Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/179

 Our Method in the Study of this Architecture. 95 temples ; we shall, to speak figuratively, have taken them to pieces, and by means of the knowledge acquired we shall endeavour to make our readers acquainted with the notions of the Egyptians upon sepulchral and religious architecture, and with the changes which those conceptions underwent in the course of centuries. Thus, for example, we have explored the pages of Lepsius ^ and Prisse d' Avenues ' for information relating to the sepulchres of the first six dynasties, and further researches have been made on the spot expressly for the present work, but we shall not give any descriptions or illustrations of those works individually ; we shall merely use them for an ideal restoration of the characteristic tomb- house of the ancient empire. We may, perhaps, for this purpose, make a more particular reference to one or two sepulchres which are in unusually good preservation, but only for the sake of giving firm definition to the type and to its main variations. By this analytical method of treatment we shall be enabled to give an account, which shall be at once accurate and not too long, of the constructive processes employed by the Egyptians, of the general aspect of their buildings, and of the modifications enforced by the decorative forms of which they made use. We shall be enabled to see how far those forms were decided by natural conditions, by ancient tradition, or by special wants. We shall thus include in a single chapter all that relates to principal or accessory openings, to doors and their construction, to those loftily placed windows which were calculated to give so little light. In another chapter we shall discuss the column and its capital ; we shall describe the variations produced by time and materials upon its proportions and its entasis. Each assertion will be justified by reference to characteristic examples. In this matter our only 1 DenkvicEler aus ^^^ypten und ^thiopie)i (from drawings of the expedition sent into Egypt in 1842, which remained there till 1845), 12 vols, folio. Berlin, no date. 2 Histoire de I'Art egyptien d'aprh les Monuments depuis les Temps les plus recuces jusqua la Domination romaine, 2 vols. Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1878. The text (i vol. 4to.), published after the death of Prisse, has this great inconvenience, that i-t is not always easy to distinguish what belongs to the editor, M. Ivlarchandon de la Faye, from the contributions of Prisse, who was one of the most practical and ex- perienced of egyptologists. The papers, sketches, and drawings left by Prisse became the property, in 1880, of the Bibliotheque Nationale ; when they are classified and published we shall probably find among them several interesting documents ; we have only been able hurriedly to look through them, when the illustrations to this work were already prepared. It is desirable that a complete inventory of these collections should be made as soon as possible.