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

the time of Thothmes III. (fig. 293) are not well proportioned, neither do they combine agreeably with the curves of the vase; Fig 294.--Cup of precious metal. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 294.--Cup of precious metal. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
but the accompanying cup (fig. 294), and a cruet belonging to the same service (fig. 295), are very happily conceived, and have much purity of form. Fig 295.--Cruet of precious metal. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 295.--Cruet of precious metal. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
These vessels of engraved and repoussé gold and silver, some representing hunting scenes and incidents of battle, were imitated by Phoenician craftsmen, and, being exported to Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, carried Egyptian patterns and subjects into distant lands. The passion for precious metals was pushed to such extremes under the reigns of the Ramessides that it was no longer enough to use them only at table. Rameses II. and Rameses III. had thrones of gold--not merely of wood plated with gold, but made of the solid metal and set with precious stones. These things were too valuable to escape destruction, and were the first to disappear. Their artistic value, however, by no means equalled their intrinsic value, and the loss is not one for which we need be inconsolable.

Orientals, men and women alike, are great lovers of jewellery. The Egyptians were no exception to this rule. Not satisfied to adorn themselves when living with a profusion of trinkets, they loaded the arms, the fingers, the neck, the ears, the brow, and the ankles of their dead with more or less costly ornaments. Fig 296.--Bezel signet-ring. Fig 296.--Bezel signet-ring.
The quantity thus buried in tombs was so considerable that even now, after thirty centuries of active search, we find from time to time mummies which are, so to say, cuirassed in gold. Much of this funerary jewellery was made merely for show on the day of the funeral, and betrays its purpose by the slightness of the workmanship. The favourite jewels of the deceased person were, nevertheless, frequently buried with him, and the style and finish of these leave nothing to be desired. Chains and rings have come down to us in large numbers, as indeed might be expected. The ring, in fact, was not a simple ornament, but an actual necessary. Official documents were not signed, but sealed; and the seal was good in law. Every Egyptian, therefore, had his seal, which he kept about his person, ready for use if required. The poor man's seal was a simple copper or silver ring; the ring of the rich man was a more or less elaborate jewel covered with chasing and relief work. The bezel was movable, and turned upon a pivot. It was frequently set with some kind of stone engraved with the owner's emblem or device; as, for example, a scorpion (fig. 296), a lion, a hawk, or a cynocephalous ape. As in the eyes of her husband his ring was the one essential ornament, so was her necklace in the estimation of the Egyptian lady. I have seen a chain in silver which measured sixty-three inches in length. Others, on the contrary, do not exceed two, or two and a half inches. They are of all sizes and patterns, some consisting of two or three twists, some of large links, some of small links, some massive and heavy, others as light and flexible as the finest Venetian filigree. The humblest peasant girl, as well as the lady of highest rank, might have her necklet; and the woman must be poor indeed whose little store comprised no other ornament. No mere catalogue of bracelets, diadems, collarettes, or insignia of nobility could give an idea of the number and variety of jewels known to us by pictured representations or existing specimens. Pectorals of gold cloisonné work inlaid with vitreous paste or precious stones, and which bear the cartouches of Amenemhat II., Ûsertesen II., and Ûsertesen III. (fig. 297), exhibit a marvellous precision of taste, lightness of touch, and dexterity of fine workmanship. So fresh and delicate are they we forget that the royal ladies to whom they belonged have been dead, and their bodies stiffened and disfigured into mummies, for nearly five thousand years. At Berlin may be seen the parure of an Ethiopian Candace; at the Louvre we have the jewels of Prince Psar; at Gizeh are preserved the ornaments of Queen Aahhotep. Aahhotep was the wife of Kames, a king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, and she was probably the mother of Ahmes I., first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Her mummy had been stolen by one of the robber bands which infested the Theban necropolis towards the close of the Twentieth Dynasty.
Fig 297.--Gold <i>cloisonné</i> pectoral bearing cartouche of Ûsertesen III. From Dahshûr, found 1894, and now in the Gizeh Museum. Fig 297.--Gold cloisonné pectoral bearing cartouche of Ûsertesen III. From Dahshûr, found 1894, and now in the Gizeh Museum.
They buried the royal corpse till such time as they might have leisure to despoil it in safety; and they were most likely seized and executed before they could carry that pretty little project into effect. The secret of their hiding-place perished with them, till discovered in 1860 by some Arab diggers. Fig 298.--Mirror of Queen Aahhotep. Fig 298.--Mirror of Queen Aahhotep.
Most of the objects which this queen took with her into the next world were exclusively women's gear; as a fan-handle plated with gold, a bronze-gilt mirror mounted upon an ebony handle enriched with a lotus in chased gold (fig. 298). Her bracelets are of various types. Some are anklets and armlets, and consist merely of plain gold rings, both solid and hollow, bordered with plaited chainwork in imitation of filigree. Others are for wearing on the wrist, like the bracelets of modern ladies, and are made of small beads in gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and green felspar. These are strung on gold wire in a chequer pattern, each square divided diagonally in halves of different colours. Two gold plates, very lightly engraved with the cartouches of Ahmes I., are connected by means of a gold pin, and form the fastening. A fine bracelet in the form of two semicircles joined by a hinge (fig. 299), also bears the name of Ahmes I.
Fig 299.--Bracelet of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I. Fig 299.--Bracelet of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I.
The make of this jewel reminds us of cloisonné enamels. Ahmes kneels in the presence of the god Seb and his acolytes, the genii of Sop and Khonû.

