4.Miscellaneous Forms of Seals.

Fig. 59.

The Twelfth Dynasty.

Three varieties of form are characteristic of the Twelfth Dynasty. The earliest, dated approximately to the reigns of Usertsen I and Usertsen II, show the beetle carefully modelled, withclypeus(fig. 60),prothoraxandelytra, as well as the legs, well defined.Just later, about the time of Amenemhat III, a more decorative and conventional style appears, in which, while the lines are treated with more freedom, and small embellishments are introduced for ornamental purposes as in fig. 61, the form and details of the beetle are nevertheless well preserved. A common form of this date is shown in fig. 62: it is noticeable that theelytraare not outlined, but the marking of the head, eyes, and legs appears as in the previous examples. This type, with slight variations, perseveres, being traceable through the Hyksos period, and reflected in specimens of the early Eighteenth Dynasty.

Figs. 60 and 61.

Figs. 62 and 63.

The closing years of the royal line of the Middle Kingdom, commonly called the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, are marked by a special variety of beetle, which has a high back (particularly at theprothorax, where the scarab is thickest) and a narrow waist, produced by an indent on either side at the point where theprothoraxandelytraadjoin. The head showsclypeusand eyes: the legs are usually shown in outline only, while theelytraare not marked. There is a second type, characteristic also of these times, which is in reality a development from earlier forms, as may be seen by comparing the example in fig. 64 with that previously illustrated in fig. 60. The tendency to decorative effect seen in this case is further exemplified by a number of scarabs which seem to follow the prototype of fig. 61, though failing to preserve the quality of the lines and cutting.

Figs. 64 and 65.

The Hyksos Period.

As previously mentioned, the type of back in which noelytraare shown remains the common variety through the Hyksos period. A short notch on each side indicates the point of division of theprothoraxfrom the body, and in the example shown in fig. 65 the legs are suggested only. The head andclypeusare plain; the eye is sometimes represented. A decorative effect is produced in some instances, asin fig. 66, by representing hairy legs upon the back of the beetle. A unique example for the period is illustrated in fig. 67, where the back is scored with lines diagonally in each direction. Another typical form is shown in fig. 68, in which the threading holes are supported by a ring carved with the scarab, while the beetle itself is developed apparently from the type in fig. 63. In such scarabs the hairy legs upon the back occasionally may be noted. Another Hyksos type characteristically represents the human head (fig. 69, and compare the scarab of King Apepŷ figured in Plate I) upon the body of the scarab with or without the legs over the back.

Figs. 66 and 67.

Figs. 68 and 69.

Figs. 70 and 71.

Figs. 72 and 73.

Figs. 74 and 75.

The Eighteenth Dynasty.

With the close of the Hyksos period there is no discontinuity in the forms of scarab-backs commonly represented, but there is a marked incoming of new motives. Fig. 70 well shows the survival in the early Eighteenth Dynasty of the plain-bodied scarab whichwe have seen surviving throughout the earlier periods. Marks hitherto naturalistic are seen to be becoming conventional or decorative, but the form both in outline and in section is well preserved. In fig.71, however, there is seen a new type, characterised by the oval base, the curving of the lines separating theprothoraxfrom the body, and a superiority of technique evidenced both by symmetry and firm cutting. Fig. 72 illustrates a development of this tendency in a highly-finished and decorative specimen, in which ornamental feeling now predominates for the first time over the naturalistic. The support of the thread-hole survives in this instance in the decoration, while the legs overspread upon a broader margin to the base. The date of this example is Amenhetep I. But the typical form of the middle Eighteenth Dynasty is illustrated by the example shown in fig.73, which isdated by the name of Hatshepsut. The head and back are well shaped in the section, while theclypeusand head are clearly and exquisitely cut. Theprothoraxis rounded at the base, while in the forepart of theelytraa small notch is indicated in the wing case on each side. The legs are sometimes well modelled, at other times indicated only in outline. A variation is illustrated in fig.74, which dates from the time of Amenhetep III.

Figs. 76 and 77.

