TOYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17182, 27 October 1923, Page 7 (Supplement)

TOYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

DOLLS STUFFED WITH PAPYRUS. 11l ere is no important event in the world’s historv which has not left its mark on the tors of to-dav. The bodies of the dolls of early Egypt are flat and carefully painted with symbols. The bright colours proj bably pleased the owners a good deal I more than the religious significance of ! the signs; on one is the careful de- ; lineation of the pig even 3000 years j ago thev had their “luckv pig.” writes Mrs F. Nevill Jackson in the London “Daily Mail.” I Elaborate hairdressing is a marked j feature of early 'Egyptian dolls. the ! ceremonial wigs and intricate conven- ! tional coiffure of the Pharaohs being j carefully imitated on the heads of most of the doll relics. Great bunches of thread are attached and beads of baked clay and Nile mud are threaded, and still show a curious resemblance to the ringlets of the Pharaohs. USEFUL FOR. NURSERY*. Such dolls were eminently suited to the ha rdf knockabout wear of the nursery ; the body ends in a spoon-shaped handle instead of legs, and must bare been solid and easy to hold ; the specimens known measure from 4in to Sin in height- the ideal size for a doll. The earliest soft-bodied doll is Egypto-Roman of the third century before Christ. It was found at Belinesch. during excavations in 1890. The lace is embroidered on linen, hair is indicated in an elementary wav with threads, one arm is’missing, and a red woollen band may be taken as the earliest known example of dollOt the same period is a fragment of linen doll stuffed with papyrus; only the arms and trunk remain a pathetic example of mother-care lest

the baby should hurst himself with a wooden doll. CLAY' BALLS. Bright-coloured clay balls of small size have been taken from tombs, as shining as when they were first, used by the boys of ancient Egypt—doubtless some game equivalent to the. ancient marble or knuckle-bone games was played. A iresco shows men playing a board game somewhat resembling “Pigs in being moved round maze-like circles. Blue and grey glazed balls, varying in size from a marble to a tennis ball, have been found in quantities, and .*» leather ball stuffed with papyrus is stitched in sections, exactly as our lawn tennis balls of the present are stitched. Quite an elaborate mechanical toy can be seen in the Leyden Museum. A man with articulated arms and legs kneads bread on a. hoard in front of him. The movement is achieved by means of strings ; in the same way an