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Journal Title: Technical studies in the field of the
fine arts.
Volume: 8 Issue:
MonthNear: 1940Pages: 175-192
Article Author: Duell, P.

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Article Title: Evidence for Easel Painting in

Ancient Egypt
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Imprint: Cambridge, William Hayes Fogg Art
Museum

ILL Number: 103641141

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Rt: 1. -\ cene in relief sculpture from the tomb of the vizier Mereruka at Sakkarah shows him seated
tn ea el painting a panel picture representing the seasons; before him stands his son Khenu wh o is to be
r l(arded a helping hi father. The scene is from the ixth D yn ast y and somewhere around 2600 B.C.
The line of thi relief are shown m ore clearly in figure 2 . Reproduced through the courtesy of the Oriental
In titute, l'ntver itr of Chicago, from The M astaba of Mereruka (Sakkarah Expedition, Prentice Du ell,
tl ld director [Chicago: niver it y o f Chicago Press, 1938]) Part I , Pl. \I.
l ' JG

.lt

EVIDENCE FOR EASEL PAINTING IN

ANCIENT EGYPT
By PRENTICE DU ElL

It is probable that ancient painting is generally thought of in terms

of wall painting or murals, vase painting, and the decoration of architecture and sculpture. The universal easel or studio painting of today
is perhaps regarded as a later development, owing to the fact th at it
seems to be a more sophisticated and in tim ate form of artistic expression, deriving as a corollary from wall decoration . But there is evidence
enough that easel painting was practiced in Greece and in R ome 1 and
there is no reason for not believing that it is an art as old as mural
painting itself. The paintings of Greece were celebrated. They were
done in tempera or in encaustic on wood panels and may be regarded
as easel pictures; portraiture, which reached a height of great exThere are many references in Pliny to the portable paintings of classical t imes (K. J exBlake and E. Sellers, The Elder Pliny's Chapters on the History of Art [London, r 896]).
See also Natura/is Historiae, XXXV, I, 24-28. Scenes showing artists at work on panel
paintings supported upon three-legged easels, occur in the Pompeiian wall paintings
and in other pictorial representations (Hugo Bliimner, Technologic und Termino/ogie
der Gewerbe und Kiinste bei Griechen und Romern [Leipzig, r884], III, 226, fig. 37; IV,
429-464, figs 68-73 ; and M . Rostovtzeff, A.d.p.S.R. [Ancient Decorative Painting in the
South of Russia], [S. Petersburg, 1914], II, Pl. XCII, no. r). Greek panels are mentioned
in Pausanias, !.22.6-7. See also J. G. Frazer, Pausanias' Description of Greece (London:
M acmillan and Co., 1913), II, 262 f.; Mary Hamilton windier, Ancient Painting (New
Haven: Yale University Press, r 92.9), pp. 424 f., and note 14a by Prof. William Bell
Dinsmoor. However, the easel paintings of Greece have all perished and any idea of
them must be derived from the Romano-Campanian wall paintings principally at
Pompei i and Herculaneum which in some instances undoubtedly preserve the main
features of old masterpieces while a few may be actual copies. ee J. D. Beazley and
Bernard Ashmole, Greek Sculpture and Painting to the End of the Hellenistic Period
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932); Ernst Pfuhl, Ma/erei und Zeichnung der
Gr-iechen (Munich: F. Bruckmann, 1923); Ma sterpieces of Greek Drawing and Painting,
trans. by J. D. Beazley (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1926); and Swindler, op. cit.,
pp. 265- 416.

'rEcH~IcA. L

STunrEs

cdk:nce in lIellenistic times} \\'ould certainlv infer stud io painting.

CDpies were rnade of famous masterpieces for disp1 ay elsewhere ~u1d
tmuty great pictures were transported to Rome vvhere they brought
n~mdson'le prices. Some '\Vere dedicated in temples} others displayed in .
the 14'eru!ni and. !t was suggested that all pictures should he public
prnj:n;:rty instead. ofhav1ng them confined to country houses. The pic-
tun~,.; th~n Pansanh.ts, a contemporary of Fiadrian, saw in the Pina~
n:1thet:t~ of the Propylaea on the Acropolis in Athen~ were paintings
~.m

\\l'fJod para.'th artd this gallery included a collection of" old ma.ster-s.'

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nf the mnst h<Jt(~d in an imposing group lyi ng to the north of the

.
.
. pyr~unid of 'feti in this necropolis.2
..
. in this scene ( figures I and 2), a man is shown painting a pictute
npmt ali 'i!rlsel; '1heing of the Sixth Dynasty itnd somewhere around

Fttan<.:E 1. A druw)ng of the relief sculpture nf 1\lereruka pa.inti11g at an easel, shown in

figure 1 gives the outline of the composition. Reprodi1tcd throt1gh the n.mrtesy of the
Oriental Institute, Ur1iversity of Chicago~ fron1 'l'he .\.frl.\~ti1lm of M~'rtruka (Sakk:arah
Expedition, Ptentice Duell, field din~ctor !Chit::l.go: lJnivcrsity of Ch icago Press, r'uB!),
1

Part I, PL VH.

