Egyptian sculpture

OLD KINGDOM 47

very short, and was brought round the body tightly, folded across the front, with one end hanging down; it was kept in place by an ornamental belt. The whole cloth is sometimes pleated, vertically at the back, radiating from the belt in front, while the hanging end has transverse folds; the rest of the body is nude, except for a wide necklace. Some of the nobles wear the pleated loin-cloth, though rather longer than the king’s. Another form comes nearly to the knees; it was plain, except for one pleated fold, and there was no hanging end. Peasants wore a short, skimpy cloth tied in front, with a long end hanging down; sometimes the cloth is merely a strip tied round the waist.

The dress of the women was almost completely stereotyped in Egyptian art. It consisted of a straight, narrow garment falling nearly to the ankles. Any variation occurs only in the upper part of the dress, where it is held in place by one or two shoulder-straps. In the early Old Kingdom there is sometimes a bodice, with arm-holes or even sleeves, which fits round the neck with a deep V-shaped opening in front. The material of the garment is conventionally transparent, for the nipples, whether covered or not, are always strongly marked. This is really the costume of the Proto-dynastic period, stereotyped as a classic mode; the actual costume was like the modern galabiyeh, a long, close garment with tight sleeves to the wrist; such garments have been found in burials of the Vth dynasty at Deshasheh. As the skirt covers the legs almost to the ankles, the rough-and-ready method of representing the legs is not so noticeable in the figures of women as in those of men; the ankles, however, are always thick. The feet have the toes apart, though there is no difference in the width of the spaces between them, showing that sandals were not worn. Occasionally a large cloak covers the whole figure, under which the straight robe