DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4222#0052
42
EOYAL TOMBS OF THE 1st DYNASTY.
their real connection. Such work is tedious
and exhausts the attention, so that it cannot be
usefully continued for long ; and difficult tables-
full would sometimes remain for many days,
being attacked by different sorters whenever
other work allowed.
The final condition of all these fragments now
is that there are some eight hundred paper
packets each containing the fragments of some
one vase, each labelled with the name of the
materia], the tomb, and the number of the form.
Whenever fresh fragments may be available,
it is only needful to look over the forms drawn,
for any that correspond, in order to at once
turn up the parcels of those forms, and see if a
joining is possible. In this way, after I had done
the greater part of our material, I frequently
identified the rest of a vase from a single frag-
ment in a minute or two.
38. The restoration of the forms from the
fragments was another question. Any piece of
brim, or of base edge, gives two facts, (1) the
radius of curvature, or distance from the axis of
the vase, and (2) the angle that the side makes
Avith the horizontal. Hence it is possible to
place a piece of brim and a piece of base into
approximate position without any intermediate
parts or joining. The mode of doing this may be
seen at the base of pi. viiiA. A frame, like
three sides of a cube, has on the floor of it a
card ruled into circles, half an inch apart. A
piece of brim is set on this, mouth down, rocked
until the edge rests fairly on the card all along,
and, if needful, held at that angle by a leg of
wax stuck on to it. Then it is slid to and from
the centre until it fits parallel to the nearest
circles. Thus it is put at the right angle, and
centred on the card. Next the piece of base has
its curvature measured by a celluloid film ruled
with circles. And it is then stuck with wax on
to the foot of a sliding rod centred to the axis,
the rod moving in grooves exactly above the
centre of the card. Thus the piece of base can
be slid up and down on the same axis as that of
the piece of brim ; and if the pieces extend to
the same radius of the bowl, they are merely
adjusted to bring the outer surfaces into one
line ; or if there is an interval, yet it can be
easily seen, within a very small amount, what
the height must be to render their outlines into
one curve.
For the drawings the following measurements
were taken: Height; radius, maximum; radius
of lip ; radius . of base ; height of maximum
radius; angle of rise from base; if needful,
angle of side with brim; sometimes also the
angle at some intermediate point of the curve,
or the height and radius of points along the
curve, especially for pieces of large bowls. After
marking all these dimensions and angles on half
scale, a freehand outline was drawn, looking
closely at the character of the form. Then the
thickness of the bowl was measured at two or
three points, and the inside curve was drawn.
Lastly the drawings were all inked in by Miss
Orme, blacking the whole of the ground, and
drawing the inner curve. For dark materials
this drawing is then photographically reversed,
so as to give a dark figure with a white line.
The numbers and references were written in
with white on the black ground. The forms are
all classified from the most open to the most
closed.
39. Pis. xlvi., xlvii. Quartz Crystal. These
vases were mostly of smaller size than those in
other materials. The colour varies a good deal,
and serves to distinguish the vases into several
classes. The chatoyant quartz, often with opal
tints in the sunshine, was used mainly for thick
forms, and is restricted to Den. The clear
yellowish or smoky quartz was mainly of small
size, and used by Qa. The very thin, clear
quartz, like a watch-glass, belongs to Mersekha.
The fragments of No. 22 were scattered in three
tombs ; but they probably belong together, as
it is a peculiar oval bowl, of which the two
sections are shown, one inside the other. The
piece of base is intermediate between the two
EOYAL TOMBS OF THE 1st DYNASTY.
their real connection. Such work is tedious
and exhausts the attention, so that it cannot be
usefully continued for long ; and difficult tables-
full would sometimes remain for many days,
being attacked by different sorters whenever
other work allowed.
The final condition of all these fragments now
is that there are some eight hundred paper
packets each containing the fragments of some
one vase, each labelled with the name of the
materia], the tomb, and the number of the form.
Whenever fresh fragments may be available,
it is only needful to look over the forms drawn,
for any that correspond, in order to at once
turn up the parcels of those forms, and see if a
joining is possible. In this way, after I had done
the greater part of our material, I frequently
identified the rest of a vase from a single frag-
ment in a minute or two.
38. The restoration of the forms from the
fragments was another question. Any piece of
brim, or of base edge, gives two facts, (1) the
radius of curvature, or distance from the axis of
the vase, and (2) the angle that the side makes
Avith the horizontal. Hence it is possible to
place a piece of brim and a piece of base into
approximate position without any intermediate
parts or joining. The mode of doing this may be
seen at the base of pi. viiiA. A frame, like
three sides of a cube, has on the floor of it a
card ruled into circles, half an inch apart. A
piece of brim is set on this, mouth down, rocked
until the edge rests fairly on the card all along,
and, if needful, held at that angle by a leg of
wax stuck on to it. Then it is slid to and from
the centre until it fits parallel to the nearest
circles. Thus it is put at the right angle, and
centred on the card. Next the piece of base has
its curvature measured by a celluloid film ruled
with circles. And it is then stuck with wax on
to the foot of a sliding rod centred to the axis,
the rod moving in grooves exactly above the
centre of the card. Thus the piece of base can
be slid up and down on the same axis as that of
the piece of brim ; and if the pieces extend to
the same radius of the bowl, they are merely
adjusted to bring the outer surfaces into one
line ; or if there is an interval, yet it can be
easily seen, within a very small amount, what
the height must be to render their outlines into
one curve.
For the drawings the following measurements
were taken: Height; radius, maximum; radius
of lip ; radius . of base ; height of maximum
radius; angle of rise from base; if needful,
angle of side with brim; sometimes also the
angle at some intermediate point of the curve,
or the height and radius of points along the
curve, especially for pieces of large bowls. After
marking all these dimensions and angles on half
scale, a freehand outline was drawn, looking
closely at the character of the form. Then the
thickness of the bowl was measured at two or
three points, and the inside curve was drawn.
Lastly the drawings were all inked in by Miss
Orme, blacking the whole of the ground, and
drawing the inner curve. For dark materials
this drawing is then photographically reversed,
so as to give a dark figure with a white line.
The numbers and references were written in
with white on the black ground. The forms are
all classified from the most open to the most
closed.
39. Pis. xlvi., xlvii. Quartz Crystal. These
vases were mostly of smaller size than those in
other materials. The colour varies a good deal,
and serves to distinguish the vases into several
classes. The chatoyant quartz, often with opal
tints in the sunshine, was used mainly for thick
forms, and is restricted to Den. The clear
yellowish or smoky quartz was mainly of small
size, and used by Qa. The very thin, clear
quartz, like a watch-glass, belongs to Mersekha.
The fragments of No. 22 were scattered in three
tombs ; but they probably belong together, as
it is a peculiar oval bowl, of which the two
sections are shown, one inside the other. The
piece of base is intermediate between the two