Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/245

 Sculpture under the Ancient Empire. 21 before the table of offerings (Fig. 200), sometimes standing upright (Figs. 57 and 1 20, Vol. I.). But the sculptor did not restrict himself to these two motives. In the preparation and presentation of the funeral gifts he found many themes, to which he was able to give more or less development according to the space at his command. Even in the earliest attempts that have come down to us, the Eg)'ptian sculptor shows a complete grasp of the peculiar features of the domesticated animals of the country. Men accustomed to the careful study of the human figure could make light of render- ing those of beasts, with their more striking distinctions between one species and another. In the time when the oldest existing tombs were constructed, the ass was already domesticated in Egypt. Then as now, he was the most indispensable of the ..'^■■^ - y Fig. 201. — Eas-relief from the Tomb of Ti, Sakkarah. servants of mankind. There were, in all probability, as many donkeys In the streets of Memphis under Cheops as there are now in Cairo under Tewlik. Upon the walls of the mastabas we see them trotting in droves under the cries and sticks of their drivers (Fig. 201), we see the foals, with their awkward gait and long pricked ears, walking by the sides of their mothers (Fig. 202), the latter are heavily laden and drag their steps : the drivers brandish their heavy sticks, but threaten their patient brutes much oftener than they strike them. This is still the habit of those donkey boys, who, upon the E she kick, naively offer you '' M. de Lesseps' donkey." The bas-relief to which we are alluding consists only of a slight outline, but that outline is so accurate and full of character, that we have no difficulty In Identifying the ass of Egypt, with his graceful carriage of the head and easy, brisk, and dainty motion. VOL. II. Y Y