236 
GALLERY OF ANTIQUITIES. 
is not reckoned. Tablet, No. 579, has a scale of some human figures, 
under the l*2th dynasty; and a board, probably the working drawing 
of a sculptor or painter, may be seen in Case No. 38, representing a 
figure of Thothmes III. 3. The canon of the age of the Psammetici, 
which is mentioned by Diodorus, reckoning the entire height at 
twenty-one feet and a quarter from the sole to the crown of the 
head, taken to the upper part. The proportions are different, but with¬ 
out any introduction of the Greek canon. (See the bust, Case 12, 13, 
and stone figure of a lion, Case 8, 9.) The canon and the leading lines 
were originally traced in red, subsequently corrected by the princi¬ 
pal artist in black, and the design then executed. All objects were 
painted, both of architecture and sculpture, and gilding was occasion¬ 
ally employed. In their paintings the simplest colours, such as white, 
black, an ochrous red, blue, and yellow, were only used, green and 
purple being the introduction of a later age. The entire figure was sur¬ 
rounded with a black outline. The Egyptians worked in dark and 
red granites, porphyry, basalts, breccias, arragonite, limestones, sand¬ 
stones, jaspers, feldspar, carnelian, glass, gold, silver, bronze, lead, 
iron, the hard woods, fir or cedar, sycomore, ebony, guiacum, porce¬ 
lain, and ivory and terracotta. All objects are found decorated with 
hieroglyphics, from the most gigantic obelisk to the minute articles of 
private life. In connection with the history of the nation, three great 
periods of art may be distinctly traced in Egypt. 
I. The archaic style, reaching from the date of the earliest known 
monuments of the country till the close of the 12th dynasty; in which 
the hair is in rude vertical curls and heavy masses, the face is broad 
and coarse, the nose long, and forehead receding, hands and feet large 
and disproportionate; the execution rude, even when details are in¬ 
troduced; the bas-reliefs depressed. This style continued improving 
till the 12th dynasty, at which period many of the monuments are 
finished with a purity and delicacy rivalling cameos. ( See the false 
doors from the tomb of Teta, Nos. 157, 157*; the small statue from 
the Pyramids , No. 70 ; and Tablets , No. 197 and following.) 
II. The art from the restoration of the 18th dynasty till the 20th: — 
the hair is disposed in more elegant and vertical curls, a greater har¬ 
mony is observable in the proportion of the limbs, the details are 
finished with greater breadth and care; bas-relief becomes rare, and 
disappears after Rameses II.; under the 19th dynasty, however, the 
arts rapidly declined. ( See the colossal head of Thothmes I[I., No. 
15, Egyptian Saloon; the statues of Amenophis III., Nos. 14, 17 ; 
the statues and busts of Ilorus, No. 6; Rameses II., Nos. 14—96; 
Setimenephtah II., No. 26; and the casts in the Vestibule; and , in 
the Egyptian Room, the alabaster sepulchral figures.) 
III. The epoch of the revival of art, commencing with the 20th 
dynasty, distinguished for an imitation of the archaic art. The por¬ 
traiture is more distinct, the limbs freer and rounded. ( See statues , 
Nos. 83, 134, under Apries; sarcophagus, No. 86; and figure y No. 
34, of a person living under Amasis;) the muscles more developed— 
the details executed with great care and accuracy, ( see obelisk of 
Amyrtceus, 523-24; his sarcophagus, No. 10; and the inter columnar 
slabs of Psammetichus II. and Nectanebo , Nos. 20, 22,) and the general 
elfect rather dependent on the minute finish than general scope and 
