[Illustration]




                                EGYPTIAN
                             DECORATIVE ART
                         _A COURSE OF LECTURES_
                              DELIVERED AT
                         THE ROYAL INSTITUTION


                                   BY

                     W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L.

      EDWARDS PROFESSOR OF EGYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON


                             SECOND EDITION


                          METHUEN & CO., LTD.
                         36 ESSEX STREET, W.C.
                                 LONDON




                  _First Published      October 1895_
                       _Second Edition      1920_




                                CONTENTS


                               CHAPTER I

                        _SOURCES OF DECORATION_
                                                   PAGE
                 EGYPTIAN TASTE FOR DECORATION        1
                 DECORATIVE WRITING OF HIEROGLYPHS    3
                 ORIGIN OF PATTERNS                   5
                 PROBABILITY OF COPYING               6
                 GEOMETRICAL ORNAMENT                 9
                 NATURAL ORNAMENT                    10
                 STRUCTURAL ORNAMENT                 10
                 SYMBOLIC ORNAMENT                   11


                               CHAPTER II

                        _GEOMETRICAL DECORATION_

                 THE LINE AND ZIGZAG                 12
                 THE SPOT                            15
                 THE WAVE                            16
                 THE SPIRAL                          17
                 THE CONTINUOUS SPIRAL               21
                 SPIRAL SURFACE PATTERNS             28
                 QUADRUPLE SPIRALS                   31
                 FRETS                               35
                 GREEK SPIRALS                       38
                 SPIRAL BORDERS                      40
                 CHEQUERS                            44
                 STITCH PATTERNS                     46
                 CIRCLES                             47


                              CHAPTER III

                          _NATURAL DECORATION_

                 FEATHERS                            50
                 ROSETTES                            56
                 DISC AND SPOT PATTERNS              60
                 LOTUS FLOWER                        62
                 LOTUS BORDERS                       64
                 LOTUS PLANT                         66
                 LOTUS DEVELOPMENT                   68
                 LOTUS, ASSYRIAN AND GREEK           72
                 LOTUS WITH PENDANT                  73
                 PAPYRUS                             75
                 LOTUS AND PAPYRUS COLUMNS           76
                 THE PALM                            78
                 THE VINE                            79
                 THE CONVOLVULUS                     81
                 THE THISTLE                         82
                 GARLANDS                            82
                 CAPTIVES                            85
                 THE IBEX                            87
                 BIRDS                               87
                 STARS                               88
                 GRAINING AND MARBLING               89


                               CHAPTER IV

                        _STRUCTURAL DECORATION_

                 STRUCTURAL FORMS SURVIVING          91
                 ROPE PATTERN                        92
                 BASKET-WORK                         93
                 WOODEN FRAMING                      94
                 PANELLING                           95
                 SLOPING WALLS                       96
                 TORUS ROLL                          97
                 PALM CORNICE                        98
                 PAPYRUS CORNICE                    101
                 BINDING PATTERNS                   103


                               CHAPTER V

                         _SYMBOLIC DECORATION_

                 THE URAEUS                         107
                 THE DISC AND WINGS                 108
                 THE HORNS                          110
                 THE VULTURE                        111
                 THE SCARAB                         111
                 THE LION                           112
                 THE GODDESS MAAT                   114
                 THE GODDESS HATHOR                 114
                 THE GOD BES                        115
                 HIEROGLYPH SYMBOLS                 116
                 CAPTIVES                           122

                 INDEX                              123




                             ABBREVIATIONS


 C. M. Champollion, Monuments.
 Duem. Duemichen Hist. Inschr.
 F. P. coll. Flinders Petrie collection.
 Goodyear. Grammar of the lotus.
 H. S. Historical Scarabs (Petrie).
 I. Illahun (Petrie)
 K. Kahun (Petrie).
 L. D. Lepsius Denkmaler.
 P. and C. Perrot and Chipiez, Egypt.
 P. and C. Ass. Perrot and Chipiez, Assyria.
 P. I. Petrie, Illahun.
 P. M. Petrie, Medum.
 P. or Prisse. Prisse, Art; numbers refer to numbering in Edwards Library
    copy, plates being issued unnumbered.
 P. Mon. Prisse, Monuments.
 R. C. Rosellini, Mon. Civili.
 R. S. Rosellini, Mon. Storici.
 Schuck. Schuckhardt’s, Schliemann.
 T. A. Tell el Amarna (Petrie).
 Tanis. Tanis (Petrie)
 W. M. C. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs.

The shading of the figures is according to heraldic colours: || red, ═
blue, \\ green, // purple, ⁐ yellow




                               CHAPTER I
                      _THE SOURCES OF DECORATION_


In dealing with the subject of decorative art in Egypt, it is needful to
begin by setting some bounds to a study which might be made to embrace
almost every example of ancient work known to us in that land. The
Egyptian treatment of everything great and small was so strongly
decorative that it is hard to exclude an overwhelming variety of
considerations. But here it is proposed to limit our view to the
historical development of the various motives or elements of decoration.
The larger questions of the æsthetic scheme of design, of the meaning of
ornament—symbolic or religious, of the value and effect of colour, of
the relations of parts, we can but glance at occasionally in passing; in
another branch, the historical connection of Egyptian design with that
of other countries, the prospect is so tempting and so valuable, that we
may linger a little at each of these bye-ways to note where the turning
occurs and to what it leads. As I have said, all Egyptian design was
strongly decorative. The love of form and of drawing was perhaps a
greater force with the Egyptians than with any other people. The early
Babylonians and the Chinese had, like the Egyptians, a pictorial
writing; but step by step they soon dropped the picture altogether in
favour of the easier abbreviation of it. The Egyptian, on the contrary,
never lost sight of his original picture; and however much his current
hand altered, yet for four or five thousand years he still maintained
his true hieroglyphic pictures. They were modified by taste and fashion,
even in some cases their origin was forgotten, yet the artistic form was
there to the very end.

But the hieroglyphs were not only a writing, they were a decoration in
themselves. Their position was ruled by their effect as a frieze, like
the beautiful tile borders of Cufic inscription on Arab architecture;
and we never see in Egypt the barbarous cutting of an inscription across
figure sculptures as is so common in Assyria. The arrangement of the
groups of hieroglyphs was also ruled by their decorative effect. Signs
were often transposed in order to group them more harmoniously together
in a graceful scheme; and many sounds had two different signs, one tall,
another wide, which could be used indifferently (at least in later
times) so as to combine better with the forms which adjoined them. In
short, the Egyptian with true decorative instinct clung to his pictorial
writing, modified it to adapt it to his designs, and was rewarded by
having the most beautiful writing that ever existed, and one which
excited and gave scope to his artistic tastes on every monument. This is
but one illustration of the inherent power for design and decoration
which made the Egyptian the father of the world’s ornament.

In other directions we see the same ability. In the adaptation of the
scenes of peace or of war to the gigantic wall surfaces of the pylons
and temples; in the grand situations chosen for the buildings, from the
platform of cliffs for the pyramids at Gizeh, to the graceful island of
Philæ; in the profusion of ornament on the small objects of daily life,
which yet never appear inappropriate until a debased period;—in all
these different manners the Egyptian showed a variety of capacity in
design and decoration which has not been exceeded by any other people.


The question of the origination of patterns at one or more centres has
been as disputed as the origination of man himself from one or more
stocks. Probably some patterns may have been re-invented in different
ages and countries; but, as yet, we have far less evidence of
re-invention than we have of copying. It is easy to pre-suppose a
repeated invention of designs, but we are concerned with what has been,
and not with what might have been. Practically it is very difficult, or
almost impossible, to point out decoration which is proved to have
originated independently, and not to have been copied from the Egyptian
stock. The influences of the modes of work in weaving and basket-work
have had much to do with the uniformity of patterns in different
countries; apparently starting from different motives, the patterns when
subject to the same structural influences have resulted in very similar
ornaments. This complicates the question undoubtedly; and until we have
much more research on the history of design, and an abundance of dated
examples, it will be unsafe to dogmatise one way or the other. So far,
however, as evidence at present goes, it may be said that—in the Old
World at least—there is a presumption that all the ornament of the types
of Egyptian designs is lineally descended from those designs. Mr.
Goodyear has brought so much evidence for this, that—whether we agree
with all his views or not—his facts are reasonably convincing on the
general descent of classic ornament from Egyptian, and of Indian and
Mohammedan from the classical, and even of Eastern Asian design from the
Mohammedan sources. A good illustration of the penetrating effect of
design is seen in a most interesting work on the prehistoric bronzes of
Minusinsk in Central Asia, near the sources of the Yenesei river, and
equidistant from Russia and from China, from the Arctic Ocean and from
the Bay of Bengal. Here in the very heart of Asia we might look for some
original design. But yet it is easy to see the mingled influences of the
surrounding lands, and to lay one’s finger on one thing that might be
Norse, on another that might be Chinese, or another Persian. If, then,
the tastes of countries distant one or two thousand miles in different
directions can be seen moulding an art across half a continent, how much
more readily can we credit the descent of design along the well-known
historical lines of intercourse. The same thing on a lesser scale is
seen in the recent publication of the prehistoric bronzes of Upper
Bavaria; in these the designs are partly Italic, partly Mykenaean. If
forms were readily re-invented again and again independently, why should
we not find in Bavaria some of the Persian or Chinese types? Nothing of
the kind is seen, but the forms and decoration are distinctly those of
the two countries from which the ancient makers presumably obtained
their arts and civilisation. Yet again, to come to historical times, the
elegant use of the angle of a third of a right angle so generally in
Arab art, is very distinct and characteristic. Yet if patterns were
continually re-invented, how is it that no one else hit on this simple
element for thousands of years? The very fact that the locality and date
of an object of unknown origin can be so closely predicted by its style
and feeling in design, is the best proof how continuous is the history
and evolution of ornament, and how little new invention has to do with
it—in short, how difficult it is to man to be really original.

Now we can see a source for most of our familiar elements of design in
the decoration which was used in Egypt long before any example that is
known to us outside of that land. And it is to Egypt then that we are
logically bound to look as the origin of these motives. If, then, we
seek the source of most of the various elements of the decoration which
covers our walls, our floors, our dishes, our book-covers, and even our
railway stations, we must begin by studying Egypt.


As our object is the history and evolution of the various elements of
decoration, we may classify these elements under four divisions. There
is the simplest geometrical ornament of lines and spirals and curves,
and of surfaces divided by these into squares and circles. There is the
natural ornament of copying feathers, flowers, plants, and animals.
There is structural ornament which results from the structural
necessities of building and of manufacture: these often result in the
perpetuation of defects or copies of defects, like the circle stamped in
the plain end of meat tins which is made to imitate the circular patch
soldered on to the other end, so trying to establish a balance of
appearance. Many architectural devices and difficulties are perpetuated
for us in this way long after the original purpose has passed away; such
as the cylindrical bosses projecting from the walls in Moslem
architecture, which imitate the projecting ends of pillars torn from
ruins and built into the wall, though rather too long for the position.
The origin and the imitation can be seen side by side at Jerusalem.
Structural ornament is therefore often of the greatest historical value
as pointing to a condition of things that has since vanished.

Lastly, there is symbolic ornament. Some now claim most decoration as
having some symbolic or religious meaning; of that I shall say nothing,
as it is but an hypothesis. But there is no question of the symbolical
intention of many constantly repeated ornaments in Egyptian work, as the
globe and wings, the scarab, or the various hieroglyphs with well-known
meanings which are interwoven into many designs.




                               CHAPTER II
                        _GEOMETRICAL DECORATION_


                              _The Line._

One of the simplest and the earliest kinds of ornament that we find is
the zigzag line, which occurs on the oldest tombs, 4000 B.C. So simple
is this, that it might be supposed that every possible variety of it
would be soon played out. Yet, strange to say, two of the simplest
modifications are not found till a couple of thousand years after the
plain zigzag had been used. The wavy line in curves instead of angular
waves is not found till the XVIIIth dynasty, or about 1500 B.C.; while
the zigzag with spots in the spaces is equally late, and is generally
foreign to Egypt.

[Illustration: 1.—VI. dyn., L.D., II. 98.]

[Illustration: 2.—IV. dyn., Mery, Louvre.]

[Illustration: 3.—V. dyn., Ptah-hotep, Perrot XIII.]

The plain repeated zigzag line is used down to late times, but generally
with variety in colour to give it interest. From the earliest times this
was symmetrically doubled, so as to give a row of squares with parallel
borders; or with repeated zigzag borders in alternate light and dark
colours. This same type lasted onward to the XIXth dynasty (belt Ramessu
II. C.M.X.), and is found, with the addition of spots in the outer
angles, in the foreign dress of Shekh Absha, at Benihasan, in the XIIth
dynasty.

[Illustration: 4.—Prisse, Art. 84.]

[Illustration: 5.—L.D., II. 130.]

A later stage was to repeat the squares with varieties of colour; and
also to introduce details into the squares, and so make them compound
patterns, as in the XVIIth dynasty at El Kab, where the sequence of the
blue, green, and red lines makes a brilliant effect from these simple
elements. Not only a square, but also a hexagon, was worked into the
same design. This, from the nature of it, suggests a rush-work screen,
and probably it was plaited with rushes in three directions, and hence
the production of this particular angle. The previous zigzag patterns
all suggest weaving; and in some in Ptah-hotep’s tomb (Vth dyn.) closely
woven and complex zigzag patterns are shown which are evidently copied
from textiles, as we shall see further on in the chequer patterns.

[Illustration: 6.—XII. dyn. Amu dress.]

[Illustration: 7.—XVIII., Keft dress. C.M. cxcl.]

[Illustration: 8.—XX. Vase, C.M. cclix.]

The use of spots for filling in corners was foreign to the Egyptian. We
first find it in the garments of the Amu, or people of northern Arabia,
in the XIIth dynasty. Till then a spot is never seen, except for the
centre of a square; but the Amu dresses are covered with spots in every
space, and even along the bars and stripes of colour. The same is seen
on the later dresses of the Amu in the XIXth dynasty, and also in the
dress of the Phœnicians, or Keft people. It recurs on the foreign vases
probably brought in from the Aegean; and it is only found in Egyptian
products during the XVIIIth dynasty, when foreign fashions prevailed,
though it is but rare then. Hence we may fairly set aside this use of
spots as a foreign or Asiatic element, akin to the filling in of spaces
on early Greek vases with rosettes and other small ornaments.

