Egyptian sculpture

142 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

Another face of a man, though rather damaged, is again obviously a portrait. This may have been a cast from life, but, if so, it has been finished with the chisel; the eye has certainly been worked over by hand. More probably it is a cast from a statue, as the style of it is hardly exact enough for a life-mask, though there is not that careful selection which is necessary in all artistic work.

The head of a woman is also from a statue (Pl. XXXVI. 2). The rounded forms and the downward-drooping mouth are so life-like that it must be an actual portrait of the lady. The face is unpleasing in expression, due probably to the narrow eyes and to the acid curve of the lips. The hair is arranged in short curls cut straight over the forehead, and large stud ear-rings are in the lobes of the ears. The modelling, though fairly good, is not of the same delicate type as in many of the heads from the studio of this sculptor. It is possible that the cast was made from an unfinished statue.

In the tomb of Tutankhamen we see the art of Tell el Amarna, but under other conditions. The youthful king returned to Thebes and to the worship of Amon before his death; therefore, although the style of the Tell el Amarna art still had influence, there are many indications, including the return to the old canon of proportion, to show that the artists were returning to the old conventions. For example, the figure of Tutankhamen as the god Horus in a boat, holding the lance, is far more like a true Egyptian figure than like those of Tell el Amarna; it is a spirited figure, and the position of the feet gives a feeling of energy and force. The little ushabti figure is charming in its youthful roundness; it is one of the few examples in the history of Egyptian art of the representation of a young boy who is not merely a man of small size. The ushabii figures, of which there are a considerable number are in stone or wood,