TECHNICAL STUDIES

easel or studio picture. 4 The scene is on the wa11 inside the entrance
and is therefore the first one encountered upon entering the tomb. The
name and title of the large figure are not preserved but the size of the
figure and the presence of Khenu, 5 whose name is given, indicate that
st:concl example, inferior to and obviously co pied from the represe ntation in the
mastaba of Mereruka, is in the mastaba of Khentika, also c alled Ikhekhi (di scovered
hy Cccill'irth in 1923 and according to Jean-Philippe Lauer,' Le Mastab a de Khenti-ka
dit Jklu:khi,' Anna/es, XXXVI (1936], p. 73, to be published by R. lVIacrama!tah), n orth
of the temple of the Teti pyramid. H ere also, the representation is the firs t scene u pon
. entering the tomb and the large figure is accompanied by his son ; again, although the
. . names and titles of the large figure are not preserved, he must be tl1e owner of the tomb.
The only other known examples of artists executing paintings see m to l,e a scene of a
"' man painti n ~ animals on a panel, or perhaps a case or shrine, from the VI D y nasty
_:.. (see .-\lexandre Yarille, 'La Tombe de :Ne-enbeh-Pepi Zaouiyet d-Mayetin,' Memoires
de l'hutilut jrm1{ais d'archcologie orimJa/e du Caire, LXX [1 93 8), Pl. XI), a n d an almost
identical scene from the Middle Kingdom at Beni Hasan, where two artists are shown
decorating the same panel, case or s hrine, one artist drawing a calf and the other a
ho\lnd att acking an antelope (see Pierre Montet, 'Notes sur les Tom beaux de BeniIlassan,' /Julletin de /'I nstilttf jran~ais d' arc!JCologie orientale du Caire, IX [ 19 I J], p. 7,
Pl. YI I). There is also a scene in the tomb of Shedu at Deshasheh of an artist painting
. a door or perhaps it may be a carpenter trimming a door (see 'vV. M. Flinders Petrie,
'Lkshasheh,' ~.Hrmoir ojthe F.g_ypt Exploration Fund [Londo n}, XV [1898], p. 10, Pl.
XXI). The individuality of the artist was of little importance and only ra rely was he
permitted to sign his work; however, he sometimes indicated his identit y by including
a representation of himsdf in the decoration (see Adolf Erman-Hermann Ranke,
,fegypten und _.hgyplischrs Leben in A/tertum [Tiibingen: J. C. R. Mohr, I<J'lj], pp.
503 f.). From the examples listed by Ranke (op. cit., p . sos), Louise Klebs (Die Re/iifs
und Jlillerrien des mittleren Reiches [Heidelberg: Carl Winters, 1922], pp. 105 f.), and
Edith Williams Ware(' Artists' Signatures,' American joumal of Semitic Languages and
Ut,nilltres, XLIII lrrJ27l, pp. 185 ff.), it would seem that the painter's n a me occurs
more often in later periods than in the Old Kingdom, owing probably to the larger
proportion of tomb decoration executed only in paint both in the Middle Kingdom
.,.,, and in the Empire. If we judge by the tombs of the artists of the Old Kingdom and of
: those of the Empire in the Theban necropolis, the artists seem to have been mostly poor
ploplc and from the middle classes; cf. Somers Clarke and R. Engclbach, A11cimt En'P'' liflll Jf11somy (London: Oxford University Press, 1930), p. 20 1; also N. de Garis Davies,
.. 'The Tom!. of Two Sculptors at Thebes,' Afetropolitan ltfuseum of Art, Robb de Pey ster
' ;;;>: r_r/us Manorial Serie.r, IY (H;25), pp. IJ (. 1 am indebted to W ill iam Stevenson Smith
for permitting me to read his important chapter on 'The Craftsmen Who Produced the
.Sclllpture and Paintings,' in his forthcoming book, Histor_v of Egyptian Sculpture twd
l't~iutin,~; in tlu! Old 1\iugdom (Oxford).
" It is likely th;tt the tomb and offering-place in the name of Khcnu at the west end of
~he tcmcnos wall of the mastaba, outside the entrance, belong to this son; they arc dis.
cussed in Firth and Gunn, op. tit., I, 26 f. It has been suggested that the Khenu repre1 :\

EASEL PAINTING IN ANCIENT EGYPT

it is the figure of l\1ereruka himself. Khenu is described as rviereruka's

son, a 'priest of the Pyramid of Teti,' and a 'lector priest and scribe
of the divine books.' In one hand he holds a shell and in the other
carries a scribe's outfit which consists of a palette with two receptacles for red and black pigments, a small pot for carrying water, and
a long cylindrical holder for the writing reeds or brushes. 6 Khenu is
to be regarded here as helping his father.
lVlereruka, in the costume of a lector priest, is sitting on a stool
before the easel; on a stand at his side is a cup, presumably holding
water; in his right hand is a brush; 7 his left hand holds a shell which
serves as a palette. 8 Beh1nd him hangs the palette of a scribe's outfit,
the rest of which is attached to a string which goes over his shoulder.
sented here is not the son of Mereruka but rather the artist of the tomb who in this
manner indirectly declared his identity (see Ware, op. cit., p. rgo); moreover, Firth
speaks of the relief of Khenu as 'inserted,' but its appearance does not wholly convince
one that this was so, especially since the composition of the scene seems to be arranged
to include the figure.
6
Egyptian drawing and writing were closely allied and the scribe's outfit when depicted
as a hierog]yph signifies 'write,' 'paint,' and 'scribe.'
7
The brush l'vfereruka is using appears to be of the usual Egyptian type-sticks of
fibrous wood of various thicknesses, the ends of which were frayed out and cut either
round or in the shape of a wedge. It seems that each brush was kept for its own particular use. For a discussion of brushes and the various articles used by the painter, see A.
Lucas, Ancient Exyptian Materials and Industries, ?.d ed. (London: Edward Arnold and
Co., r934), pp. IJ2-IJ4i also N. de Garis Davies, 'Five Theban Tombs,' ~femoir,
Archaeological Survey o/ Egypt (London), XXI (r913), pp. 5 f. and PJ. XVII; Nina M.
Davies, dnciwt Egyptian Paintings (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936), IIIJ
xxxii f.; Clarke and Engelbach, op. cit., fig. 265, for a photograph of artists' brushes
tied together with a string dipped in pigment, and for brush strokes, see Caroline Ran~
som Williams, The Decoration if the Tomb of Per-nib (New York: Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 1932), pp. 35 f. and Pis XVII-XVIII.
8
Such a shell, containing azurite, was in fact found at Meidum; cf. W. M. Flinders
Petrie, 1l.fed{'tm (London, I 892), p. 29 and Pl. XXIX, fig. 17. A shell was the earliest
form of artist's palette, each shell presumably containing a separate color. The typical
Egyptian palette of a later period, a rectangular block of wood, the top of which has
oval receptacles hollowed out to receive the various pigments, undoubtedly developed
from the series of shells. However, the author has heen informed that shdls containing
pigments have been found in the excavations of the .;\gora in Athens, and so this prac~
tical use of the shell continued to some extent at least through the Greek period.

