ITS PURPOSE AND VALUE.

BY LINA ECKENSTElN.

The discoveries that have been made in Egypt during the last few years deserve the attention of all who are interested in art. The wonders of Egypt were ever a byword with the European. Our oldest written literature dwells on them, and objects that came across the Mediterranean were treasured in the faraway past that witnessed the rise of power at Mykenae and the building of the great palaces of Knossos in Crete. But it is only during the last few years that we have come to realize the ancientness of art in Egypt itself and the developments that took place at home before their outcome was noised abroad.

The study of the art of any given country shows that the greatest successes are achieved where different layers of art development lie superimposed. The last important develop ment of art on Egyptian soil followed the Mohamedan conquest of the seventh century. Previous to this the history of art of the country baa been traced back through successive periods of rise and decay bearing witness to the continuity of art in Egypt for well nigh eight thousand years. A great development of art followed the uniting of Upper and Lower Egypt under King Mena, the first king of the first dynasty, whose reign is approximately dated to B.C. 5000 ; another climax in the art of the Old Kingdom is represented by the building of the Great Pyramid of about B.C. 3900. It is with some of the objects recently discovered which illustrate the taste and technique of this far away past that the present article would acquaint the reader.

The purpose of art in Egypt was always to give a faithful representation of fact. It might be actual fact, such as the contest with an enemy, which is roughly rendered in colour already on the wall of a pre-dynastic tomb ; it might be ideal fact, such as the dangers that lurk behind death, a favourite matter for speculation, and the subject of some of the weirdest wall-decorations in the tombs of the kings at Thebes. But whether bent on recording actual or ideal fact, the Egyptian was always clear and direct in his utterances. At no time did he drift so far away from life as to practise art for art's sake.

This attitude was determined by the views he entertained on matters temporal and spiritual. From the earliest period and right across the recorded ages, the Egyptian's best belongings were buried with him. Of all the delightful, fanciful and inspiring objects that come ont of Egypt, by far the larger proportion comes out of tombs. In our own middle ages men did not shrink from taxing the wealth of a city in order to build a cathedral, or from spending the better part of a life-time in illuminating a missal, since such work was reckoned to the glory of God. The conditions under which the Egyptian worked made his handiwork even more abiding. Individual death was to him an impossible conception. The stone jar which he ground out would be placed for continued use in the tomb, the pyramid which he built was a house for the ever-living king. In both oases he worked, so to speak, for eternity.

Cunning of hand combined with keenness of sight was ever the prerogative of man. From the point of view of art there is no improving on the drawing of the antediluvian stag and the chipping of many a flint arrowhead. The progress of art lies rather in the extending of ideas and the variety of material brought under control. In the period under consideration, gold and silver were known and prized, and an occasional bronze implement indicates a growing appreciation of metals, but weapons and tools were mostly of bone and stone, chipped and ground into shape. Still water and fire had been pressed into his service by man, enabling him to take pots and manufacture glaze to grind stone into shape with the help of sand and water, and to split off slabs of rock by means of wooden wedges that were swelled with moisture. A wealth of objects worked with great dexterity and showing complete mastery over even the hardest kinds of stone have come out of pre-dynastic tombs. Towards the close of this period this acquired skill was turned to new purposes, and led to the production of large objects worked in stone which contain the most complete and perhaps the most important records of Egyptian history before the reign of King Mena.

The objects bearing these records were found, under the auspices of the Egyptian Research Account, on the temple site of Hierakonpolis, one of the most ancient temples belonging to the historic race, and probably the place of coronation of the kings before the subjugation of northern Egypt. The find included several stone mace heads and a slate palette which are covered with scenes, worked in slight relief, taken from the life of predecessors of King Mena. The objects are of considerable size and were found together with a flint knife about : ½ ft. long. This suggests that they served a ceremonial purpose and originally formed part of the temple furniture.

The writer of this article then describes the slate palette of King Nar-mer. It is about 20 in. high and is decorated on both sides, a circular place being left free on one side for grinding malachite into powder for face paint. Slate palettes serving this purpose had been in constant use some thousand years before the time of Nar-mer. Every good tomb contains one, and many still show patches of green. The application of face-paint in Egypt is at once remedial and decorative, since paint put around the eyes protects them from the glare of the sun, a fact familiar to the Egyptian woman of to-day, who paints lines of kohl under her own eyes and those of her children.

