at Tanis, and dates probably from
Ptolemaic times.[38] Models of the Pharaonic ages are in soft limestone,
and nearly all represent portraits of reigning sovereigns. These are best
described as cubes measuring about ten inches each way. The work was begun
by covering one face of a cube with a network of lines crossing each other
at right angles; these regulated the relative position of the features.
Then the opposite side was attacked, the distances being taken from the
scale on the reverse face. A mere oval was designed on this first block; a
projection in the middle and a depression to right and left, vaguely
indicating the whereabouts of nose and eyes. The forms become more definite
as we pass from cube to cube, and the face emerges by degrees. The limit of
the contours is marked off by parallel lines cut vertically from top to
bottom. The angles were next cut away and smoothed down, so as to bring out
the forms. Gradually the features become disengaged from the block, the eye
looks out, the nose gains refinement, the mouth is developed. When the
last cube is reached, there remains nothing to finish save the details of
the head-dress and the basilisk on the brow. No scholar's model in basalt
has yet been found;[39] but the Egyptians, like our monumental masons,
always kept a stock of half-finished statues in hard stone, which could be
turned out complete in a few hours. The hands, feet, and bust needed only a
few last touches; but the heads were merely blocked out, and the clothing
left in the rough. Half a day's work then sufficed to transform the face
into a portrait of the purchaser, and to give the last new fashion to the
kilt. The discovery of some two or three statues of this kind has shown us
as much of the process as a series of teacher's models might have done.
Volcanic rocks could not be cut with the continuity and regularity of
limestone. The point only could make any impression upon these obdurate
materials. When, by force of time and patience, the work had thus been
finished to the degree required, there would often remain some little
irregularities of surface, due, for example, to the presence of nodules and
heterogeneous substances, which the sculptor had not ventured to attack,
for fear of splintering away part of the surrounding surface. In order to
remove these irregularities, another tool was employed; namely, a stone cut
in the form of an axe. Applying the sharp edge of this instrument to the
project