Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/296

266 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. bronzes of Osiris discovered at Medinet-Abou.^ All the bronzes found in the Serapeum belong to the same category.- By means of secondary remains, such as sphinxes, steles, and scarabs, we can just contrive to get a glimpse at the features of those brilliant sovereigns who, after dazzling Egypt and the surrounding countries early in the seventh century B.C., fell before the first attacks of the Persians.^ Many of their effigies must have been destroyed by the invaders, either at their first conquest, or during the three subsequent occasions when they were com- pelled to re-establish their ascendency by force. A similar fate must have overtaken the statues of Inaros and Nectanebo, who succeeded for a time in restoring the independence of their country. For the whole of this period the royal -iconography is much more scanty than for the two Theban empires. We shall not dwell upon the figure in green basalt which stands in the middle of the Salle Historiqzie in the Louvre. We know from the inscription upon its girdle that it represents the king Psemethek II. The execution is careful, but the work has suffered great mutilation, the head and parts of the limbs being modern restorations."* On the other hand, the two little bronze sphinxes which stand upon the chimney-piece in the same room are in excellent condition. According to De Rouge their heads reproduce the features of Ouaphra, the Apries of the Greeks (Fig. 227).^ In the ground-floor gallery there are several sphinxes which, according to their inscriptions, should include portraits of some of those princes who between 527 and 332 i^.c. temporarily freed Egypt from the Persian yoke ; Nepherites, Achoris, Nectanebo, &c. None of them, however, show enough individuality in their features to suggest that they were copied from nature. Their heads are all clothed indiscriminately in the same elegance of contour, and in lookino- at them we find ourselves far indeed from the admirable portraits of the early empire, or even from that statue of Ameneritis which closes the series of royal effigies. 1 Notice, Nos. 196-7. ^ Ihid. Nos. 105-15. ^ The Boulak Museum ]:)Osscsses a very fine scarab which shows Xechao between Isis and Neith, one of whom hands him a mace and the other a small figure of Mentou-Ra, the God of Battles. Two chained prisoners are prostrate at the base of the scarab. M.ariette, Notice, No. 556. ^ PiERRKT, Cataloi^i/e de la Saile J/istoriqne, No. 269. ^ J3e Rouge, Notice So m moire, ]). 59.