Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/408

 72 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. of their colours make these tiles very popular with the inhabitants of hot climates." -^ We do not know whether these tiles were used for the floors and walls in the dwellings of rich Egyptians or not, but it appears certain that their manufacture was understood even as early as the Ancient Empire. The doorway of a chamber in the stepped pyramid of Sakkarah is enframed with enamelled plaques. A sketch of Perring's, which we reproduce, gives a good idea of this arrangement (Fig. 299).^ Some of these plaques are now in London, but a still larger number are in the Berlin Museum, Fig. 298.— Enamelled faience. British Museum. Fig. 299. — Doorway in the Stepped Pyramid at Sakkarah. where the doorway as a whole has been restored, the missing parts being replaced by copies. Our Figures 300 — 302 show the back, the front, and the profile, of a single plaque. The obverse is slightly convex, and covered with a greenish-blue glaze ; the reverse has a salient tenon which was held securely by the mortar. Through a small hole in this tenon a rod of wood or metal may have passed which, by uniting all the plaques in each horizontal row, would give additional solidity to the whole arrange- 1 Brongniart, Histoire de la Ceramique, vol. ii. p. 95. ^ See also Lepsius, DeiikmcBler, part ii. pi. 2, and the Verzeiclmiss der yEgyptischen AltertJiiiiitcr of the Ijcrlin IMuseum, 2879, p. 25.