Fig. 188.—Nefer-hotep and Tenteta. Boulak.
These limestone groups do not, as a rule, appear to have been executed with any great care. Their makers do not seem to have taken much pains to give them an individuality of their own; but in spite of this feebleness of execution, they please by their composition. They are well arranged, their attitudes are simple and their gestures expressive. As a whole they have an air of calmness and repose which is thoroughly in accord with the ideas of the Egyptians on the question of life and death.
Fig. 189.—Limestone statue, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.
Fig. 190.—Limestone statue, Boulak. Drawn by Bourgoin.
From the same memphite tombs many limestone statues have been recovered, representing, not the defunct himself, but those who mourn his decease and the crowd of retainers attached to his person. All these are expected to carry on their labours for his benefit and to be ready to satisfy his wants through all eternity. Here we find one seated upon the ground, his hand upon his head in sign of grief (Fig. 189).[198] There a young man, completely naked, advancing with a sack upon his left shoulder which falls down to the centre of his back. He carries a bouquet of flowers in his right hand (Fig. [190]).[199] A man seated upon the ground holds a vase between his knees, into which he has plunged his right hand (Fig. [191]).[200] Another bends over a wide-mouthed jar of mortar in which he is mixing flour and water (Fig. [192]). A young woman, in a similar attitude, is occupied over the same task (Fig. [193]). Other women are rolling the paste thus obtained on a plank, or rather upon a stone slab, before which they kneel upon the ground. The muscular exertion necessary for the operation is rendered with great skill (Figs. [193] and [194]).[201] Women are still to be encountered at Elephantiné and in Nubia, wearing the same head-dress and carrying out the same operation in the same attitude and with exactly similar utensils. We reproduce two sketches by M. Bourgoin, which show the details of this head-covering, which, among the women of the lower orders, supplied the piece of the wig; it consists of a piece of stuff held upon the head by a ribbon knotted at the back of the neck (Figs. [196] and [197]).
