[Illustration:  Fig. 186.—­The Cross-legged Scribe of Gizeh, from Sakkarah.]

Khafra is a king (fig. 187).  He sits squarely upon his chair of state, his hands upon his knees, his chest thrown forward, his head erect, his gaze confident.  Had the emblems of his rank been destroyed, and the inscription effaced which tells his name, his bearing alone would have revealed the Pharaoh.  Every trait is characteristic of the man who from childhood upwards has known himself to be invested with sovereign authority.  Ranefer belonged to one of the great feudal families of his time.  He stands upright, his arms down, his left leg forward, in the attitude of a prince inspecting a march-past of his vassals.  The countenance is haughty, the attitude bold; but Ranefer does not impress us with the almost superhuman calm and decision of Khafra.

[Illustration:  Fig. 187.—­King Khafra, Fourth Dynasty.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 188.—­Sheikh el Beled, Old Empire.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 189.—­Rahotep, Ancient Empire.]

General Rahotep[47] (fig. 189), despite his title and his high military rank, looks as if he were of inferior birth.  Stalwart and square-cut, he has somewhat of the rustic in his physiognomy.  Nefert, on the contrary (fig. 190), was a princess of the blood royal; and her whole person is, as it were, informed with a certain air of resolution and command, which the sculptor has expressed very happily.  She wears a close-fitting garment, opening to a point in front.  The shoulders, bosom, and bodily contours are modelled under the drapery with a grace and reserve which it is impossible to praise too highly.  Her face, round and plump, is framed in masses of fine black hair, confined by a richly-ornamented bandeau.  This wedded pair are in limestone, painted; the husband being coloured of a reddish brown hue, and the wife of a tawny buff.

[Illustration:  Fig. 190.—­Nefert, wife of Rahotep, Ancient Empire.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 191.—­Head of the Sheikh el Beled.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 192.—­Wife of the Sheikh el Beled, Old Empire.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 193.—­The Kneeling Scribe, Old Empire.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 194.—­A Bread-maker, Old Empire.]

Turning to the “Sheikh el Beled” (figs. 188, 191), we descend several degrees in the social scale.  Raemka was a “superintendent of works,” which probably means that he was an overseer of corvee labour at the time of building the great pyramids.  He belonged to the middle class; and his whole person expresses vulgar contentment and self-satisfaction.  We seem to see him in the act of watching his workmen, his staff of acacia wood in his hand.  The feet of the statue had perished, but have been restored.  The body is stout and heavy, and the neck thick.  The head (fig. 191), despite its vulgarity, does not lack energy.  The eyes are inserted, like those of the “Cross-legged Scribe.”  By a curious coincidence, the statue, which was found