Figs. 78 and 79.

The Nineteenth Dynasty.

With the advent of the Nineteenth Dynasty the tendency to enlarge the base, and the spreading legs upon it and around the scarab, becomes typical of the period, as illustrated in figs. 75, 76. Another numerous class is of pottery, glazed as before, in which the head is elongated while theprothoraxandelytraare not outlined. A downward notch on either side of the forepart of the wing cases, however, indicates the separation of theprothoraxfrom the body. The legs stand high, but project only a little (fig.77).During the reign of Rameses the Great an interesting decorative motive is introduced in a few examples, of which figs. 78, 79 are specimens of interest. The former, in the Amherst Collection, is of ivory, finely cut. Upon the base is the device of Rameses in his chariot, while upon the back is the outline of the beetle, filled in with his cartouche and emblems. During the same period the human head upon the scarab body makes its reappearance as a device for decoration.

The Ethiopian dominion.

Fig. 80.

With the Ethiopian dominion a ram’s head (the emblem of Amen-ra) frequently is found upon the beetle body (fig.80); while sometimes, as shown in fig.81, the body of the scarab is replaced by the familiar Hathor head with uraei on either side.

The subjects engraved on scarab-seals.

The subjects engraved on Egyptian scarab-seals may be divided into several well-defined groups. Firstly, there are those which bear hieroglyphic inscriptions. Secondly, there are those which bear figures of men, animals, or flowers; and thirdly, those which bear geometrical designs, coil and rope patterns, etc.

I. Hieroglyphic inscriptions.

For the purposes of study the first group may be subdivided into: (1) those which are inscribed with the names of kings and other royal personages; (2) those which bear the names of officials and private people; (3) those which have titles without names; (4) those which represent the names or figures of deities, and (5) those which bear good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae.

Fig. 81.

(1) Royal names.

The largest class of these objects bear the names and titles of the Egyptian kings; they are consequently most valuable for the illustrations they afford of Egyptian history: some of these names being scarcely, if at all, known except from these sources. The information they convey is, of course, usually very laconic, but sometimes the names are coupled with some facts connected with them, such as that the king is the son of a certain prince (Pl. X, 2), or that he is born of a queen (Pl. X, 3), or that he is beloved of some god (Pl. XXX, 22), or that he has conquered the foreigners (Pl. XXVIII, 10).

(2) Private names.

Scarab-seals bearing seals of officials and private persons form the second largest class. They usually give one or more titles of the official, together with the personal name. The earliest example known is one in the Amherst Collection, bearing the name of the “Mayor Tahutihetep,” from a tomb at El Bersheh, and the date of it is Usertsen II (Pl. XI, 15). They were common during the late Twelfth Dynasty and early intermediate period; they occur fairly often during the first half of the Eighteenth Dynasty, but are rarely found after that date. Frequently these private scarabs are decorated with a scroll pattern or other ornament, often very beautifully executed.

(3) Titles.

A very small number bear titles without personal names, such as “the courtier” (Pl. XLI, 20), “the governor of the royal city” (Pl. XLI, 22), “the priest,” and “the mayor.” These are all of a late date (Twenty-sixth Dynasty), and are very rare.

(4) Names or figures of deities.

Names or figures of deities engraved on scarabs are common, but they are mostly of the principal gods and goddesses of Egypt, such as Amen, Amen-Ra(Pl. XLI, 18), Ptah (Pl. XLI, 13), Khensu, Isis, Hathor (Pl. XLI, 5), Mut, Horus (Pl. XLI, 10), and Set (Pl. XLI, 15). These date from the beginning of the Eighteenth onwards to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

(5) Good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae.

Scarabs bearing good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae are numerous. Some of them not only give the good wishes, but even the names of the persons from whom they emanated and to whom they were sent. Thus the inscription on one in the Petrie Collection reads: “May Ptah give a Happy New Year, from the Prince Shashanq to his mother Ka-ra-ma-ma” (Pl. XL, 8). Others give simply the words, “A Happy New Year” (Pl. XL, 2), or “May Bast give a Happy New Year” (Pl. XL, 3). Some read, “If Amen is behind, there is no fear” (Pl. XXXIX, 27), while a little plaque in the Hood Collection says, “I am true of heart” (Pl. XL, 21).