J8 0

TECHNICAL STUDIES

The stool is covered with a cloth and an inner moulding, bent at

corners, forms a connection between the seat and the legs. The picture
or panel is placed upon an easel which consists of two uprights, one
of which is shown in front of and the other behind !viereruka, while
the panel itself extends across them. The subject of the painting,
however, is confined to the area directly before him. The panel rests
upon horizontal supports projecting from the uprights, the upper
edges of the supports being notched to hold the panel in position and
also to permit its being placed at an angle. Two other supports, lower
lknvn on the uprights and projecting in the opposite direc tion, are no
doubt meant to serve when a larger picture is being painted, in which
case the supports would be turned to the front and the upper ones
would be turneJ inward. The supports are to be considered as a t t ached
to the uprights for, if they were removable, the showing of them in
opposite directions would be meaningless. Although the n otches in the
supports vary in number, the difference is n ot significant.
The picture tviereruka is painting depicts the figures of the three
seasons in to which the Egyptian year was divided, each sitti ng on a
low-backed stool which is covered with a heavy cloth. Each figure
holds in the left hand an oval containing four 'month' signs, a season
hning four months; the right hand is extended forward and open in
the act of receiving. Above each figure is t he name of a season:
(a) right-feminine,' inundation'; (b) middle-feminine, 'season of growing, winter'; (c) left-masculine, 'season of drought, summer.' Below
ca<:h oval is the sign of an aptly chosen word wh ich con veys the idea

:,
~

4.'
,:...

of welfare: for a, 'good' ; forb, 'con tented'; and for c, 'life.'

' ' ;

~.

the

Sec Schiifcr, op. (il.t pp. 2< l; for the year, seasons, and months, see Allan H. Gardiner,
Fg_lptinn Grammr1r (Ox ford : Clarendon Press, ICJ27), pp. 20J - '206. Although Mereruka
is depicted here as a painter at work, it is hardl y likel y tha t he ever engaged in any
:tct\la( paintin g him self or that, in being thus depicted, he may be regarded as r espon
.sihlc for tltc arch itecture of the tomb or for the design of the scenes upon its chapel walls.
The c~pl.tnation of the scene lies in the subject he is painting, the figures of the thr~e
~. !'C:t~tHl~ b ei ng prohahly sy mbolical rather than indicati ng a n r artistic expression on hts
part. Pro(cssor Sch;ifcr compares this scene with the more monumental reliefs in the
9

. )

FIGURE J. The easel, the stool, and the stand with a cup presumably holding water,
shown in the drawing above (figure 2), are here transla ted into modern perspective.

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FrccRE 4 An attempt is made here at the reconstruction of the easel shown in the relief

of Mereruka painting a panel picture in figures I and 2 and translated into perspective
in figure J. The position of the panel is indicated by dotted lines.

TECHNICAl, STUDIES

.'

There is much to be said for the Egyptian method of delineation.

Tbc direct representation of objects aimed at by this mode of drawing

in which ail elements are represented in profile or elevation has certain

advantages. In figure J, an attempt has been made to 'translate' the
scene into perspective and, as may be seen, the modern method fails

to portray some part of it; in fact, were the figures of J\lereruka and
Khenu included, a good part of the easel would be hidden from view. 10
S\ln temple of King ~e-user-ra at Abu Gnrob where the figures of the seasons are shown
what should occur
in that season. He repeats the suggestion made by Sethe that the scenes from life on tne
lis of private chapels may have been intended to represent similarly the three seasonal
divisions of the rear. What we see in the scene of Mereruka painting a picture is probably a hieroglyphically abbreviated reference to an elaborate representation such as the
one at .-\bu Gurob. The dead, by vi rtue of the tomb endowment, had a vital and almost
legal interest in the culture of the land and in this scene, the first to be encountered upon
entering the tomb, 1\.Iereruka in the role of an artist is invoking the se asonal gods to
protect his estates, the fullness of which is depicted on the wal1s of his chapels. For
. commentaries on scenes depicted in Old Kingdom tombs, see Pierre Montet, Les Scenes
;/( l tl l'ie prhle dans les Tombeaux A'gyptiens de /'Ancien Empire (Strasbourg: Librairie
l stra, l<J15), and Louise Klebs, Die Reliefs des a/ten Reiches (Heidel berg: Carl Winters,
t'JI S); for this and for later periods, see also ;.;ina M. Davies, op. cit., lii, and Schiifer,
staJHiin~ and behind each, in the usual rows, are scenes representing

