Egyptian sculpture

OLD KINGDOM 59

without undue emphasis on detail. The hands are clenched on some cylindrical object, and the type of hand with the “waisted” thumb is the same as that of the woman. The legs follow the usual convention of Egyptian art, with the thick ankles and the sharp edge of the tibialis anticus. The head of the boy is covered with a skull-cap, under which the hair is hidden. The figure is painted red with a necklace in white. The statues have been sculptured from one block of stone, which has not been removed at the back, but remains there as a vertical slab; the base on which the figures stand is also part of the same block.

A formal group consists of the king Menkaura standing between the goddess Hathor and the goddess of the nome of Diospolis Parva (Pl. X.). The king stands with the left foot advanced in the customary attitude of a male figure; he holds Hathor’s left hand with his right in the way in which such an action is always depicted (cp. Rameses II and Ptah, Pl. XXV.1); the hands are laid palm to palm, while the fingers are straight. In his clenched left hand the king holds some cylindrical object, which hardly projects beyond the hand. He is represented as a man in the full vigour of maturity, verging towards middle age; he has the broad shoulders, slender hips, and well-developed arms which appear to have been the ideal of manly beauty for the Egyptian sculptor. The swell of the muscles over the shoulders and across the chest should be noted, the slight difference in the muscles of the arm where the hand is clenched and the arm where the hand is open shows delicate observation and skill in rendering. The body muscles have been carefully studied, and the navel is indicated, but not insisted on, as in Ptolemaic work. The knees are over-emphasised in the way common to all Egyptian statues, but at least the anatomy is correct, which is more