[Illustration: 9.—XVIII., P. I. xvii. 7.]

[Illustration: 10.—XVIII. Vase, R.C. lvii.]

The zigzag line only became changed into a rounded wavy line in the
later time of the XVIIIth dynasty. This probably results from the
earlier patterns being all direct copies of textiles which maintained
rectilinear patterns; but when the same came to be used on pottery (as
above), or on metal work (shield border, L.D. iii. 64), then curves were
readily introduced. On a golden bowl repeated waves are shown, deepened
so as to receive further figures.


                             _The Spiral._

The spiral, or scroll, is one of the greatest elements of Egyptian
decoration; it is only second to the lotus in importance, and shares
with that the origination of a great part of the ornament of the world.
The source of the spiral and its meaning are alike uncertain. It has
been attributed to a development of the lotus pattern; but it is known
in every variety of treatment without any trace of connection with the
lotus. It has been said to represent the wanderings of the soul; why, or
how, is not specified; nor why some souls should wander in circular
spirals, others in oval spirals, some in spirals with ends, others in
spirals that are endless. And what a soul was supposed to do when on the
track of a triple diverging spiral, how it could go two ways at once, or
which line it was to take—all these difficulties suggest that the
theorist’s soul was on a remarkable spiral.

[Illustration: 11.—F.P. coll.]

[Illustration: 12.—F.P.]

[Illustration: 13.—F.P.]

The subject of spirals fall into two groups. The older group by far are
the scarabs, which contain spirals on a limited and small field; the
other group are those continuous patterns on ceilings, furniture, &c.,
which are capable of indefinite extension by repetition. As the scarabs
are far the older examples, there is a presumption that spirals may have
even originated on scarab designs; and the hesitating and simple manner
of the oldest instances on scarabs indeed seems as if the engravers were
merely filling a space, and not copying any well-known pattern. The
earliest that can be certainly dated is one of Assa, of the Vth dynasty,
on which a bordering line is interrupted at the ends and turned in to
fill the space on either side of the name. From the cramped way in which
this is done, and the want of uniformity in the spirals, it seems as if
no regular pattern were in view, but only the need of avoiding an
unsightly gap in the design. We next see spirals used in the same way to
fill up at the sides of the inscription on the scarabs of Pepy, without
any attempt to connect them into a continuous pattern; and on the
scarabs of Ma·abra, probably soon after, the same loose spirals are seen
thrown in to fill up. In none of these cases is the ornament anything
but the means of supplementing the required inscription; nothing is
arranged for the sake of it, and it is treated as a mere afterthought.
Nor is it until the XIIth dynasty that any continuous spiral design can
be dated. For over a thousand years, then, the spiral is only to be
found as an accessory on scarabs, a fact which strongly suggests that it
originated in this manner.

Before describing spirals further, it is needful to settle some definite
names for their varieties. Where the lines are coiled closely in a
circular curve, as in Assa’s scarab, they may be termed _coils_; where
lengthened out, as in Pepy’s, we may term them _hooks_; where lengthy in
the body between the turns, as in Ma·abra’s, they are rather _links_.
Where the line is broken at each spiral, as in all the above, it is a
_chain_ of spirals; but where the same line is maintained unbroken
throughout it is a _continuous_ spiral, and these are found in all
varieties of coils, hooks, or links. Sometimes the continuous line has
separate ends, but more usually it is _endless_, returning into itself.
These terms will suffice to distinguish the varieties, and enable us to
speak of a spiral with definiteness.

[Illustration: 14.—Louvre.]

[Illustration: 15.—Ghizeh.]

These detached spirals continued in use in the XIIth dynasty, generally
as loose links, often not hooking together, as in this of Usertesen II.
In the XVIIIth dynasty this is still found as a general surface ornament
on the boat covers of Hatshepsut at Deir al Bahri and on the base of a
Kohl vase in the Ghizeh Museum.

[Illustration: Fig. 16. F.P. coll. Fig. 17.]

But the spiral was developed, apparently under Usertesen I., into a
chain of coils, which are drawn with great beauty and regularity. Such
care indicates that the design was a novelty, which was not yet
stereotyped and reproduced as a matter of course. In no later reign were
spirals ever so beautifully and perfectly executed. This type was
revived under Amenhotep II. (H. S. 1097). In about the XIIth dynasty it
was combined with the lotus in perhaps the most perfect design that
remains on any scarab—a continuous coil with flowers and buds in the
spaces.

[Illustration: 18.—Turin.]

[Illustration: 19.—F.P.]

But it was felt that the spirals all round occupied too much of the
field, so the top and bottom were left free for inscribing, and the
ornament was limited to the sides, as in this chain of hook pattern of
Usertesen I. This design, with the line continued around the top as well
as the base, was the staple decoration of the private scarabs of the
XIIth-XIIIth dynasties, many of which are of great beauty. Both types
are found, but the hook pattern is more usual than the coils.

[Illustration: Fig. 20. F.P. coll. Fig. 21.]

[Illustration: Fig. 22. F.P. coll. Fig. 23.]

In the finest work, however, the line is made endless, a single
continuous line forming the whole pattern, as in the endless hook
pattern of Setmes, and the endless coil pattern of Ptaherduen.

[Illustration: 24.—Paris.]

[Illustration: 25.—F.P.]

In the few spiral scarabs of later times the pattern is not only placed
at the sides, but is carried all round, as we see in that of Amenhotep
I. and one of Ramessu II., which latter is the latest spiral pattern
known on scarabs.

[Illustration: 26.—F.P. coll.]

The long links were seldom used in continuous patterns around scarabs,
as in this, but were more usually employed for independent spiral
patterns without any inscriptions.

[Illustration: 27.—F.P. coll.]

[Illustration: 28.—K. x. 50.]

[Illustration: 29.—I. viii. 69.]

[Illustration: 30.—K. x. 28.]

[Illustration: 31.—K. x. 40.]

After serving as adjuncts to inscriptions, the spirals became elaborated
as sole patterns. These are at first a few simple coils, as on one
which, from the side pattern, can be dated to about the VIIIth dynasty.
These, when elaborated with more coils or links, sometimes developed to
great length.

[Illustration: 32.—K. x. 17.]

[Illustration: 33.—F.P.]

[Illustration: 34.—I. x. 176.]

Such patterns required but little ingenuity, and it is rather in the
design of continuous spirals that the Egyptian showed his skill. The
problem was how to arrange a number of coils in a symmetrical system
uniformly covering the surface of the scarab, and yet to connect them in
a true series. This was done in various ways, usually by introducing
long loop lines around the edge. One of the simplest type is— In another
a cross pattern is formed which is entirely of C coils, like frequent
patterns at Mykenae.

[Illustration: 35.—F.P.]

[Illustration: 36.—F.P.]

[Illustration: 37.—F.P.]

Others fill up by establishing a repeating pattern, which might be
indefinitely multiplied, as — and the difficulty is avoided on a large
silver scarab of early date by shortening the links to allow of the
connecting line passing the ends.

This difficulty of designing good covering patterns out of true
continuous lines probably led to the evasion of introducing false links.
Thus what would otherwise have been an opening in the middle was barred
across.

[Illustration: 38.—I. x. 158.]

[Illustration: 39.—K. x. 27.]

[Illustration: 40.—K. x. 48.]

[Illustration: 41.—F.P.]

[Illustration: 42.—F.P.]

Some beautiful effects were obtained by this false barring, which does
not, at first sight, catch the eye, as in these two examples.

[Illustration: 43.—F.P.]

In the latter, two complete lop-sided spiral groups are joined by long
false links around the outside. Another favourite device which often
occurs is also compounded of lop-sided groups, or rather of a cross
group, like Fig. 43, with four false links joining in the middle.

[Illustration: 44.—I. x. 144.]

[Illustration: 45.—I. x. 155.]

[Illustration: 46.—F.P.]

[Illustration: 47.—Turin.]

Some other devices did not profess to cover the whole field, as in Figs.
44 and 45; and sometimes two separate lines of design were superposed, a
single element of the same design being found as late as Tahutmes III.


The spiral had thus been greatly developed as a detached ornament for a
small surface; but in architecture and furniture it was required as a
continuous decoration on borders and on large surfaces. Hence its
development was in many ways different, and—so far as we know—later by a
whole cycle of history than the development on the scarabs. On those
small objects it started in the Vth dynasty, became fully elaborated in
the XIIth, is common in the XIIIth, and only very occasionally found in
the XVIIIth, disappearing altogether in the XIXth. On walls and
furniture it is rare in the XIIth dynasty, becomes usual in the XVIIIth,
flourishes in the XIXth and XXth, and is decadent in the XXVIth.

[Illustration: Fig. 48.]

The simplest form in which it is found is as a chequered pattern series
of S spirals, apparently on cloths thrown over boat cabins. On
Hatshepsut’s boat the spirals are close together (Duem. XXI.); but
rather later, on the boat of Neferhotep, they are spread with chequers
of red and blue between them (W.M.C. lxvii.).

[Illustration: Fig. 49.]

About the same period they appear as a continuous coil pattern in relief
on the columns of the _harim_ well at Tell el Amarna. The spiral in
relief being in yellow, it probably was copied from a jewellery pattern
in which a strip of gold was twisted into spirals, and the spaces filled
with squares of coloured stones or pastes, judging from the analogy of
the inlaid capitals. This example being earlier than most of the spiral
decorations of surfaces may thus open our eyes to the meaning of some
such designs; and, in general, a close continuous coil returning on
itself may well be a copy of a strip of sheet metal, doubled, and rolled
up.

[Illustration: 50.—P. 85. I.]

The next stage is where continuous lines of spiral patterns are placed
side by side, and other patterns developed in the spaces between them.
Sometimes the intervening patterns become so complex as to overshadow
the mere spirals, as in the splendid ceiling of Neferhotep, in the
XVIIIth dynasty. And in this the far more complex quadruple spiral
begins to appear, as we shall see presently.

[Illustration: 51.—P. 85.]

[Illustration: 52.—C.M. cclv.]

The lines of spirals were not only placed parallel, but were also
crossed. For some reason this type was never well developed, but
remained one of the coldest and most mechanical of all, looking in the
later stage of the XXVIth dynasty like a most debased wall paper.

But the glory of Egyptian line decoration was in the quadruple spiral,
of which the most elementary example is on a boat cover as late as the
XXth dynasty (Ramessu IV.); though it has passed through this stage long
before that time—if indeed this may not be regarded as a degraded
simplification of it. It is also sometimes rhombic in plan.

[Illustration: 53.—P. 86.]

[Illustration: 54.—XIIth dyn. R.C. lxxii.]

From this was developed a peculiar pattern by the omission of the lines
which define the spirals, thus reducing it to a system of rows of
hollow-sided quadrangles without any apparent connection.

The main development of the quadruple spiral was with rosettes or lotus
filling the hollow squares.

This became a stock subject with the Egyptian, and from thence a main
pattern in other lands. The filling in was either a flower pattern or a
rosette, which might be either a flower or a leather pattern, as we
shall notice further on.

[Illustration: Fig. 55.]

[Illustration: 56.—P. 86.]

The insertion also became more complex, four lotus flowers being placed
in each angle of the hollow square; and the spirals being more heavily
developed, in order to gain enough space for complexity in the squares
between them. Such a system could hardly be carried further, but reached
its limits; like the limit of size in the Great Hall of Karnak, where
the columns occupy too large an area in proportion to the clear space.

[Illustration: 57.—P. 83.]

In another direction, however, the spiral blossomed further, in the
parallel lines of spiral pattern. These became developed by introducing
link lines so as to form a quintuple spiral, which was further
complicated by lotus flowers and buds in the hollows and recesses.

In this direction, again, the Egyptians had reached the limit beyond
which more detail would be merely confusing. By careful use of colour to
separate the various parts, these complex patterns remain clear and
pleasing in spite of their richness of detail.

The quadruple spiral had, however, another development, of C links,
which is rather too formal to be beautiful, and lacks the flamboyant
grace of the chains of spirals. Still it has a simple dignity, related
to the scarab spirals rather than the flowing surface patterns. This
became formalised into a torturing kind of design, which can only be
described as “cursedly ingenious.” By simplifying the previous pattern,
a wave was invented which was equal in each direction, and four of these
were crossed in a manner which nothing but bold colouring could make
intelligible.

[Illustration: 58.—P. 85.]

[Illustration: 59.—P. 83.]


[Illustration: 60.—L.D. II. 57.]

The fret patterns are all modifications of corresponding spirals. The
cause of such change is obviously the influence of weaving. As early as
the Vth dynasty we find a fret of rhombic form in basket-work in the
screen behind the figure of Ptah·bau·nefer, at Gizeh. The angles show
that the plaiting was in three directions, as we saw in the basket-work
pattern at Benihasan (Fig. 3). But frets in general are very rare until
a late period, and they doubtless depend on the adaptation of spirals to
textiles. We see no trace of the fret in the Mykenaean art, the spiral
there being figured on stone or metal, while the women wore flounced
dresses with scale pattern. But in the pre-Persian age fret pattern
weaving in borders was the standard design, as we see on the coloured
robes of the Parthenon statues; and immediately after that the stiffest
of square frets swarms over Greek art, to the exclusion of the graceful
spirals and scroll borders.

[Illustration: 61.—P. 82.]

[Illustration: 62.—P. 83.]

[Illustration: 63.—P. 83.]

The chains of links were copied in the fret pattern with no difference
except in squaring up the curves. The same is true of the quadruple
spirals, which appear likewise modified; and this change seems to have
led to another simplified form, which is on the same idea as the
torturing design (Fig. 59), but which is less ingenious, and is still
possible as an ornament.

[Illustration: 64.—Schuck. 256.]

So far we have viewed only the course of Egyptian design, nor can we
travel far outside of it within these pages. Moreover, as it is dated
before any other such decoration in other countries, it is well to view
its course as a whole without confusing it with the various fragments
borrowed from it by other lands. Yet we may well turn now to see the
beginning of the course of European decoration at Mykenae, and observe
its close contact with that of Egypt. The spiral is the main element of
prehistoric decoration in Greece; the parallel chains of links occur
almost exactly as we have already seen them in the pattern of
Neferhotep, but omitting the inner details added in the spaces.

