281 .-- Bronze statuette of one Mosu.] Bronze came into use for statuary purposes from a very early period; but time unfortunately has preserved none of those idols which peopled the temples of the ancient empire.

Whatsoever may be said to the contrary, we possess no bronze statuettes of any period anterior to the expulsion of the Hyksos.

Some Theban figures date quite certainly from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties.

The chased lion's head found with the jewels of Queen Aahhotep, the Harpocrates of Gizeh inscribed with the names of Kames and Ahmes I., and several statuettes of Amen, said to have been discovered at Medinet Habu and Sheikh Abd el Gurneh, are of that period.

Our most important bronzes belong, however, to the Twenty-second Dynasty, or, later still, to the time of the Saite Pharaohs.