Egypt

From 3000 BCE to 30 BCE

Important Artistic Periods:

Old Kingdom 2575 – 2134 BCEMiddle Kingdom2040 – 1640 BCENew Kingdom 1550 – 1070 BCE

Egyptian Key Ideas• Egyptian art spans 3000 years• Elaborate funerary practices = built MASTABAS,

PYRAMIDS, and rock-cut TOMBS in sacred imperial areas of Egypt

• Egyptian figures: broad frontal shoulders with head, torso, and legs in profile

• Old Kingdom figures: rigid stance and little facial expression

• Middle Kingdom figures: more relaxed body and emotional faces

• New Kingdom figures: rounded and elongated figures

Key ideas continued…

• Order and Stability – a conservative formula of representation.

• Worship the Pharaoh as a divine being who establishes Ma’at (balance) between the human world and the gods (a polytheistic religion- multiple gods).

• Egyptians have methods of transmitting knowledge and ideas through centuries and millennia.

• Media: stone, paint, gold + gems, and papyrus (a tall aquatic plant whose fiber is used as a writing surface)

• Most of our resources come from tombs where the treasures were held as items for passage of the dead.

• Egyptians established the temple format with columns that will be copied and transformed by the Greeks and Romans.

Key ideas continued…

Old Kingdom (begins with the unification of the

country under King Narmer)c. 2575 – 2134 BCE

Information and Major Works to follow…..

So how did they celebrate the unification of the country under the rule of King Narmer?

Palette of Narmerc. 3000 – 2920 BCE

Ringing any bells?

Palette of Narmerc. 3000 – 2920 BCESimilarities? Differences?

NAME!

Nar – fishMer – chisel

NarmerPerhaps the King Menes?

(close-up of the palette top)

• Relief sculpture showing King Narmer uniting Upper and Lower Egypt• Figures stand on ground line• Hierarchy of scale• Palette used to prepare eye makeup for the blinding sun, but this one was

probably commemorative or ceremonial• Hieroglyphics explain and add to the meaning. It’s a NARRATIVE

Use of REGISTERS to relate and separate informationIDEALIZED depiction of figures and eventsLow Relief sculpture

FRONT:

• Narmer is largest (hierarchy of scale)

• Wears cobra crown of lower Egypt

• Reviewing beheaded enemies

• Bodies seen from above with heads

between legs

• Narmer preceded by four standard

bearers and a priest and followed by his

foot washer and sandal bearer

• Harnessed lionesses w/ long necks

(symbolizes unification)

• Bull knocking down city fortress

(symbolizes Narmer knocking over his

enemies)

Close-up of Narmer and his servants.

BACK:• Hawk of Horus (god of Egypt)

triumphs over Narmer’s foes• Horus holds a rope around a man’s

head and a papyrus plant (symbols of Lower Egypt)

• Bull’s tail at Narmer’s waist (strength)• Bowling pin-shaped crown (symbol

of united Egypt)• Narmer is beating down an enemy.• Servant holds Narmer’s sandals

because he stands on the sacred ground as a divine king.

• Defeated Egyptians lie beneath his feet.

• Lines show his muscles, half-circles for kneecaps.

The god Hathor (cow w/ woman’s face) is at the top four times (two on each side of the palette.

servant

Close-up look at Narmer being powerful!

Maybe this drawing makes it easier to see?

PYRAMIDS OF THE OLD KINGDOM

-massive monuments to the dead

At first, the dead were buried in MASTABAS (Arabic for “bench”, a low, flat-roofed tomb with sloping sides down to the ground and an entrance for mourners to bring offerings to the deceased). The body was buried in an inaccessible area that only the spirit could enter.

Later, larger monuments were built – MASTABAS stacked on top of each other like a wedding cake until a pyramid was achieved.

Mastaba Structure

Mastaba to Pyramid.

Step Pyramid of Djoser, built by Imhotep (first known artist in history!)c. 2630 BCE, Saqqara, Egypt

Remind you of anything?

• Constructed entirely of stone (the whole complex of buildings)• Six unequal steps, like a giant staircase to the heavens• Looks like a stack of MASTABAS• Burial is below ground. Pyramid is solid. • PYRAMID is part of a large burial area called a NECROPOLIS (“City of the

dead”)• PYRAMIDS were never built alone- always part of a NECROPOLIS• NECROPOLISES were dedicated to the worship of the spirits of the dead

and the preservation of a person’s soul (ka)

Must have been cool in person!

people

Collasped Meidum Pyramid, First Trial by Snefru in 2600 B.C. 306 ft

Another pyramid attempt….

Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid, c. 2596 BCE

Yet another pyramid attempt

Sneferu’s Red Pyramid, c. 2590 BCE

Getting closer….

Great Pyramids at Giza – from c. 2500 BCE, granite and limestone

They got it right!

• Giant monuments to dead pharaohs (kings of ancient Egypt)• Each pyramid has a mortuary temple attached• Minimal interior for the dead• Pharaoh buried within (unlike stepped pyramid, in which they are buried

underneath)• Each side is oriented toward a point on the compass• The site was planned to follow the sun’s east-west path• Huge labor force to build these (big workers’ burial ground discovered)• Each block weighs about 2.5 tons (quarried on site or nearby)• Used sheer muscle power, small logs as rollers, poured water on sand to make it

slippery and drag blocks

• Angled sides may represent slanting rays of sun

• Inscriptions on walls say dead kings climbed up the rays to join the sun god Ra

• Built by kings in this order: Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure

• These kings wanted to commemorate themselves as divine beings

• All three used to have an outer layer of white limestone

How did they build these?Theories:• They built a temporary, gently sloping ramp

around the pyramid as it got higher• They took apart the ramp after the stones

were smoothed and the limestone veneer was added.

• Architects- sophisticated mathematics• Huge foundation layer had to be totally level

and the angle of each side had to be perfect so the stones would meet precisely in the center at the top.

Menkaure

KhafreKhufu

In the southern sky during the Forth Dynasty, a vertical alignment due south of three stars and the Orion nebula in the large distinctive constellation of Orion may have been noticed and generated sufficient interest that the ancient Egyptians aligned their pyramids to it, perhaps to create a link with this constellation, or they recognized this vertical alignment as a useful and accurate marker for due south.

Great Sphinx, c. 2500 BCE, Giza, Egypt, limestone

Digging up the Sphinx in the 1870’s

• Very generalized features, but might be a portrait of Khafre

• Carved from one huge rock• Symbol of the sun god• Body of a lion, head of pharaoh

and/or god• Seems to protect pyramids behind

it• Originally brightly painted

Cats are royal animals in ancient Egypt, probably because they saved the grain supply from mice!Head of Sphinx badly damaged in Middle AgesBeard of Sphinx is separate (at the British Museum)241 ft long, 63 ft wide, 6.34 ft highLargest MONOLITH statue in the world

Guess what’s across the street?

Smolinski tip: go to Giza!

Egyptian Architecture Main Points:

• Sleek, solid surfaces of pyramids

• Monumental scale

• Pyramids built without mortar

• No one went in once the dead were put in (sealed the pyramids)

• Believed that the dead could be reenergized after death and ascent to the heavens

• Temples have astronomical orientation

Egyptian Sculpture Main Points:

• Range in size- tiny jewelry to massive stone sculptures• Sculptures of pharaohs are meant to impress and

overwhelm• Individualization and sophistication are sacrificed for

monumentality and grandeur• Limestone, sandstone, gypsum used (easy to carve)• Wooden sculptures are painted• Copper and iron also used• Sculpture carved on site = “in situ”- carved from local

available rock (Great Sphinx)• Relief sculptures follow a formula. • Outdoor relief: Cut into rocks to show shadows

dramatically• Indoor relief: relief is raised from surface for visibility in a

dark interior

KHAFREc. 2500 BCE, anorthosite gneiss (similar

to diorite), height 5'6 1/8"• One of many portraits he commissioned of himself• Elegant but simple throne• Idealized body and features• Falcon god Horus is behind Khafre’s head,

protecting him• Khafre is an incarnation of Horus• Pharaoh divinely appointed• Symbol of a united Egypt in the interlocking of

lotus and papyrus plants at the base• Lions (regal authority) form the throne’s legs• In traditional royal costume (pleated kilt, linen

headdress, cobra symbol of Ra, false beard (royalty)

• Frontal, symmetrical, rigid, motionless, cubic• Dignity, calm, and permanence• Figure not cut away from the stone- arms and legs

attached, no negative space• Strict adherence to Egyptian canon of proportions.• Stone glows deep blue in sunlight

MENKAURE AND A QUEEN, PROBABLY KHAMERERNEBTY IIFrom Giza. Fourth Dynasty, 2490-2472 BCE.Graywacke with traces of red and black paint, height 54 1/2“, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

