This was not due to a defect of taste, and to the prevalence of a religious idea which decided but enforced these changes.

The object of decoration was not merely the delight of the eye.
Applied to a piece of furniture, a coffin, a house, a temple, decoration possessed a certain magic property, of which the power and nature were determined by each being or action represented, by each word inscribed or spoken, at the moment of consecration.

Every subject was, therefore, an amulet as well as an ornament.

So long as it endured, it ensured to the god the continuance of homage rendered, or sacrifices offered, by the king.

To the king, whether living or dead, it confirmed the favours granted to him by the god in recompense for his piety.