Bas-Reliefs from the Egyptian Delta

Author(s): Herbert E.. Winlock

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Mar., 1917), pp. 64-67
Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3253937 .
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 BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

some that do-some that are cold and which the Museum obtained by purchase
colorless,inhospitable,even empty-looking a few years ago in Cairo. The dealer
although in fact they contain very beau- who sold them said they came fromthe
tifuland preciousthings. It is not enough Delta and his word is corroboratedto a
to show such things. Each room as a great extent by the textureof the stone
whole, the museum as a whole, must at and by the peculiar dark gray and brown
least be pleasingto the sight. If it can be stainson them,similarto thoseon so many
sumptuous,a veritableexpressionof "the pieces which have been found in the city
riches of art," so much the better. And ruins of Lower Egypt. If then, as is
why should probable,they
not a museum do come from
dedicated to * -.. , . the North,
plastic art be -' that is enough
used to further in itself to
other kinds l ' xv make themin-
of aestheticen- teresting, for
joymentwhich ' <,".pjF .OWR EY the great ma-
will be bene- ;.' ONE.? jority of the
ficial in them- i '. Egyptiananti-
selves and will
'
stone
ba-eifw quitiesin our
attract people ^ ^ w museumsorig-
whomightnot ;' inatedsouthof
otherwiseseek t the Delta in
its collections? Upper Egypt;
What most ~'-? 'B but in addition
surely and l theslabs them-
widelyattracts selves present
our people to- a number of
day is music. extremely curi-
Is there any ous, if not
good reason- unique, char-
that is, any acteristics.
unsurmount- In the first
able reason- ' place, both
^i. _ '
why at certain slabs are com-
times music plete in them-
should not be selves. They
provided for A KINGWEARING THE ( ROWN OF LOWER EGYPT were not parts
themin our art LIMEsTONE of largerlime-
museums as it is in our parks, but of a stone bas-reliefs which decorated the
higherqualitythan is thereappropriate? walls of a tomb or a temple, for their
M. G. VAN RENSSELAER. edges show that they could not have
joined other stones. Blocks with roughly
BAS-RELIEFS FROM THE finished margins can often be shown
EGYPTIAN DELTA to have been parts of door-framesof
stone built into brick walls, but these
BYrearranging theThirdEgyptian Room two could not have formedparts of such
ithasprovedpossibleto placeonexhibition constructions,for one of them shows a
two small,sculptured slabs of limestone1complete border on all sides. Nor again
can we conceive of them as having been
1M.M.A. II.150.30-31. Dimensions,26x21.5 of art, because the
x 3.5 cm.,and 26.5 x 21.5 x 6 cm. The limestone made simplyas objects
appears to be of the nummulitictype although Egyptian never showed any desire to
no nummulitesare visible. make what we mightcall easel pictures.
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 BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

