In the same room, arranged in cases round the wall, is a collection of
several objects which, if scarcely to be classed under the head of
furniture, are articles of luxury and comfort, and demonstrate the
extraordinary state of civilisation enjoyed by the old Egyptians, and help
us to form a picture of their domestic habits.

[Illustration: An Egyptian Banquet. (_From a Wall Painting at Thebes._)]

Amongst these are boxes inlaid with various woods, and also with little
squares of bright turquoise blue pottery let in as a relief; others
veneered with ivory; wooden spoons, carved in most intricate designs, of
which one, representing a girl amongst lotus flowers, is a work of great
artistic skill; boats of wood, head rests, and models of parts of houses
and granaries, together with writing materials, different kinds of tools
and implements, and a quantity of personal ornaments and requisites.

"For furniture, various woods were employed, ebony, acacia or sont,
cedar, sycamore, and others of species not determined. Ivory, both of the
hippopotamus and elephant, was used for inlaying, as also were glass
pastes; and specimens of marquetry are not uncommon. In the paintings in
the tombs, gorgeous pictures and gilded furniture are depicted. For
cushions and mattresses, linen cloth and colored stuffs, filled with
feathers of the waterfowl, appear to have been used, while seats have
plaited bottoms of linen cord or tanned and dyed leather thrown over them,
and sometimes the skins of panthers served this purpose. For carpets they
used mats of palm fibre, on which they often sat. On the whole, an
Egyptian house was lightly furnished, and not encumbered with so many
articles as are in use at the present day."

The above paragraph forms part of the notice with which the late Dr.