| Legend to the illustrations: The mode of decoration with the Egyptians, the most ancient of civilized nations, comprises symbolic figure-subjects chiefly in conjunction with hieroglyphics. Columns and walls were used to write thereon a pictorial chronicle of religious and every-day life. The figural representations on the outer walls of Egyptian buildings consist of very flat, frequently painted reliefs, called coilanaglyphs. The contours are deep cut, the object is treated plastically, but in such a way, that the most, prominent parts remain equal to the surface of the wall. From the vegetable and animal kingdoms in Egyptian ornamentation the most frequently employed are: the lotus flower, (an attribute of Isis and a symbol of the generating power of nature); the Nymphaea, the papyrus, the reed etc.; moreover the ram, the sparrow-hawk and especially the dung-beetle - Scarabaeus. Another symbol, frequently used, is the winged disk of the sun - Fig. 2. The capitals in the plate below, Fig. 2 show also the application of the above mentioned vegetable motives, viz. Fig- 3 of the papyrus, Fig. 4 a capital composed of buds, the shaft representing a bundle of wood-stems, Fig. 5 palm-leaves and Fig. 6 a bud of the papyrus. Fig. 1. Painted relief-figure from a column of the temple at Denderah. 2 and 3. Paintings from mummy-cases. 4 and 5. From a mummy-case in the Louvre, Paris. 6. Painted border from a sarcophagus. 7. Border from a mummy-case. British Museum, London. 8. Ornament on a wooden sarcophagus. London. 9. Border on a mummy-case. British Museum. 10. Portion of a collar. London. 11. Painting on a sarcophagus. London. Print Specifics:
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