Art goes back to the earliest humans, not just back to "the Egyptians." Cave paintings, carvings, etc. are far older than even that culture, tens of thousands of years.
This has some bearing on bonsai I think. Although cave paintings and pre-historic art are "crude," at best, by modern standards, they are quite beautiful and well thought out--the Lasceaux cave paintings, for instance. Their execution and perspective isn't up to "modern" standards. Does that make them inferior to Picasso, or do you have to judge both on their own terms? Can one apply this kind of thinking to "bad" bonsai and "good" bonsai without getting hysterical about it?
Just carrying through a ridiculous thought...