These were costly playthings wrought in gold, such as the Byzantine emperors of the ninth century accumulated in their palace of Magnaura, and which they exhibited on state occasions in order to impress foreigners with a profound sense of their riches and power.

When a victorious Pharaoh returned from a distant campaign, the vessels of gold and silver which formed part of his booty figured in the triumphal procession, together with his train of foreign captives.

Vases in daily use were of slighter make and less encumbered with inconvenient ornaments.

The two leopards which serve as handles to a crater of the time of Thothmes III.

(fig.