64); the flower is inverted like a bell, and the shaft is turned upside down, the smaller end being sunk in the plinth, while the larger is fitted to the wide part of the overturned bell.

This ungraceful innovation achieved no success, and is found nowhere else.

Other novelties were happier, especially those which enabled the artist to introduce decorative elements taken from the flora of the country.

In the earlier examples at Soleb, Sesebeh, Bubastis, and Memphis, we find a crown of palm branches springing from the band, their heads being curved beneath the weight of the abacus (fig.

65).