op. ril.
1
'l

The representation of what is seen from one point of view, as is the method of a modern
dr.:wghtsman, was not the aim of the Egyptian artist. In arranging his composition, he
selected only the essential elements of the scene and depicted what was immedi ately
int<:rcsting; he made no 01ttempt to show everything in the field o f vision. His method
of representation was primaril y two-dimensional, the elements being delineated separatel y in din:c t elevation without regard for their actual s patial relationship or for
c onfnrrnity to a uniiorm scale. These more or less unco-ordinated elements were usuall y
accompanied hr hieroglyphic inscriptions integrated with the scen es, pictorial r epresentation and text to~cthcr conveying the essential information, The various eleme nts of
;l srcnc, to![tthcr with the inscriptions, were arranged to form a decorative pattern, and
thccnn1position as a wh ole was left to the imaginative understanding of the observer.
F~ y ptian :;cu lptors were masters in representing the human bodr in the round and the
J;ccul iar war. 011 the part of the artist, of drawing the human fi gure with its m <lnnered
s titfnc10s was trndouhtcdly due not to a lack of artistic ability, but to generally accepted
ranrins gonrn ing the representation of the human figure in painting or in relief. By this
mc!lwd the h!!\lrc i!> rather f\llly indicated, being partly in front and partly in side
dcratiPil. Botf1 feet are shown with the large toe on the side f acing tht! beholder. In the
tomh pf ~lcrcruka the hands of figures, when not holding objects, arc usually depicted
al ike; in ucncr:~l, when hl{urcs face left, hand s not holding objects art: depicted as rig ht
hand ~, ar~d when fi gures face to th e ri g ht, hands not holding objects are depicted as left

EASEL PAINTING 1 !\'

Axcr Er\T

EcYPT

The chair and the stand with the bowl of water have been moved
somewhat nearer to the easel and the uprights of the easel itself have
been placed at what seems to be a reasonable distance apart. The
panel has been shown at its full length but somewhat tilted upon the
.notched supports.
In figure 4, an attempt has been n1ade to reconstruct the easel.
The uprights would certainly have been fixed to a base so that the
easel would be firm and that it could be readily moved about to catch
the proper light upon the picture.U But it is difficult to judge from
the scene whether the uprights were round or square in cross section.
The edges of all reliefs arc somewhat rounded but in both these instances the degree of roundness varies considerably frmn top to bottom. If the uprights were round they could have been set in sockets
sunk in the base and turned to bring either the upper or the lower
supports to the front. However, the uprights of such an easel would
have been unstable unless they were heavy, and the easel as depicted
that the uprights were either square or rectangular and fixed to the
base. Horizontal members connecting the uprights would have been
essential and presumably they would have come at the respective
heights of the two sets of notched supports. According to the lower
pair, these supports turned inward which would have been more practical than turning outward and projecting at either side of the easel;
hands; but there is no consistency in the way hands are shown when holding objects.
The size of different figures has reference to their relative importance and thus Khenu,
in the above scene, is shown considerably smaller than his father. See also Dows Dunham, 'Some Notes on Egyptian Drawings,' Bulletin of the ll1useum of Fiue Arts (Boston),
XXXVll (1939), pp. 62-64, with drawings by .:Vliss Suzanne Chapman.
u SchMer (op. cit., pp. I f.) states quite rightly that the uprights seem to he merely set
into the ground and he assumes that they can be turned. Despite the ancient artist's
depiction, it would seem hardly likely that an easel would have been fixed in the ground;
moreover, it seems improbable that whenever one wished to make a painting the easel
would first have to he erected. The ancient artist did not feel it encumbent upon him to
show anything hut the essential elements of a scene, and in this one the form of the easel
itself is important-not the details of its construction (sec n. 10).

184 .
~

. 'TECHNICAL STUDIES
..

therr fim:nis metallic and they could have been of copper, and turned
12 a t1a
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. cRses the supports could he turned against the horizon ta.l conneetirig
memhe~, the faces of\vhich could have heen set back slightly to . .
reet!iVe them. Either p<lir of Sllpports couid be brought forward f()r a
large m ftJr ~t small picture ::ts the artist d esired and when th e easel
. wa:S n~)t h1 use both pairs of supports could be turned. well out ofthe .
way agttinst the . hotizontal members. At the same distance between
the two h(Jtizotttai mernbers there would p ro bably have been a third
.. one supporting the uprights at the top . The panel extends across the >
< t~ritire $t~ene but t his wouldtrtake at\ easel unduly wide. H owever> the .
picttlt~~ that J\1et'(!tuka is p~tinting js somewh at less than half this
. W~
!dtl;.{ ' ~ tl'.j ti\ rll...t .... At"~hri"' ,.:.,. '"h'"" u,j-'_
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$e~mt<J. heat~lion~lJledistance apart to support the picture~ . .

. T'11.t pan~~l t1p6tt wh.ich lVIereruka is painting is presunutbl~r of'
woc.Jtl . Atl actuii example of such a painted wood panel, fairl y contcer:npontrr \\'ith this scene, is in the Oriental Institute. i\1usemn of the

_..

.l3tliVel;$ity of Chicago; T he panel was discovered by Sir Flinders Pet rie.