[Illustration: 65.—Schuck. 290.]

The quadruple spiral is splendidly shown in the ceiling of Orchomenos,
with a lotus flower in each space; also as a simpler form without any
filling in of the squares on the grave stele (Schuck. 146). While even
the ox head with a rosette between the horns, in the grand quintuple
spiral pattern (Fig. 57), is strangely paralleled by an ox head of
silver with a large rosette on the forehead found at Mykenae (Schuck.
248).

In observing these equivalents it must be noted that whole patterns with
their detail are taken over complete from Egypt. There are none of the
series of intermediate steps which we have traced in the mother country;
and where a simpler form occurs it is known to be later, the grave
steles being after the age of the great ceiling. Thus there is the
surest sign of a borrowed art, apart from the facts of the exact
resemblances we have noted. Of course the Mykenaean designs are mostly
influenced by the taste of the race. Many of them are strongly European,
and might be of Celtic or Norse work, as has been shown by Mr. Arthur
Evans; but the source of the designs lies in the two thousand years’
start which Egypt had before Europe awoke.


[Illustration: Fig. 66.]

[Illustration: 67.—R.C. lvii.]

[Illustration: 68.—P. 97. 105.]

[Illustration: 69.—R.C. lxii.]

A separate form of the spiral pattern is that used for borders,
otherwise called the wave or maeander, which merged into the guilloche.
Although the chain of coils on the scarab borders in the XIIth dynasty
may be regarded as a wave border, yet no example is known of this border
on other objects until the XVIIIth dynasty. At that time it appears as
often on foreign objects as on Egyptian, and the only instance of the
guilloche is on foreign dress. Hence this development of the spiral idea
may well be due more to the Aegean civilisation than to that of Egypt.
This will agree with the occurrence of the guilloche on black pottery
from Kahun, which class, wherever it can be dated, is found to belong to
the XIIth-XIIIth dynasty. The metal vases shown on the monuments of the
XVIIIth-XXth dynasties are mostly foreign tributes, and on them the wave
border is common, merging into a twisted rope border which is also
found—though rarely—on scarabs of the Middle Kingdom.

[Illustration: 70.—R.C. lvii.]

[Illustration: Fig. 71.]

[Illustration: Fig. 72.]

In Egyptian use this border is seldom found. A box in the Louvre had a
line of long links; and a scroll edge appears to the standard of Ramessu
II. But more usually the scroll is associated with the lotus, as in
these—

[Illustration: 73.—P. 89.]

[Illustration: 74.—P. 89.]

The innumerable adaptations of this in Greek and later designs are
familiar enough to us.

The influence of weaving has been very great upon these wave borders. As
I have before noticed, the woven borders, reducing the pattern to a
fret, are shown on the pre-Persian statuary at Athens, and precede the
most common and oft-repeated use of the fret or key pattern borders in
Greece, and thence in all classical, mediæval, and modern times.

[Illustration: 75.—R.C. cxxi.]

[Illustration: 76.—R.C. lxi.]

[Illustration: 77.—P. 103.]

Another type of border, which may be connected with this, is found in
the Ramesside age. As it occurs as stitching on leather, and is well
adapted to quilting or sewing bands together, it may well have been
derived from that; but it is also found on metal work, with which it
does not seem to be connected by origin.

[Illustration: 78.—P. and C. xiii.]

The source of chequer patterns is unmistakably in plaiting and weaving.
On the oldest monuments the basket sign, _neb_, is chequered in
different colours; so are also the baskets of farm produce carried by
the servants, as shown in the tombs. The modern Nubian basket-work is
well known for the many patterns which it bears like the ancient
Egyptian. The chequer pattern is found in every period in Egypt, and is
perhaps most common in the latest forms on the sides of thrones in the
Ptolemaic age. In the Old Kingdom many varieties were in use. The plain
chequers of red or black with white, the squares filled with black and
red crosses on a green and yellow chequer; or diagonal square patterns
developed by lines of chequers, which are often not square but
elongated, thus forming general and wide-spread patterns which attract
the eye on large surfaces. These are best seen in the tomb of Ptah-hotep
(P. and C. xiii.) and in that of Peheniuka (L.D. I. 41), both of the Vth
dynasty, Sakkara.

[Illustration: 79.—P. and C. xiii.]

[Illustration: 80.—L.D. I. 41.]

[Illustration: 81.—L.D. II. 130.]

In the Middle Kingdom we find chequers covered with bars of colour, red
and green, at Benihasan.

[Illustration: 82.—P. 81.]

Under the empire chequers are less common owing to the greater
development of more elaborate decoration. A pleasing variety was formed
by lengthening the squares, a change doubtless copied from weaving,
where oblong squares serve to break the monotony of the pattern.

[Illustration: 83.—L.D. iv. 77.]

In later ages of the Saitic and Greek times the chequer is a common
resource, but is seldom treated with originality or grace, and we do not
find any new departure or advance in the mechanical execution of the
later examples. One slight novelty was the alternation of whole and
divided squares of colour, under Claudius.

Somewhat analogous are the net-work patterns. They seem to be probably
derived from stitch-pattern over dresses. Though found in the XIIth
dynasty they are not usual until the XVIIIth dynasty, and they are
generally on the dresses of goddesses. A simple example is on a
horse-cloth of Ramesside age, which shows that these can hardly
represent long beads, but rather stitching or quilting. A more elaborate
form is on the dress of Bast in the tomb of Seti I., in hexagons.

[Illustration: 84.—R.S. lxxxii.]

[Illustration: 85.—C.M. ccxlii. cccx.]

But this design rose to importance when it was introduced as an
architectural element in the decoration of columns at Tell el Amarna.
There it is coloured yellow, and the spaces are alternate red and blue.

[Illustration: Fig. 86.]

The Egyptians never used circles freely in decoration; no examples are
known before the XVIIIth dynasty, and but few then.

[Illustration: 87.—P. 79.]

[Illustration: 88.—P. 84.]

[Illustration: 89.—P. 86.]

The intersecting circles, forming a kind of net-work, are found in the
XVIIIth dynasty in blue on a yellow ground; and the same occurs in black
on blue and red ground, in later times (L.D. I. 41). Besides the
rosettes other patterns were introduced into the spaces, which were
coloured red and green alternately. But the most beautiful type was with
contiguous circles not intersecting, and each containing four lotus
flowers.

The circle, however, never became of importance, probably because it was
too stiff and mechanical for the Egyptian, who delighted in the waving
spiral patterns and the unlimited variety of lotus developments. It is
remarkable that there is not a single example of the circle divided into
six, or with six segmental arms, which is so common a motive in Assyria
and Syria, and which results so readily from stepping the radius around
the circle. This seems to show that the Egyptian did not use compasses
at any time, but always worked with a string and points. The absence of
a simple and self-evident motive like the sixth of the circle is almost
more striking than a peculiar motive being present.




                              CHAPTER III
                          _NATURAL DECORATION_


Though it might be supposed that the imitation of natural forms would be
the earliest form of decoration, yet this is not the case. On the
contrary, we find the geometrical forms of wave lines, and chequers
copied from weaving, and the varieties of the spiral, were the first
ornaments of importance in Egypt; while the natural forms of feathers
and flowers were not generally imitated till a later time.

One source of simple pattern that has been little noticed is the
feather, and the variety of its forms. Fortunately we have these
different forms shown unmistakably as feathers on the coffins of the
Antefs in the XIth dynasty, before we find them in common use elsewhere.
Hence we can have little doubt as to their real origin. On these coffins
the royal mummies are figured as swathed around in protecting wings,
representing those of Isis at the sides and of the vulture of Mut on the
head. The feathers have different forms according to the part of the
wing which they occupy. Thus on one coffin we find all of the following
types of feathers:—

[Illustration: Fig. 90.]

[Illustration: Fig. 91.]

[Illustration: Fig. 92.]

[Illustration: Fig. 93.]

[Illustration: Fig. 94.]

Now when we have thus been shown the conventional types which were used
to represent feathers, we can identify these again in many other places,
where probably the original idea of feather work was entirely lost; and
we have a new light on some representations not yet understood.

[Illustration: 95.—Amenhotep I. R.S. xxix.]

[Illustration: 96.—Amenhotep II. R.S. xxxvii.]

On the kings of the XVIIIth-XXth dynasty we often see a wide belt
covering the whole stomach, which is decorated with what is commonly
called scale pattern. But this occurs in scenes which are not at all
warlike, and where no defensive scale armour is likely to be
shown—Amenhotep I. is seated as a god receiving adoration after his
death; Amenhotep II. is represented adoring Ra. And in the second case
the pattern is identical with the feathers on the Antef coffin. The only
conclusion is that these represent belts of feather work worn around the
body to prevent chill, like the voluminous waist shawl of modern
Orientals. Such a feather belt would be admirable for lightness and
warmth, but that it is not scale armour is seen from the absence of it
in fighting scenes. On the contrary, in the royal campaigning dress
another form of feather work is seen in the large wings of feathers
which encircle the shoulders (Ramessu II., R.S. lxxxi.).

This feather pattern is also very usual on the sides of thrones, from
the XVIIIth dynasty down to the latest times. Here again it is evident
that it cannot be scale armour; and a feather rug thrown across the
seat, in place of the fur rug otherwise used, is a very likely thing to
find in such a position.

We may, then, take this pattern, when used on dress or on thrones, to
represent feather work. But in later times it is also used on very
incongruous objects. As early as the XVIIIth dynasty the feather pattern
occurs around columns as an architectural ornament (Tell el Amarna), and
with the characteristic marking also about the XIXth dynasty (P. 79);
also on metal work (vase, P. 97), where it must be purely an artificial
marking.

[Illustration: 97.—P. 79.]

[Illustration: 98.—P.R. lix.]

[Illustration: 99.—R.S. lxxix.]

It became elaborated under Seti I., with markings upon it, both on a
dress of a god and on a throne-cover. And it became degraded into an
unintelligible pattern under Ramessu II., when it appears as the dress
of the god Amen.

In later times the same pattern was used on columns at Philæ, in an
inverted and very corrupt form.

[Illustration: 100.—L.D. I. 108.]

The other forms of feather pattern shown on the Antef coffin were also
found later. But they merge so readily into mere line patterns that it
is not likely that they were regarded as feathers in their later use.
The V pattern is found on the columns at Tell el Amarna, on belts of the
kings (L.D. III. 1), on painted wooden columns (P. 73), on the harps of
Ramessu III. (P. 114), and many other places.


The use of flowers for ornament is so natural that their occurrence in
the earliest times is what might be expected. Yet but few flowers were
adopted for decoration. The lotus is far the commonest, after that the
papyrus, the daisy, and the convolvulus, together with the vine and
palm, almost complete the material of vegetable designs. There is also,
however, what may be called a generic flower ornament—the rosette—which
is treated so conventionally that it can hardly receive any precise
name. Sometimes in the XVIIIth dynasty it is clearly a daisy, very
seldom has it the pointed petals of the lotus; and it fluctuates between
the geometrical and the natural so as to defy details. One cause of this
is the evident effect of leather work. The coloured leather funereal
tent of Isiemkheb, found at Deir el Bahri, opens our eyes to a great
deal. We there see an elaborate design, descending to long inscriptions
of small hieroglyphs, all worked by cutting and stitching of leather.
After this we can see in many of the Egyptian designs the influence of
leather work; and nowhere is this plainer than in the rosettes. The
earliest rosettes we know, those on the head-band of Nefert, at the very
beginning of monumental history, are plain discs of colour divided into
segments by white lines across them. These are discs of leather secured
by radiating threads; and the same are seen in the XVIIIth dynasty, more
varied by concentric circles of colours, probably successive superposed
discs stitched down one over the other.

[Illustration: 101.—P. 81.]

[Illustration: 102.—P. 116.]

[Illustration: 103.—P. 116.]

Another stitch ornament is seen on the stuffs used for covering thrones
in the XXth dynasty. There star and cross patterns are used which are
evidently stitch work or embroidery; and in the spaces are discs of
colour with white spots around, probably pieces sewn on by stitches
round the edge. On a dress of Ramessu II. also are little six-pointed
stars, which were doubtless stitch work.

[Illustration: 104.—R.S. lxxxiii.]

[Illustration: Fig. 105.]

There can be no doubt of the effect that stitching has had on the use of
rosettes, but other varieties are probably independent of that. The
great series of rosettes is in the moulded glazed ware of Tell el
Amarna; there several dozen varieties are found, varying from four
petals to thirty-two. The more elaborate of these have an unmistakable
daisy centre of yellow in the midst of white petals, and this indicates
what was probably the flower in mind for most of them.

The rosette is found in varied use. On metal vases it is very general,
and may either be a separate ornament of beaten work riveted on, like
the rosettes on the silver ox head at Mykenae, or else embossed
_repoussé_ in the metal. Carved in wood or ivory, rosettes decorated the
furniture; and they are constantly found as centre ornaments in square
patterns, and along borders with the lotus or other subject.

[Illustration: 106.—L.D. II. 130.]

[Illustration: 107.—P. 84.]

In patterns a frequent form is only four petals, or a cruciform flower,
as at Benihasan in the XIIth dynasty; and this is varied by alternations
of square and diagonal arrangement.

[Illustration: 108.—P. 84.]

A graceful, simple form, which again recalls leather _appliquée_, is
yellow on a blue ground.

[Illustration: Fig. 109.]

[Illustration: Fig. 110—P. 81.]

[Illustration: Fig. 111.]

An allied pattern is the disc surrounded by spots. This is very usual on
early Greek pottery, and is found on the Aegean pottery also. This is
very rarely seen in pure Egyptian design, and only in the XVIIIth
dynasty, when Mykenaean influence was strongest. On Neferhotep’s ceiling
two forms are found, put between the horns of the bulls’ heads, like the
rosette on the Mykenaean ox head. Elsewhere it is usually seen on the
scarves of the negroes as a characteristic decoration, and on the dress
of the Amu (C.M. cclviii.). Hence it appears to be distinctly a foreign
ornament, like the other spot pattern on a zigzag line. Only three
examples are published from Egyptian decoration, and those may well be
due to foreign influence.


