e
Memphite period. It may be classified under two heads. The first comprises
plain, smooth-bodied vases, black below and dark red above. On examining
this ware where broken, we see that the colour was mixed with the clay
during the kneading, and that the two zones were separately prepared,
roughly joined, and then uniformly glazed. The second class comprises vases
of various and sometimes eccentric forms, moulded of red or tawny clay.
Some are large cylinders closed at one end; others are flat; others oblong
and boat-shaped; others, like cruets, joined together two and two, yet with
no channel of communication[56] (fig. 220). The ornamentation is carried
over the whole surface, and generally consists of straight parallel lines,
cross lines, zigzags, dotted lines, or small crosses and lines in
geometrical combination; all these patterns being in white when the ground
is red, or in reddish brown when the ground is yellow or whitish. Now and
then we find figures of men and animals interspersed among the geometrical
combinations. The drawing is rude, almost childish; and it is difficult to
tell whether the subjects represent herds of antelopes or scenes of
gazelle-hunting. The craftsmen who produced these rude attempts were
nevertheless contemporary with the artists who decorated the rock-cut tombs
at Beni Hasan. As regards the period of Egypt's great military conquests,
the Theban tombs of that age have supplied objects enough to stock a museum
of pottery; but unfortunately the types are very uninteresting. To begin
with, we find hand-made sepulchral statuettes modelled in summary fashion
from an oblong lump of clay. A pinch of the craftsman's fingers brought out
the nose; two tiny knobs and two little stumps, separately modelled and
stuck on, represented the eyes and arms. The better sort of figures were
pressed in moulds of baked clay, of which several specimens have been
found. They were generally moulded in one piece; then lightly touched up;
then baked; and lastly, on coming out of the oven, were painted red,
yellow, or white, and inscribed with the pen. Some are of very good style,
and almost equal those made in limestone. The _ushabtiu_ of the scribe
Hori, and those of the priest Horuta (Saite) found at Hawara, show what the
Egyptians could have achieved in this branch of the art if they had cared
to cultivate it. Funerary cones were objects purely devotional, and the
most consummate art could have done nothing to make