Volume II Part 26 (1/2)
M Soldi is inclined to think that at one period at least the Egyptians used stone weapons rather than metal ones in their attacks upon the harder rocks He tells us that he hiranites of various hardness with a cohbourhood of Paris He has done the sa off s its surface with the help of jasper ”Thisand tedious, and the jasper, though harder than the diorite, is greatly daed in the process But yet it proves that a statue reat consumption of time and patience”[301] We must also remember that the hardest rocks are easier to cut when they are first drawn from the quarry, than after they have been exposed for a time to the air
[301] SOLDI, _Les Arts Meconnus_, p 492 (1 vol 8vo, Leroux, 1881)
The colours in the bas-reliefs are toous to deteryptian implements were made But the for are to be found there A bas-relief in the tomb of Ti, in which the manufacture of sepulchral statues is shown, is the oldest250) On the left two journey out a statue Each holds in his left hand[302] a long and slender tool which cannot be other than a chisel; this he strikes with a ha another statue, upon which the chisel has finished its work
It is i-shaped tools which they use are of stone or wood As for the statues theures similar to those which were actually found in the to 183) In the to the fore-paws of a lion (Fig 251) His blows are vertical instead of horizontal, but his instruments are identical with those shown in the tomb of Ti From the fifth dynasty to the time of the Rameses, the same bronze chisel and pear-shaped mallet had held their own[303]
[302] It has escaped M Perrot's notice that one is left-handed--ED
[303] Upon the different kinds of chisels used by the Egyptian sculptors, see SOLDI, _La Sculpture egyptienne_, pp 53 and 111
He includes the toothed chisel and the gouge
[Illustration: FIG 250--Bas-relief fros at Thebes show us the process of executing a royal colossus in granite (Figs 252 and 253) Standing upon the plinth and upon the planks of a scaffold, several workmen do their best to hasten the completion of the work, which is already far advanced Seated upon the top the front of the pschent; another stands behind the i his palette in one hand and his brush in the other, spreads his colours upon its posterior support It ed with both hands upon the chest of the statue For an answer to that question we must turn to the second picture, in which we are shown a seated colossus under the hands of itsuse of two implements With his left hand he applies to the face of the statue a pointed instrument, which he is about to strike with the object held in his right This action will cause splinters to fly froranite These two instruments are the same as those wielded by the work colossus The latter seems, however, to pause for awith his work One of these tools is the _point_ of stone or metal, the other acts as nised in the hand of the man who is at work upon the seat of the statue; he, however, uses it without any ha upon one of the cross-pieces of the scaffolding he beats with all his force upon the stone The as perhaps begun in this fashi+on In the sa the final touches which is figured above occurs (Fig 254) In this painting the polishi+ng tool is a disk, si 253 The figure on the left carries in a saucer the powder used for polishi+ng the granite In his right hand he holds a kind of brush which was used for spreading the powder upon the surfaces to be rubbed
[304] This eneral significance of the co the final polish to the surface of the statue Co 252--ED
[Illustration: FIG 251--Bas-relief at Thebes (Cha 255 shoork a _tet_ with a kind of hatchet or mattock, which he uses much as if it were aat Thebes (Champollion, pl
161)]
The only doubt that reyptian sculptors in their attacks upon the granite Were their mallets and _points_ of stone or of metal? They could only dispose of instruments which, with the exception of the chisel, were incompatible with really delicate workmanshi+p With the latter instrument the skilful carver can obtain any effect he requires from a material which is neither too hard nor too soft--such as yptians struck their finest work do not lend themselves kindly to the chisel To obtain the effects required they had to expend as much time and patience upon them as upon their works of architecture But in spite of the industry and skill of workmen who did not count their hours, there must always have been a certain inequality and rudeness in works carried out by instruments that bruised and shattered rather than cut The stubbornness of the material, and the defects of the tools eer of spoiling his figure when roughing it out, the artist was compelled to err on the side of over solidity and heaviness; he was obliged tolike delicacy or slightness of parts
On the other hand, he was forced to fine down and al forularities due to the rude and uncertain nature of his i at Thebes (Champollion, pl 161)]
[Illustration: FIG 254--Painting at Thebes (Champollion, pl 161)]
All this explains the absolute necessity for the supporting blocks reserved by the Egyptian sculptor at the back of his statues, and for the great in with, the comparative slenderness of the attacher The repeated blows struck by the ht break it off unless precautions were taken We find, therefore, that the _klaft_ head-dress was introduced as often as possible Its large ends fell down upon each breast, and acted as buttresses to the head When the _klaft_ was not used the hair was brought together in a solid th to the neck Weand thick beard, the shape of which was modified under the pressure of the saed and turned up at the end, as we see it in the paintings ”The head covering, which is sometimes very tall and slender, is always supported at the back for nearly the whole of its height and width The figure itself is supported either at the back or the side by a pier of varying thickness”[305] The stone is left between the two legs when one is thrust forward, between the ar could have been easier than to remove these masses, after the as otherwise complete, by means of the drill But that instrument, by which the necessary holes could have been yptians They could only have re processes we haveof an ar The hardest materials are also, in a sense, the most brittle If it was difficult for the sculptor to free the limbs and head of his statue from the rock in which they were partly imprisoned, how much ive the, for instance, or fighting The beauty and expressiveness of such movements did not escape his observation, but a want of o their reproduction
[305] E SOLDI, _La Sculpture egyptienne_, pp 41, 42
[Illustration: FIG 255--Painting at Thebes (Champollion, pl 186)]
[Illustration: FIG 256--Bronze statuette Actual size Boulak]
The truth of these observations is confirmed by the fact that when the chisel cayptian sculptor shook himself free of more than one of those despotic conventions which tyrannized over the makers of the royal colossi The wooden statues have no supporting s are separated and free; the arer fixed to the sides, but are often bent into easy positions (Fig 7, Vol I, and Fig 178) We e of the freedoiven to works in the latter ured upon this page (Fig 256) The liures are not so free Convenient instru, and, moreover, there was a certain temptation to imitate those statues in the harder rocks which were looked upon as the highest achieveures were often supported by a s were imbedded Sometimes, however, this support was absent, and in that case attitudes becas 192, 194, 195, Vol II), perfect ease and suppleness being often attained Further confirmation of our theory is afforded by those little ornamental articles which may be referred to the industrial rather than the fine arts In theures of men and animals introduced with the rouping and the facility hich the most lively actions are pressed into the service of the artist, are re girls which foriven as instances of this (Fig 257) The qualities which are so conspicuous in these little works are absent froypt, because the materials and tools eenius of the Egyptian people fro complete fruition
[Illustration: FIG 257--Spoon for perfumes Louvre Drawn by Saint-Elnized in the eneral forms are fairly well understood and expressed, but there is none of that power to suggest the muscles under the skin, and the bones under the uishes Greek sculpture The suppleness and elasticity of living flesh are entirely wanting Everything is in its place, but details are as much suppressed as if the ere to be seen at a distance at which they would be invisible
The admirable portraits which have been unearthed in such nu of many an isolated work, prove that it was neither the power of observation nor that of yptians failed to advance farther upon the road that led to ranite Even when they worked in soft stone their overned by the capabilities of the ive those truthful and delicate contours without which no sculpture can reach perfection, and the chisel could hardly be used on any ranite or basalt statue, roughly blocked out with tools which iht to completion with the sand or emery of the polisher No refinement of execution could be hoped for under such conditions Every surface was flattened and every expressive ridge smoothed down, and the appearance of superficial finish thus obtained involved many sacrifices