Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/341

 The Tomb under the Middle Empire. 251 traditions of the Ancient Empire are still full of vitality. " The spirit which governed the decorators of the tomb of Ti at Sakkarah still inspired the painters who covered the walls of the tomb of Numhotep at Beni-Hassan. The defunct is at home among his own possessions ; he fishes and hunts, his cattle defile Fig. 167. — Facade of a tomb at Beni-Hassan, showing some of the adjoining tombs. before him, his people build boats, cut down trees, cultivate the vine and gather the grapes, till the earth, or give themselves up to gymnastics or to games of skill and chance, and among them the figure of the dead is carried hither and thither in a palanquin. We have already found pictures like these in the mastabas of the Ancient Empire, and here we find them again.