We now reach the largest and most complex growth of Egyptian ornament in
the lotus, so widely spread that some have seen in it the source of all
ornament. Without going so far, we shall find plenty in it to tax our
reasoning and imagination. If I prefer, in dealing with this, to ignore
the developments of it seen outside of Egypt as aids to understanding
it, this is only because those foreign examples are so much later that
they are a reflex of various Egyptian periods, and cannot show anything
certainly as to the long anterior course of development in Egypt itself.

The debated question of lotus and papyrus disappears at once when we
look at the feathery head of minute flowers which the papyrus bears.
That some flower, such as a _nelumbium_, was confused with the lotus
seems, however, very likely. There is no doubt that in ornament
different flowers were sometimes confused, and their details mixed;
hence it is of no use for us to be too particular in trying to separate
them. We shall therefore use the name lotus in general without
necessarily entering on botanical reasons for and against it on each
occasion.

[Illustration: 112.—L.D. II. 33; I. 27.]

[Illustration: 113.—L.D. III. 68. XVIIIth dyn.]

The oldest use of the lotus was in groups of two flowers tied together
by the stalks; such are found on the prehistoric pottery at Koptos, and
on the earliest tombs. But in later times this became corrupted, and the
origin apparently forgotten, by the XVIIIth dynasty.

[Illustration: Fig. 114.]

[Illustration: 115.—L.D. II. 52. P. 74.]

[Illustration: Fig. 116.]

[Illustration: 117.—P. 79.]

[Illustration: 118.—P. 21. L.D. III. 76.]

The plain flower was also used very early, as we see on the head-band of
Nefert at the beginning of the IVth dynasty. And as architectural
ornament it appears as a capital in wood of the Vth dynasty in the tomb
of Imery. At Karnak there is a celebrated pair of granite pillars, one
with the papyrus, the other with the lotus; and this form, with the
sepals turned over at the end, became the more usual in the Empire and
later times.

The variety of lotus capital is very great. The bud capital and the
opened flower are both shown in the XVIIIth dynasty (tomb of Khaemhat);
and many composite, complicated, and impossible combinations were piled
together in the decadent age of the Ramessides.

[Illustration: 119.—P. Mon. L.]

[Illustration: 120.—R.C. lviii.]

[Illustration: 121.—P. 88.]

[Illustration: 122.—R.C. lxx.]

The lotus was also much used in repetition as a border pattern, but not
apparently before the XVIIIth dynasty; and usually it is in alternation
with buds, which fit harmoniously into the curves between the flowers.
This line of flowers and buds was varied as flowers and grapes, and
appears very often in the XVIIIth dynasty.

The flower and bud was further developed in a mechanical fashion, and we
can trace a continuous series of forms beginning in a flower and bud
pattern and modifying the intermediate member, until on reversing the
line we find that something has been evolved which is indistinguishable
from the Greek palmetto alternating with the lotus. The isolated
anthemion, which is so much like this, has probably a different origin,
as we shall soon see.

[Illustration: 123.—P. 89. 8.]

[Illustration: Fig. 124. 89. 9. 90. 4.]

[Illustration: Fig. 125. 90. 5. 90. 6.]

[Illustration: 126.—P. 90. 5.]

Beside using the separate flowers, the whole plant was also a favourite
subject as a group. In the earliest days we find it entwined around the
hieroglyph of union, as we shall notice in considering the hieroglyphs.
In the XIIth dynasty the plant appears as a recurrent group in surface
decoration; though from the varying form of the flower it might be
intended for lotus or papyrus.

[Illustration: 127.—R.C. xciii.]

[Illustration: 128.—L.D. III. 109.]

In the XVIIIth dynasty it is more free, as might be expected in the time
of Akhenaten.

[Illustration: 129.—R.S. lxxxiii.]

It is also seen as a foreign ornament on the dress of a Syrian slain by
Ramessu II. at Abu Simbel, but in this case perhaps the tufted papyrus
is intended. And in place of the rounded group which is usual in the
XVIIIth-XIXth dynasties we find a different treatment on the throne of
Ramessu III., in which it is kept more as a parallel pattern. This
parallelism became general in later times, and the Ptolemaic walls are
ruled over with stiff friezes of lotus and bud.

[Illustration: 130.—P. 115.]

[Illustration: 131.—L.D. II. 35.]

[Illustration: 132.—L.D. II. 64.]

These wall basements are preceded by groups of flower and bud in scenes,
which are of the same style, as early as the IVth dynasty, on the tomb
of Debuhen. Here it may be the papyrus; but in the Vth dynasty, on a
basket-work screen, the lotus and bud is clearly shown. This pattern,
however, is very seldom found as a general architectural ornament until
we come down to the dull sterility of the Ptolemaic and Roman age. Then
the lower part of each wall is uniformly ruled with an endless series of
flowers and buds on long stems in monotonous order.

[Illustration: 133.—P. 88. L.D. iv. 84.]


We now come to the ornamental development of the flower into a
monstrosity, which is only decorative and not natural, and which
requires some thought and comparison to understand its origin.

[Illustration: 134.—P. 79.]

First there is the _fleur-de-lys_ type, with curled-over sides and a
middle projection. This has not been yet explained satisfactorily; but a
principle which was first clearly formulated by Borchardt (A.Z. xxxi. 1)
will show the origin of this as well as of the succeeding forms. The
Egyptian, it seems, consistently drew the interior or top view of an
object above the side view. In short, they suppose things to be seen in
a bird’s-eye view, and expressed that by drawing—for instance, a cup—in
side view and partly in top view above that. A dish would be drawn in
side view, and a top view of its compartments and contents placed over
it, and the bunch of flowers that lay on it is again placed over the top
view. Now on this principle we can see that the projection in the midst
of the lotus flower is the third sepal at the back of the flower, the
fourth, in front, being so foreshortened as to disappear altogether.

[Illustration: 135.—T.A. I.]

[Illustration: 136.—T.A. 368.]

[Illustration: 137.—T.A. 381.]

[Illustration: 138.—T.A. 388.]

This view is further complicated by showing not only some of the four
outer sepals, but also some of the petals, usually three. Here the near
sepal is shown rising in front, and then above these everted sepals are
three of the inner petals of the flower. These might be increased to
five or seven, but were generally an odd number; and they were at last
evolved to a fan of petals, in which the treatment of the dish of fruit
just shown is exactly reproduced, a side view of the flower being
crowned by a top view of it showing the radiating petals in the
interior.

[Illustration: 139.—T.A. 375.]

[Illustration: 140.—T.A. 374.]

So far we are on clear ground. Now we come to a more complex form, which
has also not yet been explained. In the XVIIIth dynasty (from which we
must mainly draw, as we have the long series of varieties in the glazed
ornaments of Tell el Amarna) a strange form appears, with reversed
curling arms above the calyx. Now we have seen that a third sepal is
shown from the back of the flower, and the fourth is omitted which lay
in front. But this was an imperfect flower, and so a diagonal point of
view was taken, in which two sepals lay nearest and were seen in side
view, and the two behind them were seen over them. Sometimes they are
curled alike, but more generally they are curled different ways, the
nearer ones downwards, the further ones upwards. Hence we get this very
mechanical form, which was greatly developed in Assyrian and Greek types
of the pattern. If it can be proved that the Assyrian tree pattern is
earlier than this development, we could then grant what seems a likely
influence on the development of this pattern. It was so far removed from
a natural view that it soon became greatly varied and amplified, as on a
bracelet in the Louvre.

[Illustration: 141.—P. 113.]

[Illustration: 142.—P. and C. Ass. 127.]

[Illustration: 143.—Tanis II. xxxi.]

[Illustration: 144.—Goodyear. 75.]

In Assyria this became a staple design, in which the top was greatly
increased at the expense of the lotus sepals below; but still the four
sepals, two front and two back, are shown. In the Greek designs, however
barbarous they may seem in comparison, owing to their hopeless
divergence from any rational type, yet the same elements remain, and the
four sepals can be traced below the view of the petals in the flower.
Thus the anthemion with its double curves is fully accounted for, the
lower and upper sepals being still distinguishable in the two spirals on
each side at the base of it. The later changes of this necessarily
belong to Greek art, and we cannot here follow them out.

[Illustration: Fig. 145.]

A late development of the lotus in Ptolemaic Egypt was with a central
spike through the face of petals. As this spike rises from the base, it
appears to be the front sepal rising before the petals.

[Illustration: 146.—P. 111.]

Another variety in this pattern remains to be noticed. On very many
compound lotus patterns there is a pendant from each end of the side
sepals. This does not appear until the XVIIIth dynasty on the monuments:
it is then sometimes single and sometimes double. But here, as in the
spirals, the scarab type is an earlier stage than the architectural. On
the architecture it is quite unintelligible, and a mere conventional
monstrosity; while on a scarab of green jasper—which from the style and
material seems certainly to be before the XVIIIth dynasty, and probably
of the XIIth—there is an already conventionalised lotus group, with the
four sepals and inner petals already developed into a sort of “tree
pattern,” and the lower two sepals have a pendant, partly worn away, but
clearly showing a triply-branching line like a small lotus flower. This
is the earlier stage of this conventional pendant; but even here,
although the pendant itself is rational, the position of it is hard to
explain. Probably we must wait for some early scarab to clear up the
real origin of this curious and puzzling form.

[Illustration: 147.—F.P. coll.]

We have now traced the evolution of the various forms of the lotus
pattern in Egypt, and seen how the main Assyrian and Greek types of the
palmetto and the anthemion arose, which were confounded together owing
to their similarity.

Other plants were often confounded with the lotus in decoration, by the
ancients as well as by moderns. We have noticed some examples of this;
and it is well shown in the group of boat-builders, to whom, apparently,
bundles of papyrus with lotus flowers are being brought, in the IVth
dynasty tomb of Shepseskau (L.D. II. 12).

Much use was made of papyrus in the floral work of Tell el Amarna. On
the painted pavement groups of papyrus with large red fluffy heads of
seed vessels are figured; and on the coloured tiles the landscape view
of the papyrus plant in strictly natural treatment is a frequent
subject. But these belong rather to artistic than to ornamental work.


[Illustration: Fig. 148.]

[Illustration: Fig. 149.]

In architecture the lotus and papyrus were largely used, in fact they
form the basis of columnar decoration as distinct from that of pillars.
The earliest figure of a column that is known is as far back as any
dated monument we possess at the beginning of the IVth dynasty; and
there it is fashioned as a stem and flower, probably carved in wood. The
contracting connection with the tenon above, in a bell form, on the top
of the flower, is the same as columns of the VIth dynasty (L.D. II.
111); and is the source of the much later columns of Tahutmes III. at
Karnak, which otherwise seems to be an unaccountable “sport.”

[Illustration: Fig. 150.]

[Illustration: Fig. 151.]

[Illustration: Fig. 152.]

In the figures of wooden columns in the Vth and VIth dynasties, the
lotus form prevails, as we have already noticed, and here repeat.

In the Vth dynasty, in the tomb of Ptahshepses at Abusir the clustered
papyrus stems are a new feature; at Benihasan they are well developed;
and they continued in use to the XVIIIth dynasty. But a different type
then arose into predominance in the wide bell-topped lotus capitals, and
with long sheath-leaves around the root; and this continued for several
dynasties. But this was displaced by the elaborate composite capitals of
Ptolemaic and Roman age, which were made up of varied elements of
incongruity.

[Illustration: Fig. 153.]

The palm, though the most important tree of the country, has had but
little effect on the architecture. There is not a single example of
columns copied from a palm stem; and the only instances of the imitation
of the stem are in two or three instances of copies of roofing beams.
The branches are not copied on columns until other subjects were well
used. In the XIIth dynasty the imitation of a bundle of palm branches
was made in the capitals, and it became common in the XVIIIth. Perhaps,
however, as we shall see in considering the hieroglyphs, the palm column
originates with a bundle of palm-sticks bound together. It is strange
that the simple element of grouping branches round a post should not
have been a very usual early motive. Was the palm really common in early
Egypt? It does not enter into the hieroglyphs, and it is seldom shown on
monuments till the XVIIIth dynasty; while grapes, figs, and pomegranates
all seem to have been commoner than dates.

In late times not only the branches but the fruit was sculptured; and at
Esneh and other Roman temples the bunches of dates are carefully
rendered.

The vine is one of the oldest cultivated plants in Egypt, and all the
designs copied from it are based on the idea of its climbing and
trailing over the houses. It appears mainly in the florid work of the
XVIIIth dynasty. The ceiling was often painted of a golden yellow, with
vine leaves and bunches of grapes hanging from a trellis pattern which
covers it. At Tell el Amarna some fragments found were very free and
natural, but in the XXth dynasty it became a stiff and formal affair.
(Tomb of Aimadua, Ramessu X.).

[Illustration: 154.—P. 86.]

Bunches of grapes also formed favourite pendants; as such they are
painted in rows hanging from architraves of wooden buildings (tomb of
Ra, Amenhotep II.); and frequently in blue glazed ware bunches of grapes
are found of varying sizes, with half of the upper part cut away so as
to affix them by a peg-hole to a square wooden beam of the ceiling.

[Illustration: 155.—P. 79.]

[Illustration: Fig. 156.]

In the Greco-Roman decoration of capitals the vine and grapes also
appears, and is often very beautifully treated, as at Esneh, though
essentially as a mere surface decoration, and not as an organic element.

The convolvulus has scarcely, if at all, been acknowledged as an
Egyptian ornament. Yet it often occurs during the XVIIIth and XIXth
dynasties. On a coffin in the Ghizeh Museum a long trail of convolvulus
is beautifully modelled and painted; and during the tide of naturalism
under Akhenaten the wild flowing stems were a favourite element of
decoration.

[Illustration: 157.—P. 91.]

Subsequently the convolvulus is often shown as a climber on the lotus or
papyrus stems in bouquets; and though its leaves then have been
miscalled lotus buds, or “tabs,” yet they are clearly intended for a
natural leaf of this climber, which is so common in the Egyptian fields.

[Illustration: 158.—P. 91.]

Another field plant which played a great part in the glazed decorations
was the thistle. This is naturally painted on the glazed tiles; and the
glazed pendants of necklaces and wall decoration showed an abundance of
thistles with green calices and purple petals. But this, like the
convolvulus, was rarely used except during the beautiful period of
naturalism which was most developed by Akhenaten.

