Egyptian sculpture

172 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

best period for hieroglyphs, the forms of the signs should be compared with the Ptolemaic inscriptions, and it will be seen at once that the Pharaonic artist is superior to his successor in better spacing as well as in the rendering of more slender and graceful forms. The sun-god Ra, who is the deity adored here, is represented in the usual form of a human being with the head of a falcon, surmounted with the disk of the sun. From the disk there emerge the head and tail of the uraeus; this combination of disk and serpent is not known till the New Kingdom. The flat slope of the falcon’s head-dress from the crown of the head to the shoulders is also characteristic of the Late Period; so also is the corselet with shoulder-straps, reminiscent of a woman's costume. Armlets, bracelets, and anklets are rare on figures of gods till the later times. The long transparent cloak and long wig of the worshipper are features which begin in the XIXth dynasty, but the method of arrangement of the cloak and the elaborate ornament on the head show a late date. The drawing of the figure is entirely conventional, indicating no real knowledge; there are, for instance, two right hands. There is, however, an unsuccessful and unconvincing attempt at realism in the feet. The table of offerings in the middle, piled with fruit, flowers, cakes, and other food, is completely conventionalised; the objects below the table, which should represent wine-jars decorated with garlands, are hardly recognisable. A rare adjunct to the main motif on a painted stele is the scene of the cemetery in the desert with a solitary mourner sitting among a group of trees, among which stands a table covered with offerings. The trees are represented in the same style as in the XIXth dynasty, though more crudely. Landscapes are so rarely represented in Egyptian art that they are interesting wherever they occur.

The round-topped painted stele of Zedsankh (PI. XLIX. 2)