into personal
ornaments, or convert it into gold and silver plate. What was true of the
kings held good also for their subjects. For the space of at least six or
eight centuries, dating from the time of Ahmes I., the taste for plate was
carried to excess. Every good house was not only stocked with all that was
needful for the service of the table, such as cups, goblets, plates, ewers,
and ornamental baskets chased with figures of fantastic animals (fig. 287);
but also with large ornamental vases which were dressed with flowers, and
displayed to visitors on gala days. Some of these vases were of
extraordinary richness. Here, for instance, is a crater, the handles
modelled as two papyrus buds, and the foot as a full-blown papyrus. Two
Asiatic slaves in sumptuous garments are represented in the act of
upheaving it with all their strength (fig. 288). Here, again, is a kind of
hydria with a lid in the form of an inverted lotus flanked by the heads of
two gazelles (fig. 289). The heads and necks of two horses, bridled and
fully caparisoned, stand back to back on either side of the foot of the
vase. The body is divided into a series of horizontal zones, the middle
zone being in the likeness of a marshland, with an antelope coursing at
full speed among the reeds. Two enamelled cruets (fig. 290) have
elaborately wrought lids, one fashioned as the head of a plumed eagle, and
the other as the head of the god Bes flanked by two vipers (fig. 291). But
foremost among them all is a golden centrepiece offered by a viceroy of
Ethiopia to Amenhotep III. The design reproduces one of the most popular
subjects connected with the foreign conquests of Egypt (fig. 292). Men and
apes are seen gathering fruits in a forest of dom palms. Two natives, each
with a single feather on his head and a striped kilt about his loins, lead
tame giraffes with halters. Others, apparently of the same nationality,
kneel with upraised hands, as if begging for quarter. Two negro prisoners
lying face downwards upon the ground, lift their heads with difficulty. A
large vase with a short foot and a lofty cone-shaped cover stands amid the
trees.[78] The craftsmen who made this piece evidently valued elegance and
beauty less than richness. They cared little for the heavy effect and bad
taste of the whole, provided only that they were praised for their skill,
and for the quantity of metal which they had succeeded in using. Other
vases of the same type, pictured in a scene