Egyptian sculpture

METHODS OF THE ARTIST 7

inserted, the head-dress and the loin-cloth were of different materials, possibly gold or gilded plaster; the legs and arms were made separately. The smaller figure of the son was apparently cast complete. In the same way the hawk’s head of gold was cast by the czve perdue process and was attached by gold rivets to the wooden body. In the Middle and New Kingdoms life-sized statues in metal are not known, and few statuettes of that period have survived; but in the later periods there are a considerable number of statuettes of bronze. These, though sometimes cast solid, and sometimes by the cive perdue process, occasionally show the composite figure. When the arms are made separately, they are slipped into place by a dovetail on the arm and a slot on the figure (Pl. II. 3). In wooden figures the face is sometimes pegged on in the same way as the arms (Pl. III. 2). p 4

RELIEFS

In studying relief sculpture it must be borne in mind that the limitations of the art are the same as those of drawing and painting; in other words, the artist has to represent a solid body on a plane surface. To do this, certain artistic conventions necessarily spring up, such conventions varying according to the country in which they arise, being affected by the mentality of the people.

A primitive artist is in much the same mental condition as a child; he draws from memory and not from the object; he always represents the object from the broadest point of view; he draws each object separately and not grouped; and as he does not visualise the background, he never represents it, his mind being entirely occupied with the objects of importance. The result is that each object, such as a boat or an animal, is drawn in side-view, that being the