Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/328

 238 A History of Art IxNT Ancient Egypt, was able to admire his serene smile, his head enframed in a richly carved wig which added to its size and dignity. His body was never more than roughly blocked out, but a painted decoration, of which traces may still be found, compensated in some degree for the deficiencies in the modelling. The soil around each pyramid was carefully levelled and paved with dressed limestone slabs. Upon this pavement rested the foundations of the stylobate surrounding the pyramid. Both stylobate and pavement are now in almost every case concealed by sand and ddbris, but at the pyramid of Chephren, which is less Fig. 157. — The Sphinx. banked up than the others, traces of them have been proved to exist. They added somewhat to the imposing effect of those monuments upon the eye, and gave additional definition to their bases.i The area thus paved was inclosed with a wall, which had an opening towards the east, in front of which the temple, or funerary chapel of the pyramid, was raised. The latter, no doubt, ■ Description de VEgypte, vol. v. p. 643. See also in the plates, Antiqiiites, vol. v. pi. xvi. fig. 2. According to Jomard, the surbase of the second pyramid was in two parts — a stylobate, 10 feet high and 5 feet thick, and a plinth about 3 feet high.