It was even employed at times for subjects of importance, such as Ka statues; and the Wooden Man of Gizeh shows with what boldness and amplitude of style it could be treated.

But the blocks and beams which the Egyptians had at command were seldom large enough for a statue.

The Wooden Man himself, though but half life-size, consists of a number of pieces held together by square pegs.

Hence, wood-carvers were wont to treat their subjects upon such a scale as admitted of their being cut in one block, and the statues of olden time became statuettes under the Theban dynasties.

Art lost nothing by the reduction, and more than one of these little figures is comparable to the finest works of the ancient empire.