Identifier: historyofartinan01perruoft Title: A history of art in ancient Egypt Year: 1883 (1880s) Authors: Perrot, Georges, 1832-1914 Chipiez, Charles, 1835-1901 Armstrong, Walter, Sir, 1850-1918 Subjects: Art -- Egypt History Egypt -- Antiquities Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image: le Hall, Karnak made it a point of honour to acquit himself worthily of the taskentrusted to him. In the gangs of docile labourers who succeededeach other in the workshops of Memphis or Thebes, there was, ofcourse, a certain sprinkling of men who had become qualified by The Constitution of Egyptian Society. 29 experience for the special work upon which they were employed ;but the great majority were men suddenly taken from verydifferent occupations, from the oar, the plough, the managementof cattle ; who therefore could have nothing but their unskilledlabour to bestow. To such men as these a great part of the workhad perforce to be confided, in order that it might be complete atthe required time. In spite of the strictest supervision, the almostreligious care in the placing and fixing of masonry, v/hich mightbe fairly expected from the practised members of a trade guild,could not be ensured. Hence the singular inequalities andinconsistences which have been noticed in most of the great

Text Appearing After Image: Figs. 18, 19.—Scribes registering tlie yield of the harvest. From a tomb at Sakkarah. (Boulak, 95 inches high. Drawn by Bourgoin.) Egyptian buildings ; sometimes it is the foundations which arein fault, and, by their sinking, have compromised the safety of thewhole building ; ^ sometimes It is the built up columns of masonry,which, when deprived by time of their coating of stucco, appear 1 The foundations of the great temple at Abydjs, commenced by Seti I. andfinished by Rameses IF., consist of but a single course of generally ill-balancedmasonry. Hence the settling which has taken place, and the deep fissure whichdivides the building in the direction of its major axis.—Mariette, Voyage dans laHaute-Egypie, p. 59. The same writer speaks of Karnak in a similar strain : ThePharaonic temples are built, as a rule, with extreme carelessness. The westernpylon, for instance, fell because it was hollow, which made the inclination of thewalls a source of weakness instead of strength.—lii

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