Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/137

The Egyptian Orders. 1 1 is much higher and more important than in the columns hitherto described, and it bears -a mask of Hathor surmounted by a naos upon each of its four sides. This unusual height of abacus, the superposition of the hathoric capital upon the bell-shaped one, and the repetition of the mask of Hathor upon all four sides, are the premonitory signs of the Ptolemaic style. Fig. 91. — Base of a column ; from the great hall of the Ramesseum, central avenue. The capital from the Ambulator}' of Thothmes, at Thebes, presents a type both rare and original (Fig. 95). Between our illustration and that of Lepsius there is a difference which is not without importance.^ According to the German savants, the abacus is inscribed within the upper circumference of the bell ; but if we may believe a sketch made by an architect upon the spot, the truth is that the upper circumference of the capital is ' Lepsius, Denhmaler^ part i. pi. Si.