-Dignity, calm, permanence-Discovered in Menkaure’s valley temple-Single unit- figures attached to block of stone, arms and legs not cut free-United by queen’s symbolic gesture of embrace-Figures stare out into space-Menkaure’s powerful physique and stride = kingship-His fists are clenched over cylindrical objects.-Queen takes a small step forward = mimics his pose-Society’s view of women: Her sheer, tight clothes reveal shape of her body-Men and women the same height = indicated equality-Unfinished in some areas (done right before his death?)-Red paint remains (male statues usually painted red)

King Mycerinus (Menkaure)

C 2500 BCE

• Sculpted triad (3-person statue) shows King Menkaure between two women

• Goddess Hathor is on the left

• Personification of Cynopolis, nome of Upper Egypt, is on the right

• He wears crown of Upper Egypt

• False beard

• Short pleated kilt

• Holds two cylindrical objects

• Women wear tight dresses and wigs

• Hathor has her typical crown with sun disk and cow horns

• Nome has jakal, symbol of her nome

• Nome= an administrative division within ancient Egypt.

Representations of the Pharaoh

• Order and Stability – a conservative formula of representation

• Worship of the Pharaoh as a divine being who establishes Ma’at or (balance) between the human world and that of the gods

• An effective formula for transmitting knowledge and ideas through centuries and millenia

SEATED SCRIBEFound near the tomb of Kai, Saqqara. 2400 BCE.Painted limestone with inlaid eyes of rock crystal, calcite, and magnesite mounted in copper, height 21"

See him at the Louvre in Paris!

Hello!

How is he different than the other male statues?

Seated Scribe

• Created for a tomb at Saqqara as a provision for the ka

• Not a pharaoh: sagging chest and realistic rather than idealistic features

• Sedentary job = flabby• Flabby = no physical labor!• Color remains!• Amazingly lifelike, but not a

portrait (a conventional image of a scribe)

• Attentive expression, thin, angular face

• Contrasts with ideally portrayed pharoah

• Less formal than royal portraits

• Cap of close-cropped hair• Holds papyrus paper scroll

and pen (lost)

Rahotep and Nofretpainted limestone, Old Kingdom, c. 2620 BCE

• Idealized portraits

• Faces of the statues express solemness and self-assuredness

• Found in fancy mastaba = high rank

• Portraits of the two deceased in the mastaba (husband and wife)

part of her real hair is painted on foreheadto show she’s wearing a wig

• Well preserved- mastabas sealed until discovery

• Look freshly painted today

• Rahotep has short black hair, trimmed moustache, necklace with heart amulet

• Short white kilt, horizontal arm

• Hieroglyphics on chair give his name and titles

• Nofret: shoulder-length wig

• Circlet with flower decoration around her head

• Elegant long white gown, elaborate collar

• Arms folded across chest

• Rahotep: reddish-brown, Nofret: creamy white• Color difference between husband and wife is “canonical” in Egyptian art• CANONICAL = scholars don’t understand it, but it’s true• Painted colors aren’t their true colors in real life• Both have lifelike inlaid eyes of crystal (scared people who discovered them!)

TI WATCHING A HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNTTomb of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt c. 2400 BCE.

Painted limestone relief, height approx. 45“

• Painted relief in the mastaba of Ti, a government official

• Boat glides through gigantic papyri, which flower into a fan of birds and foxes (papyrus = symbol of rebirth)

• Hunt takes place as a memorial to the deceased

• Success in the hunt = fight against evil• Servants hunt as a tribute to deceased

Ti, and also to destroy animals like hippos, which damaged crops and were considered agents of the god of darkness (Seth)

• Ti stands on (not in) boat, he’s double anyone else’s size = shows status

• Boat symbolizes journey to afterlife• River as if seen from above- band of

parallel wavy lines below boat.• Fish, hippo, crocodile seen in profile

• Egyptians believed that superhuman forces were always at work and needed constant worship

• Funerary art- things that were buried last forever and this life must continue uninterrupted into the next world = artists represented the human figure as completely as possible

• Egyptian CANON OF PROPORTIONS – little individuality

• Let’s take a look….

