoners, bent and distorted under their burden, as in the portico of the so-
Fig. 39. Ram for Sculptor s Model
Boolak. Cairo.
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
planned sketch. Even in the mechanical contrivances for moving colossal
statues, the Egyptians of this Theban Empire seem to have used very simple
means, as is illustrated from a relief in a tomb at Beni-Hassan, and dating from
the Twelfth Dynasty.95 Here the colossal figure rests on a sledge drawn by
multitudes of human hands : a man stands in the lap of the statue, and beats
time, that the workmen may draw in unison. One pours water on the runners;
and numbers of overseers with short whips are scattered along, to urge the
workmen in their task. Such scenes, taken from life when Egypt was at the
height of its civilization, show that thousands of human hands took the place
of pulleys, capstans, and other mechanical appliances.
By comparing monuments from different places, it may be noticed, that
while the same general character marked the sculptures of the whole land dur-
ing this New Theban period, still the art of different cities had some slight
local coloring. The sculptures, executed during the reign of Rameses II., at
Abydos, are evidently the work of men superior to
their contemporaries at Thebes. Those who work
at Thebes are, again, different from those whose
skill shows itself at Memphis, or in the cities of the
Delta.
As marked peculiarities in the statues of this
period may be noticed the support at the back, as
well as the "reserved" arms and legs in seated,
standing, or kneeling figures. These strange ad-
juncts increase the already rigid impression of all
the figures at this time, both large and small, which
are not in wood or bronze. The greater freedom in
statues of these latter materials may be seen in the large wooden statues of
Seti in the British Museum, where these ungainly adjuncts are omitted, and
also in the bronze negro of the New-York Historical Rooms.
A general survey of all Egyptian sculptural monuments, thus far discussed,
leads to their division into two general classes : first, those of a freer sort,
mostly belonging to earlier periods, almost always in wood, bronze, or soft stone,
and having small proportions ; second, those chiefly of the later period, larger
and more conventional, in which sculpture becomes architectural in its spirit.
To this latter class belong the so-called Osirid pillars lining the temple-courts,
the seated royal colossi before the entrances, the sacred apes hocking on the
cornices of the pylons or around the bases of the obelisks, the sphinxes border-
ing the avenues, and the lion-headed goddesses symmetrically arranged in tem-
ple-areas. But it is to be noticed, that these sacred objects never support any
thing. They simply supplement architectural lines. In scarcely more than
two cases does the human form bear the roof. Such duty is only performed
by prisoners, bent and distorted under their burden, as in the portico of the so-
Fig. 39. Ram for Sculptor s Model
Boolak. Cairo.