Artificial combinations of flowers also became used decoratively. We
have just instanced two examples from the great bouquets or staves of
flowers which the Egyptians used in ceremonies.

The garlands of flower petals which are seen on the heads of women, or
as collars, in the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties were also placed around the
water-jars; and hence a painted pattern of garlands came to be used on
those jars.

[Illustration: Fig. 159.]

In architecture also the garland came into use, sometimes carved on the
stone around the columns, sometimes made in coloured glaze and inlaid in
the surface.

[Illustration: 160.—T.A. ix.]

Wreaths of lotus flowers and buds were also represented around the
columns at Tell el Amarna.

The great pectorals, or breast-plates, of successive strings of flowers
and leaves were prominent in the personal and religious decoration. The
sacred barks of the gods were adorned with large and complex
breast-plates, probably made of bronze, gilded and inlaid (L.D. III.
235).

[Illustration: 161.—P. Mon. xlix. 2.]

A small example of such we have in London, with the details all inlaid
in gold. These pectorals were also represented on the later vases as a
complete whole.


[Illustration: 162.—L.D. III. 76.]

Turning now to the men and animals shown in decoration, in the period of
the Empire we constantly see figures of captives introduced to emphasise
the power of the king. These first appear in the great change which
overcame Egyptian art consequent upon the Asiatic conquests. Before
Tahutmes III. the character and style of work continually recalls that
of the XIIth dynasty; but within one or two generations a profound
difference changed for ever the nature of the art, and this is reflected
in the national handwriting, which shows a similar break. Amenhotep II.
appears on his nurse’s knee with an emblematic group of foreigners under
his feet, while he grasps cords tied to their necks; and in the same
spirit he is shown, when grown up, as smiting at one blow a whole bunch
of captives whom he holds in his left hand (L.D. III. 62; L.D. III. 61).
Tahutmes IV. similarly is seen seated on his tutor’s knee, with his feet
on a footstool ornamented with prostrate captives (L.D. III. 69).
Amenhotep III. appears with figures of a negro and a Syrian bound to the
_sam_ sign on the sides of his throne, and henceforward the abasement of
captives was an essential idea to Egyptians. But it should be remembered
that common as the notion was in late times, it is originally Asiatic
and not Egyptian; the king trampling on the nations and making foes a
footstool are ideas not found in Egypt until the Semitic conquests of
Tahutmes III., though the earliest figure of a sphinx trampling on a
captive is under the XIIth dynasty.

[Illustration: Fig. 163.]

Under Akhenaten six various races are represented on the sides of his
great balcony (L.D. III. 109), and the alternate negroes and Syrians are
painted on the passage floors of his palace, or carved in blocks of
alabaster to be trodden under foot. Down the various ages this symbolism
recurs in decoration until in Ptolemaic and Roman times every decent
Egyptian had captives painted on the soles of his sandals in which he
was buried, so that for all eternity he might tread down the Gentiles.

[Illustration: Fig. 164.]

Among animals a favourite in decoration was the ibex, but it was not
introduced till the XVIIIth dynasty. It often appears on the
finger-rings of Akhenaten’s time, and later upon the funeral tent of
Isiemkheb, ingeniously adapted to fill a square space.

The bull or young calf was more frequently introduced; on the wooden
boxes and trays it is shown as bounding in the meadows, and it is
continually used in the groups of the painted pavement at Tell el
Amarna.

Birds are also a common subject for decoration, though only dating from
the same period as the other animals. Besides the symbolic or sacred use
of the hawk and vulture, the very secular duck was a favourite bird. On
the great pavements of Akhenaten it appears above every group of plants.

[Illustration: Fig. 165.]

On rings it is often engraved fluttering above its nest; and in the
decadence of Egyptian art in the XXth dynasty the incongruous idea was
adopted of birds, eggs, and nests all upon a ceiling.


The natural ceiling pattern adopted from the early days of Egyptian art
was of golden stars on a deep blue ground; not a dark daylight blue, as
in modern imitations, but a black night blue. These are always
five-pointed stars, with a circular spot, usually of red, in the centre.

[Illustration: Fig. 166.]

It is noticeable that the Egyptian views a star as surrounded by long
streamers of light; because to a long-sighted person, or any one with
proper spectacles, the stars appear as points of light without
radiations. Hence it seems as if the Egyptians were short-sighted people
from the early ages.

[Illustration: Fig. 167.—L.D. II. 19.]

[Illustration: Fig. 168.]

Lastly we may notice the base imitation of nature in copying the grain
of wood, which we find done in the earliest times of the IVth dynasty,
and continued down to the period of the Empire. Stones were also
imitated by painting, and red granite is frequently copied in the
earlier days, on the recessed doorways of tombs. In later times vases of
valuable stone were imitated by painting over a pottery vase, and such
cheap substitutes were commonly placed in the tombs.

These base imitations are of æsthetic interest as showing in what a
different manner the Egyptian viewed his materials from that of our
standpoint. He stuccoed and painted over his hard stone statues; it was
enough for him to know that the stone was hard and imperishable—he did
not need to see it always exposed. The imitation of nature was the
standpoint from which he started, and he had no objection to carry out
that imitation with paint or otherwise; our abstract standpoint of an
artistic effect which must never involve falsity, but which may have
little or nothing to do with nature, was altogether outside of his
æsthetic.




                               CHAPTER IV
                        _STRUCTURAL DECORATION_


In the persistence of certain forms which were the direct result of the
structure of a building or object, we have a very considerable source of
decoration. In Greek architecture many of the details are entirely the
product of wooden construction translated into stone. The triglyphs, the
imitation of nail heads, of the ends of the poles supporting the
roofing, of the crossing of beams at the coffers, are all details which
are retained as decoration long after they ceased to have any structural
meaning, owing to an entire change of material. Such is structural
decoration in its best known forms. But the same principles equally
apply to Egyptian architecture; there the original material was not sawn
wood as in Greece, but rather the papyrus and palm branch, with the
ever-present mud plastering and mud bricks. The decorative details of
the stone architecture have come down from this stage of building,
translated point for point into stone, just as the Greek translated his
wooden architecture into marble.

But pottery preceded stone in Egypt, and one of the simplest of
ornaments arose from structural necessity. To this day may be seen in
the Egyptian pottery yards bowls and jars held together by a twist of
rough palm fibre cord, while they dry in the sun before baking. This
accidental marking by the rope in the wet clay is seen on the pottery of
all ages; but it became developed as a pattern apparently in the twist
or guilloche, which may perhaps be rather derived from this than from
the chain of coils or wave pattern.

[Illustration: 169.—H.S. 383.]

[Illustration: 170.—Kahun Pot.]

[Illustration: 171.—L.D. II. 63.]

Basket-work was elaborately developed in the Old Kingdom. There were
beautiful screens represented behind the figures of the owners of the
early tombs; they might in some cases be matting instead of basket-work,
but others of the patterns appear certainly to be of a rigid material.
In no case are they likely to be “mats on which the kings stand,” as
styled by Owen Jones. Among the various patterns of platting which are
readily developed, squares, waves, zig-zags, chequers, &c., there are
some made by binding the fibres into bundles, and so making a kind of
open work, which may well have led to the pattern of connected rhombs
which is so usual on Oriental pottery.

[Illustration: 172.—L.D. II. 63.]

[Illustration: 173.—L.D. II. 17.]

One of the most familiar early motives is wooden framing. This is
continually imitated in the stone figures of doorways in the tombs. The
details of it show that a frame or grate of joinery must have been used
for the porch of large houses, so as to admit light and air while the
door was fastened. The prevalence of such wooden frames or lattices in
modern times in Egypt—known as mushrabiyeh work—shows how suited such a
system is to the climate. Long after the use of stone was general the
frames were imitated, and the pattern survived as a decoration. The same
style of framing was used in the upper part of a house, with decorative
uprights of the hieroglyph _tat_, and was copied as a fancy decoration
in furniture, as seen in a beautiful ivory carving in the Louvre. This
style survived until the XVIIIth dynasty, when it is seen in a tomb at
Thebes (Amenhetop II., Prisse Art) and at the temple of Sedeinga under
Amenhotep III.

[Illustration: Fig. 175.]

[Illustration: Fig. 174.—Ghizeh.]


Much akin to this wood framing is the panelling of the brickwork which
is seen in the earliest examples in Egypt, and is identical with the
panelling of walls in early Babylonia, one of the indications of a
common civilisation of the two great valleys. This panelling does not
seem to have lasted beyond the Old Kingdom; there was no trace of it
found at Kahun or Gurob, in the buildings of the XIIth and XVIIIth
dynasties, nor does it appear in any drawings or imitations of
buildings.

[Illustration: 176.—P. M. vii. (plan).]

[Illustration: Fig. 177.]

One of the best known characteristics of Egyptian architecture is the
sloping face of the walls and pylons. This is directly copied from
brickwork. In order to give more cohesion to a wall it was the custom to
build it on a curved bed, so that the courses all sloped up outwards at
the outer corners. Thus the outer faces sloped inwards, and the wall had
more stability. So wedded were the builders to this method, that where a
long wall of a fort or city was to be built they preferred to begin with
a row of towers of brickwork thus arranged, and then to fill in the
spaces between them with more plain walling. This slope of the walls was
copied in stone at the earliest time. The temple of Sneferu at Medum has
a slope on the face of about 1 in 16, and it was continued down to the
very latest age of Roman building.

[Illustration: 178.—Perring. L.D. II. 44.]

Another familiar feature is the roll or torus down the corners of the
buildings. It is usually ornamented by a pattern of binding. This—as was
well pointed out by Professor Conway—is evidently a bundle of reeds
bound together, and put down the angle of the plastering in order to
preserve it from breaking away. Such a construction was an ugly
necessity at first, but when stoneworking arose it had become so
familiar that it was faithfully copied in stone as a decoration, and
continued to be so copied for more than four thousand years, as long as
Egyptian architecture lasted.


[Illustration: Fig. 180.]

[Illustration: Fig. 179.]

[Illustration: 181.—L.D. II. 112.]

The well-known Egyptian cornice has been so long taken for granted that
it might seem never to have required an origin. Yet in the villages of
the Fellahin to-day palm cornices may be seen in course of development.
A fence is formed of palm-sticks, placed upright, and stripped of leaves
for some way up. The tops are left bushy, and serve to prevent men or
animals climbing over the courtyard wall. The upright sticks are tied
together by a rope near the top, or lashed on to a cross line of sticks.
The fence is stiffened below by interweaving other palm-sticks in both
directions; and then the whole is plastered with mud up to the tie
level. Here we have the cavetto cornice being formed by the nodding tops
of the branches; and to clinch the matter, the earliest representations
of that cornice are on figures of buildings which show the crossed
sticks of the fence below the cornice. The ribbing of the cornice is
seen on the earliest examples, on Menkaura’s sarcophagus in the IVth
dynasty (Perring), in the Vth dynasty (L.D. II. 44) and the VIth (L.D.
II. 112), and such was copied until late times. But in the more
decorative cornices of the XVIIIth dynasty the ribbing was broken up by
cross lines, sometimes curved upward, sometimes downward. These cross
lines must be a degradation of the leaves of the palm branch. In later
times they are omitted, and the pattern becomes simply striped.

[Illustration: 182.—L.D. III. 115.]

[Illustration: Fig. 183.]

This cornice was copied in Syrian architecture, in the plain form
without ribbing, as in the tomb at Siloam and the slabs of Lachish; but
it does not appear to have ever taken root in Assyria, though attempted
there, nor is it known in Europe.

[Illustration: Fig. 184.]

The other main type of Egyptian cornice is what is known as the
_Khaker_, from the equivalent of the sign as a hieroglyph in
inscriptions. This only means “to cover” or “to ornament,” and therefore
refers to the position of the decoration and not to its origin. The clue
to the real nature of this decoration is given in a tomb of the IVth
dynasty (Ptah-hotep, L.D. II. 101. b.), where we see the _khaker_
ornament not as a mere painting, but represented as standing up solid
around the tops of the cabins of boats. It cannot therefore be anything
very heavy or solid, such as spear-heads, as has been proposed. It
probably results in some way from the construction of the cabins. They
must have had roofs of very light material. Papyrus was generally used
for building boats, and therefore for cabins also, most likely. This
gives us the clue to interpret it. Suppose a screen of papyrus stems;
the roofing stems tied on to the uprights; and the loose wiry leaves at
the head tied together, to keep them from straggling over and looking
untidy. Here we have all the details of the _khaker_ ornament simply
resulting from structural necessity. The leaves are gathered together at
the lower tying; there the end view of the concentric coats of the
papyrus stems of the roof are seen as concentric circles; above which
the leaves bulge out and are tied together near the top. Though this
structural decoration is seen on the top of boat cabins as early as the
IVth dynasty, yet we have not found it as decoration on a flat surface
until the XIIth. Then it is very common; but its meaning became confused
in the XVIIIth dynasty, and in Ptolemaic times it is seen in absurd
positions, as on a base, and on architraves above an empty space, where
no stems below it were possible.

[Illustration: 185.—Prisse 88.]


We have just mentioned one use of reeds or papyrus in the torus roll on
the edge of buildings; but on interior decoration we meet again with the
same motive. The borders of Egyptian scenes from the earliest times are
framed with a variety of bindings; and so suitable did such bordering
seem that it was continued with but little variation throughout all the
history. The oldest forms are—

[Illustration: 186.—L.D. II. 43.]

plain binding,

[Illustration: 187.—L.D. II. 44.]

a diagonal binding,

[Illustration: 188.—L.D. II. 44.]

or

[Illustration: 189.—L.D. II. 54.]

and crossed binding.

[Illustration: 190.—L.D. II. 148.]

[Illustration: 191.—L.D. II. 132.]

The latter became modified into— by the XIth dynasty, showing that its
meaning was already becoming forgotten. But a modification of the tower
ends of this pattern in the XIIth dynasty is difficult to understand;
unless we can look on it as an irregular winding of the ends of the cord
around the reed bundle in place of the regular crossing which is shown
above it.

[Illustration: 192.—L.D. II. 115.]

