ABSTRACT
F. W. von Bissing issued first part at the end of 1905, and five other parts have quickly followed, forming almost half of the work and of which the Cairo Museum possesses some rare examples. When the list printed on the covers of the first part is exhausted, amateurs and experts will have at their disposal nearly everything required to follow the evolution of Egyptian statuary from its earliest beginnings to the advent of Christianity. The two first are facsimiles of the bas-reliefs that decorate the stele of the Horus Qa-aou, and the so-called palette of the king we designate Nar-mer. It is probable that first of those in date, the Memphian, is merely the prolongation and continuation of a previous Thinite school. This impulse towards skilled realism, begun by instinct in the heart of the school, became accentuated and accelerated by contact with the Hellenes, who from the time of Psammetichus I swarmed in the provinces of the delta.
