Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/319

Gems. 289 ordinary finish. The altar bears the name Ha-ro-bes. The figure is clothed in a schenti ; a thick necklace is about his neck : his hair is in short thick curls : his legs are largely and firmly drawn. " We are helped to the date of this little work by the engraving on the reverse, which represents a king wearing the red crown and armed with a mace, with which he is about to strike an enemy whom he grasps by the hair. The name of this king is engraved beside him: Ra-eii-nia, that is Amenemhat III. The workman- ship of this face is, perhaps, inferior to that of the obverse, the forms are comparatively meagre and dry ; it is however far from being bad." ^ The cornelian statuette of Ousourtesen I., which the Louvre has unhappily lost, belonged to the same period. In the three days of Fig. 241. — Intaglio upon sardonyx, obverse. Louvre collection. Twice the actual size. Fig. 242. — Reverse of the same intaglio. July, 1830, a terrible fire was directed upon the crowd by the Swiss stationed in the colonnade of the Louvre. The assailants succeeded, however, in penetrating into the palace and invading the galleries. After their final retirement the only thing which was ascertained beyond a doubt to be missing, was this little statuette, which has never been heard of since. It was equally valuable for its rarity and the beauty of its workmanship. - The artists of the Second Theban Empire do not seem to have excelled those of the first, but their works have come down to us in much greater numbers. The Louvre possesses a considerable number of rings engraved with the names Thothmes, Amenophls, 1 PiERRET, Catalogue de la Salle Historique, No. 457. - A description of it wall be found in Champolliox, Notice Descriptive des Monuments Egyptiens du Musee Charles X., 2nd edition, 1S27, d. Xo. 14, p. 55. VOL. II. P P