The wall sculptures were of two kinds, the =bas-relief= and the =sunk relief=. In the bas-relief the sculpture is raised a little above the surface of the slab, and in the sunk relief it is a little below. The sunk relief is one of the most characteristic features of Egyptian sculpture. Of the first kind there are many examples in the Egyptian Galleries of the British Museum, especially in the Vestibule at the north end of the Northern Gallery, where the slab from the tomb of Rā-ḥetep at Mêdûm (Egyptian Vestibule, No. 40), of the IVth dynasty may be specially noted. Several portions of fine and delicately painted bas-reliefs from the temple of Neb-ḥap-Rā; Menthu-ḥetep, of the XIth dynasty, at Dêr al-Baḥarî, which are exhibited in Bay 2 of the Northern Gallery, are worthy of careful study. The sepulchral tablet of Sebek-āa, of the XIth dynasty, should be noted (Bay 4, No. 120; see =Plate XXIII=). Examples of the sunk relief will be found in the Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 1. Both paintings and reliefs, however, are unsatisfactory from the modern point of view, for while the head is given in profile, the eye is represented as if the figure were in a full-faced position. A front view is given of the shoulders, but the view of the other portions of the body is a mixture of profile and full face. These facts are calculated to give a false impression of the skill of the painter and sculptor, which, as is admitted on all hands, was very great. [Illustration: Figure of a king. XIIIth dynasty. [No. 178, Wall-case 102, Third Egyptian Room.]] The artist was at a very early period fettered by tradition and conventionality, but sufficient proofs have survived to show that when free to give rein to his fancy he could produce even =caricatures= and comic pictures of the most amusing character. Thus, in Papyrus No. 10,016, we see the lion and the unicorn playing a game of draughts, a fox playing a double pipe while animals of the gazelle class strut in front of him, a cat driving geese, and a cat presenting a palm branch to a mouse which is seated on a chair and holding a lotus. Behind the chair is another mouse bearing a fan and a bag with toilet requisites (see pages 27-30). In the reign of Ȧmen-ḥetep IV, about B.C. 1420, there was a revolt against the conventional forms of painting and sculpture approved by the priests. For about twenty-five years, new designs and new colours were introduced, but they did not find favour among the people generally, and, when the king died, traditionalism promptly re-asserted itself, and the new capital which he founded near the modern village of Tell al-Amarna fell into ruin, and its splendours were forgotten. [Illustration: Queen Tetȧ-Kharṭ, about B.C. 1600. [No. 187, Wall-case 102, Third Egyptian Room.]]