II. Figures of men and animals, etc.

Many scarab-seals bear the figures of men and animals, the principal animals figured being the lion, bull, cynocephalus, horse, and gazelle. Birds are also often engraved, the hawk, the emblem of Horus, being the commonest. Serpents are very common, and we also occasionally find combinations of serpents with animals, sphinxes, griffons, and sometimes beetles and locusts (seePl. XXV). Flowers, such as the lotus, are frequently found engraved on these seals.

Hunting scenes on scarab-seals appear for the first time during the Hyksos period, and a beautifully cut specimen of this date is in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (Pl. XXV, 26). It represents a king clad in a striped loin-cloth with fringed edge, and wearing a curiously-shaped head-dress. Armed with a bow and arrows, he hunts three ibex-gazelles and a lion amongbushes of a desert wady. To a later period, probably not earlier than the Nineteenth Dynasty, belong the common hunt scarabs of the types figured in Pl. XLII, 33-39. The first and rarest type (Pl. XLII, 33) shows a hunter with lions and cheetahs chasing a gazelle. The second and commonest type represents an archer hunting the lion and other desert animals (Pl. XLII, 35). The third type is more elaborate, and depicts the hunter riding in a chariot drawn by one or more horses (Pl. XLII, 37-39), while on other scarabs we sometimes see the huntsman overtaken by a lion, and lying flat on the ground, apparently slain (Pl. XLII, 34). The cutting of these Nineteenth Dynasty hunt scarabs is generally deep, and the subject is always more or less coarsely rendered: few specimens bear any trace of glazing, and when found it is always of an inferior kind, which has turned brown.

Coil and rope patterns.

Scarabs with ornamental devices, such as coils and twisted rope patterns engraved upon them, appear first about the reign of Usertsen I, and continued in use to the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty, after which period they rarely occur. The date of any single specimen may generally be determined by the form of the back, but the glazing and general style of cutting is also important in this connection. Specimens of the late Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties are often fine examples of ornamental art: they are generally designed with much care, and executed with wonderful minuteness and delicacy of touch. Finely worked specimens are also found of the time of Queen Hatshepsut and Thothmes III. A representative series of coil and rope-pattern scarabs is given in Pls. XVIII and XIX. The rope-patterns figured inPl. XIX, 1-3, are of the Hyksos period, while those on Pl. XVIII, 1-15, 18, range in date from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Dynasties. The coil-patterns given in Pl. XIX, 4, 5, 9, are certainly of the Hyksos period, while the remainder of the coil patterns are mainly of the late Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynasties. Often the continuous loop coil was used to ornament the scarabs of kings and officials. The earliest example, indeed the earliest example of any coil-pattern in Egypt, is found on a scarab of Usertsen I, most exquisitely worked and fully developed (fig.82).

Fig. 82.

For a long time past it has been thought that the spiral as a motive in decoration originated in the Nile Valley, and much misconception seems to prevail among archaeologists as to its occurrence in Egypt. Prof. Petrie says[114]that its earliest use in the country was for the decoration of scarabs, and he would trace the spiral motive back as far as the Fifth Dynasty. The single scarab that he instances, it is true, bears the prenomen of Dad-ka-Ra (Assa), but there is not the slightest reason to make one believe that this particular specimen is contemporaneous with the king whose name it bears; the whole style of it, on the contrary, clearly shows that it belongs to no earlier a date than the Eighteenth Dynasty. Prof. Petrie also attributesa number of scarabs bearing coil, hook and link ornamentation to the Sixth and Eighth Dynasties, but these have been conclusively shown by Fraser[115]and Griffith[116]to be in realitypostrather thanpreTwelfth Dynasty. The fact is that the spiral has not yet been found on Egyptian monuments of an older date than the reign of Usertsen I. It was then used as a motive for decorating a ceiling in the tomb of a chieftain at Assiut.[117]Employed architecturally it is not found again until the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, when it was perhaps the most frequent motive for ceiling decorations in Theban tombs. In these tombs it is generally coloured yellow, to represent gold, and it is highly probable that the ornament itself originated in metal wire-work.[118]

