Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/287

 Sculpture under the Second Theban Emtire. ■D/ sloping brow, and woolly poll ; the Asiatic, an Assyrian perhaps, with his regular, finely-chiselled profile and his knotted head- dress, are easily recognized. The movement of these two figures is also happy, its only defect is its want of variety. The same remarks may be applied to those sculptures on the external walls of the small temple at Abydos, which represent the soldiers belonging to the legion of the Chardanes or Sharuten, the supposed ancestors of the Sardinians. Their picturesque costume and singular arms have been described more than once. A metal stem and a ball between two crescent- shaped horns surmount their helmets ; they are tall and slender, with small heads and short round noses. ^ The finest statue of Rameses II. that has come down to our time is, perhaps, the one in the Turin Museum (Fig. 222). Its Fig. 221. — Prisoners of war; Ramesseum. From ChampoUion, pi. 322. execution is most careful, and its state of preservation marvellous. The head is full of individuality and distinction. One of the king's sons is shown, on a very small scale, leaning against the foot of his father's seat. Boulak possesses the upper part of a broken statue of Rameses, which is not inferior to this in artistic merit. The contours are singularly pure and noble. Most of those who are authorities on the subject agree that art fell into decay towards the end of Rameses the second's long reign of sixty-seven years. Carried away by his mania for building, the king thought more of working rapidly than well. In his impatience to see his undertakings finished, he must have begun by using up ^ Ch. Blanc, Vbyage dans la Haute-Egypte, p. 74, pi. 31. VOL. IL L L