Twisted Perspective andThe Canon of Proportions based on a grid

TWISTED PERSPECTIVE

• Poses impossible in real life

• Memory images (generic forms)

• Represent each part of the body from its most characteristic angel

• Heads in profile

• Eyes frontal

• Profile head, hips, and legs with frontal torso in between

• Usually striding to show both legs

• People of lower rank depicted more realistically

Canon of Proportions

• Ratios between height and components were clearly prescribed

• Calculated das multiples of a specific measure, such as the width of the closed fist

• This unit became the basis of a square grid- OLD KINGDOM STANDARD GRID

• Every body part had a designated place

• Example- the knees are X number of squares below the waist, etc.

• Figures rest on horizon line

• If they are above the line, they are thought to be receding into the distance

• Artists placed a grid over the areas to be painted and outlined the figures accordingly

• Unfinished figure = incomplete existence in afterlife, oh no!

• Even animals drawn as completely as possible

• These rules change a bit in the AMARNA PERIOD (more about that later)

Old Kingdom Summary:• Age of Pyramids• Canon of Proportions established• Twisted Perspective• Relationship between artworks and

afterlife established• Role and status of the Pharaoh

established

Middle Kingdom c. 2040 – 1640 BCE

• Collapse of Old Kingdom• 150 years of political turmoil• After a period of anarchy, Mentihotep II unified

Egypt for a second time in a period called the MIDDLE KINGDOM

• Arts and writing flourished – reflected awareness of political problems

• Pyramids abandoned in favor of smaller and less expensive rock-cut tombs

ROCK-CUT TOMBS, BENI HASANTwelfth Dynasty, 1950-1900 BCE

• Cliff walls hollowed out to reveal small burial chambers

• Reserve columns cut away from the rock to create the look of conventional columns, but don’t add support

• Columns are not round but fluted

• Façade shows shallow columned porch

• Included an entrance portico, main hall, and shrine with burial chamber under the offering chapel

• Tombs had practical stuff (food, clothing, furniture) and reliefs, paintings, and other objects to ensure safety and well being in afterlife

-Rock-cut tombs excavated in the faces of cliffs-Chambers, ornamental columns, lintels, false doors, and niches all carved out of solid rock

STELE OF AMENEMHATFrom Assasif. Middle

Kingdom, c. 2000 BCE.Painted limestone, 11" ×

15"

• Shoulders seen frontally• Rest of body, except the eye, is turned in profile• Sometimes heads and legs face different directions • Men are taller than women and are pained ruddy brown or red• Women are shorter and painted yellowish. Shading is rare. • Represent successful men and women acting calm and rational• Violence and disorder- only in scenes of animal slaughtering/sacrifices, or

overthrowing the forces of evil• Contentment and stability

Twisted perspective and grids were still used in the Middle Kingdom….

Middle Kingdom Tomb Painting

SENUSRET IIIc. 1860 BCE

• Moody look in the eyes and mouth

• Depressed, rather than heroic figures seen in Old Kingdom

• Figures in Middle Kingdom reflect period of unrest

• Introspective

• Firm chin

• Carefully delineated lines and folds of flesh between the brows and at the corners of the nose and mouth

“When thou liest down have care for thy very life, since friends exist not for a man in the day of misfortunes.”

-advice from Amenemhat I (great-great-grandfather of Senusret III)

Senusret III. Middle Kingdom, circa 1836-1818 BCEBlack granite

Sphinx of Senrusret III, c. 1878–1841 B.C.E.; Middle Kingdom

Connection with Old KingdomSphinx is popular throughout Egyptian art history

Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great during Persian Empire at Susa (480 BC).

Ancient Greek sphinx from Delphi

Faience Hippo, Middle Kingdom c. 1900 BCE

• Has all characteristics of a real hippo

• Rotund body on stubby legs

• Massive head with protruding eyes, tiny ears, big nostrils

• Example of FAIENCE: glass paste is fired to produce a smooth and shiny opaque finish

• Watery blue like habitat• Lotus blossom decoration• Decoration = he’s standing

in a tangle of water plants• Could be a symbol of

fertility (goddess Taweret had a hippo head) in a woman’s tomb

• Could be a symbol of evil in a man’s tomb (like in the hippo hunt imagery)

NEW KINGDOM1550-1070 BCE

• Anarchy after Middle Kingdom breakdown

• Invaders from Asia brought new ideas/technology

• Eventually, Egypt got back on track politically, kicked out the invaders, and began the New Kingdom

• New Kingdom = a period of unparalleled splendor!

