Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/451

Appendix. 415 The central panel has an ultramarine ground. It is divided longitudin- ally into two equal parts, one half being sprinkled with red and yellow stars, and the other covered with alternate bands of vultures, hieroglyphs, and stars. The " fore and aft " flaps of the canopy are entirely covered with a chess-board pattern of alternate red and green squares, while the lateral flaps have each, in addition, six bands of ornament above the squares, the most important band consisting of ovals of Pinotem, supported by uraei and alternating with winged scarabs, papyrus heads, and crouching gazelles. The colours employed are a red or pink, like a pale shade of what is now called Indian red, a golden yellow, a pale yellow not greatly differing from ivory, green, and pale ultramarine. The latter colour is used only for the ground of the central panel, where it may fitly suggest the vault of heaven ; the rest are distributed skilfully and harmoniously, but without the observance of any particular rule, over the rest of the decoration. The immediate contrasts are red (or pink) with dark grass-green, bright yellow with buff or ivory colour, and green with yellow. The bad effect of the juxtaposition of buff' with red was understood, and that contrast only occurs in the hieroglyphs within the ovals. The arrangement of the ornamental motives is characterized by that Egyptian hatred for symmetry which is so often noticed by !M. Perrot, but the general result is well calculated to have a proper effect under an Eg>^ptian sun. The leather, where uninjured, still retains the softness and lustre of kid. The Osiride mummy case of Rameses II. is of unpainted wood, and in the style of the twenty-first dynasty. It has been thought that the features resemble those of Her Hor himself,^ and therefore that it was carved in his reign ; they certainly are not those of Rameses. and yet the iconic nature of the head is very strongly marked. Besides these important objects, the vault contained, as we have said. an immense number of small articles, no description of which has yet been published. An explanation of the presence of all these mum.mies and their belongings in a single unpretentious vault, is not far to seek. In the reign of Rameses IX., of the twentieth dynasty, it was discovered that many tombs, including those of the Pharaoh Sevek-em-Saf and his queen Noubkhas had been forced and rifled by robbers, while others had been more or less damaged. An inquiry was held and some at least of the delinquents brought to justice. The "Abbott"' and the "Amherst" papyri give accounts of the proceedings in full, together with the confession of one of the criminals.'- These occurrences and the generally lawless condition of Thebes at the time seem to have led to the institution of 1 Miss A. B. Edwards, Lying in State in Cairo, in Harper's .Va^aziiie for July, 1SS2. ' .See Masfero, Ufw Enjuite Judiciare a Thebes, Paris, 1871, 410.