Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt, Gaston Maspero [best classic literature TXT] 📗

We learn from the tomb paintings that netted or cane-bottomed chairs were covered with stuffed seats and richly worked cushions. These cushions and stuffed seats have perished, but it is to be concluded that they were covered with tapestry. Tapestry was undoubtedly known to the Egyptians, and a bas-relief subject at Beni Hasan (fig. 271)[74] shows the process of weaving. The frame, which is of the simplest structure, resembles that now in use among the weavers of Ekhmîm. It is horizontal, and is formed of two slender cylinders, or rather of two rods, about fifty-four inches apart, each held in place by two large pegs driven into the ground about three feet distant from each other. The warps of the chain were strongly fastened, then rolled round the top cylinder till they were stretched sufficiently tight. Mill sticks placed at certain distances facilitated the insertion of the needles which carried the thread. As in the Gobelins factory, the work was begun from the bottom. The texture was regulated and equalised by means of a coarse comb, and was rolled upon the lower cylinder as it increased in length. Hangings and carpets were woven in this manner; some with figures, others with geometrical designs, zigzags, and chequers (fig. 272).
Fig 271.--Women weaving. From wall-scene in tomb of Khnûmhotep, Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty. Fig 271.--Women weaving. From wall-scene in tomb of Khnûmhotep, Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty.
A careful examination of the monuments has, however, convinced me that most of the subjects hitherto supposed to represent examples of tapestry represent, in fact, examples of cut and painted leather. The leather- worker's craft flourished in ancient Egypt. Few museums are without a pair of leather sandals, or a specimen of mummy braces with ends of stamped leather bearing the effigy of a god, a Pharaoh, a hieroglyphic legend, a rosette, or perhaps all combined.
Fig 272.--Man weaving hangings, or carpet. From Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty. Fig 272.--Man weaving hangings, or carpet. From Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty.
These little relics are not older than the time of the priest-kings, or the earlier Bubastites. It is to the same period that we must attribute the great cut-leather canopy in the Gizeh Museum. The catafalque upon which the mummy was laid when transported from the mortuary establishment to the tomb, was frequently adorned with a covering made of stuff or soft leather. Sometimes the sidepieces hung down, and sometimes they were drawn aside with bands, like curtains, and showed the coffin.

The canopy of Deir el Baharî was made for the Princess Isiemkheb, daughter of the High Priest Masahirti, wife of the High Priest Menkheperra, and mother of the High Priest Pinotem III.
Fig 273.--Border pattern of cut leather canopy of Isiemkheb, Twenty-first Dynasty. Fig 273.--Border pattern of cut leather canopy of Isiemkheb, Twenty-first Dynasty.
The centrepiece, in shape an oblong square, is divided into three bands of sky-blue leather, now faded to pearl-grey. The two side-pieces are sprinkled with yellow stars. Upon the middle piece are rows of vultures, whose outspread wings protect the mummy. Four other pieces covered with red and green chequers are attached to the ends and sides. The longer pieces which hung over the sides are united to the centre-piece by an ornamental bordering. On the right, scarabaei with extended wings alternate with the cartouches of King Pinotem II., and are surmounted by a lance-head frieze. On the left side, the pattern is more complicated (fig. 273). In the centre we see a bunch of lotus lilies flanked by royal cartouches. Next come two antelopes, each kneeling upon a basket; then two bouquets of papyrus; then two more scarabaei, similar to those upon the other border. The lance-head frieze finishes it above, as on the opposite side. The technical process is very curious. The hieroglyphs and figures were cut out from large pieces of leather; then, under the open spaces thus left, were sewn thongs of leather of whatever colour was required for those ornaments or hieroglyphs. Finally, in order to hide the patchwork effect presented at the back, the whole was lined with long strips of white, or light yellow, leather.
Fig 274.--Bark with cut leather sail; wall-painting tomb of Rameses III. Fig 274.--Bark with cut leather sail; wall-painting tomb of Rameses III.
Despite the difficulties of treatment which this work presented, the result is most remarkable.[75] The outlines of the gazelles, scarabaei, and flowers are as clean-cut and as elegant as if drawn with the pen upon a wall- surface or a page of papyrus. The choice of subjects is happy, and the colours employed are both lively and harmonious.The craftsmen who designed and executed the canopy of Isiemkheb had profited by a long experience of this system of decoration, and of the kind of patterns suitable to the material. For my own part, I have not the slightest doubt that the cushions of chairs and royal couches, and the sails of funeral and sacred boats used for the transport of mummies and divine images, were most frequently made in leather-work.
Fig 275.--Bark with cut leather sail; wall-painting tomb of Rameses III. Fig 275.--Bark with cut leather sail; wall-painting tomb of Rameses III.
The chequer-patterned sail represented in one of the boat subjects painted on the wall of a chamber in the tomb of Rameses III. (fig. 274), might be mistaken for one of the side pieces of the canopy at Gizeh. The vultures and fantastic birds depicted upon the sails of another boat (fig. 275) are neither more strange nor more difficult to make in cut leather than the vultures and gazelles of Isiemkheb.

