Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/301

 The Art of the Saite Period. together with another very similar to it, at Mitrahineh, upon the site of ancient Memphis, might easily be taken at first sight for a production of the early centuries (Figs. 230 and 231). It formed the lintel to the door of a house dating from the Greek or Roman period, for which purpose it had doubtless been carried off from some tomb.^ At one end a dignified individual is seated upon a low-backed chair, in his left hand he holds the long wand of office, in his right a ribbon. His name and titles are engraved in front of him : he w^as a writer, and was called Psemethek-nefer-sam, A scribe bends respectfully before him and introduces a procession of men, women, and children, who bring offerings of various kinds, jars of liquid, coffers, flowers, birds, and calves led by a string. It is the favourite theme of the mastabas over aeain. The attitudes Fig. 2^1. — Continuation of Fi'. 2^o. are similar, but the execution is different. There is a lack of firmness and rotundity in the modelling, and considerably more striving after elegance. The children especially should be noticed ; the fashion in which they all turn towards their elders betrays a desire on the part of the artist to give freshness and piquancy to his composition. Most of those bronze figures of the gods, which are so plentiful in the European museums, date from this period. We have repro- duced several of them in our chapter upon the Egyptian pantheon (Figs. 34-37,' 'ol. I.). With the advent of Alexander and his ^ Mariette, Xoiice du Musce, Xos. 35-6.