336 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



the plinth with the stalks. These leafy coverings are obviously repro- 

 ductions of the bracts or sheaths which accompany reedy growths ; 

 and so, besides enlivening an otherwise barren surface, they enhance 

 the impression of vitality which the general figure of the column has 

 already produced. This decoration consists either of a single row of 

 eight contiguous leaves (Fig. 7), or of two or three such rows, 

 concentrically disposed, the points of the inner leaves falling in the 

 intervals of the outer.* The figure of the sheath is repeated in dimin- 

 ishing sizes within its outline, as though each sheath were composed of 

 several decreasing layers. 



Fig. g. 



Fig. S, 



I) 09 



X V* 



1.13-> 

 .91 "> 



1.45-> 



1.60 -»- 



/ <. .60 > \ 



The main body of the shaft, as already stated, is either longitudi- 

 nally incised in imitation of plant-stalks, or made to adopt simply the 

 general shape of a bundle of plants without any distinction of stalks. 

 In (a) the stalks are round ; but in (b) angular (see cuts) ; and since 



* See Lepsius, i. 107, c. 



Fig. 5. Bundle Column of the Lotus group, from Tomb 7 at Benihassan. (After 



Lepsius anil Hosellini.) 

 Fig. 6. Bundle Column of the Papyrus group, first variety, from the Great 



Temple of Karnak. (After Lepsius.) 



