Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/228

 138 A History of Art ix Ancient Egypt. chance of duration to the double ; twenty statues represented twenty chances more. Hence the astonishing number of statues which are sometimes found in a single tomb. The images of the dead w^ere multiplied by the piety of surviving relations, and con- sequently the double was assured a duration which practically amounted to immortality.^ We shall see that a special recess was prepared in the thickness of the built up portion of the tomb for the reception of wooden or stone statues, so that they might be kept out of sight and safe Fig. 88. — Man and his w ife in the style of the 5th dynasty. Calcareous stone. From the Louvre, from all indiscreet curiosity. Other effigies were placed in the chambers of the tomb or the courts in front of it. Finally, we know that persons of consideration obtained from the king per- mission to erect statues in the temples, where they were protected by the sanctity of the place and the vigilance of the priests."^ ^ Maspero, Confcrefice, p. 381. ■^ Maspero, Notes siir differentes Points de Grammaire et d' Histoire, p. 155. (In the Recueil de Travaiix relatifs a la Philologie et a F Anheologie Egyptieiuie et Assyrienne, vol. i.)