Egyptian sculpture

OLD KINGDOM 67

life-size. The head must have been cast by the cive perdue process, for there is no trace of hammering and it is cast hollow. The head-dress and the loin-cloth have been destroyed; they were obviously of different material from the rest of the statue, as traces of gilded plaster were found both on the head and on the legs, suggesting that these two garments were of these materials, or possibly of gold, attached to the statue by plaster, as was done for the eyes. The face, although the metal is much corroded, has a life-like effect. The body was probably formed by hammer-work; the size suggests that it could hardly have been cast by the wax process; on the other hand, the modelling is such that the wax process would be the most suitable for the work. The king is represented striding forward, the left hand holding a long staff, the right hand clenched on some cylindrical object. The features are fine, the nose aquiline, the lips well modelled, the mouth not very large, the eyes are inlaid, the chin is full and rounded. The arms are well modelled, the whole of the shoulder particularly so. The legs do not show the conventional thick ankle, but are well shaped, the calf coming in a curve to the heel, and the thickness of the ankle and leg is not unduly great. The feet are well arched and the ball of the big toe is naturalistically given. It is one of the finest statues of the Old Kingdom as well as being one of the largest, and is the only example of a metal statue. The younger figure is disproportionately small, hardly reaching above the knee of the larger figure. In this, the upper part is the finest; the head is that of a boy, rather flat in the face and without much intelligence ; the eyes are narrow, the nose is lumpy, the mouth is smiling, the head is covered with a skull-cap. The anatomy of the body and arms is as good as that of the larger figure; the legs are, however, disproportionately large and heavy, though well modelled.