Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

DEIR EL-BAHARI

EGYPT

pieces were painted only after they had
been fixed in place.1 Traces of more or less
hexagonal cuts can be treated as guidelines
for mounting elements. The technique of
fixing elements to the background can be
reconstructed on the grounds of two
fragments [Fig. 3}. The general appearance
of the higab, however, is to be recon-
structed solely on the basis of parallels
from other Coptic churches.
The same parallels indicate that the
geometric decoration of the higab could
have been accompanied by small plaques
with carved images of crosses, floral motifs
and animal figures. The finds from the
Chapel of Hatshepsut presumably fall in
this category. The only completely preserv-
ed panel is decorated with a representation
of a four-legged animal, possibly a dog,
although the identification is uncertain
(Szafrahski 2007b). It is surrounded by
a vegetal ornament. The background is
painted black. The ornament preserves
traces of other colors: red on the animal's
head, yellow on the body. All the side
edges are splattered with red paint. A peg
hole is positioned in the central part. Two
poorly preserved halves of similar panels
have also been discovered.
A different kind of panel was decorated
with floral ornament. Half a panel of this
type, made of high quality wood, is broken
exactly at the peg hole [Fig. 1.1']. The back-
ground is black, the ornament yellow and
green. Edges are smudged with pink paint.2
Fragments (single arms) of most likely
nine crosses with grooved or painted

decoration were also found. The engraved
decoration is mostly reduced to parallel
lines at the ends of the arms. In one case,
a small fragment bears deeply cut simple
hatching. The painted ornaments are
chiefly geometric, imitating inlaid gems.
The crosses may have been part of the altar
screen, like the panels,3 but they could
equally well have been connected with
burial places (Rutschowscaya 1991: 2231).
Two fragments of crosses are distinctive for
their painted leather casing (studied by
T. Gorecki). The entire vertical piece from
one of these objects has survived, and one
of the vertical arms from the other. The
ornamental motifs include geometric
figures, representations of saints and Christ
in a tondo at the ends of the arms.
Pieces with floral scrolling are richly
represented, both grooved [Fig. 1:2] and
painted [Fig. 4]· The former demonstrate
a fineness of execution with deep
engraving. They could have been part of
a frieze surmounting the top of cupboards
or other furniture.
Other elements of furniture pieces were
also found: balusters, carved finials
[Fig. 1:3]. They are preserved, as a half,
quarter or third of the circumference.
Similar elements were published among
the finds from the monastery of
St Epiphanius (Winlock, Crum 1926: 57,
Fig. 18, PI. XV C, D).4 Among the more
interesting finds was a leaf-shaped finial
from the higab or perhaps from a door
[Fig. 5}.5 Small elongated pieces with two
pierced rectangular mortises are difficult to

1 Although the logical way would be to paint the slats from which the hexagons were later cut.
2 A similar plaque, of which half has been preserved, was published by Godlewski 1986: 121, Fig. 87.
3 I am indebted to Tomasz Gorecki for this suggestion.
4 According to Winlock's interpretation (Winlock, Crum 1926: 56, Fig. 17) they were intended to be seen from one side
only; since they were not three-dimensional in our case, they could have decorated the fronts of niches, a piece of
furniture or the altar screen for that matter.
5 A similar fragment of Pharaonic attribution (Twentieth Dynasty?) was published by W.M.F. Petrie, who described it
as a wooden khaker (sic!) ornament, cf. Petrie 1927: 47, PI. XL 77.

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