Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/820

* EGYPTIAN ART. 710 EGYPTIAN ART. and well preserved, but the {rroup at Kamak is the most momimcntal and artistie in Kgjpt, the work of many mouarchs of the Middle and New Empires. Its hypostyle hall, 50 X 100 meters, had a central uave with twelve of the highest columns ever used in Eg>pt, and aisles formed of 122 columns in nine rows. The capitals were of many orders. In this hypostyle hall the bell shape was used in the centre, the lotus in the aisles, the proto-Dorie plinth with si.teen-sided columns was used there in the colonnade of Thothmes III. Alany lloral designs, like the palm, were used to vary the bell capital, and a similar variety of design appears in the lotus capital, which bears sometimes a clustered bundle of the stalks, sometimes the flower. Finally, the late so-called Athor capital was dec- orated with female heads on each side. Besides these types of capitals, there was little design of an architectural character. The walls of every building, sloping inward as they rose, and thus giving a pyramidal effect to the structure, were crowned by a cavetto cornice; below it and around the openings and down the angles the clustered torus is used. No other moldings, no other cornice, no other details appear. On the other hand, the surface decora- tion was wonderfully full and varied. The columns were covered with designs and so was every inch of the walls. The favorite form was that of extremely low relief or incised sculp- ture, brilliantly colored, and arranged in syste- matic series of panoramic pictures, according to an elaborate mythological or historic system. In this development of temple architecture we can only divine the share taken by the Middle Empire (Eleventh and Twelfth dynasties), be- cause only fragments remain of this age, at Bu- bastis, Karnak. etc. It was the great kings of the New Empire, the Thothmes, Amenhoteps, Setis, and Kameses, the conquerors of the East, who were the greatest builders ; and after them no revival comes until the Ptolemaic age. There were two classes of temples of different type, both of them connected with tomb architecture. One series is that of the rock-cut temples with scul|)tured facades, of which the most famous are at .Vbu Sinibel (q.v.), the work of Rameses II., their facades decorated with colossal stat- ues, and their halls an imitation of the free- standing temples. Then come the royal tombs of the New Empire, dug deep into the mountain, as at Bab-el-Moluk, and the corresponding sepulchral temples. Of these the greatest is that of Queen Hatasu at Deir-el-Bahari. uniquely picturesque and new in type, partly excavated and partly built. Others approach more the usual type, as the Ramesseum, not far from it, and the Temple of Rameses III. at Medinet Habu. A great deal more of the civil and military architecture of Egypt has heen preserved than in any other ancient civilization until late Hellenic times. At Thebes, Memphis, Bubastis, and many other cities, whole quarters remain; and the fortresses of Abydos, El-Kab, and Sem- nch, though of early date, are in excellent pres- ervation, as are also the fortified walls of many cities, such as San. SaTs, and Thebes. The New Empire at once adopted the Asiatic type of fortifications with which its wars had famil- iarized it, and substituted stone for bricks. In all private houses of any size the inner court and the flat roof were prominent features. The largest were hidden away in a garden or park, surrounded by high walls, and, besides the main residence, had many subordinate buildings, often as complete as those of a mediaeval monastery. ScuLtTLRE. While it seems probable that Babylonian architecture produced works of monumental importance at a much earlier dale than did the architecture of Egypt, it was quite the reverse with sculpture. The religious beliefs of the Egyptians led their early artists carefully to observe and copy the human figure in order to reproduce accurately each individual after death, so that the spirit and soul, the 6a and the ka. should recognize their earthly tenement and be reunited to it. Consequently the best early Babylonian sculi)turcs (those of Tello) seem lifeless and hard compared with the early Egyp- tian statuary. The sculptors were extremely prolific. The greatest collection is, of course, in the museum at Ghizeh; others of first im- portance are those of the Louvre, the British Museum, the Vatican, Florence. Turin, The Hague, and Berlin. A large proportion, however, of the works remain in silu, in the temples and tombs, both colossal statuary and series of reliefs, especially in the temples of Abydos, Edfu, Ipsanibul. Phihe. and Thebes, and in the tombs at and near Beni-Hassan, ^lemphis, and Thebes. All the sculptures of the Old Empire have been found in tombs and have some funerary con- nection or sigiiilicance. They are far more real- istic than later works, and often have consider- able value as portraits. The colossal and official style does not arise until the Middle Empire in connection with temple architecture, reaching its climax under the Rameses and Setis of the Xcw Empire. From the beginning plastic art was used to illustrate the daily life of the people. Each tomb contained a faithful detailed repre- sentation of the possessions, occupations, person, and family of the deceased, as well as scenes of his future life. In the inner chamber were sever- al statues as he or she appeared in life; in the chamber of offerings were other statues, the table of offerings, and especially a series of scenes in low relief, usually colored quite bril- liantly on a stucco gromid. not shaded, but laid on in broad masses and with strong contrasts. In the New Empire two other forms besides the low relief became popular — sunken relief {cavo- relievo) and outline relief (stiarciato) — with the result of making sculpture even more picto- rial in effect. There was never much work done in high relief, and that was nearly all during the Old Empire. The methods of quarrying, transporting, blocking out, carving, finishing, and polishing sculptures, whether in relief or in the round, are among the scenes repre- sented. It is interesting that the Greek tradi- tion of the use of wood by Egyptian sculptors in the earliest times should be borne out by the dis- covery of a number of wooden statues of the Old Empire, chief of which is the famous standing figure of an oflicial nicknamed the SItrikrI-hcled (Ghizeh !Mnseum). Acacia and sycamore were among the woods used: appa- rently a sacred significance was attached to this material, as, later, among the Greeks. Basalt, diorite, and red granite were the favorite stones for statuary, while relief-; were mostly in softer varieties, as limestone and sandstone. At a late