Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by Gaston Maspero (popular books of all time txt) 📖

electrum is of a fine light-yellow colour. It pales as the proportion of silver becomes larger, and at 60 per cent. it is nearly white. The silver came chiefly from Asia, in rings, sheets, and bricks of standard weight. The gold and electrum came partly from Syria in bricks and rings; and partly from the Soudan in nuggets and gold-dust. The processes of refining and alloying are figured on certain monuments of the early dynasties. In a bas-relief at Sakkarah, we see the weighed gold entrusted to the craftsman for working; in another example (at Beni Hasan) the washing and melting down of the ore is represented; and again at Thebes, the goldsmith is depicted seated in front of his crucible, holding the blow-pipe to his lips with the left hand, and grasping his pincers with the right, thus fanning the flame and at the same time making ready to seize the ingot (fig. 283). The Egyptians struck neither coins nor medals. Fig 283.--Gold worker. Fig 283.--Gold worker.
With these exceptions, they made the same use of the precious metals as we do ourselves. We gild the crosses and cupolas of our churches; they covered the doors of their temples, the lower part of their wall-surfaces, certain bas-reliefs, pyramidions of obelisks, and even whole obelisks, with plates of gold. The obelisks of Queen Hatshepsût at Karnak were coated with electrum. "They were visible from both banks of the Nile, and when the sun rose between them as he came up from the heavenly horizon, they flooded the two Egypts with their dazzling rays."[77] These plates of metal were forged with hammer and anvil. For smaller objects, they made use of little pellets beaten flat between two pieces of parchment. In the Museum of the Louvre we have a gilder's book, and the gold-leaf which it contains is as thin as the gold-leaf used by the German goldsmiths of the past century. Gold was applied to bronze surfaces by means of an ammoniacal solvent. If the object to be gilt were a wooden statuette, the workman began by sticking a piece of fine linen all over the surface, or by covering it with a very thin coat of plaster; upon this he laid his gold or silver leaf. It was thus that wooden statuettes of Thoth, Horus, and Nefertûm were gilded, from the time of Khûfû. The temple of Isis, the "Lady of the Pyramid," contained a dozen such images; and this temple was not one of the largest in the Memphite necropolis. There would seem to have been hundreds of gilded statues in the Theban temples, at all events in the time of the victorious dynasties of the new empire; and as regards wealth, the Ptolemaic sanctuaries were in no wise inferior to those of the Theban period.

Bronze and gilded wood were not always good enough for the gods of Egypt. They exacted pure gold, and their worshippers gave them as much of it as possible. Entire statues of the precious metals were dedicated by the kings of the ancient and middle empires; and the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, who drew at will upon the treasures of Asia, transcended all that had been done by their predecessors. Even in times of decadence, the feudal lords kept up the traditions of the past, and, like Prince Mentûemhat, replaced the images of gold and silver which had been carried off from Karnak by the generals of Sardanapalus at the time of the Assyrian invasions. The quantity of metal thus consecrated to the service of the gods must have been considerable, If many figures were less than an inch in height, many others measured three cubits, or more. Some were of gold, some of silver; others were part gold and part silver. There were even some which combined gold with sculptured ivory, ebony, and precious stones, thus closely resembling the chryselephantine statues of the Greeks. Aided by the bas-relief subjects of Karnak, Medinet Habû, and Denderah, as well as by the statues in wood and limestone which have come down to our day, we can tell exactly what they were like. However the material might vary, the style was always the same. Nothing is more perishable than works of this description. They are foredoomed to destruction by the mere value of the materials in which they are made. What civil war and foreign invasion had spared, and what had chanced to escape the rapacity of Roman princes and governors, fell a prey to Christian iconoclasm. A few tiny statuettes buried as amulets upon the bodies of mummies, a few domestic divinities buried in the ruins of private houses, a few ex-votos forgotten, perchance, in some dark corner of a fallen sanctuary, have escaped till the present day. The Ptah and Amen of Queen Aahhotep, another golden Amen also at Gizeh, and the silver vulture found in 1885 at Medinet Habû, are the only pieces of this kind which can be attributed with certainty to the great period of Egyptian art. The remainder are of Saïte or Ptolemaic work, and are remarkable only for the perfection with which they are wrought. Fig 284.--Golden cup of General Tahûti, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 284.--Golden cup of General Tahûti, Eighteenth Dynasty.
The gold and silver vessels used in the service of the temples, and in the houses of private persons, shared the fate of the statues. At the beginning of the present century, the Louvre acquired some flat-bottomed cups which Thothmes III. presented as the reward of valour to one of his generals named Tahûti. The silver cup is much mutilated, but the golden cup is intact and elegantly designed (fig. 284). The upright sides are adorned with a hieroglyphic legend. A central rosette is engraved at the bottom. Six fish are represented in the act of swimming round the rosette; and these again are surrounded by a border of lotus-bells united by a curved line. Fig 285.--Silver vase of Thmûis. Fig 285.--Silver vase of Thmûis.
The five vases of Thmûis, in the Gizeh Museum, are of silver. They formed part of the treasure of the temple, and had been buried in a hiding-place, where they remained till our own day. We have no indication of their probable age; but whether they belong to the Greek or the Theban period, the workmanship is purely Egyptian. Of one vessel, only the cover is left, the handle being formed of two flowers upon one stem. The others are perfect, and are decorated in repoussé work with lotus-lilies in bud and blossom (fig. 285). The form is simple and elegant, the ornamentation sober and delicate; the relief low. Fig 286.--Silver vase of Thmûis. Fig 286.--Silver vase of Thmûis.
One is, however, surrounded by a row of ovoid bosses (fig. 286), which project in high relief, and somewhat alter the shape of the body of the vase. These are interesting specimens; but they are so few in number that, were it not for the wall-paintings, we should have but a very imperfect idea of the skill of the Egyptian goldsmiths.