.in tl1e- tm.11h of the Lady NI ed (or l\iera) at Deshasheh on the edge
6ftbedt;Scrtnear. theFayylt.t'nY~ lt is a lso frorn .the Sixth Dyna~s ty bq~ ~c . :
M)tl~~;~~Nhat latet thtil.tl the telieL A pa~;t of the original strii1g, by tnea.tis
. (>f whidt the pat:td \vas huhg upoh the waH, is still in place in (H1.e 6
the two perfo'ratio.hs at the t~p; 1t is . the oldest poitable. painting
kt1(.J\V:n.~. 'rh'~ t:hindls t11a.de till <>ft\~<Jpiecesofwood.dowelled togetht~t"
lt ;.t tUH~trtaitfh(I\V early tltc p~inc!ple ofthc modern hi nge waskiu)~'Il. T hr oughout
. ltf!tVthm hlnc.;rj d11or.s,. fotim-;t'ance, ~W'4~g (~n pivots set in sockets. B ut two gold hinges .
~~fn~~ldtttiftinli itft: <:a\ ari i\'i:ityje.weLhox ()fTtitcrii;;:ha inon of the <XVJil J ),itlil;sty:
(l'hYW\tttl C::{ttt:l' 1\J\rf A. C, M ac~.. . Thk? t'mtJb <!l Tut.ttnlo'i.tttJU~11 [Lond on: Cass~~ll arid
(~o,;; l.td, ~~x~~)J, Jft l ..Vn ; i\e<; nlsn Chlrke ar1d Engel bach, op. t.it.t p. r 63) .
.. .......
. 1 ~ .\~t:~tdin~ f(' Ptti~e (t:sp~ t/t.Lf>Jl. ~o and46; Pl. XXVJi11 color)) the panel w;ts fotu'l.d <
~urnJing t1~~Hghl 6n ed.tf~ Md Jenllitlg 1tgahr~t thr.: coffin. T he coffin itself ~as badlr (
c~.Jrtiittti l:t~~rr>f .\'1!1'}' i1:rtig uhtr pi.~,~e1i . of \.:md; th~ ho!lnws being stuffed :w ith r ~tgs, I. t w tis
d :iv(;rtd whh ~~ P'latst~r to~Ith1if, t~pm1 whith the funerary inscript ions were P<linted in blue.
Nf,:,-r~ w~~ fl ptist:SN:ss of f L1thot, with the utl nswil t itle of royal noblew~ rnnn.'
l!l

.. . '

. ..

The oldest portable painting known is this painted wood. panel round in the

the Lady Meri. at l)eshasheh on the edge of the desert near the F~tyyum.. dadng
part of theSixrh Dynasty. On eat~h side there is a painting, Me ofst'rvnnt~
food and the Other of men in boats upon the Nile. In one of the t\\'operf'or;ithe to)) a part of the origillal s ning remains h y .means of which it WRS h u11g.
through the courtesy o f the (hientai Institute l\'1nseum, Uni,.ersity of
where it is no. 2os 4 of th(~eoUe.ctiotr.)

s . . .

,.1.

. .. ECHN1CA.L ....:rcDTES

tS6 ..

. a11d. is approximately 0-735 meters long by o .J40 rneters high~ 14 On

~;it"h side there is a painting; one of servants preparing food an d. the .
. rJthcr t:).frnen itlhoats 11pon the N ile, one boa t with monkeys in the
. rJggi:ttg(tigures and 6); in t he latter, servants bearing food are a !St) .
~lh(1'\Vh.
:;tl6ntt.- with . two
necklaces which appear betvvcen the servants
.
.
.
. . andthi:hnuer hi..J:a:t. ]'llt> mall at the bo\v of this bo~tt is en titled ~. the
.ruler o{the~fottress of the pyramid l\:1en-nofer, the royal friend, the .
. ... $:UJH~dntertdent of pdests, Ivle"iau (?).q 5 Following the conventiot1 in
. . (lnrietit il-f'tyrhe. hotlies oftlle .men are red and tllose of t he wornenare
~~eU!.J'tv.
t'he
tt5stttmes
ofthefigut~es ~tr~ white and the boats ~vith th~ir
_:.
. _.- -.-:-
:
. . sails .an: -\yhite .alsg. Other portiohs of the pa:,in ti11gs are browrt~ hlue, .
. ixttd~Jitf~rt. All fi.gnres 11nd ribjects hppear to have been outlined.i tl
. J)hpi\t~ ;fhe ~olors were a}1_plied in .tempera directly to .t he .wood arid ....
.. ~~#\r~i:t-r~~~ia.tiye ~ftheattist's palette at this tini~. 1 6 .
. . : .. ,
.. . .

..

. .

-:."':'::-~-- ...

-.

.-

. .

._.

j.~ I~t~n~t~tt~~fttfft:il)i j~>lln A. WHscJn

. . . ...

tht~ Univ~r~-

director of the Orien t ;t] lnstitute .of

..
. ;~HJttt Ci1lc~go1 ~utd, Dr \;-~tScitl lk1yes, secretary of the Oriental Institute Mnse iJm~
ti<f Stipt..J':t-ing nic; with itforrri~tion- tCgii.rding the panel . and also for the photf'Jgraph
te!-'t<:<;d.\\CC{l i.Hi figure ;; The~ MiHrcum number of the panel is 20 54- The panel was . pre--
~>t:r;te(t h t'ht~Orit.mt~tl lh!>titiHe hy the Egypt Exploration Society. .
. . ..... .. .
. ~~ !vlct\~iit)ftr '<~;tsthe :l ianie of the pyr:tt~lid of the p()Wfrfu.l Pe.pi L His pyn~rnid city Wlr~
. ~:;_ dGst! td d"~e S3.~ ol gov-enihie.rit bi\)',Vrr as the 'White Wal! that the name ..of th~
pytkmid r~Pitdfy hewne the fiatn._e bf ~Jif!):ity itsel L At a much Iater . time; t~e na.met . .

