[174] The Boulak Museum also contains specimens of these figures. See Notice, Nos. 994 and 995.
[175] Notice des principaux Monuments exposés à Boulak, No. 973. These figures were discovered in January, 1872. They had a narrow escape of being destroyed by the pickaxes of the superstitious fellaheen. Mariette fortunately arrived just in time to prevent the outrage. Recueil de Travaux, vol. i. p. 160.
[176] MARIETTE, Voyage dans la Haute-Égypte, p. 47.
[177] "According to all appearance these panels date from before the reign of Cheops." Notices des principaux Monuments, etc. Nos. 987-92.
[178] There is a panel of the same kind in the Louvre (Salle Historique, No. 1 of Pierret's Catalogue), but it is neither so firm, nor in such good preservation as those at Cairo.
[179] Mariette, La Galerie de l'Égypte Ancienne au Trocadéro, 1878, p. 122.
[180] Thus we find in a tomb which, according to Lepsius, dates from the fourth dynasty, certain thickset sculptured forms, which contrast strongly with figures taken from mastabas in the same neighbourhood, at Gizeh. The body is short, the legs heavy and massive. Lepsius, Denkmæler, part ii. pl. 9.
[181] De Rougé, Notice sommaire des Monuments Égyptiens, 1865, p. 68.
[182] Another wooden statue of equal merit as a work of art was found in the same tomb. It represents a woman, standing. Unfortunately there is nothing left of it but the head and the torso. Notice des principaux Monuments du Musée de Boulak, No. 493.
[183] The Description de l'Égypte (Antiquités, vol. v. p. 33) gives the details of a mummy-mask in sycamore wood, of fairly good workmanship, which was found at Sakkarah. The eyebrows and edges of the eyelids were outlined with red copper; a fine linen was stretched over the wood; over this there was a thin layer of stucco, upon which the face was painted in green.