The Pharaohs had not our commercial resources, and could not circulate the gold and silver tribute-offerings of conquered nations in the form of coin. When the gods had received their share of the booty, there was no alternative but to melt the rest down into ingots, fashion it into personal ornaments, or convert it into gold and silver plate. Fig 287. --Ornamental basket in precious metal. From wall-painting, Twentieth Dynasty. Fig 287.--Ornamental basket in precious metal. From wall-painting, Twentieth Dynasty.
What was true of the kings held good also for their subjects. For the space of at least six or eight centuries, dating from the time of Ahmes I., the taste for plate was carried to excess. Every good house was not only stocked with all that was needful for the service of the table, such as cups, goblets, plates, ewers, and ornamental baskets chased with figures of fantastic animals (fig. 287); but also with large ornamental vases which were dressed with flowers, and displayed to visitors on gala days. Some of these vases were of extraordinary richness. Here, for instance, is a crater, the handles modelled as two papyrus buds, and the foot as a full-blown papyrus. Fig 288.--Crater of precious metal, borne by slaves. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 288.--Crater of precious metal, borne by slaves. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
Fig 289.--Enamelled cruet. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 289.--Enamelled cruet. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
Two Asiatic slaves in sumptuous garments are represented in the act of upheaving it with all their strength (fig. 288). Here, again, is a kind of hydria with a lid in the form of an inverted lotus flanked by the heads of two gazelles (fig. 289). The heads and necks of two horses, bridled and fully caparisoned, stand back to back on either side of the foot of the vase. The body is divided into a series of horizontal zones, the middle zone being in the likeness of a marshland, with an antelope coursing at full speed among the reeds. Two enamelled cruets (fig. 290) have elaborately wrought lids, one fashioned as the head of a plumed eagle, and the other as the head of the god Bes flanked by two vipers (fig. 291). But foremost among them all is a golden centrepiece offered by a viceroy of Ethiopia to Amenhotep III. Fig 290.--Enamelled cruet. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 290.--Enamelled cruet. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
Fig 291.--Enamelled cruet. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 291.--Enamelled cruet. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
The design reproduces one of the most popular subjects connected with the foreign conquests of Egypt (fig. 292). Men and apes are seen gathering fruits in a forest of dôm palms. Two natives, each with a single feather on his head and a striped kilt about his loins, lead tame giraffes with halters. Others, apparently of the same nationality, kneel with upraised hands, as if begging for quarter. Two negro prisoners lying face downwards upon the ground, lift their heads with difficulty. A large vase with a short foot and a lofty cone-shaped cover stands amid the trees.[78] The craftsmen who made this piece evidently valued elegance and beauty less than richness. They cared little for the heavy effect and bad taste of the whole, provided only that they were praised for their skill, and for the quantity of metal which they had succeeded in using. Fig 292.--Gold centre-piece of Amenhotep III. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 292.--Gold centre-piece of Amenhotep III. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
Other vases of the same type, pictured in a scene of presentations to Rameses II. in the great temple of Abû Simbel, vary the subject by showing buffaloes running in and out among the trees, in place of led giraffes. These were costly playthings wrought in gold, such as the Byzantine emperors of the ninth century accumulated in their palace of Magnaura, and which they exhibited on state occasions in order to impress foreigners with a profound sense of their riches and power. Fig 293.--Crater of precious metal. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig 293.--Crater of precious metal. Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.
When a victorious Pharaoh returned from a distant campaign, the vessels of gold and silver which formed part of his booty figured in the triumphal procession, together with his train of foreign captives. Vases in daily use were of slighter make and less encumbered with inconvenient ornaments. The two leopards which serve as handles to a crater of