A History of Art in Ancient Egypt, Vol. 1 (of 2)Perrot, Georges
History
A History of Art in Ancient Egypt, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Perrot, Georges
Art -- Egypt -- History; Egypt -- Antiquities
As the funerary chapel was contained in the tomb itself, no effort
could be made to mask or conceal the entrance, which accordingly was
taken advantage of for the display of ornament. But no attempt was
made to cut architectural façades in the cliffs like those at
Beni-Hassan; not more than one or two sepulchres have yet been
discovered which have façades made up of those columns which have been
called _protodoric_. The makers of these tombs were usually content
with dressing the surface of the rock above and around the entrance.
The latter, with its sloping lintel above a cornice, stands in the
centre of an almost perpendicular wall which acts as its frame or
background. In the uninjured state of the sepulchre this wall was more
or less concealed by a construction similar to those which we have
described in speaking of the tombs in the plain. According to all
appearances, one of these little buildings, a cube of masonry crowned
by a pyramidion, was placed before the doorway of every tomb. It is
difficult to say whether it was of sufficient size to contain a
funerary chamber or not. It may have been no more than a solid
erection of small size, meant only to mask the entrance and to
indicate its situation to those concerned. The wealthy, indeed, may
have been only too pleased to thus call public attention to the
position of their gorgeously decorated sepulchres.
The little pyramids of crude brick which we find upon the irregular
rocky slopes of the _Kournet-el-Mourrayi_, above the little
window-shaped openings with which the rock is honeycombed, probably
answered a similar purpose. Of these some are still standing, and
others have left unmistakable traces upon, the slope. They seem to
have existed in great numbers in this part of the necropolis, which
seems to have been set apart, about the time of the eighteenth
dynasty, for the priests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account