Volume II Part 7 (1/2)

However that may be, it is the fact that in a bas-relief of the fifth dynasty we find a capital presenting the outline, in full detail, of a lotus-flohich has just opened its petals (Figs 56 and 57)

Rarer and later types than these are also foreshadowed in the early bas-reliefs We shall hereafter have to speak of a campaniform capital in which the bell is not inverted, in the part constructed by Thothreat tenized in a figured pavilion at Sakkarah, dating from the sixth dynasty We reproduce it fros 58 and 59)

[Illustration: FIG 56--Bas-relief from the 5th dynasty; from Lepsius]

[Illustration: FIG 57--Details of colu 56]

[Illustration: FIG 58--Pavilion fro 59--Details of coluyptian architects made frequent use of the form of capital which is now called _hathoric_, in which aprinciple

This capital is to be seen, in a rudi fros 60 and 61) It there occurs, as will be seen by referring to our illustrations, as the roughly blocked-out head of a cow

In connection with the last two bas-reliefs, we must call attention to the fact that the structures from which they were imitated must have been erected in some kind of metal Their forms are inconsistent with the use of any other material The way in which the capital is connected with the59, and the open-work of the architrave in Fig 61, are especially suggestive

In the latter bas-relief the figures introduced are evidently behind a grille, and the whole structure is expressive of metal-work

[Illustration: FIG 60--Bas-relief from the 5th dynasty; from Lepsius]

[Illustration: FIG 61--Details of the colu 56 was also of metal, which seeht form of architecture hich we make acquaintance in the sepulchral decorations This is very clearly seen in the exas 62-65) They present forms which could only have been compassed by the use of some metal like bronze If the use offor the playful and slender grace found in some of these columns, and the ample tufted capitals of others The natural tendency in painted decorations of this kind to exaggerate the characteristics of theircoht which they have to carry, it is always inclined to elongate for instance of this Poave impossible proportions to their columns, which evidently existed no where but in their own fancies We ad of the saerated proportions and accule capital, which were not to be found co-existing in reality But, with these reserves, we think it s have preserved the general aspect of the supports eant pavilions to which they belonged The for 62 are explained, on the one hand, by the ietable forms, on the other by the behaviour of a metal plate under the hand of the workman The curve which was afterwards, under the name of a _volute_, to play such an important part in Greek architecture, was thus naturally obtained

[Illustration: FIGS 62-65--Columns from bas-reliefs (Prisse)]

It will thus be seen that during the Ancient Ehter forms of architecture were far in advance of that which made use of stone

It possessed a richness and variety of its ohich were rendered possible by the comparative ease hich wood and radually led the artist onwards to the invention of forular diversity

As for the quadrangular pier, hich the stone architecture of the Ancient Ein in the rock-cut torottos of Memphis, ”these piers (we are told) owe their existence to the natural desire to cause the light from without to penetrate to a second or even to a third chas were made in the front wall on each side of the door, and the parts of the rock which were left for support became for that reason objects of care, and finally took the form of piers The rock over these piers was the prototype of the architrave”[91]

[91] EBERS, _aegypten_, vol ii, p 186 All this passage of Ebers is, however, nothing more than an epitoyptische Kunstfor_ (in the _Transactions of the Berlin Academy_, 1871, 4to) This paper contains enious notions; but, to our mind it is over systematized, and its theories cannot all be accepted

It may be so But, on the other hand, the pier of dressed stone in It may have resulted from the obvious requirean to be supplemented by work in stone, it becaht of stone roofs Nothing could be more natural than to take a block of stone as it came from the quarry, and to set it up on end In course of time its faces would be dressed and its section accommodated to a square, for the love of symmetry is innate in man The pier may also be seen foreshadowed in the squared beams of that closed form of wooden architecture which has been already noticed

We see, then, that the earliest Egyptian art of which we have any remains comprised the principal ele the ruins of the greatthe Theban supremacy that we must attempt to form an exhaustive list of their architectural for that anic development, arrived at the complete realization of the ideal towards which it had been advancing through so enius of the Egyptians be judged

GENERAL TYPES OF SUPPORTS

In the following pages all the principal varieties of Egyptian pier and column are passed in review We believe that no type of any importance has been omitted The illustrations are all drawn to one scale of about ten feet to the inch The difference in the size of the reproductions is therefore a guide to the relative proportions of the originals, and an idea can be easily fors in which they occur

The quadrangular pier is the siht be expected, it is also the most ancient In the example which we have taken fro fro 66), an addition which is not to be found in the Te 204, vol i)

Elsewhere it tapers to the top; an instance of this, dating from a much later period, is found in the speos of Phre, at Ipsa

67) In all these cases the architrave rests directly upon the shaft, an arrangeives the pier an archaic character in spite of its base

A very different appearance was obtained when, in the time of Rameses, the pier was provided with a ures It received a capital at the sa its part in a richly-decorated building like the great te 68 is taken The sa 69 is taken from the speos of Hathor at Ipsamboul The lower part of the shaft is covered with inscriptions above which appears a ular pier; froular pier; from Gailhabaud]

[Illustration: FIG 68--Pier with capital; from Prisse]

[Illustration: FIG 69--Hathoric pier; from Gailhabaud]