DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10361#0017
BENI HASAN.
No. 33 the Khelcers are very small, and a band
of rectangles is painted above instead of
beneath them.
The Dado, or space beneath the wall-paint-
ing, is usually left plain, and the scenes are
bordered below by one or more bands of
colour. In the shrine of Tomb No. 2, how-
ever, the dado was painted pink and then
splashed with red, green, and black in order
to resemble rose granite. In the main-
chamber of Tomb No. 3 the same decoration
is used, and vertical lines of hieroglyphs
are incised upon it and painted in green.
The decoration of the dado of the shrine of
the same tomb is very elaborate, and has
been fully described in Beni Hasan, Part I.1
Tn Tombs Nos. 2 and 3 the arched roofs
form, upon the east and west walls, extensive
curved spaces above the Kheker frieze, which
is carried horizontally across from spring to
spring of the arch. The decorator has filled
these spaces with a kind of mat-work pattern
in yellow and green. This is not shown in
our plates, but can be seen in Lepsius's copy
in the Denkmdler, Abth. ii., BL 126.
The borders at the sides of the scenes are
formed by bands of coloured rectangles,
beyond which, in Tombs Nos. 2 and 3, there
is a peculiar rope pattern and a blue line.
Possibly the scenes in the tombs were in
imitation of decorated screens hung upon the
walls of palaces; the cord pattern suggests
looped or linked cords running upon upright
poles at the ends of these screens, to keep
them stretched, for the loops are drawn out
in the upper part and heaped together below,
as it were by the weight of the screens to
which they are attached. It must be admitted,
however, that if this was so, the treatment of
it by the artist is decidedly conventional.
Under the heading of architectural decora-
tion should also be noted the colouring of the
doorways, jambs, architraves, columns, &c.
The doorways and jambs of Tombs Nos. 2 and
3 are coloured to imitate rose granite, as also
are the architraves and columns. In Tomb
No. 17, however, the columns, which are
carved to represent a bundle of stems and
buds of the lotus, are painted in various
colours, but all of them purely conventional.2
(b) The Scenes. The arrangement of the The
paintings upon the walls is more or less abeasge*
arbitrary ; sometimes two or three, sometimes MENT-
many scenes are grouped upon one wall.
They are then usually arranged in horizontal
tiers one above the other, but frequently
figures larger than the life interrupt this
continuity. In grouping the scenes upon the
walls a natural principle generally guided the
artist when other ideas did not interfere ; this
was to represent the desert at the top of the
wall, the Nile at the bottom, and scenes of
agriculture, &c, on the banks of the river
between. It is worth noting also that ap-
parently certain walls were reserved for
special subjects. Thus, hunting scenes are
always painted at the top of the North wall,
and the scenes of battle and (with two excep-
tions) those of wrestling on the East wall.
In the earlier tombs (Nos. 27, 29, 33) the
East wall was reserved for the religious scenes
and lists of offerings. Many of the paintings
have been copied from one tomb into another,
which may, perhaps, account for this peculi-
arity. Thus, the scenes on the North wall
(west end) and East wall of Tomb No. 17 are
undoubtedly copied from the corresponding
wall-paintings of Tomb No. 15.
There is no natural or continuous back- Execu-
tio v
ground, and the only attempt at true perspec-
tive to be found in the tomb-paintings occurs
on the North wall of Tomb No. 3. It is in the
scene of men feeding oryxes in the farmyard
(see Beni Hasan, Part I., PL xxvii.). In the
P. 71, and Pis. xxvi. and xxvii.
2 See PI. x. and p. 55.
B 2
No. 33 the Khelcers are very small, and a band
of rectangles is painted above instead of
beneath them.
The Dado, or space beneath the wall-paint-
ing, is usually left plain, and the scenes are
bordered below by one or more bands of
colour. In the shrine of Tomb No. 2, how-
ever, the dado was painted pink and then
splashed with red, green, and black in order
to resemble rose granite. In the main-
chamber of Tomb No. 3 the same decoration
is used, and vertical lines of hieroglyphs
are incised upon it and painted in green.
The decoration of the dado of the shrine of
the same tomb is very elaborate, and has
been fully described in Beni Hasan, Part I.1
Tn Tombs Nos. 2 and 3 the arched roofs
form, upon the east and west walls, extensive
curved spaces above the Kheker frieze, which
is carried horizontally across from spring to
spring of the arch. The decorator has filled
these spaces with a kind of mat-work pattern
in yellow and green. This is not shown in
our plates, but can be seen in Lepsius's copy
in the Denkmdler, Abth. ii., BL 126.
The borders at the sides of the scenes are
formed by bands of coloured rectangles,
beyond which, in Tombs Nos. 2 and 3, there
is a peculiar rope pattern and a blue line.
Possibly the scenes in the tombs were in
imitation of decorated screens hung upon the
walls of palaces; the cord pattern suggests
looped or linked cords running upon upright
poles at the ends of these screens, to keep
them stretched, for the loops are drawn out
in the upper part and heaped together below,
as it were by the weight of the screens to
which they are attached. It must be admitted,
however, that if this was so, the treatment of
it by the artist is decidedly conventional.
Under the heading of architectural decora-
tion should also be noted the colouring of the
doorways, jambs, architraves, columns, &c.
The doorways and jambs of Tombs Nos. 2 and
3 are coloured to imitate rose granite, as also
are the architraves and columns. In Tomb
No. 17, however, the columns, which are
carved to represent a bundle of stems and
buds of the lotus, are painted in various
colours, but all of them purely conventional.2
(b) The Scenes. The arrangement of the The
paintings upon the walls is more or less abeasge*
arbitrary ; sometimes two or three, sometimes MENT-
many scenes are grouped upon one wall.
They are then usually arranged in horizontal
tiers one above the other, but frequently
figures larger than the life interrupt this
continuity. In grouping the scenes upon the
walls a natural principle generally guided the
artist when other ideas did not interfere ; this
was to represent the desert at the top of the
wall, the Nile at the bottom, and scenes of
agriculture, &c, on the banks of the river
between. It is worth noting also that ap-
parently certain walls were reserved for
special subjects. Thus, hunting scenes are
always painted at the top of the North wall,
and the scenes of battle and (with two excep-
tions) those of wrestling on the East wall.
In the earlier tombs (Nos. 27, 29, 33) the
East wall was reserved for the religious scenes
and lists of offerings. Many of the paintings
have been copied from one tomb into another,
which may, perhaps, account for this peculi-
arity. Thus, the scenes on the North wall
(west end) and East wall of Tomb No. 17 are
undoubtedly copied from the corresponding
wall-paintings of Tomb No. 15.
There is no natural or continuous back- Execu-
tio v
ground, and the only attempt at true perspec-
tive to be found in the tomb-paintings occurs
on the North wall of Tomb No. 3. It is in the
scene of men feeding oryxes in the farmyard
(see Beni Hasan, Part I., PL xxvii.). In the
P. 71, and Pis. xxvi. and xxvii.
2 See PI. x. and p. 55.
B 2