The simplest form in which it is found is as a chequered pattern series of S spirals, apparently on cloths thrown over boat cabins. On Hatshepsut’s boat the spirals are close together (Duem. XXI.); but rather later, on the boat of Neferhotep, they are spread with chequers of red and blue between them (W.M.C. lxvii.).
Fig. 49.
About the same period they appear as a continuous coil pattern in relief on the columns of the harim well at Tell el Amarna. The spiral in relief being in yellow, it probably was copied from a jewellery pattern in which a strip of gold was twisted into spirals, and the spaces filled with squares of coloured stones or pastes, judging from the analogy of the inlaid capitals. This example being earlier than most of the spiral decorations of surfaces may thus open our eyes to the meaning of some such designs; and, in general, a close continuous coil returning on itself may well be a copy of a strip of sheet metal, doubled, and rolled up.
50.—P. [85]. I.
The next stage is where continuous lines of spiral patterns are placed side by side, and other patterns developed in the spaces between them. Sometimes the intervening patterns become so complex as to overshadow the mere spirals, as in the splendid ceiling of Neferhotep, in the XVIIIth dynasty. And in this the far more complex quadruple spiral begins to appear, as we shall see presently.
51.—P. [85].
