Egyptian sculpture

4 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

The method of making a composite statue, that is, a statue put together of several pieces, was known from the Ist dynasty. It is seen in the statues of the god Min found at Koptos. These are of limestone, and have clearly had faces of another material, possibly masks of gold, which have now disappeared; such statues were probably only for temple use. In the Old Kingdom the composite statue is best seen in the wooden figures. The statue of the Sheikh el Beled and his wife shows the method extremely well. The figure of the Sheikh is of one block from the head to the lower part of the kilt; the legs were of two separate pieces (those now on the statue are modern); the right arm, which hangs at the side, is in one piece, fastened to the shoulder with a mortise-and-tenon joint, the tenon held in place by wooden pegs driven through it from the outside (Pl. II. 4). The left arm, which is bent at the elbow, consists of two pieces, the upper part fastened to the body in the same way as the right arm, the bent forearm is joined again by pegs to the upper arm at the crook of the elbow (PI. II. 1). The woman’s figure shows more clearly the arrangement of the arms, both of which have now disappeared, leaving only the mortise holes (Pl. II. 2). On the right side of the figure, however, is a flat space in which are two mortise holes obviously for the attachment of some object, though the shape offers no suggestion as to what that object might be. The stone figures were not fashioned in this way during the Old Kingdom, but were sculptured in one piece.

Wooden figures of the Middle Kingdom are rare. Of the few which remain, the figure of the Pharaoh Hor (Pl. XVIII. 4) follows the same method of making as in the Old Kingdom, but as this is a nude figure, the legs are made in one piece with the body, the arms are inserted as in the Sheikh, and apparently the wig is also applied.