..<

tt}

~t~:t~!J;<11~Pth~~!;s1~.:~~"~~,~::j~~,~~,~~.>~~;;;; ~\:::.:~~~~~~b\l

..... .

.tfl<t~ <:~t'i:(l.t~f l\J,~tnlka.'ss{~M . il:oned 1\l eriteti~l>rnhahly a grtnldson.of T ctiJwas ' inspecti.Jr ..
{,.f: tll~ pri~tti' a.ttathtd ({rthe p)rran.~id ;qfPepi I~ and the eldest son t~nied

Memi

..~~r;;~~l~~tJ.~tu1~~~~rh~~\;j~~~:f,:;~;; ~~~,~t,<~~;~~.~~:::~at~';fo!! ;~
. IJf

1\:hr.~,:~\l
h1:'!\~c\~i."l'} was }>r<lhably ;u:tachcd h1. the pyrainid city a.ftet the A~~i!tlt .
P~pi f_<f<>t' th~ style iff tJw Nhibtlgs oh the pat.1el is close t,o that of the I<'irstlriter;~

. ......~~~~!';~~n~~t'h:;'~:!JJt~':h~i~.'~t1n'~:~~;: Yl fe:~:~:;;ent.

ir,EgJ'pt ii ti .

~$ tht:. l V J)ynn.st)' in th<: Jh;l{t half of the third millen.ni um be for~~ th e Chtistiart
. .. tr'i~. '.rlt~.. p1grm.::.rltS: wcr<~ n<tttJtaH y.otcutrhlg earths and mineral s or weic made from
.. Jninerill itnhHt;tllt~. T h~ etude ~ntbs tance.swt:.-re .findy gmund n.nd i~rt:ihabJ y tiiixed with.
.
. . :S~~;:rre: _k~ttrl -<~.( g1fn~ cJ~: ~j1~_ag:it"l~J.ti_dih~.-~e{li-tiri:{ :tnd,.with aP<>ssi-hle eX:ceJ.1tioi{__<>t-~tJie.Jl~~~ ._.:-._-:--__.
llnd !~t~fitf (:~;:~~,~t,~,wt:r.tt dlhirl~d '~'ith \v r'ltr~r in drde.t to th! n the rnixnm~ ;tnd irutke itfl(n~;
fN)ti1 th ~ h;tjs:h, The f(:d> ydlr;w, mHl h towt1 trJlors are t~arth ochres, and various sl1ades .
.,vt~.! (ltstKinct<d h;- ttt.ldnlng ot hea.ti!-lg these coJ.:>rs andproba bJy also by mixing t ogether

1'hesi~ copies reconstruct the sc<;nes on the early Egyptian pand pli.inting
in figure .). (Reptodocj~d from Pl. XXVJ,in color, itr lkrhtHt~e}t by Sir \V. :t\L

Petrie {London, I 898].)

TECHNICAL STUDIES

Although this panel painting was discovered in the tomb of the

Lady l\leri, it is improbable that it was originally intended for the
purpose of burial with her. She is not represented in either scene,
whc.:n:as the owner of the tomb was customarily present in tomb
derora tion; and moreover, despite the string at the top, the panel was
resulting shades; a purplish hue was most likely ob tained by calcining red ochre. The
tarlicst hluc used in painting seems to be known fro m a single surviving occurrence (not
analpcd) in the rii Drnasty tomb o f Hesire at S ak karah (J. E. Quibell, T!te Tomb of
llo)' [Cairo: Jmprimait de /'lnsJitut Frtm(ais d'L1rcMologie orientale, I <; IJ ], Pls VIII
and IX in color). There was some use of azur ite (chcssylite), a naturally-occu rring basic
carhonarc of copper, findy ground. One ~xample was contained in the s hell from 1V1eidum
(3cc n. X) which had served as a painter's palette (F. C. J. Spurrell, in Medum [Pe trie ],
p. :11) . The blue was som e tim es the well known artificial frit, or' Egyptian blue,' made
hr hea ting t ogether silica, so me copper compound, calcium carbonate, and natron, formin~ a crystalline substance which was then reduced to a powder. Blue frit s eems to have
hn:n in usc as earl y as the lV D yn asty (Lu cas, op. cit., p. 285), and the pigment has
with certainty heen identified in the V Dynast y Sun temple at Abu Gurob anJ in the
tomh of Pcr-nf' b of the close of the V Ornasty (Williams, op. cit., pp. 26 ff. , Pls XII
:111d XIII in color). The green was usually powdered malachite, a naturall y-occurring
carbo nate of copper. M a lachite was known in the earliest pre-dynastic pe riod, long
before the acquisition of a blue p igment, an<l was used as an eye paint. ln the predynastic wall paintings of H icra konpolis gree n color appe ars, the pigment being prolJahly a ~ranular layer of crushed malachite laid over white (J. E. Q uibell and F . \V.
(lrcrn, 'Hcirakonpolis II,' 1\femoir, R.c~plia n Research Account [London], V [1902],
I' 11 ) . Instances of the use of malachite as a pigment are known at Meidum, in the
Sun temple at .-\hu Gurob, tnd in the tomb of Per-neb (Williams, op. cit., pp. 25 if.).
Howe ver, the fact that azurite turns green, malachite b ei ng the end product of copper
miner als , le ads one to believe that in some instances what was once azurite is now
mabchit~- (~uihell once t old the writer that in the tomb of Hesire it was often difficult
to dcttrminc whether blue or g reen was in tended, and he suspected that in many
instances g-reenish hluc or green had originally been blue. But an a rtificial green pigment, ;\ frit an<~logtms to the hlue, was in usc ns early as the VI Dynasty (Lucas, op. cit.,
t'P 1X7 tf.) . The hlack. was some form of carbon, usually soo t or charcoal, and the white
was ei ther whiting (carhnnatc of lime) or gypsum (sulphate of lime). In the course of
rime, other pi~ments otppear. Orpimcnt, a naturallr-occurring sulphide of arsenic, was
;rnnther ~ourcc of yellow. This mineral, which seems not to occur in Egypt, was prohah ly imported lrom Pcr~ ia, tho\lgh it occurs in Armenia and Asia Minor also. Its use
;u a pi ~ tll {' rlt in Fg~ pt has not hcctl traced earlier than the XVIII Dynasty; it was
lik.cl~- inrroduccd into the countrr through th e eastern conquests ofThutmosc IIL The
rd;tfcd mineral, realgar, o( a red-orange color, may also have been used as a pigment;
lut th ;lt color rould h;nc hecn obtained hy gently heating orpirnent. i\ bag containing
l' icn~ of mpimcnt w as fo und in the tomb of Tutcnkhamon. A red pigment of Ptolemaic
ur Homan date..', idt:ntifled as red lead, has in a few instances been reported ; it was well
krwwn to the Romans and was pro!Jal,ly introduced by them into E g ypt. A pink of the

