Of The Book of Knowing That which is in Hades
we have no examples earlier than the time of the Twentieth
Dynasty, and these are poor enough in point of workmanship,
the figures being little better than dot-and-line forms,
badly proportioned and hastily scrawled. The extant
specimens of The Book of the Dead are so numerous
that a history of the art of miniature painting in
ancient Egypt might be compiled from this source alone.
The earliest date from the Eighteenth Dynasty, the
more recent being contemporary with the first Caesars.
The oldest copies are for the most part remarkably
fine in execution. Each chapter has its vignette
representing a god in human or animal form, a sacred
emblem, or the deceased in adoration before a divinity.
These little subjects are sometimes ranged horizontally
at the top of the text, which is written in vertical
columns (fig. 162); sometimes, like the illuminated
capitals in our mediaeval manuscripts, they are scattered
throughout the pages. At certain points, large
subjects fill the space from top to bottom of the
papyrus. The burial scene comes at the beginning;
the judgment of the soul about the middle; and the
arrival of the deceased in the Fields of Aalu at the
end of the work. In these, the artist seized the
opportunity to display his skill, and show what he
could do. We here see the mummy of Hunefer placed
upright before his stela and his tomb (fig. 163).
The women of his family bewail him; the men and the
priest present offerings. The papyri of the princes
and princesses of the family of Pinotem in the Museum
of Gizeh show that the best traditions of the art
were yet in force at Thebes in the time of the Twenty-first
Dynasty. Under the succeeding dynasties, that
art fell into rapid decadence, and during some centuries
the drawings continue to be coarse and valueless.
The collapse of the Persian rule produced a period
of Renaissance. Tombs of the Greek time have yielded
papyri with vignettes carefully executed in a dry
and minute style which offers a singular contrast
to the breadth and boldness of the Pharaonic ages.
The broad-tipped reed-pen was thrown aside for the
pen with a fine point, and the scribes vied with each
other as to which should trace the most attenuated
lines. The details with which they overloaded
their figures, the elaboration of the beard and the
hair, and the folds of the garments, are sometimes
so minute that it is scarcely possible to distinguish
them without a magnifying glass. Precious as
these documents are, they give a very insufficient
idea of the ability and technical methods of the artists
of ancient Egypt. It is to the walls of their
temples and tombs that we must turn, if we desire
to study their principles of composition.
[Illustration: Figs. 164 and 165.—Scenes from the tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan, Twelfth Dynasty.]
[Illustration: Fig. 166.—From a tomb-painting in the British Museum, Eighteenth Dynasty.]