DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0135
116 HANDBOOK OF AIWIIJUOLOGY.
rivalling camoos. 2. The art from tho restoration of the eighteenth
dynasty till the twentieth—the hair is disposed in more elegant and
vertical curls, a greater harmony is observable in the proportion of
the limbs, the details arc finished with greater breadth and care,
bas reliefs becomo rare, and disappear after Barneses II.; under
tho nineteenth dynasty, however, tho arts rapidly declined. 3. Tho
epoch of the revival of art, commencing with tho twentieth dynasty>
distinguished for an imitation of the archaic art. The portraiture is
more distinct, the limbs freer and rounded, the muscles more deve-
loped, tho details executed with great accuracy and care, and the
general effect rather dependent on tho minute finish than general
scope and breadth. Under the Ptolemies and Eomans a feeble
attempt is made to engraft Greek art on Egyptian. But a rapid
decay took place both in the knowledge, finish, and all the details.
To these may bo added a fourth period, in which a pseudo Egyptian
stylo, not genuine Egyptian, was introduced at Koine in tho time of
the emperors, and principally under Adrian, an imitation of Egyptian
figures. Antinous, the favourite of Adrian, is frequently repre-
sented in this style. This recurrence to the early and antiquated
style being always an evidence of the exhausted and detonated
state of art.
The general characteristics of Egyptian sculpture arc extreme
simplicity of lines, absence of motion, want of details; lastly, an
imposing grandeur which makes the smallest Egyptian statue convey
the idea of something colossal. All tho statues we possess of the
Egyptians, in whatever material, and of whatever dimensions they
may bo, are erect, seated, or on their knees, and all, in whatever
position they are found, with their back to a pillar, or at least so
rarely detached from some support, that this exception confirms
rather than weakens tho general rule. This pillar was destined to
contain inscriptions.
With regard to tho erect figures, whether thoy represent a man or
a woman, they have their arms hanging down close to their sides, or
crossed symmetrically on their breasts. Sometimes one of the arms
is detached from its vertical position and brought forwards, while
the other remains stretched down the length of the body; but what-
position they assume, their attitude is rigid and immovable. The
hair was disposed in very regular masses of vortical curls, the hole
of the ear was on a level with the pupil of tho eye, tho beard was
plaited in a narrow mass of a square or recurved form. The feet arc
almost always parallel, but not on tho same plane, one is always
placed before the other, and as the one behind, being thrown further
back, would appear somewhat shorter, for this reason it is generally
rivalling camoos. 2. The art from tho restoration of the eighteenth
dynasty till the twentieth—the hair is disposed in more elegant and
vertical curls, a greater harmony is observable in the proportion of
the limbs, the details arc finished with greater breadth and care,
bas reliefs becomo rare, and disappear after Barneses II.; under
tho nineteenth dynasty, however, tho arts rapidly declined. 3. Tho
epoch of the revival of art, commencing with tho twentieth dynasty>
distinguished for an imitation of the archaic art. The portraiture is
more distinct, the limbs freer and rounded, the muscles more deve-
loped, tho details executed with great accuracy and care, and the
general effect rather dependent on tho minute finish than general
scope and breadth. Under the Ptolemies and Eomans a feeble
attempt is made to engraft Greek art on Egyptian. But a rapid
decay took place both in the knowledge, finish, and all the details.
To these may bo added a fourth period, in which a pseudo Egyptian
stylo, not genuine Egyptian, was introduced at Koine in tho time of
the emperors, and principally under Adrian, an imitation of Egyptian
figures. Antinous, the favourite of Adrian, is frequently repre-
sented in this style. This recurrence to the early and antiquated
style being always an evidence of the exhausted and detonated
state of art.
The general characteristics of Egyptian sculpture arc extreme
simplicity of lines, absence of motion, want of details; lastly, an
imposing grandeur which makes the smallest Egyptian statue convey
the idea of something colossal. All tho statues we possess of the
Egyptians, in whatever material, and of whatever dimensions they
may bo, are erect, seated, or on their knees, and all, in whatever
position they are found, with their back to a pillar, or at least so
rarely detached from some support, that this exception confirms
rather than weakens tho general rule. This pillar was destined to
contain inscriptions.
With regard to tho erect figures, whether thoy represent a man or
a woman, they have their arms hanging down close to their sides, or
crossed symmetrically on their breasts. Sometimes one of the arms
is detached from its vertical position and brought forwards, while
the other remains stretched down the length of the body; but what-
position they assume, their attitude is rigid and immovable. The
hair was disposed in very regular masses of vortical curls, the hole
of the ear was on a level with the pupil of tho eye, tho beard was
plaited in a narrow mass of a square or recurved form. The feet arc
almost always parallel, but not on tho same plane, one is always
placed before the other, and as the one behind, being thrown further
back, would appear somewhat shorter, for this reason it is generally