We have it upon the authority of ancient writers that the Egyptians of olden time embroidered as skilfully as those of the Middle Ages. The surcoats given by Amasis, one to the Lacedaemonians, and the other to the temple of Athena at Lindos, were of linen embroidered with figures of animals in gold thread and purple, each thread consisting of three hundred and sixty-five distinct filaments. To go back to a still earlier period, the monumental tableaux show portraits of the Pharaohs wearing garments with borders, either woven or embroidered, or done in appliqué work. The most simple patterns consist of one or more stripes of brilliant colour parallel with the edge of the material. Elsewhere we see palm patterns, or rows of discs and points, leaf-patterns, meanders, and even, here and there, figures of men, gods, or animals, worked most probably with the needle. None of the textile materials yet found upon royal mummies are thus decorated; we are therefore unable to pronounce upon the quality of this work, or the method employed in its production. Once only, upon the body of one of the Deir el Baharî princesses, did I find a royal cartouche embroidered in pale rose-colour. The Egyptians of the best periods seem to have attached special value to plain stuffs, and especially to white ones. These they wove with marvellous skill, and upon looms in every respect identical with those used in tapestry work. Those portions of the winding sheet of Thothmes III. which enfolded the royal hands and arms, are as fine as the finest India muslin, and as fairly merit the name of "woven air" as the gauzes of the island of Cos. This, of course, is a mere question of manufacture, apart from the domain of art. Embroideries and tapestries were not commonly used in Egypt till about the end of the Persian period, or the beginning of the period of Greek rule. Alexandria became partly peopled by Phoenician, Syrian, and Jewish colonists, who brought with them the methods of manufacture peculiar to their own countries, and founded workshops which soon developed into flourishing establishments. It is to the Alexandrians that Pliny ascribes the invention of weaving with several warps, thus producing the stuff called brocades (polymita); and in the time of the first Caesars, it was a recognised fact that "the needle of Babylon was henceforth surpassed by the comb of the Nile." The Alexandrian tapestries were not made after exclusively geometrical designs, like the products of the old Egyptian looms; but, according to the testimony of the ancients, were enriched with figures of animals, and even of men. Of the masterpieces which adorned the palaces of the Ptolemies no specimens remain. Many fragments which may be attributed to the later Roman time have, however, been found in Egypt, such as the piece with the boy and goose described by Wilkinson, and a piece representing marine divinities bought by myself at Coptos.[76] The numerous embroidered winding sheets with woven borders which have recently been discovered near Ekhmîm, and in the Fayûm, are nearly all from Coptic tombs, and are more nearly akin to Byzantine art than to the art of Egypt.

3.--METALS.

The Egyptians classified metals under two heads--namely, the noble metals, as gold, electrum, and silver; and the base metals, as copper, iron, lead, and, at a later period, tin. The two lists are divided by the mention of certain kinds of precious stones, such as lapis lazuli and malachite.

Iron was reserved for weapons of war, and tools, in use for hard substances, such as sculptors' and masons' chisels, axe and adze heads, knife-blades, and saws. Lead was comparatively useless, but was sometimes