Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/241

 Sepulchral Architecture. 151 epigraphs we may cite the long inscription of Ouna, which Skives us the Hfe of a sort of grand-vizier to the two first Kings of the sixth dynasty ; ^ also the inscriptions upon the tombs of those feudal princes who were buried at Beni-Hassan. In the latter there are historical representations as commentaries upon the text. Among these is the often reproduced painting of a band of Asiatic emigrants bringing presents to the prince and demanding, perhaps, a supply of wheat in return, like the Hebrews in the time of Jacob. But all this is exceptional. As a rule the same subjects occur upon the tombs again and again, in the persistent fashion which characterizes traditional themes. The figures by which the flocks and herds and other possessions of the deceased were numbered are too great for literal truth. '^ On the other hand the pictured tradesmen and artificers, from the labourer, the baker, and the butcher up to the sculptor, seem to apply themselves to their work with an energy which excludes the notion of ideal felicity. They, one and all, labour conscientiously, and we feel that they are carrying out a task which has been imposed upon them as a duty. For whose benefit do they take all this trouble ? If we attempt to enter into the minds of the people who traced these images and compare the pictured representations with the texts which accom- pany them, we shall be enabled to answer that question. Let us take by chance any one of the inscriptions which accompany the scenes figured upon the famous tomb of Ti, and here is what we find. " To see the picking and pressing of the grape and all the labours of the country." Again, " To see the picking of the flax, the reaping of the corn, the transport upon donkeys, the stacking of the crops of the tomb." Again, " Ti sees the stalls of the oxen and of the small animals, the gutters and water-channels of the tomb." It is for the dead that the vintage takes place, that the flax is picked, that the wheat is threshed, that oxen are driven into the fields, that the soil is ploughed and irrigated. It is for the supply of his wants that all these sturdy arms are employed. We shall leave M. Maspero to sum up the ideas which presided at the construction of the Egyptian tomb, but first we must draw 1 De RouGfe, Memoire sur les Monuments dcs six premieres Dynasties (p. 80 et seq.). Conf. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne, pp. 88-92. 2 See Mariette, Tombes de VAncien Empire, p. 88.