• New Kingdom art is characterized by rounded and elongated figures

• New Kingdom pharaoh, AKHENATON, changed Egypt by abandoning worship of many gods to just ONE god, “Aton”

• AKHENATON = Aton’s representative on earth

• Aton is represented as a sun disk emanating rays (instead of gods that were human and/or animal symbols)

• New religion brought about new artistic style: AMARNA PERIOD

• Temples continued to be built into the sides of rock formations…

Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Deir al-Bahrri c 1473-1458 BCE, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt

• 3 colonnaded terraces and 2 ramps

• Visually coordinated with the natural setting

• Long horizontals and verticals of the terraces and colonnades repeat the patterns of the cliffs behind

• Patterns of dark and light in the colonnade are reflected in the cliffs

• Terraces were originally planted as gardens with exotic trees

• First time achievements of a woman are celebrated in art history!

• Hatshepsut is buried elsewhere (in the Valley of the Kings)

• Open garden spaces and grand architecture

• Imposing image of authority

• Union of nature and architecture

• Different levels of contrasting textures (water, stone columns, trees, cliffs = impressive!

Queen Hatshepsutc. 1473-1458 BCEGraniteAt the Met Museum in NYC!

• Queen represented in male costume of a pharaoh, yet slender proportions and slight breasts indicate femininity

• She’s often portrayed as a sphinx• Headdress, false beard, and traces of

the cobra on the crown show her affinity with male pharaoh role

• Represented in all the ways a male ruler would be

• About 200 sculptures of her exist, but many were damaged (smashed by her successor Thutmose III maybe?)

• Bull’s tail hanging from her waist (you can see it between her legs)

• Mother = Queen Ahmose• Father = the god Amun

Queen (Pharoah) Hatsepshut (c. 1495 BCE)

Sphinx of Hatshepsut c. 1479-1458, Granite

One of two obelisks to escape her stepson's plan to obliterate her memory, this obelisk was built by Queen Hatshepsut.

(1473 -1458 BCE).

• 97 feet tall • Inscription at base indicates that

the work of cutting the monolith out of the quarry required seven months of labor.

The Egyptian obelisks were always carved from single pieces of stone, usually pink granite from the distant quarries at Aswan, but exactly how they were transported hundreds of miles and then erected remains a mystery.

One of two obelisks to escape her stepson's plan to obliterate her memory, this obelisk was built by Queen Hatshepsut.

Obelisks of Hatshepsut

The use of the obelisks is even more of a mystery than their carving and construction. While the obelisks are usually covered with inscriptions, these offer no clue to their function, but are instead commemorative notations indicating when and by whom the obelisk was carved.

TEMPLE OF RAMSES IIAbu Simbel, Egypt. c. 1290-1224 BCE.

• Resembles a PYLON (monumental gateway to a temple marked by two flat, sloping walls between which is a smaller entrance)

• Huge seated quartet of statues of Ramses on the façade (front), carved “in situ”• Sun god placed over the entrance• Façade used to be brightly painted• Interior sculptures of Ramses too• Interior stretches 200 feet into mountain

Sun god

PYLON EXAMPLE ILLUSTRATION

what a location!

This relief is a listing of Ramses II’s various names.

SCHEMATIC DRAWING OF THE TEMPLE OF RAMSES II

Temple of Ramses II Nefertari’s Temple(Ramses’s wife)

• Standing statues of Nefertari are about the same size as Ramses. • She’s holding a sistrum (musical instrument)• Wears long sheet dress, very thin to show her body• Has long wig• Solar disk and tall feathers on her head dress.• Interior scenes show Nefertari making offerings to the gods.

Nefertari’s Temple

Detail of picture on right

• The two temples together honor the official gods of Egypt and Ramses II dynasty• Oriented so their axis crossed in the middle of the Nile (associated with annual life-

giving flood?)

Egyptian TemplesEstablished the temple format with columns that will be copied and transformed by the

Greeks and Romans.

Great Temple of Amen-Re (Amun) at Karnak, Egypt. 1290-1224 BCE

1914

• Amun temple renovated and expanded over 500 years of the New Kingdom

• About 60 acres!

• Huge columns, tightly packed together, admitting little light into the sanctuary

• Columns were elaborately painted

• Massive lintels bind columns together

• Columns in New Kingdom were based on plant shapes: lotus, palm, and papyrus

Papyrus

Lotus

Palm

top of the column is a “CAPITAL”

LOTUS

PAPYRUS

ENGAGED COLUMN: a columnthat is not freestanding. It is attached to a wall

Freestanding Columns

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Great_Hypostyle_Hall.jpg

Flower and bud columns, Hypostyle Hall, Great Temple of Amun at Karnak

• HYPOSTYLE = a hall in an Egyptian temple that has a roof supported by a dense thicket of columns

• This hall may have been used for royal coronation ceremonies.

