Egyptian sculpture

62 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

recess the stiffness of the attitude would be noticeable. The figure wears the usual costume of the Old Kingdom, the short loin-cloth; the head is covered by a short-curled wig. The statue was sculptured from a single block of stone, of which the slab at the back is part; the figure is not completely in the round, though so nearly so as to be reckoned as a statue and not as high relief. The inscriptions all round the figure are incised and painted blue on the white background of the natural stone. The figures in hollow relief below the inscriptions are in the same colours as the statue; namely, the flesh parts dark red, the wig black, the iris of the eyes and the eyebrows and lashes also black. The whole structure is typical of the art of the Old Kingdom; the combination of inscription and figures, the spacing of the hieroglyphs and their forms to make a decorative design, the anatomical knowledge shown in the modelling of the statue, are all characteristic of the art of the period. The standing figures of Ra-nefer (Pl. XI. 2) are perhaps uO the finest examples of Old Kingdom sculpture. In each case the figure stands against a slab of stone, the head only rising above the backing. They are practically figures in the round, though technically they might be classed under the head of high relief, like the group of Mertitefs and her son. They follow the usual conventions of Egyptian art, the figures being without action, one foot advanced, the head in the median line, the eyes looking straight forward. The costumes differ: in the one case the wig is of the long straight type with a centre parting, the costume is the loin-cloth with one pleated fold and a belt fastened with a metal or leather clasp; the object stuck in the belt is perhaps a dagger. The hands, which are strong, characteristically grasp a cylindrical object. In the other figure, which is the finer of the two, the head is