We could point to more than one piece of sculpture of that period, even in granite, in which all the limbs are free, having been cut away by means of either the chisel or the drill.

If pediment supports were persisted in to the end, their use must have been due, not to helplessness, but to routine, or to an exaggerated respect for ancient method.
[Illustration: Fig.

185 .-- The Cross-legged Scribe at the Louvre, Old Empire.] Most museums are poor in statues of the Memphite school; France and Egypt possess, however, some twenty specimens which suffice to ensure it an honourable place in the history of art.

At the Louvre we have the "Cross- legged Scribe,"[44] and the statues of Skemka and Pahurnefer; at Gizeh there are the "Sheikh el Beled"[45] and his wife, Khafra[46], Ranefer, the Prince and General Rahotep, and his wife, Nefert, a "Kneeling Scribe," and a "Cross-legged Scribe." The original of the "Cross-legged Scribe" of the Louvre was not a handsome man (fig.

185), but the vigour and fidelity of his portrait amply compensate for the absence of ideal beauty.