Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-08-26
FOUR THOUSAND YEARS BEFORE
CHRIST.
The Art Of Ancient Egypt.


Mr.. Bayard Taylor writes to the New
York Tribune from Egypt the following
fascinating account of the statuary ex-
hulned at Marietta Bay and stored in
the Egyptian Museum at Cairo.
One Of the statues represents a priest
named Ra Meier, another civil official,
Tih, whose tomb still remains entire at
Memphis. where these and other similar
figures of smaller dimensions were
found. The most of these date from
the WITH to the With dynasties. The
colors are as brilliant as if but yester-
day applied to the stone. The climate
of Egypt and the sand under which the
sepulchral chambers have so long been
buried, seems absolutely to prevent de-
cay, and thus these ancient recovered
monuments appearto be modern in COM
parison with those which were exposed
TO the ar. In 1851, shortly after my
meeting with Marietta at Memphis, he
discovered the unviolated tomb of an
Apisbul. On first entering the tomb
he saw upon a light layer Of dust cover
ing the floor the footprints Of the men
who had placed the mummy in the sar-
cophagus 800 years before!
Passing on to the main hail, the first
objects I sought were the wooden stat
ues belonging to the WITH dynasty (that
of Cheops, about 4, 235 B. c., discov-
cred not long since. The light from
the ceiling, falling on the close cropped
crown Of the old 'village magis-
trate'' (SheAa2-eI -begzed, as he is now
called by the Egyptians), gave him the
reality ola living figure, among SO many
which seemed to bedead or asleep in
the shadows. The statue, which is about
three feet eight inches in height, is
carved out of sycamore wood, which
has now become hard and resonant as
metal. It represents corpulent man
of about forty-fv years of age, holding
in one hand long staff Of Office, while
the other, clenched, hangs at his side.
His only garment is a cloth wound
around the loins and falling to the
knees. The face is remarkably inteli-
gent, cheerful and benevolent-a
Shakesperean head, one might say, it
gives such evidence of a large rich and
attractive nature. The nose is slightly
aquiline, with sensitive nostrils of only
moderate breadth. the lips large and
1900 Sde-ceLJ lSdNJ w OpOA
for joke or a blessing, and the cheeks
and chin full, but fully rounded and
not puffy. The eyes, especially, are re-
markable specimens Of the earliest Pre-
Raphaelite attempts torepresent nature.
They are inserted, and with fnesse
Of invention which almost seems a
higher art. The lashes are thin rims
of bronze; the whites are formed of
white Opaque quartz, the iris of rock
crystal, and in the centre of each is set
a small crystal with many facets;
which from every side reflects a keen
point of light, like that in the human
eye, Herr Brugsch said to me "there
are times when this head absolutely
lives and [ could well believe him.
The statue is probably 5000 years old,
thus antedating by 300 years all other
relics of art which are In any way
worthy Of being placed beside it,
There are two other heads OF wood,
with torsos, of the same era-whether
broken or mutilated cculdsnot ascer-
tam. One, woman, possesses the
same individuality as the just and
good magistrate. There are differences
III the two sides of the face, which
show the most careful study of the orig
NAL She IS neither handsome nor
ugly, but you see at once she was no or
binary person, and that, in her day,
8NFe .A&s Wsf1 es9s& 81