Middle Kingdom Art in Egypt by Cyril Aldred

Review by: Nora Scott

Artibus Asiae, Vol. 14, No. 1/2 (1951), p. 196
Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers
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The book is produced in the sumptuous style that

one has come to expect from the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts. Nevertheless, with a stricter measure
of economy the text might have been more succinct and easier to find one's way about in. Really
stimulating observations are hidden away so that
one despairs of finding them for a second reading.
But by and large, this is a book of facts, on which
the student must draw to support or refute his

from the beginning of the XI to the XIII Dynasty.

The author distinguishes two schools of art, a
northern and a southern, the products of two
different cultures, the former (connected with
Memphis) stimulated by sun worship and continuing the naturalistic tradition of the Old Kingdom.
The triumph of the cult of Osiris in the early
Middle Kingdom, he believes, encouraged the more
sombre and massive architecture and the formalized
style of sculpture which became associated with

own fancies.
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thebes.
The plates include a number of illustrations not
generally available. Of particularinterest is no. 81,
a statue from the Hapsburg collection, which
would almost certainly be classed as Saite were it
not for the inscription, which has the name and
title of a well-known XIII Dynasty official.
Nora Scott
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nora Scott

Cyril Aldred, Middle Kingdom Art in Egypt. 5o pp.,

61-.
83pl. Alec Tiranti, London, Ig50o.
This is the second of the three volumes in which
Mr. Aldred has set out to discuss Egyptian art up
to the Amarneh age. It is to be hoped that he will
continue his study to cover the entire dynastic
period, for nowhere else is there a comparable
treatment of the subject. Clear and concise, well
printed, with many carefully selected illustrations,
and - an important point - remarkably inex-

Schuyler Camman, " The Land of the Camel."

New York, The Ronald Press Co. 197 pp., with
map and 39 photographic illustrations.
As an officer of the U. S. Navy, Dr. Schuyler
Camman, now associated with the Chinese department of the Museum of the University of

pensive, the two volumes which have now appeared

help to fill a surprising gap in the literature of
Egyptology.
Mr. Aldred pratically limits his discussion to sculpture, "the most forceful and characteristic expression of the artistic genius of the Egyptian, which
alone can provide a common standardfor measuring

Pennsylvania, was ordered in August, 1945 to

deliver a valuable truckload of supplies to an
American weather outpost near Shanpa in the
Suiyuan Province of Inner Mongolia. This book
describes with a wealth of detail the country, the
people and their food, shelter, costumes and
customs, and especially the lama temples of the
area he was able to observe during a stay of

the development of his aesthetic ideas throughout

the ages. Like its predecessor, Middle Kingdom
Art consists of an introductory essay and a brief
historical summary, followed by detailed notes on
the plates. The introduction compares the art of
the Old and Middle Kingdoms, discusses the
religious, political, and social backgrounds of the
Middle Kingdom, and sums up the points made in

approximately three months, made necessary by

the breakdown of his six-wheel truck.
Dr. Camman had visited Suiyuan Province briefly
in 1936 as a student of Far Eastern peoples and
their cultures. This background, plus his command

the notes, emphasizing the development of style

I96