At the same time as we find it occurring at Assiut, we also find the spiral used to decorate a scarab bearing the prenomen of Usertsen I (fig. 82). On this specimen the ornament is cut with very great care and regularity, indicating that the design was “anovelty, which had not yet become stereotyped[119]and reproduced as a matter of course.” The same exquisite workmanship is found on some scarabs bearing private names of the time of Amenemhat III or a little later; and here the continuous coil is combined with the lotus in a most beautiful design—a continuous coil, with flowers and buds in the spaces (Pl. XIV, figs. 21-26). It is difficult to believe that such a design sprang into being fully developed; but nothing has yet been found in Egypt at all like it of a period anterior to the Twelfth Dynasty; we must therefore search for the origin and development of the spiral motive in ornament elsewhere than in the Nile Valley. We do not yet know sufficiently the history of the Delta to say definitely that it did not originate there, but the probabilities are that we should look for its earliest employment and development outside the realm of Egypt.[120]However that may be, the spiral was one of the most important of the motives of the decorative art of the ancient world. From very ancient times it was largely used by the peoples of Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, and in “the wake of early commerce it was spread afield to the Danubian basin, and thence in turn by the valley of the Elbe to the Amber coast of the North Sea; there to supply theScandinavian Bronze Age population with their leading decorative designs. Adopted by the Celtic tribes in the Central European area, it took at a somewhat later date a westerly turn, reached Britain with the invading Belgae, and finally survived in Irish art.”[121]

Material. Hard stones, obsidian, etc.

Scarabs are made of all kinds of material, from the hardest obsidian and amethyst, to soft steatite and even wood. In all ages they were made of hard stones. Obsidian, spotted diorite, beryl, white quartz, hematite, amethyst, serpentine, green and red jasper, as well as red carnelians, lapis lazuli, and turquoise were all in use from the end of the Twelfth Dynasty onwards to the Twenty-sixth. Rarely during the earlier periods were the bases of the hardest stone specimens engraved; they were usually covered with a gold plate, upon which the device or inscription was incised.

Gold, silver, etc.

Metal scarabs are very rare: a few of gold, and two or three of silver are known of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, while about a dozen examples of bronze, of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, are preserved in our museums.

Glass and cyanus.

At the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty glass first appears, and of the reigns of the Amenheteps III and IV a number of seals have been found of a beautiful semitransparent deep blue glass. Of the late Eighteenth Dynasty a few specimens are known ofcyanus, an alkaline silicate coloured a deep blue with carbonate of copper, and this material was used in increasing quantity till the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

Schist and steatite.

Besides the hard stones enumerated above, shelly-limestone, schist, and steatite were also employed, and a few scarabs are known that were made of ivory. Steatite (or soapstone) was used in the manufacture of scarabs from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Dynasties, and by far the greater number of specimens are made of this material. It is a silicate of magnesium, soft, easily cut, and at the same time its superior compactness secures it from being readily broken or injured, and it is also capable of receiving a higher finish and much sharper impression of the subject than porcelain.

The Glazes.

The steatite scarabs were nearly always glazed, and the glazing often helps to indicate the date of a specimen. Only by a careful study of a large number of specimens can the eye be accustomed to differentiate between the varieties of glazing used at different periods. A very fine blue glaze of excellent quality is characteristic of the Twelfth Dynasty, and green glaze was also often used at this period. Many shades of blue and green glaze of very hard quality are found on the specimens of the Thirteenth Dynasty, and the few Hyksos scarabs that yet retain their colour show that a green glaze of a poorer quality was used at that period. The characteristic glazes of the early Eighteenth Dynasty are green, of a slightly greyish tint, generally of a fine surface, while those of the latter half of the dynasty, though coarser in quality, are often very brilliant in colour, and show a variety of tints ranging through all the shades of blueand green. Violet glaze was also employed at this period. The glazes of the Nineteenth Dynasty are often poor in quality, and generally of a dark yellowish-green colour, though sometimes blue and violet. The colour commonest during the Twentieth and later period are blue of various shades. It should be remarked here that the greatest number of scarabs are brown or white: the brown ones were invariably coloured green, and the white specimens blue.