The modification of colours and arrangement in the plain binding is
interminable. In the XVIIIth dynasty we find

[Illustration: 193.—L.D. II. 136.]

in the XIXth

[Illustration: 194.—P. 72. 76.]

in late times

[Illustration: Fig. 195.]

and in all ages a binding with a number of lines between coloured spaces
was common

[Illustration: Fig. 196.]

and on borders of architecture and statuary thrones




                               CHAPTER V
                        _SYMBOLICAL DECORATION_


The Egyptian who expressed all his thoughts by a symbolical writing,
full of determinatives, was naturally much given to symbolism in his
decoration. Not, however, that all his decoration was symbolic in a
recondite sense; the ever-present lotus ornament was merely a thing of
beauty; the lotus was not a sacred plant, it is not associated with any
divinity in particular, and only in one unusual instance does it ever
occur in the hieroglyphs. The fanciful habit of Europe, in seeing a
hidden sense in every flower, was not akin to the simple and elementary
mind of the Egyptian. But certain striking emblems he used continually;
and one of the earliest of these is the uraeus snake, or cobra in his
wrath, reared up with expanded body ready to strike. The dignity and
power of the animal made it to be an emblem of the king, or rather
perhaps of the royal power of death. That capital punishment was used in
Egypt is seen in the Westcar Tales, which probably date from the Old
Kingdom, where a condemned malefactor is ordered to be brought forth for
a magician to try his power in bringing him to life when slain. The
king, as having the power of death, bore the uraeus always on his
head-dress; and from the earliest days (at Medum) the royal court of
justice was adorned with a cornice of uraei, implying that there resided
the royal right of judgment and of condemnation. This cornice seems,
however, to have been regarded as merely royal in later times, and was
freely used to adorn any royal structure, even a wooden summer-house
(Amenhotep II.); or the uraei formed a band around columns (Akhenaten),
or appear as supporters of the royal cartouche (P. 72), either plain
(Ramessu II.) or winged (Horemheb L.D. III. 122).

[Illustration: Fig. 197.]

[Illustration: 198.—P. 72.]

[Illustration: Fig. 199.]

[Illustration: 200.—Khufu.]

[Illustration: 201.—Unas.]

[Illustration: 202.—L.D. III. 122a.]

A symbolism closely connected with this is that of the globe and wings.
This certainly dates to the beginning of the monumental age, as it is
seen above the figure of Khufu seated on an amulet. In that instance it
is on too small a scale to show the details; but in the next dynasty it
appears above Unas at Elephantine, with the globe flanked by two uraei
and two wings. What the symbolism of it was we have no direct
information. But when we consider that the wings are those of the
vulture spread out, as it appears on the roofs of the passages as a
protecting and preserving maternal emblem, and the uraeus is associated
with it, we can hardly view it as other than the same idea of the power
of life and death, of preservation and destruction. But in this emblem
it is not the king who wields these powers, but Ra the Sun, whose disc
appears in the midst. That the wings have thus the meaning of protection
is shown by the globe with drooping wings embracing the royal name,
expressing the protection given by Ra to the king, without associating
the deadly or punitive power of the uraeus. A curious form of this
emblem which was common in the early part of the XVIIIth dynasty is with
only one wing.

[Illustration: 203.—L.D. III. 8.]

[Illustration: 204.—P. 72.]

One of the most perfect and beautiful examples of the winged disc is on
the temple of Tahutmes III., but it continued to be used down to the
latest times of Egyptian architecture as a lintel decoration.

In the XIXth dynasty an addition to the symbolism appears; the horns of
a ram are added to the wings; sometimes without the uraei (Ramessu I.,
L.D. III. 131), sometimes with the uraei (Ramessu II., L.D. III. 204).
These rams’ horns can hardly be other than those of the ram-headed god
Khnum, “the maker” or “modeller” of men. The idea then of the wings and
horns is that Ra makes as well as protects; and where the uraeus is
added it implies that Ra is creator, preserver, and destroyer.


The vulture alone as the emblem of protection is frequently figured with
outstretched wings across the ceilings of the passages, particularly
those of the royal tombs of the XIXth dynasty. There is perhaps no sight
in the animal world more imposing than one of these birds, stretched out
with a span of some nine or ten feet, hanging in the air close overhead;
it is natural that it should have excited the admiration of man, and not
being hurtful it readily came to be honoured as a type of maternal care.

[Illustration: 205.—P. 81.]

[Illustration: 206.—L.D. III. 235.]

The scarab was another such typical animal, rolling the pellet
containing an egg to a safe place where it buries it. Though very common
as an amulet for the living and the dead, yet it is not often seen in
symbolical or decorative use otherwise. With what idea the amulet was
used we do not know for certain. The scarab itself is often figured as
holding the disc of the sun between its claws: and it is at least
possible that the symbolic idea of the scarab as the maker or creator
arose from the burial of its ball being an emblem of the setting of the
sun, from which new life will arise in due course. It occurs with the
wings extended and the disc between the claws as a centre figure in the
space of a ceiling pattern (Neferhotep, XVIIIth dynasty), and on the
border of the covering of a shrine under Ramessu X., and is occasionally
met with later in decoration.

[Illustration: 207.—R.C. cxxx.]

[Illustration: 208.—P. 78.]

[Illustration: 209.—L.D. III. 100.]

The lion as a noble and royal animal frequently figures in the XVIIIth
dynasty. The Egyptians, with their marvellous instinct for taming every
animal they could find, actually trained lions or leopards to live as
domesticated animals, with the same sort of allowed wildness as modern
hunting dogs. The lion accompanied the king in battle; but in camp it
lay down as peaceably as an ox. It was frequently carved on the sides of
the thrones of the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties, and also seated in pairs,
facing or backing, on the temple walls, a usage reminding us of the lion
gate of Mykenae of the same age.


[Illustration: 210.—L.D. III. 114]

[Illustration: Fig. 211.]

Some of the Egyptian divinities also appear as symbolic ornaments. The
figures of the goddess Maat with spread wings adorned the ark of Amen-ra
under Tahutimes II.; and in earlier times similar cherubic figures stand
guarding the name of Antef V. on a scarab.

Hathor also appears on various objects. A mirror handle carved in wood
during the XIIth dynasty has the head of Hathor (P. 1. xiii.); columns
with heads of Hathor, crowned with a shrine occupied by a uraeus, are
found introduced by Amenhotep III. in his temples at El Kab and
Sedeinga, and were copied by Ramessu II. at Abu Simbel. The similar head
of Hathor was frequently made in glazed pottery as a pendant in the time
of Akhenaten. And in later times these Hathor headed capitals became
usual under the Ptolemies, as in the well-known case of the portico of
the great temple at Dendera.

[Illustration: 212.—L.D. I. 100.]

Bes was one of the favourite popular deities of the Egyptians;
restricted to no place in particular, every votary of music and the
dance patronised Bes. The little statuette of a dancing girl with a Bes
mask on, besides an actual mask in cartonnage, found at Kahun, show the
popularity of the god in the XIIth dynasty. In later times his figure is
frequently seen. At Tell el Amarna ornaments for necklaces made in
glazed pottery followed two types of Bes, the god dancing with the
tambourine seen in side view, and the earlier grotesque front view, with
arms akimbo. These familiar little figures continued to be made till
late times; and in the Roman age Bes was elevated to architectural
dignity on the dies above the columns at Dendereh in the small temple of
the Mammeisi.


Another and more artificial mode of symbolical decoration was by means
of the hieroglyphic signs. Having a mode of writing in which a single
mark could express an abstract idea, it was possible to adapt writing to
a purely decorative design. Even with alphabetic characters this has
been done, as in the elaborate crossing patterns of the earlier Arab
period in Egypt, in which no untrained eye would see anything but a
complex ornament.

[Illustration: 213.—_Ankh._]

[Illustration: 214.—_Thet._]

[Illustration: 215.—_Uas._]

[Illustration: 216.—_Dad._]

Four of the hieroglyphs most usually worked into ornamental designs are
the _ankh_, a girdle, or symbol of life; the _thet_, another form of
girdle, with longer bow-tie in front, which, as always identified with
Isis, may have been a primitive feminine girdle, the ankh being
masculine; the _uas_, a stick of authority, or symbol of power; and the
_dad_, a row of columns, or symbol of stability.

As early as the Old Kingdom we find wooden framings, or lattices,
ornamented with _dad_ signs; and this continued at least as late as
Amenhotep II. The _dad_ also appears in what is probably copied from
pierced woodwork, in a relief at Qurneh of Ramessu I.

[Illustration: 217.—L.D. III. 131.]

[Illustration: Fig. 218.]

The combination of _thet dad uas_, and of _ankh dad uas_, is found in
the XIIth dynasty at Benihasan, apparently carved in relief, on the
wooden panels of a litter (R.C. xciii.). The same occur similarly carved
on the ebony doors of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri. The group begins to
appear as an architectural design early in the XVIIIth dynasty, and
continues down to Roman times, especially on bases of scenes and groups,
thus forming a continuous border of good wishes. The hieroglyphs,
_ankh_, _dad_, and _uas_, are all found on pendants for necklaces, in
the blue glazed pottery of the XVIIIth dynasty, and also combined in one
as a ring bezil. And the _thet_ girdle tie of Isis appears repeated as a
pattern, probably of pierced woodwork, along the sides of a shrine of
Tahutimes III. at Semneh, and on the base of a couch in the birth scene
of Amenhotep III. (R.S. xxxviii.). As funeral amulets the _thet_, _dad_,
and _ankh_ occur commonly, but that branch is outside of the subject of
decoration.

[Illustration: 219.—Khafra.]

[Illustration: 220.—Khafra.]

Another hieroglyph often appearing as an ornament is the _sam_, or
symbol of union. The origin of it is yet unexplained. It certainly is a
column of some kind; it has a well-marked capital and an abacus. The
capital is formed much like the palm-leaf capital; and the stem is
clearly bound round, and must therefore be composite. This suggests that
it might be a column of palm-sticks bound together, with some tops left
projecting for ornament. Such might well be more conventionalised at the
beginning of Egyptian sculpture in the IVth dynasty than the other kinds
of capitals; and the immigrant race came from the region of the palm,
while the lotus and papyrus only were reached by them in Egypt itself.
The base is a main difficulty to explain. It might be conventionalised
clods of earth, with two curled-over side branches of the palm; but it
has been so modified that we must await more evidence. In any case the
stem is formed of several parts bound together, and hence it was very
naturally adopted as a symbol of union. It was further grouped with two
plants, the stalks of which were linked around it. It is always supposed
that these symbolise northern and southern Egypt, and that the group
means the union of all the land. Still it is yet uncertain what plants
are intended to be represented, though on the throne of Tahutimes IV.
they are clearly lotus and papyrus; but the evidence is too late to be
of much value. This group was a favourite decoration from beginning to
end of Egyptian history. At the beginning of the XIIth dynasty an
addition was made by placing a figure of Hapi or the Nile on each side
of the group (Tanis i. I.), each figure holding one of the two plants.
As these figures were crowned, one with the sign of south the other of
north, they point to the plants being emblems of the south and north
also. This group with the figures is found as late as the XXth dynasty
(L.D. III. 237). Another design came into fashion during the great
foreign wars of the XVIIIth dynasty, representing two captives, one
negro, one Syrian, bound back to back against the _sam_; thus it
symbolised not only the union of upper and lower Egypt, but also of the
northern and southern races outside of Egypt. Later on, four or even six
such racial types are figured as bound together.