The figures and hieroglyphs are cut out in solid gold, delicately engraved with the burin, and stand in relief upon a ground-surface filled in with pieces of blue paste and lapis lazuli artistically cut. Fig 300.--Bracelet of Queen Aahhotep. Fig 300.--Bracelet of Queen Aahhotep.
A bracelet of more complicated workmanship, though of inferior execution, was found on the wrist of the queen (fig. 300). It is of massive gold, and consists of three parallel bands set with turquoises. On the front a vulture is represented with outspread wings, the feathers composed of green enamel, lapis lazuli, and carnelian, set in "cloisons" of gold. The hair of the mummy was drawn through a massive gold diadem, scarcely as large as a bracelet. Fig 301.--Diadem of Queen Aahhotep. Fig 301.--Diadem of Queen Aahhotep.
The name of Ahmes is incrusted in blue paste upon an oblong plaque in the centre, flanked at each side by two little sphinxes which seem as if in the act of keeping watch over the inscription (fig. 301). Round her neck was a large flexible gold chain, finished at each end by a goose's head reversed. These heads could be linked one in the other, when the chain needed to be fastened. The scarabaeus pendant to this chain is incrusted upon the shoulder and wing-sheaths with blue glass paste rayed with gold, the legs and body being in massive gold. The royal parure was completed by a large collar of the kind known as the Ûsekh (fig. 302).
Fig 302.--Gold Ûsekh of Queen Aahhotep. Fig 302.--Gold "Ûsekh" of Queen Aahhotep.
It is finished at each end with a golden hawk's head inlaid with blue enamel, and consists of rows of scrolls, four-petalled fleurettes, hawks, vultures, winged uraei, crouching jackals, and figures of antelopes pursued by tigers. Fig 303.--Pectoral of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I. Fig 303.--Pectoral of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes I.
The whole of these ornaments are of gold repoussé work, and they were sewn upon the royal winding sheet by means of a small ring soldered to the back of each. Upon the breast, below this collar, hung a square jewel of the kind known as "pectoral ornaments" (fig. 303). The general form is that of a naos, or shrine. Ahmes stands upright in a papyrus-bark, between Amen and Ra, who pour the water of purification upon his head and body. Fig 304.--Poignard of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes. Fig 304.--Poignard of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes.
Two hawks hover to right and left of the king, above the heads of the gods. The figures are outlined in cloisons of gold, and these were filled in with little plaques of precious stones and enamel, many of which have fallen out. The effect of this piece is somewhat heavy, and if considered apart from the rest of the parure, its purpose might seem somewhat obscure. In order to form a correct judgment, we have, however, to remember in what fashion the women of ancient Egypt were clad. They wore a kind of smock of semi-transparent material, which came very little higher than the waist. The chest and bosom, neck and shoulders, were bare; and the one garment was kept in place by only a slender pair of braces. The rich clothed these uncovered parts with jewellery. The Ûsekh collar half hid the shoulders and chest. The pectoral masked the hollow between the breasts. Sometimes even the breasts were covered with two golden cups, either painted or enamelled. Besides the jewels found upon the mummy of Queen Aahhotep, a number of arms and amulets were heaped inside her coffin; namely, three massive gold flies hanging from a slender chain; nine small hatchets, three of gold and six of silver; a golden lion's head of very minute workmanship; a wooden sceptre set in gold spirals; two anklets; and two poignards. One of these poignards (fig. 304) has a golden sheath and a wooden hilt inlaid with triangular mosaics of carnelian, lapis lazuli, felspar, and gold. Fig 305.--Poignard of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes. Fig 305.--Poignard of Queen Aahhotep, bearing cartouche of King Ahmes.
Four female heads in gold repoussé form the pommel; and a bull's head reversed covers the junction of blade and hilt. The edges of the blade are of massive gold; the centre of black bronze damascened with gold. On one side is the solar cartouche of Ahmes, below which a lion pursues a bull, the remaining space being filled in with four grasshoppers in a row. On the other side we have the family name of Ahmes and a series of full- blown flowers issuing one from another and diminishing towards the point. A poignard found at Mycenae by Dr. Schliemann is similarly decorated; the Phoenicians, who were industrious copyists of Egyptian models, probably introduced this pattern into Greece. The