He did, however, make trial sketches of conscientious endeavor to return to

for his larger compositions, which he earlier traditions and at some period
carried to more or less complete states. sculptorsnot only squared offthe decora-
Some of these were experimentsin details tions in the Fifth Dynasty temples at
to be used in larger compositions;others Abusir to make hand copies of them,but
were schemes for the arrangementof they even cast details here and there to
familiar motives within the limits of a procuremoretrustworthy replicas.
space to be decorated; still others were There can be little doubt that the two
copies of existingworksto be incorporated slabs in the Third Room belong to one
in a new dec- of these classes
oration. Even of studies,trial
as early as - _ _ / . pi oieces,
c r
the Sixth Dy- copies-to say
nasty we know which would
that the sculp- perhaps be to
tormade use of ^ straintheargu-
such aids as .' : ment too far.
plaster masks ^ We can only
cast from the *. conclude that
featuresof his \ theyare not of
subject,1and it - . < the Saite or
may well be ? . . Ptolem aic
imagined that ' series of sculp-
models and ' '.
' tor'smodelsbe-
sketcheswerea cause they are
large factor in z d sing 4 notmadeofthe
t h el o n g a p- 7 J> a - fine soft lime-
prent iceship * ' ^ .ct.Dyna:ty,wn.
' f, -.h'ite stonewhichthe
whichthesear- ,;. t,.[,:~. later artisans
tists evidently '",t
.invariablyem-
served. In the '"' '".
ployed for the
"'.!
EleventhRoom ",' .:..'. ~., purpose,norare
one can see the i were
made athey qJ: finished
pen and ink . , *, .i ::i,":.~:. ":.'on back and
sketches on - ; .^. _,______ ,...:_ sides with the
stray flakes of smooth, true
whitelimestone surfacesthelate
madebyartists TITLES OF THE KING OF LJPPER AND LOWER EGYPT workman so
of the Empire LIME ;S' adzONE
of flnt, or whch treadily and so
who workedin the royal tombsat Thebes, universallyobtained. On thecontrary,they
nowpractisingthedraughtingof a profileora are leftroughhewn except on the sculp-
hieroglyphic sign,or again hastilysketching tured surfaces,still plainly showing how
in a schemefora wall to determinetheexact they were chopped out with a metal
divisionofa religioustextintocolumns. A adze, the badly nicked cutting edge of
case in the ThirteenthRoom is filledwith which was slightly curved. This rough
those models, which every later sculptor adze dressingmightindeed be taken as a
kepton hand to guidehis assistantsthrough hint of a primitivecraftsmanship. The
all the stages in carvinga capital,a statue, copperadze was inventedat the end of the
or a relief,fromthe original squaring off prehistoric periodforwoodworking. In the
of the surface to the final completionof Second Dynasty,when.the firstattempts
the minutest details. Religious art in weremade at masonry,theyworkedwithan
Egypt went throughmore than one phase adze of flint,for which they had already
'Quibell,Saqqara III, p. 112 and PI. LV. substituted one of metal in the Third
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 BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Dynasty and the latter was used on the Third Dynastytombsat Meidum. In the
Great Pyramid in the Fourth Dynasty.' known monuments of the succeeding
In later periods the chisel was commonly dynasties and later, they almost invari-
employedforthe greaterpart of the stone ably springfromthe centerof the stem.3
dressing,and whilethe less practicalchop- The bee is clumsilydrawn,remindingone
pinginstrument was always retainedit was of the hieroglyphics on the seals found in
usually only forthe edges of stones. Too the very early royal tombs at Abydos or
much stressshould not be put on the use those in the tomb decorationsat Meidum.
of the adze alone-occasionally stones Beforethe FifthDynastyit had been more
were so worked at all times-but the accurately observed, and was almost
circumstanceis at least suggestive. always given a thin wasp-like waist be-
This suggestion of an early date be- tween thorax and abdomen.4 The uraeus
comes much morecredibleon an examina- serpenthas a peculiar corrugatedband on
tionofthe reliefsthemselves. One ofthem the frontof the hood, totally unlike any-
representsthe head and shoulders of a thing in the late periods and different
king wearing the Crown of the North; even-less gracefuland studied-from the
the other,part of the titles of a Pharaoh. similar feature as drawn in the Fifth
On this latter slab the firstfour hiero- Dynasty reliefsat Abusir.5 While singly
glyphics spell the title "King of Upper these featuresmight be found as excep-
and Lower Egypt." Below are the vul- tions in any period,collectivelythey give
ture and the serpent, attributes of the an air to these signs which suggests a
two protectinggoddesseswho watchedover style not later than the Fourth Dynasty,
the Two Kingdoms of the South and or at least of a local school which pre-
North. The two animalsthemselvesdrawn servedcharacteristics of that period.
standingon hemisphericalbaskets became Turning to the other slab, this archaic
word signs for anothertitle, "Lord of the style, while possibly less tangible-less
Diadems (of the Two Kingdoms)," and readily established by referenceto other
even though there was no room for the monuments-is none the less existent.
baskets at the bottomof this littletablet, The curious Red Crown of Lower Egypt
there is every probabilitythat its maker with its stiffhigh back and the twisted
had the title in mind. Now usually each wire extendingforward,lacks the uraeus
of these two titles preceded one of the on the foreheadalmost universallyplaced
divine names assumed by every king at there,at least fromthe Middle Kingdom
his coronation,but in the dawn of Egyptian onward. It is here shown with close,
historythey are commonlyfound united straightridges from top to bottom. In
just as here, and it would seem that the all other cases it is invariably smooth
artistwas copyingor planningan inscrip- except-and this is important-the one
tion with the titles juxtaposed. Kings worn by the prehistoric King Namer,
of the firstthree dynastiesalmost invari- whose crown was of some cross-woven
ably had their titles so written; in the basket material.6 The false beard is
Fourth,Fifth,and Sixth Dynastiessuch an interesting. It is held in place by a
arrangementwas an increasingrarity,and real strap which passes under the crown
later whollyexceptional.2 and throughthe beard itself,the latter
Furthermore, the signs themselveshave fallingfromthe chin in stiff,regularcurls
a strongarchaicflavor. The leaves of the fardifferent fromthe easy, gracefulcurves
plant sign overlap each other just as 3Petrie,Medum,Pls. IX, X, XII, etc. Bor-
they do in the hieroglyphicsin the late chardt,Sa'hu-re'II, Pls. 19,28,44,47,etc.;an
mentionsof adzes made exception
'See the following is on PI. 29.
by Petrie:in the prehistoricperiod,Diospolis 4Petrie,RoyalTombs II, Pls. VIII, XXII,
parva,p. 24; II Dyn., Royal Tombs,p. 13; XXIII; Medum,PI. XVII; Borchardt, ibid.,
III Dyn.,Medum,p. 16; IV Dyn.,Pyramids of Pls. 28, 29, 3 , etc.; an exceptionis on P1. 30.
Gizeh,p. 85. 5Borchardt,
2As may readilybe seen in Gauthier,Livre ibid.,Pls.64,etc.
des RoisI, passim. 6Quibell,Hierakonpolis I, PI. XXIX.
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 BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