Miscellaneous forms.

Besides scarabaei, other forms of seals are met with in Egypt. Many of them have little models of men or animals on the back, as human-heads, symbolic eyes, hippopotami, lions, hedgehogs, ducks, fish, frogs, flies, crocodiles; while not a few are shaped like cowries.

A large number are also cut in geometrical forms, tablet-shaped, squares, rectangles, ovals, cubes, and cones. Like the scarabs, they are all pierced, through their long axis or diameter, with a narrow cylindrical hole, and were similarly mounted.

Figs. 83 and 84.

Animals as devices.

The specimen illustrated in fig.83, now in the MacGregor Collection, bears a private name upon the base. The material is steatite, beautifully carved.The figure is that of a male, squatting in the familiar attitude, his hands upon his knees, and wearing a full wig. The date is late in the Twelfth Dynasty. Fig. 84 is another illustration of the same motive, dating from the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Fig. 85.

Fig. 86.

Fig. 87.

Figs. 88 and 89.

Figs. 90, 91 and 92.

Animal forms are illustrated in the figs. 85, 86, 87, 88, 89. The first represents a naturalistic group, a cow suckling its calf, exquisitely cut in steatite. It is in the collection of Captain Timmins in Cairo. The design upon the base is analogous in its symmetry and the devices employed to the steatite stamp, fig.94, in the same collection, which probably dates from about the Eleventh Dynasty. The two stamps, figs. 86 and 87, are very important, one of them being dated by the cartouche of Mentuhetep of the Eleventh Dynasty, the other by its analogy, and by the device of a running figure in line frequently employed uponthe button-seals (fig.42, andcf.fig.28). Hornets are employed upon the Karnak three-sided seal, fig.86, which is probably of earlier date, about the close of the Sixth Dynasty. A further example of this|Miscellaneous devices.|character, being a ram with horns, is in the MacGregor Collection: upon the base is an interesting pattern in coils, dating probably from the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. A great number of seals with cats (fig.88), hedgehogs, hippopotami (fig.89), and fish (fig.90), date from the time of Thothmes III inthe Eighteenth Dynasty, while those with ducks (figs. 91, 92), frogs, and flies, seem to be slightly later, dating from the reign of Amenhetep III.

Fig. 93.

Fig. 94.

Figs. 95 and 96.

Fig. 97.

Fig. 98.

Figs. 99, 100 and 101.

Figs. 102 and 103.

A number of large seals are oval in form; one of these, with a device of animals incised upon the back, shown in fig.93, bears upon the base the blundered cartouche of Amenemhat III. One of rectangular form (fig.94) is rather of the nature of a stamp, being without decoration upon the back other than the necessary suspension hole in the attachment, while upon the base is the device previously described as belonging to the period which precedes the MiddleKingdom—between the Sixth and Eleventh Dynasties, from its analogy to the button-seals of that time. Other stamps are illustrated in figs. 95 and 96, having oval bases. They date from the Seventeenth Dynasty, bearing the names of Seqen-en-ra and Se-Amen. Another stamp (fig.97) of larger size, has a simple handle down the middle of the back. The device in this case represents a number of captives or votives below the emblem of Anubis. This class of stamp, used generally for the sealing up of tomb-doors, as in the case of the tomb of Thothmes IV atThebes, seems to date from the Eighteenth Dynasty. Fig. 98 represents another common form of the same period, itself dating to the reign of the emblem upon it, Thothmes III. A less usual class, dating from the Twelfth Dynasty, is represented in fig.99. The back in this instance is plain, the form of the stamp resemblinga slice from a sphere, with the device upon the plane face. A hole pierces the thickness. Figs. 100 and 101, represent other objects of this class, which from its Aegean analogies is of peculiar importance. The former specimen is dated, from an inscription on its back, to the reign of Usertsen III; the coil device is employed in each case. Two interesting examples are shown in figs. 102 and 103, the one being of the Eighteenth Dynasty, from its cutting and its glaze, the other of the Nineteenth Dynasty, from the cartouche of Rameses II incised upon it. A late example is that shown in fig.104, and is a common type of the period of the Saïte renaissance in the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The inscription gives the name of Tahuti son of Aahmes, chief of the scribes of the temple. It is of pottery, glazed green, and is in the Collection of Captain Timmins.

