e earliest civilization, done in white slip
on red vases. Figures of men are very rare (Plate I. fig. 10); they have
the body triangular, the waist being very narrow; the legs are two lines
linked by a zigzag, as if to express that they move to and fro. The
usual figures are goats and hippopotami; always having the body covered
with cross lines to express the connexion of the outlines (Plate I. fig.
11). This technique is in every way closely akin to that of the modern
Kabyle. An entirely different mode is common at a later time when
designs were painted in thin red colour on a light brown ware. The
subjects of the earlier of these examples are imitations of cordage, of
marbling, and of basket-work; later there are rows of men and animals,
and ships (Plate I. figs. 12, 13), with various minor signs. The figures
are never cross-hatched as in earlier drawing, but always filled in
altogether. The fact that the ships have oars and not sails makes it
probable that they were rather for the sea than for Nile traffic, and a
starfish among the motives on such pottery also points to the sea
connexion. The ulterior meaning of the decoration is probably religious
and funereal, but the objects which are figured must have been familiar.

For this whole period see Jean Capart, _Debuts de l'art en Egypte_
(1904; trans. _Primitive Art in Ancient Egypt_).

_The Early Kings._--The dynastic race wrought an entire transformation
in the art of Egypt; in place of the clumsy and undetailed
representations, there suddenly appears highly artistic work, full of
character, action and anatomical detail.

(A) The earliest statues of this age are the colossi of the god Min from
Coptos; that they belong to the artistic race is evident from the
spirited reliefs upon them (see below, B), but the figures were very
rude, the legs and arms being joined all in the mass. The main example
of this early art is a limestone head of a king (Plate I. figs. 15, 16),
which is a direct study from life, to serve as a model. For the accuracy
of the facial curves, and the grasp of character and type, it is equal
to any later work; and in its entire absence of conventions and its pure
naturalism there is no later sculpture so good: as Prof. A. Michaelis
says, "it renders the race type with astounding keenness, and shows an
excellent power of observation in the exact representation of the eyes."
By the portrait, it is probably of King Narmer or some king related to