Wall-painting, Eighteenth Dynasty.] Rameses II.

and Rameses III.

had thrones of gold--not merely of wood plated with gold, but made of the solid metal and set with precious stones.
These things were too valuable to escape destruction, and were the first to disappear.

Their artistic value, however, by no means equalled their intrinsic value, and the loss is not one for which we need be inconsolable.
[Illustration: Fig.

296 .-- Bezel signet-ring.] [Illustration: Fig.