Volume II Part 8 (2/2)

Wevariations upon the cahteenth dynasty (Fig

82), and that of Thoth 83) The capital of the forested by a bunch of pal outwards the extremity of each leaf for 82) The architect herein nature, but in the Ptolemaic temples we find the palm tree copied in a far more literal fashi+on

There are capitals at Esneh coes about the central shaft and copied leaf for leaf Soled with the leaves

[Illustration: FIG 80--Column from the Great Hall at Karnak; _Description_, iii 30]

[Illustration: FIG 81--Column from the Hypostyle Hall of the Ramesseum; from horeau]

The other capital to which we have alluded as occurring in the work of Thothmes at Karnak, is shaped like a suspended bell The upper part of the shaft swells slightly so as to coincide with the outer rim of the bell; it is encircled with fillets belohich is cut a vertical band of hieroglyphs The capital is decorated with leaves growing doards and on the whole itthe companiform type reversed

[Illustration: FIG 82--Column of Soleb; from Lepsius, part i, pl

117]

[Illustration: FIG 83--Column of Thothmes at Karnak; from Lepsius, part i, pl 81]

In this coiven to the Egyptian coluht, if we had chosen, have included other varieties; and yet we do not think we have oured them to one scale so that their relative proportions can be at once grasped, and we have now to analyse the methods in which they were allied with their supports and superstructures For that purpose we shall have to reproduce several of the piers and coluer scale and in perspective instead of elevation We count upon these reproductions to show the individual characteristics of the Egyptian orders and the origin of their peculiar physiognomy

When the architects of the New E it either capital or base, they covered it with bas-reliefs and inscriptions Thus adorned it could be used without incongruity in rich and elaborate compositions The truth of this statele fro 84)[100]

[100] See also p 396, Vol I, and Fig 230

The firm and simple lines of the pier contrast ith the modest projection of the stylobate and the bolder profile of the cornice, and help, with the double base, to give dignity and solidity to the encircling portico

When the pier is honoured with a capital, that capital does not in the least rese, in its essence, a vertical section of wall, it is treated as such, and given for crown a capital composed exactly in the sayptian wall Between this quasi-capital and the architrave a low abacus is introduced (Fig 85)

The figure on page 109, represents one of the seven osiride piers in the first court of the temple at Medinet-Abou The pier at the back of the statue is slightly wider than the base upon which the latter stands At each side of the Pharaoh one of his children stands sculptured in very high relief, alnity of the colossus the sculptor has bent his head slightly backwards so as to obtain a natural support for his lofty and complicated head-dress Thanks to this artifice the head-dress in question is securely allied to the htly thicknesses of stone, and the expression of the whole glypto-architectural group is rendered th in repose which is the characteristic of Egyptian architecture[101]

[101] There is no pier at Medinet-Abou in so perfect a condition as that figured by us In order to complete our restoration, for so it is, we had the use of drawings which had beenone figure with another we obtained all the details necessary

The next illustration (Fig 87) shows the upper part of a polygonal column with a hathoric capital of the oldest andthe Sait dynasties, the mask of the Goddess was repeated upon the four sides of the column, and sometimes superimposed upon a bell-shaped capital In this instance, where there is but one lyphs below it serves to show that the face where it occurs is the principal one

[Illustration: FIG 84--Corner pier from the temple at Elephantine; from the elevation in the _Description_, i 36]

This capital is one of the yptian art

Why, out of all the yptian Gods and Goddesses, was Hathor alone selected for such a distinction? What is theof the small naos or shrine upon her head? The explanation is still uncertain Perhaps it is to be found in the si of Horus This capital is found in the to 88) a hathoric pier frohteenth dynasty; it is now in the museum at Boulak The anterior face displays the mask of Hathor over the symbol _tet_, which has been interpreted to s down upon her breast

[102] See PIERRET, _Dictionnaire d'Archeologie egyptienne_

[Illustration: FIG 85--Pier with capital, Karnak; from the elevation of Prisse]

On a colulyphs repeated upon four faces (Fig 89) The flutes of this column are unusually numerous and closely spaced, and it therefore approaches the true cylindrical fors the shaft at every point, still serves to recall the monolithic pier and the tablet which was reserved at its suive freer passage to the light

The faggot-shaped colu 90) is not to be explained by any theory of development from the pier We have reproduced its upper and lower extreether with the entablature and flat roof which it supports The extreyptians to their columns is a curious feature Shaft and capital may be carved into various shapes and adorned with the most brilliant colours, but the base is always perfectly bare and simple Between one column and another there is no difference in this respect except in size The only attelyphs engraved, as at the Ra 91) On the other hand, the lower part of the shaft is always richly decorated The principal element in this decoration is the circlet of leaves which are found both in the faggot-shaped columns and in those whose shafts are smooth In the latter, however, the ornament is carried farther than in the forer leaves, which mount up the shaft and burst into leaf at the top Above these, again, come the royal ovals, surmounted by the solar disk between two uraeus serpents

In the upper part of the colu 90), the pendants which fill the re-entering angles and the four rings at the top of the shaft, the pointed leaves and other orna painted in colours, yellow and blue, which will be found reproduced in Prisse's plate We should have liked to give one of these columns with all its coloured decorations, but we hesitated to do so because ere not satisfied with the accuracy as to tone and tint of those coloured plates which had been introduced into previous works And ished to give no coloured reproductions except those made expressly from the monuments themselves, as in the case of the tomb from the Ancient Empire whose painted decorations are produced in plates xiii and xiv

It will be observed that in this case the abacus does not extend beyond the architrave, as it does in the Doric order of the Greeks