I like to attribute to the same studio, besides a certain number
of pieces recently acquired by the Cairo Museum, three of the best
fragments extricated by M. Legrain from the _favissa_, the Thoutmôsis
III, the Isis, and the Sanmaout. The Thoutmôsis III is in a very supple
schist that allows the most delicate chiselling, and no engraving
can do justice to the delicacy of the modelling: the play of the
muscles is discreetly noted, but with extraordinary sureness, and, the
imperceptible shadows it produces varying in proportion as we walk
round the figure, the aspect of the physiognomy seems to change from
moment to moment. Isis was not of royal birth, and perhaps came from
one of the lower strata of society: five-and-twenty years ago her
existence was not suspected, and the Karnak statue in pink granite
is the first portrait we have of her. It is through her, however,
that Thoutmôsis III possesses the features by which he differs from
his predecessors, the large aquiline nose, wide-opened, almost
protruding eyes, full mouth, rounded face. The heavy wig he wears
made the sculptor’s task difficult; so much the greater then is the
merit in conceiving a work before which we pause, even by the side of
the preceding one. It contains all the characteristics of the Theban
school, the seeking after the personal expression, the sincerity of
the rendering, the width of the shoulders and, as a set-off, the
intentional smallness of the waist between the ample breasts and broad
hips. Study of the composition compels us to attribute it to the
same studio, if not to the same artist to whom we owe the statue of
Thoutmôsis III. I think the same about the group representing Sanmaout
and the little princess Nafêrourîya whose steward he was: nothing could
be less conventional than the free, firm gesture with which he holds
the child, or the posture of trusting abandon with which she leans
against his breast. The frankness of the movement well harmonizes with
the spiritual gentleness of the face and the smile that animates the
eyes and the full lips. Sanmaout was Queen Hachopsouîtou’s major-domo,
and his sovereign had authorized him to erect his statues in the temple
of Amon. After examining those that remain to us, it cannot be doubted
that they all come from one of the royal studios, most probably the one
whence came later the statues of Thoutmôsis and his mother Isis.
[Illustration: ISIS, MOTHER OF THOUTMÔSIS III.]
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