DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0061
u
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
objects; which show that the Egyptians were, like that highly-
gifted people, the Greeks, aware of the propriety of fancy devices
for decorative purposes. These last in fact were almost always
introduced upon their painted ceilings ; except in temples, where
gold or white stars on a blue ground represented the heavens,
and vultures holding in their claws the royal flabellas borne
over the Pharaohs on state occasions (as the eagle of Greece
held the thunderbolt of Jupiter), hovered over the passages
through which the king passed to the interior of the building.
Indeed, we perceive the gradual progress made by the Egyp-
tians in this choice of fancy ornament; for, having begun with
simple imitations of real objects, as the lotus and other flowers,
they by degrees adopted conventional representations of them,
or purely imaginary devices ; and it is worthy of remark that the
oldest Greek andEtruscan vases have almost as close an imitation
of the lotus and other real objects, used in early Egyptian orna-
ment, as are found on the old monuments of Thebes. This is also
"JMUMIME
2 ^ysxxzmzm
msi
xwwxw^
"'^felgS^:
(W. 25.)
one of the many proofs of the early centre from which orna-
mental art advanced, and forms one of the interesting links in
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
objects; which show that the Egyptians were, like that highly-
gifted people, the Greeks, aware of the propriety of fancy devices
for decorative purposes. These last in fact were almost always
introduced upon their painted ceilings ; except in temples, where
gold or white stars on a blue ground represented the heavens,
and vultures holding in their claws the royal flabellas borne
over the Pharaohs on state occasions (as the eagle of Greece
held the thunderbolt of Jupiter), hovered over the passages
through which the king passed to the interior of the building.
Indeed, we perceive the gradual progress made by the Egyp-
tians in this choice of fancy ornament; for, having begun with
simple imitations of real objects, as the lotus and other flowers,
they by degrees adopted conventional representations of them,
or purely imaginary devices ; and it is worthy of remark that the
oldest Greek andEtruscan vases have almost as close an imitation
of the lotus and other real objects, used in early Egyptian orna-
ment, as are found on the old monuments of Thebes. This is also
"JMUMIME
2 ^ysxxzmzm
msi
xwwxw^
"'^felgS^:
(W. 25.)
one of the many proofs of the early centre from which orna-
mental art advanced, and forms one of the interesting links in