withwhichthe hair of Libyans,forin- lines than the early dynastic Egyptians;

stance, was representedin the Fifth theyhad larger,moremassive,and broader
Dynasty. The eye is represented witha heads and faces; their foreheads were
long line of paint drawnbackwardfrom flatter,wider, and more retreatingabove
the cornerin a way mostunusualin the their salient overhangingeyebrowridges;
Old Kingdom. It is veryinteresting to their noses were longer,more prominent,
discoverthatone of the rarecases where and less broad and flat; and finally as
it is foundis on the ThirdDynastyhead comparedto the native Egyptian'sslender
of King Khasekhem fromHierakonpolis.1pointedjaw, theyhad heavy,broad,square
Butitis inthecastofthecountenance that chins.2 So much has been reconstructed
thispieceis moststriking.The massive, by the anthropologistsfrom the skulls.
thick-setfeaturesare rendereduncom- Here we can almost say we are face to
promisingly. The beetlingbrows,wide- face with such a man in the life, with
open eye,heavycurvednose,thickpout- every feature that characterized the
inglips all have a forceful,if vulgar,ex- "Armenoid" foreigner.
pression.Everything is in markedcon- The foreignersintermingledwith the
trasttothegraceaffected byFifthDynasty people of the Delta and the mixed stock
sculptors, whoadopteda convention with that resulted became the ruling class of
a refined,slenderface,a delicately
modeled Lower Egypt just beforethe great pyra-
profile,an oblique,narroweye,and sensi- mids of Gizeh were built. Could we
tive lips. hazard a guess, we might say that here
In fact,the cast of countenance here we have a figureof that period,drawn in
maybe unhesitatingly calledun-Egyptianthe Delta, where the foreignrace had
so far as we knowthat art in its usual made the strongestimpresson the people
UpperEgyptianmanifestations. Butcon- and where its featureswere for the time
sideringwhat an accumulationof the familiarenoughin every-dayintercourse.
pointstouchedon aboverelatesthesetwo In style we are justifiedin seeing in
pieces to the periodwhichended with thesetwo littletabletssamplesof the work
the Fourth Dynasty, and consideringof about 2900 B. C. and they therefore
theiroriginin theDelta,thereis a possible merit an unusual attention. That they
explanationof the foreignaspect of the are actual works of the period is a point
faceoftheking. to be treated with more caution. It is
ElliottSmith,in hisstudieson thephy- always possiblethat they are copies made
sical remainsof the ancientEgyptians, by some sculptor of a later date, but
discovered thatat thedawnofhistory the even if this be the case thereare so many
peopleoftheNilevalleywereofonehomo- unusual and characteristically archaic
geneousrace, but that duringthe first featuresabout them both that we must
dynastiesthereenteredthe Delta a people accept themas veryfaithfuland conscien-
of what has been termed"Armenoid" tiousreplicasiftheyare not to be regarded
stock,whohaveat all timeswithinhuman as originals.
knowledge madeup the greatsubstratum H. E. W.
ofthepeopleofAnatoliaandSyria. They
werebuilton farsturdier 2ElliottSmith,Arch.Surveyof Nubia, Bul-
and morerobust letin vol.II, pp.27,34;
6, p. 22; Report1907-08,
ibid,PI.XXXIX.
1Quibell, AncientEgyptians,p. o108.

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