Wilkinson, John Gardner: The Architecture Of Ancient Egypt: In Which The Columns Are Arranged In Orders, And The Temples Classified; With Remarks On The Early Progress Of Architecture, Etc.; With A Large Volume Of Plates Ilustrative Of The Subject, And Containing The Various Columns And details, From Actual Measurement (Text) (London, 1850)

26 ARCHITECTURE OF EGYPT. PART I.

might suggest. The style of relievo, and of intaglio,
varied at different periods. In some relievos the sur-
face of the figures was flat, with very little elevation,
and with the edges slightly rounded off; in others
the centre part was convex, and the figure, stand-
ing forth in high relief,rose gradually from the wall;
while some projected, either as half, or three-quarter,
or whole figures, beyond the surface of the stone.
The intaglios, again, were either shallow, and
nearly flat within; or (as was most usual) were con-
vex in the centre, where the body of the figure was
on the same level as the surface of the wall, having
each of its sides cut in to a great depth, with the
outer edges at right angles to the face of the wall ;*
or, according to a method adopted by Remeses III,
principally for hieroglyphics and small figures, they
were (what may be termed) inclined intaglio; which
I shall presently explain. In early times, both
relievo and intaglio were employed for hiero-
glyphics ; but for figures the former was usually
preferred, until the reign of the great Remeses;
who, abandoning the beautiful low relievo of his
father's monuments, introduced a more general
taste for intaglio; which continued, from that time,
to be preferred. Quickness of execution in sculp-
turing figures in intaglio, compared to those in
relief, and the smaller amount of care and skill
required for them, may have been one of the prin-
cipal reasons for this preference; in a reign, when

* The method adopted by Remeses III was peculiar to him, and
cannot be considered a distinct style of Egyptian intaglio.