Newberry, Percy E. : Beni Hasan (Band 2) (London, 1893)

2

BENI HASAN.

have been to a great extent arbitrary ; the
West, however, was the region of departed
souls, and there was evidently a strong pre-
ference for the west and south-west. The
examples found at Beni Hasan are five1 in the
southern half of the west wall, one in the
north half of the same wall,2 two near the
west end of the south wall,3 and, although
the inner end of these tombs is naturally
eastwards, there is only one case,4 and that
probably the earliest in the group, where the
false door has been placed there.
Painting. The painted decoration consists of
(a) architectural ornamentation, and (b) scenes
painted upon a thin coat of fine-grained
plaster. This latter was found necessary
owing to the natural limestone being found
too absorbent for the purposes of the
artist. The pigments, which are red, blue,
yellow, green, black, and white, are mostly of
mineral origin,6 and were probably laid on
with a white of egg medium; such, at least,
is the opinion of several artists who have
visited the place, including Mr. M. W.
Blackden, who made many careful copies
from the original paintings.
Archi- (o) Architectural Decoration. Under this
Decora^ nea(^mS may De grouped the ceiling-decora-
tion, tions, the friezes, dados, border patterns,
columns, and architraves.

In three of the tombs only are the ceilings
painted (Nos. 2, 3, and 23). The decoration
of No. 3 is the simplest. Here the ceiling is
divided by black lines into a series of small
red and yellow squares containing quatrefoils,
which are black in the red squares and blue

1 Tombs Nos. 2, 17, 27, 33, 38.

2 Tomb No. 14.

3 Tombs Nos. 3 and 22. In the latter there are two
opposite each other on the North and South walls.

« Tomb No. 29.

5 Vide a paper read before the Eoyal Institution of
Great Britain, March 17, 1893, by Dr. "W. J. Eussell,
F.R.S., and published in the Proceedings of that Society.

in the yellow. The ceiling decoration of
Tomb No. 2 is more elaborate, and is evi-
dently derived from the roof of a dwelling-
house. A wooden beam, inscribed with the
ordinary prayer for the owner, is represented
as running longitudinally down the centre of
the ceiling. The space on either side is
painted with quatrefoils as before, but in the
middle there is a remarkable change of
pattern, which is undoubtedly intended to
show an opening in the roof, covered with
matting of more than one pattern.6 The
ceiling of Tomb No. 23 is similarly decorated,
the only important difference being that the
painted wooden beam and the mat-work
pattern run transversely across the ceiling
instead of longitudinally.

The Friezes vary in the different tombs.
In No. 29, the earliest painted tomb in the
group, it consists of a single cord or binding
pattern, black on white, with a row of coloured
rectangles below (see Fig. 1).

.i/MAIAIAIA1A1/

ii ii ii it—rr

Fig. 1.

In Nos. 2, 3, 14, 15, 17, 23, and 29 the
Khelcer7 ornament takes the place of the

Fio. 2. Khekeb Ornament Fio. 3 Kiieker Ornament
from Tomb No. 17. from Tomb No. 2.

binding pattern, with the rectangles as before
(see Figs. 2 and 3 for two types). In Tomb

6 For details see Beni Hasan, Part I., PI. vi., and p. 29.

7 The 0 was named <d> Q Kheker by the
Egyptians.