• Ramses II called it “the place where the common people extol the name of his majesty”

• 134 closely-spaced columns supported roof of flat stones in steps (top step is 30 feet above bottom step)

• Massive columns (66 feet)• Long row of window openings in

center section (clerestory). Provided air flow through hall

• Most surfaces covered in relief carvings

After the Temple fell into disuse with the end of the Pharonic period, it was reused during the Christian period as a church. Those circular smudg-y things with halos are saints painted during the 4th century.

The interesting part of this picture is the screen in the middle. It's part of the original architecture of the Temple and was built to allow light and air into what would otherwise be an oppresive place.

• Huge statues inside• Huge stone statue of the god

Khepri (scarab beetle)• Priests washed and clothed the

statue every morning. • Gave it meals (then at the

meals themselves)• Inscriptions and images of

kings and god on columns and walls

Khepri statue: symbolic of rising sun, rebirth, and everlasting life

A very large statue (as in, I come up to half way up the base) of Ramses II with Nefertiti perched on his feet. Ramses II with Nefertari

Luxor

Luxor Temple complexEast bank of Nile River

1400 BCESix great temples in the complexUsed by Romans in the future (government homes and fortresses

Luxor

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/KarnakTemple@LuxorEgypt_rams_2007feb9-08_byDanielCsorfoly.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/KarnakTemple@LuxorEgypt_rams_2007feb9-08_byDanielCsorfoly.JPG

What is AMARNA STYLE?

What is AMARNA STYLE?

• Flourished during reign of King Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti

• Akhenaten believed in MAAT (divine truth)- “living the maat”

• Concern for truth = new artistic conventions

• Portraits of the king emphasize his unusual physical characteristics

• Told artists to portray his family in informal situations

Akhenaton, c. 1353-1335 BCEsandstone, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

• Body has same pose as in Old Kingdom sculptures, but features are smoother and more relaxed = new image of a pharaoh

• Curving contours• Long face, relaxed mouth• Heavy-lidded eyes• Tight clothes accentuate big hips• Stomach protrudes over elastic, hanging waistline• Thin arms• AMARNA STYLE

Akhenaten Nefertiti, 1353-1335 BCE, limestone

Queen Nefertit 1365 BCE -- Berlin

• Long elegant neck

• Realistic face• Soft, delicate

New Kingdom features

• Might have been a demonstration model for copying

• Wife of Akhenaton

• AMARNA STYLE

How is the AMARNA STYLE different than the style in the Old and Middle Kingdoms?

AKHENATEN AND HIS FAMILYFrom Akhetaten (present-day Tell el-Amarna).

c. 1353-1336 BCE. Painted limestone relief, 12-1/4" × 15-1/4”

• painted relief sculpture• Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and

three of their daughters • example of new openness

and new figural style• sunken relief (outlines of

figures are carved into surface instead of carving out background to make figures pop out)

• King and queen on cushioned thrones playing with their kids

• Base of queen’s throne has plant symbols of unified Egypt. This might mean she was a co-ruler.

• Royal couple gets blessings from Aten- rays end in hands and give them “breath of life”

• Hieroglyphics around them

• Children are nude, shaved heads (custom of the time)• Oldest (on lap) has side-lock of youth (patch of hair on side of head in braid)• Engaging behavior of kids, loving concern of parents, awww.

Family Sacrifice to Aten 1360

Monotheism with the sole god Aten – a radical change in religious worship and practice

Radical change in sculptural representation

Queen Tiy, New Kingdom, c. 1352 BCE, Armana Style

• Tiy = Akhenaten’s mother• Personality captured• Exquisite bone structure, dark

skin, arched brows, pouting lips

Pectoral of Senusrut II, New Kingdom, c. 1938-1755 BCE, gold and semiprecious stones• Pectoral = chest ornament• Horus falcons perch at base• Coiled cobras = symbols of Ra• Ankh (symbol of life)• CARTOUCHE (oval formed by a loop

of rope) with hieroglyphics of the king’s name

• Sun disk of Ra, scarab beetle• “May the sun god give eternal life to

Senusret II

Mask of King Tutankhamen, Valley of the Kings 1323 BCEgold, enamel, semiprecious stones

cool and creepy

• Famous tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1922

• Mummified body of King Tutankhamen

buried with 143 objects on his head, neck, abdomen, and limbs• Gold mask placed over head• Gold coffin 6’7” long containing body

of the King• Golden mask has smoothly idealized

features of the boy-king

INNER COFFIN from TUTANKHAMUN'S SARCOPHAGUSFrom the tomb of Tutankhamun, Valley of the Kings.