                                 INDEX


 Amu dresses, 15

 _Ankh_ girdle, 117

 Anthemion, 65, 72

 Assyrian lotus, 72


 Barks of gods, 83

 Basket-work screens, 14, 36, 93

 Bell capital, 76

 Bes, god of dance, 115

 Binding patterns, 103

 Birds, 87

 Boat covers, 29, 31

 Borders, spiral, 40

 „ lotus, 64

 Borrowed art, 40

 Brickwork panelling, 95

 „ curved courses, 96


 C-spirals, 34

 Calf, 87

 Captives, 84

 „ bound together, 85, 122

 „ painted on sandals, 86

 Cavetto cornice, 98

 Chain of spirals, 20

 Chequer patterns, 44

 Circles, not usual, 47

 „ not divided by six, 49

 Classes of ornament, 9

 Cobra, 107

 Coils, 20

 Continuous spirals, 20

 Convolvulus decoration, 81

 Cornice, palm, 98


 _Dad_ columns, 95, 117

 Daisy, 58

 Decoration, classes of, 9

 Decorative instinct of Egyptians, 2

 Descent of patterns, 5

 Disc with spots, 60

 „ and wings, 108

 Duck, 87


 Endless spirals, 21


 Feather patterns, 50

 „ types of, 51

 „ belts, 52

 _Fleur-de-lys_ type, 68

 Flower ornament, 55

 Framing of wood, 94

 Fret patterns, 35

 „ Greek, 36, 43


 Garlands, 82

 Geometrical ornament, 9, 12

 Girdles _ankh_ and _thet_, 117

 Globe and wings, 108

 Graining of wood, 89

 Grape pendants, 80

 Greek fret, 36, 43

 „ lotus, 72

 „ architecture, structural, 91

 Guilloche, 40


 Hathor head, 114

 „ capitals, 115

 Hawk, 87

 Hexagon pattern, 14

 Hieroglyphs decorative, 3

 „ symbolic, 116

 Hooks, 20

 Horns, 110


 Ibex, 87

 Imitation of wood, 89

 „ stone, 89

 Isiemkheb, tent of, 56, 87


 Kahun, guilloche at, 41

 Keft dresses, 15

 _Khaker_ pattern, 100

 Khufu, 108


 Lachish, slabs, 100

 Leatherwork, 56, 59

 „ rosettes, 57

 Line decoration, 12

 „ zigzag, 13

 Links, 20

 Lion, 113

 Lotus patterns, 61

 „ tied, 62

 „ capitals, 63

 „ border, 64

 „ plant, 66

 „ friezes, 67

 „ flower developed, 70

 „ flower with pendants, 73

 „ column, 76


 Maat goddess, 114

 Maeander, 40

 Minusinsk art, 7

 Mykenaean spirals, 38

 „ borrowed art, 40

 „ ox head, 59

 „ disc and spots, 60


 Natural ornament, 10, 50

 Network patterns, 46

 Nile figures, 121


 Orchomenos, 39

 Origin of patterns, 5

 Ornament, classes of, 9


 Palm capital, 78

 „ not common, 79

 „ cornice, 98

 „ column, 120

 Palmetto, 65

 Panelled pattern, 95

 Papyrus, 61, 75

 „ cornice, 101

 Patterns not re-invented, 8

 Pectorals, 83

 Perspective, Egyptian, 69

 Plaiting patterns, 14, 36, 44


 Ra, creator, preserver and destroyer, 111

 Roll on buildings, 97, 103

 Rope borders, 42

 „ pattern, 92

 Rosette, 56, 58

 Rushwork plaiting, 14, 36, 93


 _Sam_ column, 119

 Scale pattern really feathers, 52

 Scarab spirals, 18

 „ symbolical, 112

 Scroll pattern, 17

 Siloam tomb, 100

 Sloping faces of buildings, 96

 Spiral or scroll, 17

 „ origin of, 18

 „ sole patterns, 24

 „ earlier on scarabs, 28

 „ surface decoration, 29

 „ with lotus, 30

 „ crossed lines, 31

 „ quadruple, 31

 „ quintuple, 34

 „ developed to fret, 36

 „ late, 23

     _Subdivisions._

 „ coils, 20, 21, 23, 24, 29, 40

 „ hooks, 19, 20, 22

 „ links, 19, 20, 21, 29, 42

 „ chain, 20, 21

 „ continuous, 20, 25

 „ endless, 21, 23

 „ false links, 26

 „ lop-sided, 27

 Spots, not Egyptian, 15, 60

 Star patterns, 57, 58, 88

 Stitch patterns, 43, 57

 Structural ornament, 10, 91

 Styles, characteristic, 8

 Symbolic ornament, 11, 106


 Tell el Amarna, 29, 54, 55, 58, 71, 75, 80, 87, 116

 Terms for spirals, 20

 _Thet_ girdle, 117

 Thistle decoration, 82

 Torus, origin of, 97


 _Uas_ sceptre, 117

 Uraeus, 107


 V pattern, 55

 Vine patterns, 79

 Vulture, 87, 111


 Wave borders, 41

 Wavy line, rounded, 16

 Weaving patterns, 14

 Wings symbol of protection, 109

 Wood, imitation of, 89

 Wooden framing, 94

 Wreaths, 83


 Zigzag lines, 13


                     _Printed in Great Britain by_

     UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                               METHUEN’S
                           GENERAL LITERATURE




[Illustration]




                             A SELECTION OF
                           MESSRS. METHUEN’S
                              PUBLICATIONS


   This Catalogue contains only a selection of the more important books
 published by Messrs. Methuen. A complete catalogue of their publications
                     may be obtained on application.

 ARMSTRONG (Anthony) (‘A. A.’ of Punch)
   WARRIORS AT EASE
   WARRIORS STILL AT EASE
   PERCIVAL AND I
   PERCIVAL AT PLAY
   ME AND FRANCES
   HOW TO DO IT _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   LIVESTOCK IN BARRACKS
     Illustrated by E. H. SHEPARD. _6s. net._
   TWO LEGS AND FOUR
     Illustrated by RENÉ BULL. _5s. net._

 BAIN (F. W.)
   A DIGIT OF THE MOON
   THE DESCENT OF THE SUN
   A HEIFER OF THE DAWN
   IN THE GREAT GOD’S HAIR
   A DRAUGHT OF THE BLUE
   AN ESSENCE OF THE DUSK
   AN INCARNATION OF THE SNOW
   A MINE OF FAULTS
   THE ASHES OF A GOD
   BUBBLES OF THE FOAM
   A SYRUP OF THE BEES
   THE LIVERY OF EVE
   THE SUBSTANCE OF A DREAM _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   AN ECHO OF THE SPHERES _10s. 6d. net._

 BALFOUR (Sir Graham)
   THE LIFE OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON _Twentieth Edition. 7s. 6d. net._

 BARKER (Ernest)
   NATIONAL CHARACTER _10s. 6d. net._
   GREEK POLITICAL THEORY _14s. net._
   CHURCH, STATE AND STUDY _10s. 6d. net._

 BELLOC (Hilaire)
   PARIS _8s. 6d. net._
   THE PYRENEES _8s. 6d. net._
   MARIE ANTOINETTE _18s. net._
   A HISTORY OF ENGLAND
     In 5 Vols. Vols. I, II and III _Each 15s. net._
   ON NOTHING
   HILLS AND THE SEA
   ON SOMETHING
   THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER
   ON
   FIRST AND LAST
   ON EVERYTHING
   ON ANYTHING
   EMMANUEL BURDEN
   A PICKED COMPANY _Each 3s. 6d. net._

 BIRMINGHAM (George A.)
   A WAYFARER IN HUNGARY
     Illustrated. _8s. 6d. net._
   SPILLIKINS: ESSAYS _3s. 6d. net._
   SHIPS AND SEALING-WAX: ESSAYS _3s. 6d. net._

 BLEEK (Dorothea F.)
   ROCK PAINTINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA
     Illustrated. _£2 2s. net._

 BUDGE (Sir E. A. Wallis)
   A HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA: NUBIA AND ABYSSINIA
     Illustrated. 2 vols. _£3 13s. 6d. net._

 CHESTERTON (G. K.)
   COME TO THINK OF IT ... _6s. net._
   G.K.C. AS M.C. _7s. 6d. net._
   THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE _3s. 6d. net._
     Also Illustrated by ROBERT AUSTIN. _12s. 6d. net._
   CHARLES DICKENS
   GENERALLY SPEAKING
   ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
   TREMENDOUS TRIFLES
   FANCIES VERSUS FADS
   ALARMS AND DISCURSIONS
   A MISCELLANY OF MEN
   THE USES OF DIVERSITY
   THE OUTLINE OF SANITY
   THE FLYING INN _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   A GLEAMING COHORT _2s. 6d. net._
   WINE, WATER AND SONG _1s. 6d. net._

 CLUTTON-BROCK (A.)
   WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?
   ESSAYS ON ART
   SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET _Each 5s. net._
   ESSAYS ON BOOKS _3s. 6d. net._
   MORE ESSAYS ON BOOKS
   ESSAYS ON LIFE
   ESSAYS ON RELIGION
   ESSAYS ON LITERATURE AND LIFE
   MORE ESSAYS ON RELIGION _Each 6s. net._
   SHELLEY, THE MAN AND THE POET _7s. 6d. net._

 CRAWLEY (Ernest)
   THE MYSTIC ROSE
     Revised and Enlarged by THEODORE BESTERMAN. 2 vols. _£1 10s. net._
   STUDIES OF SAVAGES AND SEX
     Edited by THEODORE BESTERMAN. _10s. 6d. net._

 DAVIS (H. W. C.)
   EUROPE FROM 800–1789 _8s. 6d. net._

 DERWENT (Lord)
   GOYA
     Illustrated. _10s. 6d. net._

 DUGDALE (E. T. S.)
   GERMAN DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS, 1871–1914
     Selected from the Documents published by the German Foreign Office.
     In 4 vols. Vol. I, 1871–90. Vol. II, 1891–8. Vol. III, 1898–1910.
        Vol. IV, 1911–1914. _Each £1 1s. net._

 EDWARDES (Tickner)
   THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE
     Illustrated. _7s. 6d._ and _3s. 6d. net._
   BEEKEEPING FOR ALL
     Illustrated. _3s. 6d. net._
   THE BEE-MASTER OF WARRILOW
     Illustrated. _7s. 6d. net._
   BEE-KEEPING DO’S AND DONT’S _2s. 6d. net._

 EINSTEIN (Albert)
   RELATIVITY: THE SPECIAL AND GENERAL THEORY _5s. net._
   SIDELIGHTS ON RELATIVITY _3s. 6d. net._
   THE MEANING OF RELATIVITY _5s. net._
   THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT _5s. net._

 EISLER (Robert)
   THE MESSIAH JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST:
     according to Flavius Josephus’ hitherto neglected ‘Capture of
        Jerusalem’ and other Jewish and Christian sources.
     Translated by A. HAGGERTY KRAPPE.
     Illustrated. Demy 8_vo._ _£2 2s. net._

 FIELD (G. C.)
   MORAL THEORY _6s. net._
   PLATO AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES _12s. 6d. net._

 FYLEMAN (Rose)
   FAIRIES AND CHIMNEYS
   THE FAIRY GREEN
   THE FAIRY FLUTE
   THE RAINBOW CAT
   EIGHT LITTLE PLAYS FOR CHILDREN
   FORTY GOOD-NIGHT TALES
   FAIRIES AND FRIENDS
   THE ADVENTURE CLUB
   FORTY GOOD-MORNING TALES
   SEVEN LITTLE PLAYS FOR CHILDREN
   TWENTY TEA-TIME TALES _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   THE DOLLS’ HOUSE
     Illustrated by MARGARET TEMPEST. _5s. net._
   GAY GO UP
     Illustrated by DECIE MERWIN. _5s. net._
   THE ROSE FYLEMAN FAIRY BOOK
     Illustrated by HILDA MILLER. _10s. 6d. net._
   A GARLAND OF ROSE’S: COLLECTED POEMS
     Illustrated by RENÉ BULL. _8s. 6d. net._

 GIBBON (Edward)
   THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE With Notes, Appendixes and
      Maps, by J. B. BURY.
     Illustrated. 7 vols.
       _Demy 8vo._ _15s. net_ each volume.
     Also, unillustrated. _Crown 8vo._ _7s. 6d. net_ each volume.

 GLADSTONE (Mary) (Mrs. Drew)
   HER DIARIES AND LETTERS
     Illustrated. _£1 1s. net._

 GLOVER (T. R.)
   VIRGIL
   THE CONFLICT OF RELIGIONS IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE
   POETS AND PURITANS _Each 10s. 6d. net._
   FROM PERICLES TO PHILIP _12s. 6d. net._

 GRAHAM (Harry)
   THE WORLD WE LAUGH IN: More Deportmental Ditties
     Illustrated by ‘FISH’. _Seventh Edition._ _5s. net._
   STRAINED RELATIONS
     Illustrated by H. STUART MENZIES and HENDY _6s. net._
   THE WORLD’S WORKERS
     Illustrated by ‘FOUGASSE’. _5s. net._
   ADAM’S APPLES
     Illustrated by JOHN REYNOLDS. _5s. net._

 GRAHAME (Kenneth)
   THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
     _Nineteenth Edition._ _7s. 6d. net._
       Also illustrated by WYNDHAM PAYNE. _7s. 6d. net._
       Also unillustrated. _3s. 6d. net._
   _See also_ =Milne (A. A.)=

 HADFIELD (J. A.)
   PSYCHOLOGY AND MORALS
     _Eighth Edition._ _Crown 8vo._ _6s. net._

 HALL (H. R.)
   THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE NEAR EAST
     Illustrated. _£1 1s. net._
   THE CIVILIZATION OF GREECE IN THE BRONZE AGE
     Illustrated. _£1 10s. net._
   A SEASON’S WORK AT UR OF THE CHALDEES.
     Illustrated. _£1 5s. net._

 HEATON (Rose Henniker)
   THE PERFECT HOSTESS
     Decorated by A. E. TAYLOR _7s. 6d. net._
     Gift Edition, _£1 1s. net._

 HERBERT (A. P.)
   HONEYBUBBLE & CO. _6s. net._
   MISLEADING CASES IN THE COMMON LAW. With an Introduction by LORD
      HEWART. _5s. net._
   MORE MISLEADING CASES. _5s. net._
   WISDOM FOR THE WISE
     Illustrated by GEORGE MORROW. _5s. net._
   THE WHEREFORE AND THE WHY
     Illustrated by GEORGE MORROW. _3s. 6d. net._
   THE BOMBER GIPSY _3s. 6d. net._
   THE SECRET BATTLE _3s. 6d. net._

 HOLDSWORTH (Sir W. S.)
   A HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW Nine Volumes. _£1 5s. net each._

 HUDSON (W. H.)
   A SHEPHERD’S LIFE
     Illustrated. _10s. 6d. net._
     Also unillustrated. _3s. 6d. net._

 HUTTON (Edward)
   CITIES OF SICILY
     Illustrated. _10s. 6d. net._
   MILAN AND LOMBARDY
   THE CITIES OF ROMAGNA AND THE MARCHES
   SIENA AND SOUTHERN TUSCANY
   NAPLES AND SOUTHERN ITALY
     Illustrated. _Each 8s. 6d. net._
   A WAYFARER IN UNKNOWN TUSCANY
   THE CITIES OF SPAIN
   THE CITIES OF UMBRIA
   COUNTRY WALKS ABOUT FLORENCE
   ROME
   FLORENCE AND NORTHERN TUSCANY
   VENICE AND VENETIA
     Illustrated. _Each 7s. 6d. net_.

