=Painting and sculpture.=—The Egyptians, from the IVth dynasty downwards, were in the habit of painting the bas-reliefs in their temples and tombs, and also their statues, and they seemed to have relied greatly upon paintings in bright colours to enhance the effect of the work of the sculptor. The earliest wall decoration consists of series of figures of men, animals, etc., traced or cut in outline, or sculptured in low relief, on tolerably smooth slabs of limestone; sometimes the surfaces of the slabs were prepared with a sort of limewash, and the paintings painted upon it. The skill of the painter, even in the remote period of the IVth dynasty, is marvellous, and the accuracy with which he represented every detail and characteristic of animate and inanimate objects is beyond praise. At all periods, however, general scenes are more or less hard, a fact due to want of perspective. The Egyptians loved colour, and they used it wherever it could possibly be employed. A striking instance of this is afforded by the elaborately painted papyri of the Book of the Dead, which when once buried in the tomb were intended to be seen by no other eye than that of the spirit of the deceased! [Illustration: Alabaster figure of a priest seated on a throne with steps. IVth-VIth dynasty. [No. 156, Wall-case 99, Third Egyptian Room.]] [Illustration: Head of a painted statue of Neb-ḥap-Rā Men-thu-ḥetep. XIth dynasty. [Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 3, No. 104.]] [Illustration: Diorite statue of Sebek-nekht. XIIth dynasty. [No. 164, Wall-case 100, Third Egyptian Room.]]