c. 1323 BCE.Gold inlaid with glass and semiprecious stones

• SARCOPHAGUS: a stone coffin• His tomb was never plundered = stuff in good condition• Body inside three nested coffins• Over 240 pounds of gold • Decorated with colored glass and semiprecious stones• linear designs and hieroglyphic inscriptions• Headcloth with cobra and vulture on his forehead• Blue braided beard• Necklace indicates military valor• King’s features reproduced – full lips and thin-bridged nose = continued AMARNA• Realistic portraiture• Became king at age 9, died at age 18 from genetic defects maybe (from incest)

JUDGMENT OF HUNEFER BEFORE OSIRISfrom a Book of the Dead. New Kingdom, c. 1285 BCE. Painted papyrus

• From Book of the Dead, an Egyptian book of spells and charms• The god of embalming, ANUBIS, has a jackal’s head.• Anubis leads Hu-Nefer (dead) into a hall where his soul is being weighed against a feather• If the sin weighs more than the feather, he is condemned• Hippo/lion figure between scales will eat the heart of an evil soul• The god Toth has the head of a bird- the stenographer writing down these events in the

hieroglyphics he invented (Egyptian writing using symbols or pictures as characters)• Osiris, god of underworld, appears enthroned- will put Hu-Nefer through a day of judgement

Weighing of the deceased’s heart against Maat’s Feather of Truth

Anubis Thoth Ammit the Devourer

Same story, just another painting…

The Book of the Dead

We will see many more images of souls’ judgment throughout art history. The afterlife is a major art theme.

16th – 11th centuries BCE, Valley of the KingsInitiated by Thutmose II

Valley of the Kings• From 16th to 11th century BCE (about 500

years), tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the NEW KINGDOM

• On the west bank of the Nile near Luxor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvpvdSY4d-Q

Tomb

Tomb of a Nobleman

“FAYUM Portraits”• Very late Egyptian art• Mummifying the dead continued into Egypt’s Roman

period• Mummy is a “soft sculpture” with Roman-style portrait

painted on wood panel in ENCAUSTIC (hot colored wax)

• Link Egyptian art with ancient Roman art (coming soon!)

Mummy Wrapping of a Young BoyRoman period 100-120 CE

Ancient Egyptian(hieratic)

Demotic(simplified form of hieratic)

Greek

ROSETTA STONE • Created in 196 BCE, discovered in 1799 in Rosetta, Egypt deciphered in 1822• A stele made of diorite• Inscribed with a degree issued at Memphis in 196 BCE on behalf of King

Ptolemy V• How it was figured out: linked some hieroglyphs to specific names in Greek

version, located the names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra in Egyptian scripts, built an alphabet of hieroglyphs

Major Points of Egyptian Art

• Modeled to promote ideas of Stability and Order (little variation in 3,000 years) – highly tied to religious practice

• Monumental Architecture with Pyramids and massive sculpture (Sphinx, Ramses II, etc.)

• Meant for Permanency – note use of stone, mummification, tombs

• Distinctive Representation with Twisted Perspective and Canon of Proportions for figures in painting and relief sculpture

• Architecture designed and executed by highly skilled craftsmen and artisans (not slaves)

• Mummification became a national industry, handled by embalming experts who were paid well

• Imhotep = history’s first artist on record• He supervised work under his direction• Artists were likely ordained high priests of Ptah,

the god who created the world in Egyptian mythology

Egypt Test Material:

• General understanding of Egyptian art styles, methods, purposes, and subject matter

• General understanding of styles and themes from each kingdom

ART:-Palette of Narmer-Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt-Seated Scribe-Menkaure and a Queen

Vocabulary:• Sarcophagus• In Situ• Mastaba• Necropolis• Reserve Column• Amarna Style• Engaged Column• Pharaoh• Papyrus• Hieroglyphics

• Hierarchy of Scale

• Hypostyle• Ka• Pylon