erhaps have been used as copies by the decorators of some Theban tomb
about the time of the Twentieth Dynasty. A fragment in the Museum of Gizeh
contains studies of ducks or geese in black ink; and at Turin may be seen a
sketch of a half-nude female figure bending backwards, as about to turn a
somersault. The lines are flowing, the movement is graceful, the modelling
delicate. The draughtsman was not hampered then as now, by the rigidity of
the instrument between his fingers. The reed brush attacked the surface
perpendicularly; broadened, diminished, or prolonged the line at will; and
stopped or turned with the utmost readiness. So supple a medium was
admirably adapted to the rapid rendering of the humorous or ludicrous
episodes of daily life. The Egyptians, naturally laughter-loving and
satirical, were caricaturists from an early period. One of the Turin papyri
chronicles the courtship of a shaven priest and a songstress of Amen in a
series of spirited vignettes; while on the back of the same sheet are
sketched various serio-comic scenes, in which animals parody the pursuits
of civilised man. An ass, a lion, a crocodile, and an ape are represented
in the act of giving a vocal and instrumental concert; a lion and a gazelle
play at draughts; the Pharaoh of all the rats, in a chariot drawn by dogs,
gallops to the assault of a fortress garrisoned by cats; a cat of fashion,
with a flower on her head, has come to blows with a goose, and the hapless
fowl, powerless in so unequal a contest, topples over with terror. Cats, by
the way, were the favourite animals of Egyptian caricaturists. An ostrakon
in the New York Museum depicts a cat of rank _en grande toilette_, seated
in an easy chair, and a miserable Tom, with piteous mien and tail between
his legs, serving her with refreshments (fig. 161). Our catalogue of comic
sketches is brief; but the abundance of pen-drawings with which certain
religious works were illustrated compensates for our poverty in secular
subjects. These works are _The Book of the Dead_ and _The Book of Knowing
That which is in Hades_, which were reproduced by hundreds, according to
standard copies preserved in the temples, or handed down through families
whose hereditary profession it was to conduct the services for the dead.
When making these illustrations, the artist had no occasion to draw upon
his imagination. He had but to imitate the copy as skilfully as he could.
Of _The Book of Knowing That which is in