Paintings representing houses (Twelfth Dynasty, El Lahun) In the ruins of a house at El Lahun were found two paintings whose interpretation is far from certain. In the larger painting, a lower register represents three identical elements set side by side, to the left of a taller one on a lower ground line. Each has two panels in its lower part and an upper arched area with vertical bars.

 

A fifth element, identical with the first three, stands at the right end of the group. Between the latter and the tall unit is a rectangular element which might perhaps represent a door. In an upper register are pieces of furniture and a seated personage to whom a mirror is being presented by a servant. It is probably a view of the interior of the building according to the common convention in Egyptian drawing whereby the interior is usually represented above the exterior view. It has been surmised that the building consisted of a series of vaulted rooms with a lower wall and a barred upper part. One of these rooms projects and is accordingly drawn on a lower ground line. Another interpretation would see a series of arched wooden doors of a type known at El Lahun itself. A.B.-2 P21