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21. The Sma Tawy vignette: a historic overview
Because the Sma Tawy
vignette has been depicted very often (and often on stone, where it
had a better chance of survival), its evolution over time can be
followed in considerable detail. And because the heraldic plants of
Upper and Lower Egypt are always part of this vignette, the evolution of
their appearance can here be followed too.
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The earliest
extant example of a Sma Tawy comes from a stone
vessel from the time of king Adjib, one of the last kings of the 1st
dynasty. Although the depiction is not intact, we can still
recognize that it consisted of the hieroglyph smA between a
papyrus plant and a sedge.
(Drawing
based on
P.D. IV, n.
33, after a copy on the website of
Francesco Raffaele. |
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As already mentioned, the hieroglyph smA
depicts a windpipe and lungs. The lungs are here shown with great - if
not disturbing - accuracy: carefully showing the lobes. (Actually, there
should be two lobes on the left, and three on the right, but who’s
complaining?)
The plants do here not yet exhibit the later
canonized forms. The one on the left is a papyrus
plant
with
buds instead of opened flowers. The one on the right does not yet show
the flowers
that later appear at the tips of the stalk and twigs. (In
this early phase of the script, the signs M23 (the sedge) and M26 (the
flowering sedge) are not yet consistently distinguished in other uses,
either.)
Although the elements in this
depiction
are not yet tied together, it is still obvious that
this
is not just a writing of the phrase “Uniting the Delta and the Valley”.
In such a writing, the sign smA (to unite) would not have stood
in the middle. It is therefore certain that this is even now a
monumental representation: one that we can already term a vignette.
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The next
example in our little collection comes from a stone vessel that carries
the Horus name of king Teti (1st king of the 6th
dynasty). It is however so decidedly archaic in execution, that this
is either a re-used early dynastic vessel, or a case of conscious
archaizing on the part of a 6th dynasty artist. (Both
practices are well attested.)
(From
Steingefässe, page 60. Reproduced with permission
from the
publisher.) |
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In Hierakonpolis I
(available on the website of
archive.org), we find this image from a granite vase from
Khasekhem (thought to be the same as Khasekhemwy, last king of the 2nd
dynasty). This time, the plants are tied together around the
Sma-sign. Unfortunately, they are too sketchily drawn to distinguish
between them - let alone identify them.
(Note the horizontal
striping on the windpipe, indicating its cartilage rings.)
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That the Teti-depiction we just saw (of
would-be
6th dynasty origin) is definitely
anachronistic
becomes totally evident when we compare it with the next picture from
the 4th dynasty. It exhibits all the confidence of a fully
matured art.
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It comes from the
side of the throne on one of the famous seated statues of king Chefren from
his mortuary temple at Gizeh. To the left are the easily recognizable
papyrus plants. A new element is, that they rise from a pool. Which
is not exactly out of character for an aquatic plant, but
nevertheless a bit surprising, for so far they were seen growing
from a hump of clay.
(StS Art,
page 94) |
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The plants to the right also have a new element to
them: they are bound together at their lower end, with three horizontal
bands, suggesting that these stalks are not too firm, or cut off. But
what’s more important: they look decidedly different from the sedge -
flowering or not. So what is it? It can hardly be a lotus: if we compare
these flowers (if that is what they are) with the Old Kingdom renderings
of the lotus that we have seen before
in section
10,
we see not much of a resemblance.
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When we get no more
than just two kings further down the road, we find that under
Mykerinos again the flowering sedge was used for Upper Egypt.
Compared to the rather robust design under Chefren, this one
shows a consious attempt towards refinement.
(Based on Plate 17 in
Schäfer.
Left-right reversed, to match the other
examples.) |
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Any study of the development of a decorative motif
during the Old and Middle Kingdoms is seriously hampered by the scarcity
and one-sidedness of the available material. In the way of temples and
temple reliefs, very little has survived from these periods. Just what
we are missing
becomes painfully clear through those few chance
survivors that we happen to have. Some of these come from the causeways
that were part of the pyramid
complexes of Cheops (4th
dynasty) and Unas (5th dynasty), but most are from Niuserre’s
sun temple at Abu Gorab (also 5th dynasty).
A relief from the latter location shows the king
seated on a throne, while the throne
itself
stands on a platform. The side of the platform is decorated with the
following
Sma Tawy:
(Based on Plate 20 in
Heinrich Schäfer: Principles of Egyptian art. Left-right
reversed, to match the other
examples.)
