Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/208

 184 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. the double to which it belonged. Whether it was copied from a sitter or bought ready-made, the statue became from the moment of its consecration an auxiHary body for the double. It preserved more of the appearance of life than the corpse saturated with mineral essences and hidden under countless bandages ; the half- open smiling lips seemed about to speak, and the eyes, to which the employment of enamel and polished metal give a singular brilliance, seemed instinct with life. The first statues produced by the Egyptians were sepulchral in character, and in the intentions both of those who made them and of those who gave the commissions, they were portraits, executed with such fidelity that the double should confidingly attach himself to them and not feel that he had been despoiled of his corporeal support. As the power and wealth of the Egyptians grew, their artistic aspirations grew also. They rose by degrees to the con- ception of an ideal, but even when they are most visibly aiming at grandeur of style the origin of their art may still be divined ; in their happiest and most noble creations the persistent effect of their early habits of thought and behef is still to be surely traced. § 2. Sculpture under the A^icient Evipire. The most ancient monument of sculpture to which we can assign, if not a date, at least a chronological place in the list of Egyptian kings, is a rock-cut monument in the peninsula of Sinai. This is in the Wadi-maghara, and represents Snefrou, the last monarch of the third dynasty, destroying a crouching barbarian with his mace. In spite of its historic importance, we refrain from producing this bas-relief because its dilapidated state takes away its interest from an artistic point of view.^ There are, besides, other statues in existence to which egypto- logists ascribe a still greater age. The Louvre contains three before which the historian of art must halt for a moment. Two of these are very much alike, and bear the name of a personage called Sepa, who enjoyed the style and dignity of prophet and priest of the white hill. The third is the presentment All the monuments in the Wadi-maghara are figured in the Deukmcelej- of Lepsius (part ii. plates 2, 39, and 61) ; casts of them have also been made.