an, and of Asuan, are not equal to those in the mastabas of Sakkarah and
Gizeh; nor are the most carefully-executed contemporary statues worthy to
take a place beside the "Sheikh el Beled" or the "Cross-legged Scribe."
Portrait statues of private persons, especially those found at Thebes, are,
so far as I have seen, decidedly bad, the execution being rude and the
expression vulgar. The royal statues of this period, which are nearly all
in black or grey granite, have been for the most part usurped by kings of
later date. Usertesen III., whose head and feet are in the Louvre, was
appropriated by Amenhotep III., as the sphinx of the Louvre and the colossi
of Gizeh were appropriated by Rameses II. Many museums possess specimens of
supposed Ramesside Pharaohs which, upon more careful inspection, we are
compelled to ascribe to the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Dynasty. Those of
undisputed identity, such as the Sebekhotep III. of the Louvre, the
Mermashiu of Tanis, the Sebekemsaf of Gizeh, and the colossi of the Isle of
Argo, though very skilfully executed, are wanting in originality and
vigour. One would say, indeed, that the sculptors had purposely endeavoured
to turn them all out after the one smiling and commonplace pattern. Great
is the contrast when we turn from these giant dolls to the black granite
sphinxes discovered by Mariette at Tanis in 1861, and by him ascribed to
the Hyksos period. Here energy, at all events, is not lacking. Wiry and
compact, the lion body is shorter than in sphinxes of the usual type. The
head, instead of wearing the customary "klaft," or head-gear of folded
linen, is clothed with an ample mane, which also surrounds the face. The
eyes are small; the nose is aquiline and depressed at the tip; the
cheekbones are prominent; the lower lip slightly protrudes. The general
effect of the face is, in short, so unlike the types we are accustomed to
find in Egypt, that it has been accepted in proof of an Asiatic origin
(fig. 196). These sphinxes are unquestionably anterior to the Eighteenth
Dynasty, because one of the kings of Avaris, named Apepi, has cut his name
upon the shoulder of each. Arguing from this fact, it was, however, too
hastily concluded that they are works of the time of that prince. On a
closer examination, we see that they had already been dedicated to some
Pharaoh of a yet earlier period, and that Apepi had merely usurped them;
and M. Golenischeff has shown that they were made for Amenemhat III.