Egyptian sculpture

TELL EL AMARNA 149

employed in the earlier periods. The pond in the middle is conventional, and is therefore closely allied in style to the representations of such ponds in previous times. The fish are drawn from the broadest aspect, and apparently on the same plane as the fluttering birds. The pond is full of lotusleaves and blossoms arranged with a certain symmetry, and the spaces between the plants and the living creatures are filled up with the conventional zigzag which represents water.

The figures of the two little ‘princesses (Pl. XLI. 2) are a landmark in the history of painting throughout the world; not only are the attitudes of the two little girls carefully copied from nature, but it is the first attempt (after the Palaeolithic period) so to represent a rounded object on a flat surface as to make it appear round; in other words, by the use of light and shade. Though it is but a tentative effort, the artist has broken away from the convention of flat masses of colour, and has painted a dark colour for the shadows and a light colour for the lights. It is the only instance of true painting until the time of the Greeks.

One of the most noticeable features of the art of Tell el Amarna is the use made in decoration of natural forms of plants, and though this is outside my subject, I cannot avoid reference to it. The palace was decorated in this way with designs of plant-forms both in sculpture and in inlay. Another noticeable feature of the art is the insistence on the domestic side of the life of the royal family. Though Akhenaten is represented in many cases as conferring honours upon his followers, he is also shown in the more human attitudes of embracing his wife, nursing his children, entertaining his mother at a feast, and partaking of an ordinary meal, Although his dignity as a king and as a son of the god is