Egyptian Art

1. Egyptian Art 3,000 BCE- 300 BCE

2. Vocab • Necropolis: “city of the dead”, a large burial area/ cemetery • Pylon temple: a monumental tower forming the entrance to an ancient Egyptian temple, a massive gateway • Hypostyle Hall: a hallway with a roof supported by columns • AmarnaPeriod: era of Egyptian history during the latter half of the 18th dynasty when the pharaoh’s reign switched to Akhenaten • Registered Art: a panel often used to describe historical narratives • Canon: a rule, for example, of proportion • Cuneiform: composed of slim triangular or wedge-shaped elements, as the characters used in writing by the Sumerians • Lamassu: Akkadian protective spirit, often in the shape of a bull • Stele: an upright stone slab or pillar bearing an inscription or design and serving as a monument or marker • Cylinder Seal: a cylinder with an incised design or cuneiform inscription to indicate ownership or possession when rolled in soft clay • Votive Offering: an offering in fulfillment of a religious vow

3. Egyptian Gods • Re: Egyptian sun God • Amen: Sun god of city of Thebes • Aten: Sun god for Akhenaten • Isis: Goddess of fertility, portrayed with cow’s horns, wife/sister of Osiris • Osiris: God of the lower world and judge of the dead • Horus: Falcon-headed god, holding the ankh in right hand • Anubis: Jackal-god of mummification, holding divine scepter in right hand

4. Characteristics of Egyptian art • (3,500): Proof of the beginnings of sophisticated civilization around the Nile River. • Maintains close relationship to the Nile River • Mostly funerary art

5. Pre-dynastic Art (3,500-3,000) • Difficult to date works • Closely influenced by Mesopotamian and African art • Surviving art consists chiefly of ceramic figurines, decorated pottery, and reliefs of stone and ivory.

6. People, boats and animals, detail of a watercolor copy of a wall painting from a Predynastic tomb at Hierakonpolis, c.3500-3200 BCE. • Funerary scene • Boats symbolic of life and death, full of mourning women and tombs • Exemplifies kaas a living force needing to be fueled • Mesopotamian and African influence exemplified by heraldic figures

7. Palette of King Narmer(back and front), from Hierakonopolis, Late Predynastic, c. 3100-3000 BCE. Slate, approx. 25” high. • Artistic canon • Twisted perspective • Bulls as a symbol of masculinity • Horus symbolized by bird with man’s arm • Lions and serpents heads symbolize the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt • Name written in hieroglyph • Papyrus • Hierarchical, Namer is biggest similar to a deity • White crown of Upper Egypt • Utilitarian use as makeup storage • Commemorative, not funerary

8. Old Kingdom (3,000-2,100) • Social cohesion and stability • Ruling family’s expanding wealth exemplified by the increase in size and complexity of tomb structures that they prepared for themselves for the afterlife. • Beginning of dynasties • Life-size, or colossal royal portraits in stone

9. Mastaba and Pyramids • Similar to ziggurats, except it’s a tomb • Pyramids only during the Old Kingdom

10. Pyramids Great Pyramids (Dynasty IV) of Gezeh,from left: Menkaure, c. 2525-2475 BCE.;Khafre, c. 2575-2525 BCE; (Chephren), The Sphinx;Khufu, c. 2600-2550 BCE. (Cheops), “The Great Pyramid” • Menkaure- tombs for queens, smallest, worst economy • Khafre- the sphinx, still had venire • Khufu- the biggest pyramid • Pyramids reflected the wealth of Egypt, permanence • The venire was meant to encapsulate sunlight • Impressive mathematic skills • House for the ka

11. Khufu • The biggest pyramid • Stress relieving chambers of massive granite blocks, cantilevered blocks, and a pent roof to distribute weight • 2,300,000 blocks which individually can weigh 50 lbs.

12. Khafre • Portrait of King Khafre with a headdress, but without a beard • Khafre is combined with a lion, a guardian figure or protector (like Lamassu and the lion’s gate) • Diorite- a hard blue stone • Subtractive sculpture in the round • Idealized portrait: solidity, unchanging, permanence • Wears ceremonial headdress and beard, hands in fists, eyes forward looking into time, strong shoulders and slender waist

13. Menkaure • Solid + joined with webbing = Permanence • Idealized canon of proportions • Hands in fists • Left foot forward • Looking into eternity • Unnatural pose • Fist as a unit of measurement • Both ideal forms, Menkaure is softer than Khamererenebty • Clothed, “wet-drapery” style • Ceremonial headdress and beard • Smallest pyramid

14. Seated Scribe from the mastaba tomb at SaqqaraDynasty vc. 2500-2400 bcePainted Limestone • Scribes were revered, but were not upper class • Natural, not idealized • Relaxed • Painted, flesh-like • Holds writing equipment

15. Middle Kingdom (2,150-1,500) • -Follows political turmoil of the Post-Old Kingdom. • -Decentralized government, not allowing for major projects like the Pyramids. • -Pyramids still in existence but face major down scaling due to ineffectiveness of size to protect tombs. • -Instead, tombs are made into intricate systems that are meant to confuse robbers.

16. Rock cut tombs, Beni Hasan, 2000-1900 BCE.

17. Section (top) and floor plan (bottom), Beni Hasan, 2000-1900 BCE.

18. Interior Beni Hasan, Dynasty XII, 1950-1900 BCE

19. Tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan, Dynasty XII, 1985-1795 BCE.

20. Fragmentary Portrait Head of Sesostris III, Dynasty VII, 1875-1825 BCE, Quartzite.

21. New Kingdom (1,500-600)