EASEL PAiNTiNG iN ANCiENT

1:' ,....., r ........ ~

1"-lll'l

,Q ....

.lO')

not hung upon the wall. Since i\lezau (?)is the only one who appears
in the paintings, it seems more likely that the panel originally belonged to him. 'rhe scenes depicted on the panel are usually present
also in tomb decoration, and the necklaces themselves are representative of tomb equipment. The panel may therefore have been intended for the purpose of burial with :\lezau (?). This priest of high
rank was probably a relative of the Lady 1Vleri, and owing to the
meagerness of her own equipment made this contribution to her tomb.
It was a significant addition 17 and, moreover, no small contribution
for, aside from the paintings themselves, the panel was valuable, wood
Ptolemaic or Roman period consists of madder dye fixed on a gypsum base by a mordant
to form an opaque lake (A. P. Laurie, Tlze Materials of the Painter's Craft [London, 1910},
pp. 24-26, and Lucas, op. cit., p. 289). Since the madder plant is a native of Greece) its
use may well have been ]ntroduced into Egrpt by the Greeks in Hellenistic times.
Madder appears to be the first organic material used for a pigment in ancient times, all
those antedating the Ptolemaic period having been prepared from earths and minerals.
A vegetal yellow lake also has been reported (Laurie, op. cit., pp. 25, 32, and 44). The
pink lake is not to be confused with another pink, found in XVIII and XIX Dynasty
work, which was unquestionably derived from red ochre. For studies of Egyptian pigments, their composition and use, see: Lucas, op. cit., pp. 282-299; \VilJiams, op. cit.,
pp. 20-37; Laurie, op. cit., pp. rG-32; Spurrcll, op. cit., pp. 28 ff.; and \V. J. Russell, in
Medfim (Petrie), pp. 44~48.
17
The only other objects present were wooden models of two pairs of sandals and a
solid block head-rest painted and grained (Petrie, op. cit., pp. 20 and 46). The figures
of the servants and of the boats depicted on the panel could be regarded as substitutes
for wooden models of the same subjects which are sometimes found in tombs of the
period; or, the paintings could be regarded as a substitute for the usual decoration that
adorns the walls of the mastabas. Such tomb decoration was apparently designed to
sustain the dead in felicity. The tomh was the house of the deceased where he continued
his earthly existence, pursued his daily activities, and received the gifts of food and
drink which, while living, he had been so anxious to assure for himself. The scenes of
daily life and bringing of gifts were thus presumably meant not only to provide p1eas~nt
surroundings but also to insure the perpetual enjoyment of the things portrayed, the
depictions, in some magical or mystical way, making real and permanent the things
depicted. The scenes were evidently intended to suppJement or replace, in case of need,
actual gifts and ceremonies expected or hoped for from the living, upon whom the
deceased was so dependent. Thus, by means of magic charms pronounced over the
paintings on the panel they supposedly became, in the career of the deceased really
and actually what they merely represented. The scenes on the panel could therefore he
interpreted as the preparation of food for the Lady Meri by her servants and possibly
the conveyance of these gifts to the tomb (see n. 9) by boats; or, perhaps, in the latter
instance the Lady Meri herself could be regarded as sailing in a boat upon the Nile.

