Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/116

 94 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. 9^ the supports. There is but one instance in the whole of Egyptian architecture of the human figure being frankly employed as a support, namely, in the case of those brackets or balconies which overhang the courts of the Royal Pavilion at Medinet-Abou (Fig. lo). But even here the support is more apparent than real, for the slabs between which the figures are crouched are upheld by the wall at their backs. In this there is nothing that can be compared to the work done by the dignified virgins of the Erectheum or the muscular giants of Agrigentum, in upholding the massive architraves confided to their strength. A last and curious variety of pier is found in the granite chambers of the Great Temple at Karnak. Upon two of their faces are carved groups of three tall stems surmounted by flowers. Upon one face these flowers are shaped like inverted bells (see Fig. 71), on the other they resemble the curling petals of the lily. Flower and stem are painted with colours which make them stand out from the red of the polished granite. These piers are two in number, and the faces which are without the decoration described are covered with finely exe- cuted sculptures in intaglio.^ These piers are 29 feet high. " Their height, as well as their situation, seems to indicate that they never bore any archi- trave. They were once, however, crowned by some royal symbol ; probably by bronze hawks, which may have been ornamented with enamel. There are many representations of such arrangements in the bas-reliefs at Karnak." ^ Supposing this hypothesis to be well founded, these piers had something in common with a stele ; had their height been less they might have been called pedestals ; had their shape been less uncom- promisingly rectangular, they might have been called obelisks. Fig. 71. — Ornamented pier Karnak. ^ See Prisse, Histoire de VArt Egypticn, pp. 359, 360. ^ Ibid.