Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/300

 270 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. for a moment, of a Greek marble. In spite of the singular attitude there is much in the execution which recalls a much more ancient work, the statue of Ouah-ab-ra, which dates from the twenty-sixth dynasty (Fig. 51, Vol. I.)^ Not less remarkable is the headless statue of a personage called Horus, which dates from about the same period (Fig. 229).'-^' It is of black granite and yet both limbs and torso are as delicately modelled as if they were of the softest limestone. The attitude of the arms is unusually easy and natural, and the whole figure is freer and less constrained than anything we find in the ancient statues. There is, too, a certain spirit of innovation discoverable in the feet. The toes are well separated and slighty bent, instead of being flat and close together.
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i^jS^ Fig. 230. — Bas-relief from Memphis. Length forty inches, height ten inclies, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin. The same style, taste, and general tendency are to be found in the steles and in the decoration of the tombs. In a few sepulchral bas-reliefs we can detect a desire to imitate the compositions on the walls of the mastabas. Such attempts were quite natural, and we need feel no surprise that the Egyptians in their decline should have turned to the artistic form and motives which had been invented in their distant and vigorous youth. The old age of many other races has shown the same tendency in their arts and literature. The beautiful band of sculpture in low relief which was found, '' De Rouge, Notice des Monuments Exposes an Rez-de-chanssee, No. 91. - ll'/deni. No. 88.