[368] See also LEPSIUS, _Denkmæler_, part ii. pl. 2, and the _Verzeichniss der Ægyptischen Alterthümer_ of the Berlin Museum, 1879, p. 25. [369] We owe our ability to give these curious details to the kindness of M. Conze and the officers of the Egyptian museum at Berlin. One of the original fragments brought home by Lepsius was lent to us. [Illustration: FIGS. 300-302.--Enamelled plaque from the Stepped Pyramid.] This fashion endured throughout the Theban period. The most important relic of it which we now possess is from the decoration of a temple built by Rameses III. to the north-west of Memphis, near the modern Tell-el-Yahoudeh, upon the railway from Cairo to Ismailia. The building itself was constructed of crude brick, the walls being lined with enamelled tiles. The royal ovals and titles were cut in the earth before it was fired, and afterwards filled up with an enamel so tinted as to stand out in strong relief from the colour of the brick. Other tiles represent African and Asiatic prisoners. The figures are in relief; the enamel is parti-coloured, the hair of the prisoners being black, their carnations yellowish-brown, and certain details of their costume being accentuated by other hues. Dr. Birch reproduces some of these painted reliefs and compares them to the _figurines rustiques_ of Bernard Palissy.[370] The principal fragments of this decoration are in the store-rooms of the Boulak Museum. They deserve more publicity than they have received. Most of them are purely decorative in character and bear designs of which an idea may be gained from three pieces of faience which are now in the British Museum. Two have graceful rosettes, while the third is covered with a pattern resembling a spider's web (Figs. 303-305).[371] [370] BIRCH, _Ancient Pottery_, p. 50. [371] I am told that a circular base, like that of a column of a table for offerings, was discovered in the same building. It is entirely covered with this same faience. [Illustration: FIGS. 303-305.--Enamelled earthenware plaques in the British Museum.]