Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/294

 264 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. an important role in the affairs of Egypt. While her brother Sabaco was yet aHve she was dignified with the title of regent, later she brought her rights to the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt to the usurper Piankhi, whom she married and made the father of Shap-en-Ap, who afterwards became the mother of Psemethek I. The head of Ameneritis is covered with the full- bottomed wig worn by goddesses. She holds a whip in her left hand and a sort of purse in her right ; there are bangles upon her wrist and ankles and the contours of her body are frankly dis- played beneath the long chemise-like robe, which falls almost to her ankles. The features are resolute and intelligent rather than beautiful, the squareness of the lower jaw and the firm line of the mouth being especiallysignificant, We have, then, every reason to believe this to be a good portrait. Both form and expression are just what might be ex- pected in a high-born Egyptian female pos- sessed of sovereign power. The treatment of the body is rather conventional. The bust, so Fig. 226. -Statue of Ameneritis. Alabaster. Drawn by G. Benedite. Boulak.