Figs. 104 and 105.

Two typical stamps of the Thirtieth Dynasty, one in bronze, the other in pottery, are pictured in figs. 105 and 106. They are both without device upon the plain handle of suspension. The one fig.105bears the name of the Royal son Za-hapi-amen; the other bears the name of king Kheper-ka-Ra, otherwise Nekht-neb-ef, with whom the list of Egypt’s kings comes to a close.

Fig. 106.

Signet-rings.

The signet-ring was called in Egyptianzebat(var., pl.Coptic:). In its earliest form it consisted of (a) a perforated bezel, the part that bears the inscription or device, and (b) a hoop or wire which runs through the bezel and round the inside of the finger. The bezel was generally a separate piece of stone or metal, and when that was the case, it was generally encircled by a metal band (funda) and pierced so that it formed a swivel ring.

Fig. 107.

Their history.

The earliest examples that we know of are not older than the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty, but from that period onwards they are fairly common in Egypt. A number were found by M. de Morgan, at Dahshûr, of the date of Usertsen III to Amenemhat III, and these are all of one type: a scarab threaded on a piece of gold wire, the ends of which are twisted round several times on the back of the hoop (fig.107). At a somewhat later period we find the gold wire thickened in the middle to lend additional strength, and the two ends thrust into the perforation of the scarab. The specimen illustrated (fig.108) dates from the Thirteenth Dynasty. A second type of this period is shown in fig.109. Here the scarab is mounted in a goldfundaand the perforation is threaded by a wire, the ends of which are wound tightly round the hoop, which is made of a separate piece of metal. The same form survives during the Hyksos period (seePl. I, ring of King Apepŷ), and on to the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (fig.110, and the ring of Hor-em-heb, Pl. I). With the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty another form appears, that of a plain metalring with the outer surface of the bezel flat and the inner curved (fig.111). This form was rare during the earlier reigns of the dynasty, but common under Amenhetep III and Akhenaten (seering of Akhenaten, Pl. I), and it survives to the present day. At the time of Thothmes III, a ring consisting of a plain hoop beaten out into a lozenge shaped plate occurs (Pl. XXIX, 31), but it is a very rare form until after the Twentieth Dynasty. With the reign of Amenhetep III, pottery rings of all forms are found, and these are very common till the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Figs. 108 and 109.

Fig. 110. RING OF THOTHMES III and 111.

Figs. 112 and 113.

Figs. 114 and 115.

Pottery rings, with long bezels, as shown in figs. 112 and 113, appear first at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty, and continue on till the end of the Twenty-third. The examples of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty are of several forms, the commonest being the plain hoop beaten out into a rectangular or lozenge-shaped plate which bears the inscription. Other forms give the outer surface of the bezel flat and the inner curved, as in figs. 114 and 115: the one being a ring of a priest of Khufu, named Nefer-ab-ra; the other that of a priest of Tahuti, named Hor-se-ast. A rarer form is that illustrated in fig.116, where the flat engraved plate is welded on to a plain hoop.

Fig. 116.

DESCRIPTIONSOF THESPECIMENS FIGURED IN THE PLATES.

DESCRIPTIONS

OF THE

SPECIMENS FIGURED IN THE PLATES.

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