Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/71

 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. I3 lintels of the doors and windows were made of reeds in the humbler dwellings and of palm trunks in those of more pretension. Here, then, is seen a fair and likely prototype of the construc- tion of an Egyptian wall, the form of which is more suitable to a structure of ruslies overlaid with mud or puddled clay than to one consisting of large stones. Still, an important point remains — the batter or slope which is mvariably given to the walls. VioUet-le-Duc's theories as to the origin of this batter do not point to the influence of material, and this feature is alleged by him to have been introduced at a later stage, having been promulgated by a royal decree. He infers the custom to have been derived from the Pyramids, which were found to remain undisturbed during earthquakes, while straight-sided houses were upset, owing to their walls being more easily over- turned. It seems, however, more reasonable to attribute it to a mud origin, for nothing would be more natural, in order to strengthen such buildings, than to slightly tilt the bundles of reeds towards the interior, forming as it were an arch, a treatment which in any other material scarcely seems to be feasible. Proceeding to the internal architectural features of the style, a very distinct reminiscence of the primitie reeds tied together at intervals, and crowned with the lotus bud, is found in the later granite column and capital (No. 10 l, m). During the Theban kingdom especially (b c. 3000-B.c. 2100), examples in stone of capitals and columns derived from timber and reed originals are frequent. At Beni-Hasansome pillars represent a bundle of four reeds or lotus stalks bound together near the top and bulging above the ligature, so as to form a capital, in imitation of a lotus bud. Such a pier must evidently have been originally employed in wooden architecture only, and the roof which it supports, in this instance, represents a light wooden construction having the slight slope necessary in the dry Egyptian climate. This type of column was largely used in later Egyptian times in a more substantial lithic form (No. 10 m), and in conjunction with the hollow-formed capital of the bell type (No. 10 l), of which the earliest example appeared in the eighteenth dynasty. In fact, throughout, although materials changed, the forms of the early reed and clay construction were adhered to ; and the endeavour of the conservative Egyptian was to reproduce in stone and granite, superimposed in layers, the appearance assumed in the early reed and mud type. The surface decoration executed on the later granite buildings (No. 10 p), apparently came from the "sgraffito" (incised plaster) work on the earlier mud walls. The surfaces of such walls could not be modelled or carved with projections of high relief, but their Hat surfaces, when plastered, provided an admirable field for decora- tion and for instruction through the use of hieroglyphics. The