126.—P. [90]. 5.
Beside using the separate flowers, the whole plant was also a favourite subject as a group. In the earliest days we find it entwined around the hieroglyph of union, as we shall notice in considering the hieroglyphs. In the XIIth dynasty the plant appears as a recurrent group in surface decoration; though from the varying form of the flower it might be intended for lotus or papyrus.
127.—R.C. xciii.
128.—L.D. III. 109.
In the XVIIIth dynasty it is more free, as might be expected in the time of Akhenaten.
129.—R.S. lxxxiii.
It is also seen as a foreign ornament on the dress of a Syrian slain by Ramessu II. at Abu Simbel, but in this case perhaps the tufted papyrus is intended. And in place of the rounded group which is usual in the XVIIIth-XIXth dynasties we find a different treatment on the throne of Ramessu III., in which it is kept more as a parallel pattern. This parallelism became general in later times, and the Ptolemaic walls are ruled over with stiff friezes of lotus and bud.