The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1894-10-06
ART IN JEWELS.
EGYPTIAN WORK FOUND IN THE
PYRAMIDS.
Modern Gold and Silver Sn,itls snid
never to Have Developed Such
beautiful and Artistic Combina-
tions-PrOdigal Gifts of Precious
stones.

rink Of toying with d pair of ear
rings. a bracelet, or a diadem which
Moses perhaps presented to one of his
royal sweethearts 1000 years ago while
counting Pharaoh's court!
Priceless jewels, costly ornaments of
gold, silver, and precious stones, bur-
led for more than forty centuries in the
sepulchers of the Egyptian pyramids,
and now wrestcd from the breasts and
decayed tabernacles Of the dead in large
quantities-no wonder that ancient
Mitsrraim offers such Irresistible at
fractions to the exploring archaeolo-
gist!
Only a few weeks & the newspa
pers contained the report of The great
ind of M. de MOegan m the DahSchur
Tyl3mids. The world marveled and
many doubted that the jeweled treas
ureS of Such a remote period could be
of the artictic and laborious finish de-
Scribed.
1t is due to the good will of Brugsch
Bey, conservator of the Gizeh m scum,
that Photographic reproductions of
some of the most important articles
which adorned the prisons and palaces
of King Amosis and Queen Aah-Hotpc
and of contemporary princes and prin-
cesscs can be given to the public at
this early periOd.) They We're worn
$500 years ago. But with these fac
SMILES, which the cultured world was
anXiOuSly waiting to behold, the di-
rector sends also copies of gold breast
plates from the twelfth dynasty of i'm
mems value, and artistically finished
images of animals, flowers and plants,
which excel the efforts of most modern
goldsmiths and lapidaries.
These results Of primitive Egyptian
art deserve the recognition and adj
miration of the present most progress
sive period, not only because of the
fidelity in execution but also on ac-
count of the taste displayed in the ap-
plication of the material. The metals
and jewels used We're gold, silver,
bronze, turquois, lapis lazuli, carnelian,
felspar, etc.
What is most astonishing about this
latest elimination is the excellent state
Of preservation in which nearly all the
articles were found. Their date has
been ascertained with in~contrOvertiblc
accuracy. That part of the find known
as the name-rings leaves no doubt as
to the identity of their ancient owners.
Besides their own names the engrav-
ings elucidate the fact that they belong
ed to princesses closely related to the
Kings Ositarsen II. and iii. and Am
enemhat III. of the Twelfth Dynasty.
Theirs is known as the classical period
of Egyptian history, during which art,
literature and industry enjoyed the
highest state of development. AS evil
dence of this the scientists point to
the numerous grottOes or catacOmbs
which have been eXcavated in the cal
careous hills of Beni-Hassan in Central
Egypt. These were used az tombs by
the people of Hermopolis 1900 years
before the Christian era, II of them
bearing the date of the forty-third year
of Ositarsen /.
Here are apartments sixty feet long
and forty feet wide, in which are pill
lars of the native rock sixteen feet In
height and five feet in diameter. The
sides of the grOttOeS, are covered with
paintings designed with skill and good
taste. These tombS are among the
most remarkable in Egypt. Some of
the tombs are 200 feet above the level
of the river, resembling Doric temples,
hewn from the solid rock. with perfect
precision; no modern square, or line, or
p1ummet could make them more true.
T. Pick and shovel have uncarthed Il
superabundancc of proofs that not only
massive and practical architecture, but
that all crafts were in a phcnomenally
fiourishing condition. Artists inscribed
their names on their fanciful creations
of wood and stone and on their chefs
d'oeuvre generally a small portrait of
The artist is found in some modest cor-
ner.
The Greek writer Hcrodotus speaks
of a Persian king KambySes, who made
it his business to play the ghoul in
Egyptian tOmbs. but more than a thou
sand years prior to his reign large
gangs of grave robbers would commit
their dissertations in the scpulchers of
royalty and steal whatever iewclry
could be easily transported. Legal doe
umcnts describing in detail the bodies
of the profancd dead. and the articles
of gold. silver and precious stones Stol-
on are in the possession of the Egyp-
tian museums. But few of the pyra-
mids have escaped the onslaught of
such thieves.
OF these few Il group of five is located
near the village of Dahschur on the
eastern boundary. Their construction
dates from about 5000 b. c. Two of
them are built from the sediment of
the Nile baked into tiles, and the other
three from huge hewn blocks of lime
stone from the quarries of Turah (the
ancient Egyptian Trojah on the east