DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4664#0040
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
35
green schist. Owing to exposure to damp or other
causes, the limestone figure soon decayed and was
buried at an early period with a lot of other archaic
temple furniture. The green statue lasted several
centuries more, but at last got broken and was buried
with the Pepy at a second rebuilding.
This hypothesis (due to Von Bissing) removes one
difficulty, but it brings up the level of the Old King-
dom temple to the top of the revetment and causes
another difficulty over the gold nails.
Three of these nails, indistinguishable from those
found in the gold hawk's head, were found at the
lowest level at a point S. of the revetment. They
were either from the hawk or from some object like it.
Therefore we shall have to put the hawk into the
period before this hypothetical Old Kingdom recon-
struction. And this does not seem likely.
It must be further remembered that in the main
deposit was found a mass of crumpled copper plate
just like that from the base of the statue. This
increases the probability that the statue of Pepy and
the main deposit were buried at one and the same
time.
[Note.—The system of pegging with small metal
nails, and the use of copper foil, undoubtedly belong
to prehistoric times ; hence neither these gold nails
nor the copper sheet are of any value as shewing
a date equal to that of the hawk or the Pepy statue.
—W. M. F. P.]
CHAPTER XIII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
The following description of plates is in con-
secutive order, irrespective of whether they appear
in Vols. I. or II., as many persons may wish to bind
the whole as one work.
Pls. I. and II. i. A life-size statue in white
limestone, height, 0-85 m., 33 ins. The right knee,
broken off in Pl. II., has now been put back as in
Pl. I. The statue represents a king (?) kneeling on
the left knee with the left foot under the body and
the right knee raised. The left foot forms part of
the base, which is small, and does not project beyond
the body. The face is curious: the eyes are
prominent ; the beard, which is broken, was wide
and not of the narrow and short form of later time ;
the whiskers are marked in slight relief, as in later
statues, so as to look like a band supporting the
beard. The short square-bottomed wig is divided in
two by a parting at the top, from which lines 2 cm.
apart lead downwards ; these divisions then narrow
suddenly to curls 10 cm. long.
The only dress is a belt 3 cm. wide with a small
kilt or tassel in front ; the kilt is square ended now,
but is somewhat'broken.
The general outlines are round ; the hands are
puffy, with little detail. The surface was never
polished, and is covered with scratched lines from the
original working. The limestone is not of good
quality, and by long exposure to damp had become
so soft and friable that, had it not been for great
care in packing, the statue could hardly have been
brought to Cairo. For this care we are indebted to
Dr. Schweinfurth, who was staying at El Kab soon
after the statue was found. He procured a quantity
of the cheap unsized paper used by the traders in the
country markets, soaked it sheet by sheet in water
and applied it to the surface of the statue, pressing it
well on with the fingers ; when one layer had nearly
dried another was applied, and so on until the whole
was covered with a mask of paper an inch thick.
With this protection the statue travelled well.
This method of packing is of great use in Egypt
for such objects as cracked vases and fragile skulls ;
the paper dries so rapidly that there is no fear of its
becoming mouldy.
Another statue of the same kind was found with
this one, but in so bad a condition that it could not
be brought away. The two were erect, 2 m. apart,
on the E. side of the temple, near the main deposit
of archaic objects, and on the same level with them
(v. PL. LXXIL).
2. Fragment of a flat limestone slab, on scale of
f-. From the style of the two signs it is supposed
to be archaic, but no conclusion can be drawn from
the position in which it was found. This was on the
W. side of the temple, in a much disturbed part, and
the objects near it were a pot of XlXth Dynasty (?)
shape, a bowl of Xllth Dynasty, a potsherd from a
large vase of later archaic shape, and a fragment of
a stone window which might have been of any date.
3. Granite door jamb of Kha-sekhemui, now at
Cairo (height 1-55 m., width 1*20, thickness cr6o).
The photograph shows the edge only. One side is
also inscribed, but the inscription has been bruised
out and is illegible. The block is not complete, the
lower edge being broken and showing by its curved
outline and the wedge marks that a millstone has
been cut out of it.
