the time
of Amenhotep III.; that is to say, a small wig, a close-fitting vest with
short sleeves, and a kilt drawn tightly over the hips, reaching scarcely
half-way down the thigh, and trimmed in front with a piece of puffing
plaited longwise. His companion is a priest (fig. 244), who wears his hair
in rows of little curls one above the other, and is clad in a long
petticoat falling below the calf of the leg and spreading out in front in a
kind of plaited apron. He holds a sacred standard consisting of a stout
staff surmounted by a ram's head crowned with the solar disc. Both officer
and priest are painted red brown, with the exception of the hair, which is
black; the cornea of the eyes, which is white; and the standard, which is
yellow. Curiously enough, the little lady Nai, who inhabits the same glass
case, is also painted reddish brown, instead of buff, which was the
canonical colour for women (fig. 245). She is taken in a close-fitting
garment trimmed down the front with a band of white embroidery. Round her
neck she wears a necklace consisting of a triple row of gold pendants. Two
golden bracelets adorn her wrists, and on her head she carries a wig with
long curls. The right arm hangs by her side, the hand holding some object
now lost, which was probably a mirror. The left arm is raised, and with the
left hand she presses a lotus lily to her breast. The body is easy and well
formed, the figure indicates youth, the face is open, smiling, pleasant,
and somewhat plebeian. To modify the unwieldy mass of the headdress was
beyond the skill of the artist, but the bust is delicately and elegantly
modelled, the clinging garment gives discreet emphasis to the shape, and
the action of the hand which holds the flower is rendered with grace and
naturalness. All these are portraits, and as the sitters were not persons
of august rank, we may conclude that they did not employ the most
fashionable artists. They, doubtless, had recourse to more unpretending
craftsmen; but that such craftsmen were thus highly trained in knowledge of
form and accuracy of execution, shows how strongly even the artisan was
influenced by the great school of sculpture which then flourished at
Thebes.

This influence becomes even more apparent when we study the knick-knacks of
the toilet table, and such small objects as, properly speaking, come under
the head of furniture. To pass in review the hundred and one little
articles of female ornament or luxury t