to this current opinion on the relative modernness of Egyptian
statuary, were then entertained chiefly by Mr. Birch— who had
already classified, as appertaining to the Old Empire, various archaic
fragments in the British Museum,—by Chev. Lepsius, when publishing
a few mutilated statues among the early dynasties of the Denk-
mâler,—and by the Yicomte de Bougé, who wrote in 1852 ;® “ Trois
statues de la galerie du Louvre (nos. 36, 37, 38) présentent un excellent
spécimen de la sculpture de ces premiers âges. Dans ces morceaux,
uniques jusqu’ici et par conséquent inestimables, le type des
hommes a quelque chose de plus trapu et de plus rude ; la pose est
d’une grande simplicity ; quelques parties rendent la nature avec
vérité ; mais l’on sent déjà qu’une loi hiératique a réglé les attitudes
et va ravir aux artistes une partie précieuse de leur liberté.”
It must, therefore, be gratifying to the authors of the precursory
volume to the present, to find their doctrine, “ that the primitive
Egyptians were nothing more nor less than — EGYPTIANS,”00 so
incontestably confirmed by a group of statues' which did not reach
Paris for six months after the publication of their researches ; and
we may now rejoice with those archaeologists, whose acumen had
already foreshadowed the discovery of beautiful statuary belonging
to the early days of the pyramids, that, henceforward, the series of
Egyptian art continues, in an unbroken chain, from the 35th century
B. C. down to long after the Christian era.
Prince S e pa [Plate TH., jig. 1], and his wife H a s , or B e sa , [Jig. 2],
are the first we shall examine among these statues of the Louvre ;
from Lepsius’s copy. They are likewise somewhat clumsy as regards
the general proportions; but parts of the body, for instance the
knees, are sculptured with an anatomical correctness superior to
that of the monuments of the great Bamses. The statue .of S hemka
{Plate iy .] “ superintendent of the royal domains” (IVth or Vlth
dynasty), seated between the small-sized standing figures of princess
A ta, his wife, and their son E n e m , is an excellent illustration of
incipient elongation together with greater elegance of the artistical
canon. In spite of the awkward composition, it attracts our attention
powerfully, since the face teems with life and individuality ;
whilst the forms are correct in the main, but lamentably stumpy
and clumsy about the hands and feet. [See Plate Y, fig. 2.]
The head of a Priest, P h r r -n e e e r , or P ahoo-e r -n e p e r [Plate V .,
fig. 1], “ Superintendent of the timber-cutters and of agriculture,’’’
found together with S hem k a in the same sepulchre, is uncommonly
59 Notice des Monuments exposés dans la galerie d’antiquités égyptiennes (Salle du rez-de-chaussée),
au Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1852, pp. 7—8.
60 Types of Mankind, p. 245.