F 2
35
green schist. Owing to exposure to damp or other
causes, the limestone figure soon decayed and was
buried at an early period with a lot of other archaic
temple furniture. The green statue lasted several
centuries more, but at last got broken and was buried
with the Pepy at a second rebuilding.
This hypothesis (due to Von Bissing) removes one
difficulty, but it brings up the level of the Old King-
dom temple to the top of the revetment and causes
another difficulty over the gold nails.
Three of these nails, indistinguishable from those
found in the gold hawk's head, were found at the
lowest level at a point S. of the revetment. They
were either from the hawk or from some object like it.
Therefore we shall have to put the hawk into the
period before this hypothetical Old Kingdom recon-
struction. And this does not seem likely.
It must be further remembered that in the main
deposit was found a mass of crumpled copper plate
just like that from the base of the statue. This
increases the probability that the statue of Pepy and
the main deposit were buried at one and the same
time.
[Note.—The system of pegging with small metal
nails, and the use of copper foil, undoubtedly belong
to prehistoric times ; hence neither these gold nails
nor the copper sheet are of any value as shewing
a date equal to that of the hawk or the Pepy statue.
—W. M. F. P.]
CHAPTER XIII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
The following description of plates is in con-
secutive order, irrespective of whether they appear
in Vols. I. or II., as many persons may wish to bind
the whole as one work.
Pls. I. and II. i. A life-size statue in white
limestone, height, 0-85 m., 33 ins. The right knee,
broken off in Pl. II., has now been put back as in
Pl. I. The statue represents a king (?) kneeling on
the left knee with the left foot under the body and
the right knee raised. The left foot forms part of
the base, which is small, and does not project beyond
the body. The face is curious: the eyes are
prominent ; the beard, which is broken, was wide
and not of the narrow and short form of later time ;
the whiskers are marked in slight relief, as in later
statues, so as to look like a band supporting the
beard. The short square-bottomed wig is divided in
two by a parting at the top, from which lines 2 cm.
apart lead downwards ; these divisions then narrow
suddenly to curls 10 cm. long.
The only dress is a belt 3 cm. wide with a small
kilt or tassel in front ; the kilt is square ended now,
but is somewhat'broken.
The general outlines are round ; the hands are
puffy, with little detail. The surface was never
polished, and is covered with scratched lines from the
original working. The limestone is not of good
quality, and by long exposure to damp had become
so soft and friable that, had it not been for great
care in packing, the statue could hardly have been
brought to Cairo. For this care we are indebted to
Dr. Schweinfurth, who was staying at El Kab soon
after the statue was found. He procured a quantity
of the cheap unsized paper used by the traders in the
country markets, soaked it sheet by sheet in water
and applied it to the surface of the statue, pressing it
well on with the fingers ; when one layer had nearly
dried another was applied, and so on until the whole
was covered with a mask of paper an inch thick.
With this protection the statue travelled well.
This method of packing is of great use in Egypt
for such objects as cracked vases and fragile skulls ;
the paper dries so rapidly that there is no fear of its
becoming mouldy.
Another statue of the same kind was found with
this one, but in so bad a condition that it could not
be brought away. The two were erect, 2 m. apart,
on the E. side of the temple, near the main deposit
of archaic objects, and on the same level with them
(v. PL. LXXIL).
2. Fragment of a flat limestone slab, on scale of
f-. From the style of the two signs it is supposed
to be archaic, but no conclusion can be drawn from
the position in which it was found. This was on the
W. side of the temple, in a much disturbed part, and
the objects near it were a pot of XlXth Dynasty (?)
shape, a bowl of Xllth Dynasty, a potsherd from a
large vase of later archaic shape, and a fragment of
a stone window which might have been of any date.
3. Granite door jamb of Kha-sekhemui, now at
Cairo (height 1-55 m., width 1*20, thickness cr6o).
The photograph shows the edge only. One side is
also inscribed, but the inscription has been bruised
out and is illegible. The block is not complete, the
lower edge being broken and showing by its curved
outline and the wedge marks that a millstone has
been cut out of it.
F 2