Egyptian sculpture

PROTO-DYNASTIC PERIOD 41

that it was not intended for actual use, but that the occasion was purely ceremonial. As is usual in all primitive work, the principal figure, here that of the king, is represented as gigantic; the sizes of the other figures are proportionate to their importance. The surfaces are flat, and the detail is incised; the detail of the dress is extraordinarily minute, in fact the sculptor has made up in detail what he has lacked in modelling. At the lower part of the slate are two men of the same type as the king’s victim, both represented either as running or as lying down in distorted attitudes. On the reverse (Pl. VI. 2) the design is divided up into registers in order to include the circular paint-hollow. This hollow is surrounded by the intertwisted necks of the serpo-pards, and these should be compared with the wavy necks on the palette of the Animals; the limbs should also be compared—the feet are of the form of those of the lion of the Battlefield, though more conventionalised. There is no action, the creatures stand with their feet planted flat on the ground, the necks are absolutely stiff, with no detail, the tails curl stiffly over the backs, and the muscles of the shoulders are incised; the heads have the detail incised. Each animal is held by a rope round the neck by a man of the type of the dead men on the obverse. The upper register represents the king, again of disproportionately large size, inspecting a human sacrifice, his standards and his scribe going before him, and his servant behind him; by the side of his head is his name. Here also the costume is very detailed, with incised work, all the surfaces being flat. The sacrifice consists of ten victims with their hands tied, their heads cut off and laid between the feet, the type of head being the same as the two men who hold the serpo-pards. The lowest register comprises the motif of the bull trampling on an enemy already discussed on p. 34, under the Bull palette. The difference between