This is the oldest example known to me of a Sma Tawy
in which the personifications of the Two Lands attend. The exploring,
hesitant style is
apparent: they don’t yet have the identifying tufts
on their heads, and their hands are holding the stalks as if not
really
knowing what to do with them.
This is also the first time that we see the lotus as
papyrus’s opposite number. Note furthermore that
here, both
plants are held in place at
their lower ends by horizontal bands: an
experiment
that was later abandoned again.
The Palermo Stone is a fragment of a monument that contained the royal
annals from the 1st till mid-5th dynasty. The
monument was made in the 5th
dynasty, and the “handwriting”
of the glyphs is from that period. So although the vignette of Sma Tawy
is here already in evidence in what is probably the second reign of the
1st dynasty, its execution is from the 5th
dynasty.
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Every year in these
annals is named after a certain event, or events. The 1st
year of a reign, the year of coronation, is always described as:
“Year of uniting the Two Lands”, graphically rendered as follows: |
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The signs on the Palermo Stone are only about 1 cm in
height, lightly cut on hard stone, and rather worn, too. Most
authors will therefore “ interpret”
to some extent their
rendering
of such signs - as indeed I have done here, too. There is obviously some
risk involved in this practice. Just how much risk is aptly illustrated
by the following.
In
Von Beckerath’s Chronologie,
the author rightfully pays
considerable
attention to the Palermo Stone. The illustrations on pages 15 and 16
however give a really gruesome “reconstruction”
of the Sma Tawy’s on this monument.
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(sic!) |
First of all, the
upper flowers have changed sides above the knot that ties them
together. Much as this is in agreement with our views on
logic and composition, the ancient Egyptians never depicted
it like this. Furthermore, the Upper Egyptian plant is at the bottom
end a sedge, while on the upper side it’s a lotus: really a fine
piece of genetic engineering. |
After the Old Kingdom, only one new element seems to be added to the Sma
Tawy: that of the patron gods assisting, as
alternative for the
personifications
of the Two Lands. This is
however
a conclusion, based on the surviving evidence: it seems entirely
possible that this feature was already in use during the Old Kingdom.
For the rest, the further evolution of the vignette
just followed the general trend of the times: sober, forceful stylizing
in the Middle Kingdom, refined elegance in the New Kingdom.
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Here is a Middle
Kingdom example from a festival relief of Sesostris III (12th
dynasty). This compact, rectangular conception remains a classic -
especially on the sides of thrones of divinities. The lower parts of
the two plants are treated just like in the Chefren example that we
saw earlier: the papyrus rises from water, while the lower ends of
the lotus stalks are supported by bands of rope or the like. In
monumental uses, this remains the preferred treatment for the lower
parts of the plants, while in the hieroglyphic record, with its
greater need for stylizing, both plants are always depicted emerging
from a hump of clay. |
After a
photograph in
L&H
104-5.
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In the New Kingdom, new levels of elegance and
sophistication are attained. We have already seen an example from a
colossal statue of Ramesses II at the temple of Luxor. If we
remove
the personifications of the Two Lands, and
eliminate the color, what
remains is the refined design.
From the side of a colossal
statue of Ramesses II, Luxor Temple.
(Left-right reversed.)
Had we not followed the foregoing historic overview,
we would have been rather puzzled by the papyrus’s “pointed cake”, and
the lotus’s “fencing”. Now we understand that the
fencing
is really three bands holding the cut-off stalks of the lotus
together,
while the points represent the ripples of the water from which the
papyrus emerges.
This came to be the
preferred treatment of the plants in the Sma Tawy - and there may be a
good deal of logic behind this. The whole idea was, to show the stalks
of both plants being tied together. For papyrus, this did not pose a
particular problem. Papyrus grows in the water, but the largest part of
its stems stand above the surface. So papyrus can be shown in its
natural appearance: rising from the water. The stalks of the lotus
however, are normally invisible: hidden below the water. So in order to
bind the stalks of papyrus and lotus together, those of the lotus had to
be cut below the water, and brought to land. Above water however, the
stalks have lost their footing, and need to be bound together to keep
them in place. Hence the three bands.
The next example is again from Ramesses II, this time
from the great hypostyle in the Amun temple of Karnak. Here we see the
two patron gods performing the act: this time
with
Thoth for Upper Egypt. The design of the plants so closely resembles
that of the Luxor colossus, that it may have been drawn by the same man.
Instead of alluding symbolically to the king by way of his name, he is
now depicted in the flesh above the Sma-sign.
Ramesses II, with the gods
Thoth and Horus.
From the inner (south) wall of the Great Hypostyle in the Amun temple of
Karnak.
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