TECHKICAL STUDIES

being rare and expensive. 1s But an indiv idual painting such as this
one was not a part of the usual tomb equipment, and the panel is
unique in that it is the only portable painting ever found in the vast
number of mastabas and tombs that have been excavated.
The importance of the panel, however, does not lie in whether or
not it was actually intended for tomb equipment. Its real significance
is that it was obviously pain ted to be hung upon a wall. Some years
he fore this panel was made, 1\:fereruka was represented painting a
similar panel upon an easel, already of a highly developed form. It
seems not unlikely, therefore, that the wood p anel was p ainted upon
an easel such as lVlereruka is using and that it was one of many easel
paintings made even before this time. These easel paintings would
have been on similar wood panels, or on the much cheaper papyrus/ 9
both perishable mater1als. They were not for t ombs but were pre~umably intended to hang in shrines or upon walls 1n h ouses, a nd,
with the houses themselves and their furnishings, have d isappeared.
This is nnderstandabie when one considers t he fact that the great
number of easel paintings which were made in Greece and Rome,
more than two thousand years later, have all perished 20 except fo r
l11dt:ed, the poor quality of the coffin of the L ad y Meri attes ts the scarcity of wood
(sec n. r J). Egypt possessed nearly all materials for the important industries except
wood. ~on e o f the local trees furn ished good timber and large trees, moreover, were
bckin~. The Palermo Stone states that as earl y as the III Dynasty, S nefru sent a flee t
of forty vessels to the Phoenician coast to procure ced ar logs from the slopes of Lebano n
(Brcastld, op. cit., pp. fJ5 and JJ 5, and Ancient Rtcord.s of Eg)pt [Chicago, 1906], I,
(i_i f.). For wood in Egypt, imported and domestic, see Lucas, op. cit., pp. :376-396.
19
The panel upon which l\lereruka is painting h as a wide border at each side. Schafer,
op. dl., p. r ) raiscs tht: question as to whether these borders might n ot su ggest the
llllrollcd ends of a piece of papyrus fastened to a board. 'Vhen papyrus was firs t m ad e
is not knnwn, hut f.mallpapyr\IS doc\lments from b oth the V and the VI D ynasties are
in the Cairn :\luscnm (see Lucas, op. cit., p. 1J8).
2
'' One rec-nrdcd instan ce is a masterpiece br Apclles, a contemporary of Alexander the
(;rc:tt, that had been d edicated by :\ug us tus in th e temple of C aesa r in R ome. In the
nmrse pf rime, the panel fell into decay nnd Nero substituted for it a nother picture
(l'linr, S tlfUrflli.r Jli.rtoriac, I, iJO- <)I ) . Since Nero becam e emperor in 54 A.D., the
Pinring would ha,c hccn on~r three hundred and fifty years old.
B

EASEL PAlNTlNG I~ ANCIENT EGYPT

the Ha wara port rat ts, also on wood panels, which hung in pnvate
houses and were buried with their owners. 21 It is likewise owing solely
to the fact that the Egyptian panel was placed in a tomb that it exists
today~a lone survivor of the easel paintings of the Pyramid Age.
J'OGG MUSEUM 0 F A RT

These paintings were found by Sir Flinders Petrie in the Fayyum in Egypt. The
people seem to have lived in or near :\rsinoc, the capital of the Fayyum province, and
their favorite burial place was near the pyramid of Amenemhet III of the XII Dynasty
at Hawara, who was venerated as the great benefactor of the province. The district
was colonized under the Ptolemies and the inhabitants were mostly Greek settlers and
some Romans, but owing to their contact with the Egyptians they adopted the practice of mummification of their dead. However, instead of using the anthropoid coffin,
they placed a portrait of the deceased over the face of the mummy. These portraits
were painted on thin wood panels, about IJ inches wide by 15 inches h1gh, in tempera
or in encaustic, and sometimes in a mixture of both. They were painted from life,
framed, and hung upon the wall; some of them still have the cords for hanging in the
perforations at the top. Upon the death of the individual the portrait was taken down,
trimmed to fit above the head of the mummy, and was fastened into place by means
of the outer bandages of the mummy wrappings. The mummy stood in the house along
with other mummies as long as its presence was desired by the family, and then with
a group of ancestors was taken to the cemetery and buried. These paintings, made in
the first century after Christ and down to Coptic times, are the work of a small provincial town surrounded by desert; but artistically their average is fairly high and, to
some extent, they may be regarded as reflecting the great portraits of Hellenistic times.
See W. M. Flinders Petrie, Hawara, Hiahmu and Arsi11oe (London, r88g); Raman
Portrrtt"ts and Memphis, IV (London, 191 1); The Hawara Portfolio: Paintings of the
Romau Age (London, I9IJ). But, perhaps, the small painted wood panels or pinakes in
the ~ational Museum at Athens should be mentioned. They were found in 19.14 in a
tave near Pitsa, not far west of S1cyon, along with quantities of other votive offerings,
mostly broken terra-cotta figures and clay "'essels ranging from the VII to the III centuries H. C. One of the panels is almost completely preserved, the colors seemingly having
lost none of their brilliance. A procession of wreathed figures, led by a priestess, is
depicted approaching an altar. The panel was consecrated to the Nymphs and painted by
an artist of Corinth whose name is lost. It is a fairly thick piece of cypress measuring
about 13 inches wide by 6 inches high; the surface was first covered with a white slip
upon which the colors were then applied in tempera. The painting is finely executed,
with a purity and simple harmony of color. Unfortunatelr, the other panels, painted by
different artists, are preserved only in fragments. The date of all the panels is after the
middle of the VI century, apparently about 540-20 B.C. These small votive tablets can
hardly be regarded as easel paintings, but they are the sole remains of archaic Greek
painting and in their extjuisite quality are indicative of how great is the loss of the

21

l <) l

'TECHNICAL STUDIES

mastapic:crs of (in:ccr and Rome. Sec' ~ews .Items from Athens,' by Elizabeth Pierce
Bln:cn, .-lmaira11 :Journal of drchaeolo:u, XXXIX (H).15), part 1, p. 134; 'Archaeology
in (im:cc, ''J.i.l-.15'.' hr H. G. G. Parne, :foumrt! of Hellenic Studies, LV (I<JJ5), part 2,
1'1' 1 ~-~ 1 ~~; '.-\rch;iologischc Fundc vom Juli I1JJ4 bis Juli 1935,' by G. K:uo, drchrlo/tJgi.il'lu .-lu:(igrr, L ( 11).15), pp. 1<)7- Ic)!L

.,

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...