Egyptian sculpture

168 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

Egyptian art, before the Greek influence overwhelmed Egypt under the Ptolemies. The style is not so good as the head of Hakar, but there is something pleasing in the expression of the face which partially atones for the roughness of the work. Note how the eye protrudes beyond the brow, and how thoroughly conventional is the treatment of both eye and ear. The memes head-dress is represented as sketchily as possible; compare it with the same type of head-dress even as late as the New Kingdom.

The torso of Nectanebo I shows the want of artistic appreciation so noticeable in the Late Period. It is carved in black basalt; unfortunately the head and arms are broken off, so that nothing remains but the figure from the shoulders to the knees. The lappets of the head-dress are of the type of the Late Period, so also is the pleated loin-cloth which the king wears. The muscles of the body are indicated merely by rounded masses, for the artist has not realised, as did his predecessor of earlier times, that there is a bony as well as a muscular structure underlying the skin. The collar-bone is indicated as a thick, circular ring at the base of the neck; the breast muscles are represented by a rounded swelling set below the lappets of the head-dress, considerably too low for their natural position. As in all these late statues a great feature is made of the navel, which here is represented in the hollow of the abdominal muscles as a round hole with a sharp edge. The general effect of this statue is of infinite care combined with unintelligent and unobservant copying. The polish on this fragment should be noted, as it is of the vitreous quality so characteristic of the Late Period.

RELIEFS

The great sculpture of Shishak I in the temple of Karnak is one of the chief examples of hollow relief of the Late Period.