This capital was set atop one of the ten columns of a kiosk built in front of the temple of Amun at Hibis in Kharga Oasis, Egypt. It is an early example of a composite capital, which included several kinds of plants combined into a design that, with time, became increasingly more elaborate and fanciful. Here, the composition is still rather simple, consisting of two cyperus species: eight plants of the common papyrus (Cyperus papyrus, above) alternating with eight foxtail flatsedge plants (Cyperus alopecuroides, below). The capital still shows remnants of its original paint.
How bright and colorful they must have been.
ReplyDeleteI visited Egypt along with my Dad back in '98. Many things amazed me there, and the paint on some of the walls in the tombs was one of them.
ReplyDeleteSome of the paintings looked like they had been done just long enough ago for the paint to dry. They were as vivid as any colors I've ever seen, and a lot more durable than most modern outdoor paints (obviously, since they've been there for thousands of years without fading.)
The stonework and masonry was incredible too, as was the "hugeness" of so much of it. It's one thing to see it in photos, but when you're there it's overwhelming! I really did feel tiny, like these marvelously gargantuan structures had been built by giants. Yet large as they were, huge stone blocks fit so well together that you couldn't put a blade of grass between them. Amazing craftsmanship!