Egyptian sculpture

METHODS OF THE ARTIST 3

to the required scale and attitude; he then drew in the figure, the front on the front of the block, the side views on the sides, and the back on the back, and on the top were lines to mark the limits to which to cut down. Edgar notes in this connection that the Egyptian artist was quite well able to draw a figure in true profile, as is shown by his representation in reliefs of statues, which, in contra-distinction to the living figure, are shown in profile without the usual distortion. The next step was to cut down on every side to the required limits as shown by the lines on the top of the block (see p. 27. figs. 1, 2). At the end of this stage the figure appears blocked out in square masses. The sculptor then proceeded to finish the statue piecemeal, beginning at the head, and his method was to use either a jewel-drill or a tubular drill. The first was a point of copper fed with emery, with which he drilled a series of holes to the actual depths required; the irregular pieces between the holes could then be removed by hammer-work, scraping or cutting according to the hardness of the stone. The tubular drill was a tube with an edge of metal; this was forced through the stone with a circular motion and with a heavy weight on the upper part of the drill. The end of such a drill-hole can be seen between the feet of the diorite statue of Khafra, showing that the hollow between the legs was cut out in this way. In most statues of hard stone, even the most finished, the extreme point of the drill-hole can be found in the corners of the eyes and mouth, between the fingers, in some of the details of the dress and other deep narrow parts of the sculpture. Hard stones were finished by polishing with sand and water applied with a smooth stone polisher. Limestone figures received a thin coat of stucco, which was then painted in the conventional colours of dark red for a man and yellow for a woman.