 INGE (W. R.), D.D., Dean of St. Paul’s
   CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM (The Bampton Lectures of 1899).
     _Sixth Edition._ _7s. 6d. net._
 KIPLING (Rudyard)
   BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
     _255th Thousand._
   THE SEVEN SEAS
     _186th Thousand._
   THE FIVE NATIONS
     _143rd Thousand._
   DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES
     _117th Thousand._
   THE YEARS BETWEEN
     _95th Thousand._
     Four Editions of these famous-volumes of poems are now published,
        viz.:—
       _Crown 8vo._ _Buckram, 7s. 6d. net._
       _Fcap. 8vo._ _Cloth, 6s. net._
       _Leather_ _7s. 6d. net._
     Service Edition. Two volumes each book. _Square Fcap. 8vo. 3s. net
        each volume._
   A KIPLING ANTHOLOGY—VERSE
     _Sixth Edition._
     _Leather_ _7s. 6d. net._
     _Cloth_ _6s. net_ and _3s. 6d. net._
   TWENTY POEMS FROM RUDYARD KIPLING
     _486th Thousand._ _1s. net._
   A CHOICE OF SONGS
     _Second Edition._ _2s. net._

 LAMB (Charles and Mary)
   THE COMPLETE WORKS
     Edited by E. V. LUCAS. Six Volumes. With Frontispieces. _6s. net
        each._
   SELECTED LETTERS
     Edited by G. T. CLAPTON. _3s. 6d. net._
   THE CHARLES LAMB DAY BOOK
     Compiled by E. V. LUCAS. _6s. net._

 LANKESTER (Sir Ray)
   SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR
   SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR:
     Second Series.
   DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST
   GREAT AND SMALL THINGS
     Illustrated. _Each 7s. 6d. net._
   SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA
     Illustrated. _8s. 6d. net._

 LINDRUM (Walter)
   BILLIARDS.
     Illustrated. _6s. net._

 LODGE (Sir Oliver)
   MAN AND THE UNIVERSE _7s. 6d. net_ and _3s. 6d. net._
   THE SURVIVAL OF MAN _7s. 6d. net._
   RAYMOND _10s. 6d. net._
   RAYMOND REVISED _6s. net._
   MODERN PROBLEMS _3s. 6d. net._
   REASON AND BELIEF _3s. 6d. net._
   THE SUBSTANCE OF FAITH _2s. net._
   RELATIVITY _1s. net._
   CONVICTION OF SURVIVAL _2s. net._

 LUCAS (E. V.)
   THE LIFE OF CHARLES LAMB
     2 Vols. _£1 1s. net._
   THE COLVINS AND THEIR FRIENDS _£1 1s. net._
   VERMEER THE MAGICAL _5s. net._
   A WANDERER IN ROME
   A WANDERER IN HOLLAND
   A WANDERER IN LONDON
   LONDON REVISITED (Revised)
   A WANDERER IN PARIS
   A WANDERER IN FLORENCE
   A WANDERER IN VENICE _Each 10s. 6d. net._
   A WANDERER AMONG PICTURES _8s. 6d. net._
   E. V. LUCAS’S LONDON _£1 net._
   INTRODUCING LONDON
   INTRODUCING PARIS _Each 2s. 6d. net._
   THE OPEN ROAD _6s. net._
     Also, illustrated by CLAUDE A. SHEPPERSON, A.R.W.S. _10s. 6d. net._
     Also, India Paper. _Leather, 7s. 6d. net._
   THE JOY OF LIFE _6s. net. Leather Edition, 7s. 6d. net._
     Also, India Paper. _Leather, 7s. 6d. net._
   THE GENTLEST ART _6s. 6d. net._
   _And_ THE SECOND POST _6s. net._
     Also together in one volume. _7s. 6d. net._
   FIRESIDE AND SUNSHINE
   CHARACTER AND COMEDY
   GOOD COMPANY
   ONE DAY AND ANOTHER
   OLD LAMPS FOR NEW
   LOITERER’S HARVEST
   LUCK OF THE YEAR
   EVENTS AND EMBROIDERIES
   A FRONDED ISLE
   A ROVER I WOULD BE
   GIVING AND RECEIVING
   HER INFINITE VARIETY
   ENCOUNTERS AND DIVERSIONS _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   CLOUD AND SILVER
   A BOSWELL OF BAGHDAD
   ’TWIXT EAGLE AND DOVE
   THE PHANTOM JOURNAL
   ZIGZAGS IN FRANCE
   TURNING THINGS OVER
   TRAVELLER’S LUCK _Each 6s. net._

   FRENCH LEAVES
     Illustrated. _5s. net._
   ROVING EAST AND ROVING WEST _5s. net._
   _Mr. Punch’s_ COUNTY SONGS
     Illustrated by E. H. SHEPARD. _10s. 6d. net._
   ‘THE MORE I SEE OF MEN ...’
   OUT OF A CLEAR SKY
   IF DOGS COULD WRITE
   ‘... AND SUCH SMALL DEER’ _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   THE PEKINESE NATIONAL ANTHEM
     Illustrated by PERSIS KIRMSE. _1s. net._
   _See also_ =Lamb (Charles).=

 LYND (Robert)
   IT’S A FINE WORLD _5s. net._
   THE GREEN MAN
   THE PLEASURES OF IGNORANCE
   THE GOLDFISH
   THE LITTLE ANGEL
   THE BLUE LION
   THE PEAL OF BELLS
   THE MONEY-BOX
   THE ORANGE TREE _Each 3s. 6d. net._

 McDOUGALL (William)
   AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY _10s. 6d. net._
   NATIONAL WELFARE AND NATIONAL DECAY _6s. net._
   AN OUTLINE OF PSYCHOLOGY _10s. 6d. net._
   AN OUTLINE OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY _15s. net._
   BODY AND MIND _12s. 6d. net._
   CHARACTER AND THE CONDUCT OF LIFE _10s. 6d. net._
   MODERN MATERIALISM AND EMERGENT EVOLUTION _7s. 6d. net._
   ETHICS AND SOME MODERN WORLD PROBLEMS _7s. 6d. net._

 MALLET (Sir C. E.)
   A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
     In 3 vols. _Each £1 1s. net._

 MAETERLINCK (Maurice)
   THE BLUE BIRD _6s. net._
     Also, illustrated by F. CAYLEY ROBINSON. _10s. 6d. net._
   OUR ETERNITY _6s. net._
   THE UNKNOWN GUEST _6s. net._
   POEMS _5s. net._
   THE WRACK OF THE STORM _6s. net._
   THE BURGOMASTER OF STILEMONDE _5s. net._
   THE BETROTHAL _6s. net._
   MOUNTAIN PATHS _6s. net._
   THE GREAT SECRET _7s. 6d. net._
   THE CLOUD THAT LIFTED and THE POWER OF THE DEAD _7s. 6d. net._
   _MARY MAGDALENE_ _2s. net._

 MARLOWE (Christopher)
   THE WORKS. In 6 volumes. General Editor, R. H. Case.
     THE LIFE OF MARLOWE, by C. F. TUCKER BROOKE, and DIDO.
       Edited by the Same. _8s. 6d. net._
     TAMBURLAINE, I AND II.
       Edited by U. M. ELLIS-FERMOR. _10s. 6d. net._
     THE JEW OF MALTA and THE MASSACRE AT PARIS
       Edited by H. S. BENNETT. _8s. 6d. net._

 MASEFIELD (John)
   ON THE SPANISH MAIN _8s. 6d. net._
   A SAILOR’S GARLAND _3s. 6d. net._
   SEA LIFE IN NELSON’S TIME _7s. 6d. net._

 METHUEN (Sir A.)
   AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN VERSE
     _232nd Thousand._
   SHAKESPEARE TO HARDY: An Anthology of English Lyrics
     _28th Thousand._
       _Each, Cloth, 6s. net._
       _Leather, 7s. 6d. net._

 MILNE (A. A.)
   BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION _6s. net._
   TOAD OF TOAD HALL
     A Play founded on Kenneth Grahame’s ‘The Wind in the Willows.’ _5s.
        net_ and _2s. 6d. net._
   THOSE WERE THE DAYS: Collected Stories _7s. 6d. net._
   NOT THAT IT MATTERS
   IF I MAY
   THE SUNNY SIDE
   THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY
   ONCE A WEEK
   THE HOLIDAY ROUND
   THE DAY’S PLAY
   MR. PIM PASSES BY _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG
     _211th Thousand._
   WINNIE-THE-POOH
     _118th Thousand._
   NOW WE ARE SIX
     _119th Thousand._
   THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
     _105th Thousand._
     Each illustrated by E. H. SHEPARD. _7s. 6d. net._ _Leather, 10s.
        6d. net._
   THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN STORY BOOK. _Third Edition._
     Illustrated by E. H. SHEPARD. _5s. net._
   THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN BIRTHDAY BOOK
     Illustrated by E. H. SHEPARD. _3s. 6d. net._

 MILNE (A. A.) and FRASER-SIMSON (H.)
   FOURTEEN SONGS FROM ‘WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG’
     _Thirteenth Edition._ _7s. 6d. net._
   TEDDY BEAR AND OTHER SONGS FROM ‘WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG’ _7s. 6d.
      net._
   THE KING’S BREAKFAST
     _Third Edition._ _3s. 6d. net._
   SONGS FROM ‘NOW WE ARE SIX’
     _Second Edition._ _7s. 6d. net._
   MORE ‘VERY YOUNG’ SONGS _7s. 6d. net._
   THE HUMS OF POOH _7s. 6d. net._
     Words by A. A. MILNE.
     Music by H. FRASER-SIMSON.
     Decorations by E. H. SHEPARD.

 MORTON (H. V.)
   THE HEART OF LONDON
     _27th Thousand._ _3s. 6d. net._
     Also with Scissor Cuts by L. HUMMEL. _6s. net._
   THE SPELL OF LONDON
     _20th Thousand._
   THE NIGHTS OF LONDON
     _13th Thousand._ _Each 3s. 6d. net._
   IN SEARCH OF ENGLAND
     _64th Thousand._
   THE CALL OF ENGLAND
     _31st Thousand._
   IN SEARCH OF SCOTLAND
     _86th Thousand._
   IN SEARCH OF IRELAND
     _30th Thousand._ _Each illustrated. 7s. 6d. net._
   THE SOUL OF SCOTLAND _1s. net._

 NEUBURGER (Albert)
   THE TECHNICAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS
     Translated by H. L. BROSE.
     Illustrated. _£2 2s. net._

 OMAN (Sir Charles)
   A HISTORY OF THE ART OF WAR IN THE MIDDLE AGES, A.D. 378–1485
     2 vols. Illustrated. _£1 16s. net._
   STUDIES IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS _8s. 6d. net._

 PERRY (W. J.)
   THE ORIGIN OF MAGIC AND RELIGION
   THE GROWTH OF CIVILIZATION _Each 6s. net._
   THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN _£1 1s. net._

 PETRIE (Sir Flinders)
   A HISTORY OF EGYPT
     In 6 Volumes.
     Vol. I. FROM THE IST TO THE XVITH DYNASTY
       _Eleventh Edition, Revised._ _12s. net._
     Vol. II. THE XVIITH AND XVIIITH DYNASTIES
       _Seventh Edition, Revised._ _9s. net._
     Vol. III. XIXTH TO XXXTH DYNASTIES
       _Third Edition._ _12s. net._
     Vol. IV. EGYPT UNDER THE PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY
       By EDWYN BEVAN. _15s. net._
     Vol. V. EGYPT UNDER ROMAN RULE
       By J. G. MILNE.
       _Third Edition, Revised._ _12s. net._
     Vol. VI. EGYPT IN THE MIDDLE AGES
       By STANLEY LANE POOLE.
       _Fourth Edition._ _10s. net._

 PONSONBY OF SHULBREDE (Lord)
   ENGLISH DIARIES _£1 1s. net._
   MORE ENGLISH DIARIES _12s. 6d. net._
   SCOTTISH AND IRISH DIARIES _10s. 6d. net._

 RUTTER (Frank)
   EL GRECO. Illustrated. _£1 16s. net._

 SELLAR (W. C.) and YEATMAN (R. J.)
   1066 AND ALL THAT
     Illustrated by JOHN REYNOLDS.
     _32nd Thousand._ _5s. net._

 STEVENSON (R. L.)
   THE LETTERS Edited by Sir SIDNEY COLVIN. 4 Vols. _Each 6s. net._

 SURTEES (R. S.)
   HANDLEY CROSS
   MR. SPONGE’S SPORTING TOUR
   ASK MAMMA
   MR. FACEY ROMFORD’S HOUNDS
   PLAIN OR RINGLETS?
   HILLINGDON HALL _Each_ illustrated. _7s. 6d. net._
   JORROCKS’S JAUNTS AND JOLLITIES
   HAWBUCK GRANGE _Each_ illustrated. _6s. net._

 TAYLOR (A. E.)
   PLATO: THE MAN AND HIS WORK _£1 1s. net._
   PLATO: TIMÆUS AND CRITIAS _6s. net._
   ELEMENTS OF METAPHYSICS _12s. 6d. net._

 TILDEN (William T.)
   THE ART OF LAWN TENNIS
     _Revised Edition_
   SINGLES AND DOUBLES _Each_ illustrated. _6s. net._
   THE COMMON SENSE OF LAWN TENNIS
   MATCH PLAY AND THE SPIN OF THE BALL _Each_ illustrated. _5s. net._

 TILESTON (Mary W.)
   DAILY STRENGTH FOR DAILY NEEDS
     _Thirty-fourth Edition._ _3s. 6d. net._
     India Paper. _Leather, 6s. net._

 TRAPP (Oswald Graf)
   THE ARMOURY OF THE CASTLE OF CHURBURG
     Translated by J. G. MANN.
     Richly illustrated.
     Limited to 400 copies. _£4 14s. 6d. net._

 UNDERHILL (Evelyn)
   MYSTICISM. _Revised Edition._ _15s. net._
   THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT AND THE LIFE OF TO-DAY _7s. 6d. net._
   MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL _7s. 6d. net._
   CONCERNING THE INNER LIFE _2s. net._
   THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL _2s. net._

 VARDON (Harry)
   HOW TO PLAY GOLF
     Illustrated. _Nineteenth Edition._ _5s. net._

 WAND (J. W. C.)
   THE DEVELOPMENT OF SACRAMENTALISM _6s. net._
   A HISTORY OF THE MODERN CHURCH _8s. 6d. net._

 WILDE (Oscar)
   THE WORKS
     In 16 Vols. _Each 6s. 6d. net._
     I. LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME AND THE PORTRAIT OF MR. W. H.
     II. THE DUCHESS OF PADUA
     III. POEMS
     IV. LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
     V. A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE
     VI. AN IDEAL HUSBAND
     VII. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
     VIII. A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES
     IX. INTENTIONS
     X. DE PROFUNDIS AND PRISON LETTERS
     XI. ESSAYS
     XII. SALOME, A FLORENTINE TRAGEDY, and LA SAINTE COURTISANE
     XIV. SELECTED PROSE OF OSCAR WILDE
     XV. ART AND DECORATION
     XVI. FOR LOVE OF THE KING _5s. net._
     XVII. VERA, OR THE NIHILISTS

 WILLIAMSON (G. C.)
   THE BOOK OF FAMILLE ROSE
     Richly Illustrated. _£8 8s. net._


           Methuen & Co. Ltd., 36 Essex Street, London, W.C.2

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES


 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
      spelling.
 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.