. A history of art in ancient Egypt . Fig. 112.—Plan of the tomb of Ti. Figs. 113, 114.—Mastaba at Sakkarah, from Prisse. There are some chambers in which the walls are bare and thestele eno-raved, but there are none where the walls are carved andthe stele plain. In the tomb of Ptah-Hotep, of which we reproduce theprincipal side, the stele proper is on the left, but the figuresand the funerary inscriptions cover all the central part of therichly decorated wall (Fig. 115). We see, then, that the stele is the one indispensable part ofthis complicated whole. It was, in fact, upon the formula with
. A history of art in ancient Egypt . Fig. 112.—Plan of the tomb of Ti. Figs. 113, 114.—Mastaba at Sakkarah, from Prisse. There are some chambers in which the walls are bare and thestele eno-raved, but there are none where the walls are carved andthe stele plain. In the tomb of Ptah-Hotep, of which we reproduce theprincipal side, the stele proper is on the left, but the figuresand the funerary inscriptions cover all the central part of therichly decorated wall (Fig. 115). We see, then, that the stele is the one indispensable part ofthis complicated whole. It was, in fact, upon the formula withwhich it was inscribed, that the Egyptians depended for thosemao-ical ao-encies by which Osiris became the active medium oftransmission between the living and the dead. At the foot of the stele there was often a table for M lijiHi II ill II II ill n iH Bi ii u n II i!| n h n i\ ii1i v--^ I O ao d c3 c3 13 Cl,<U O K .J3 a c a -s <1) o The Tomb under the Ancient Empire. 771 in granite, alabaster, or limestone. This was laid flat upon theground (Fig. 92). As a rule this was the only piece of furniture in the chamber ;but occasionally we find, on each side of the stele and alwaysplaced upon the ground, either two small limestone obelisks, ortwo objects in that material resembling table legs hollowed outat the top for the reception of offerings. This chamber was left open to every comer. The entrancewas in fact left without a door. To this rule Mariette foundbut two exceptions in the many hundreds of tombs which heexamined.^ Not far from the chamber, oftener on the south than thenorth, and oftener on the north than the west, a passage in themasonry, high, narrow, and built of very large stones, is workmen employed upon the excavations christened it theserdad, or corridor, and their name has
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