A glance at the palette of Nar-mer makes manifest its meaning. Here, is the king successfully smiting his enemy under the auspices of the cow eared goddess. A closer study of the work reveals a wealth of interesting detail. The king wields a stone mace the wooden handle of which is ribbed, suggesting a stick wound round with a thong of leather ; his tunic is fastened on one shoulder, which suggests a shape derived from an animal skin, his girdle is hung with images of the protecting goddess ; while he wears the long flowing tail the significance of which is unknown. On his head is the high cap which is known as the cap of Upper Egypt. But on the reverse of the palette Nar-mer wears the square cap and feather which is known as the cap of Lower Egypt, a fact incompatible with the place assigned to him in history, unless the caps originally had another significance. Perhaps they were originally emblems of authority under its administrative and its judicial aspects.

The king's name is represented by a fish and a chisel ; the servant who follows him with sandals and libation pot is also designated by signe. The servant is relatively small, a simple way of expressing inferiority of rank which always remained in use in Egypt, Again, the enemy is designated as, 'ruler of the lake,' perhaps the Fayoum district. He is longhaired and bearded, with a flat head and short thumbs, peculiarities repeated in the two figures below, who may represent cities brought into subjection. We also see the royal hawk grasping a head of the same type by a cord drawn through the lips, while the one human hand given to him to hold the rope above the Egyptian's readiness to sacrifice truth of representation in order to secure directness of meaning. A sign with six plants below the hawk signifies six thousand, doubtless the number of subjected enemies.

The whole arrangement of the palette, taken with the realistic modelling of the muscles, especially of those about the king's neck, indicates great artistic skill. At the same time there are anomalies that are so patent that it seems ocrions they should have crept in and have remained unchallenged for many centuries to come. Thus the feet of the king and his servant are rendered in tree Egyptian fashion with no attempt to indicate the difference between right foot and left by representing the smaller tool, which in the nearer foot are necessarily visible.

The reverse of the palette again represents the king and his servant, but here he is preceded by the standards of four nomes borne aloft, and two rows of corpses with their heads cut off lie before him. Below, two men hold back panthers whose unnaturally elongated necks encircle the place for grinding paint, while the royal bull underneath is seen destroying a city.

The importance of Nar-mer is farther illustrated by the scene represented on a great mace-head found at Hierakonpolis also, on which the king is figured enthroned like Osiris, with the same standard-bearers and rows of men executing a dance. Other objects of stone and ivory found with these further prove the artist's power of representing man and beast to a purpose, with full control over his material and ungrudging devotion of labour.

Similar qualities belong to the objects which came out of a tomb at Abydos, probably that of Nar-mer, the great burial place of the kings of the first dynasty. One of these objects, a small strip of ivory representing a row of captives, exemplifies a point in Egyptian art worth noting. While the palette shows the artist's power of expressing himself in relief, and other objects found with it indicate as great a power of working in the round, in this strip it is a question of working by means of the line only. The drawing is forcible and direct, but the line, as such, has no interest. This indifference to the nature of the line is observable throughout the course of Egyptian art. We never come across a line graduated in thickness to indicate the roundness of an object, and there is no hatching to mark shadow or throw a thing into relief. We are left to infer that the successful handling of the line as the means of translating roundness and relief is peculiar to the art of Europe.

The Egyptian's power of working in the round is unsurpassed. Two ivory statuettes of kings are reproduced, each a few inches high, which are of marked individuality and compare favourably with the best art of any period. The one statuette is much broken away, and the name, if there was one, has gone. It was found in the temple of Abydos at a level which renders it probable that we have before us a king of the first dynasty. It is now in the British Museum. The king which it represents is old. Age has given him a stoop, but it has given him also great sweetness of expression. His kingship is expressed by his cap and the rich appearance of his mantle.

The other statuette, which came from a somewhat higher level in the same temple, represents Khufu, otherwise Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid. The name is inscribed on the side. This statuette represents the king in the full strength of manhood with look of determination which agree with the few historical facts recorded of him. This statuette which in pieces preserves the original polish, is now in the Cairo Museum. (From the "Burlington Magazine ")

Works and Shipping Ports:

Liverpool, 1886. Jamaicao, 1891. Chicago, 1893. Highest Award.

CARDIFF and Port Talbot.

Manufactuerers and Shippers of "CROWN FUEL" used by Warships, and State and Colonial Railways.

Tel. Address: "Crown, Cardiff"