Ancient Egyptian Art
Jul 05, 2015
Ancient Egyptian Art
Ancient Egypt
Egypt under the Pharoahs
Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods (ca. 3500-2575 BCE)
Old Kingdom (ca. 2575-2134 BCE) the “age of pyramids”
Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040-1640 BCE)
New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1070)
Egyptian, Palette of Narmer (back), c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’. Source
Akkadian, Victory Stele of Naram Sin, 2254-2218 BCE, pink sandstone, 6’7” high.
SourceSource
Egyptian, Palette of Narmer (back), c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’.
Egyptian, Predynastic Period Palette of Narmer (back), c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’.
Key Terms:
composite view- a convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally
hieratic scale- where size indicates relative importance
General concepts: -Art as used to express power and authority / relationship between art and politics / idealization versus naturalism / art and social hierarchies
Source
Serekh (area where the royal name is inscribed)
Palette of Narmer (front), c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’.
Key term:
registers- horizontal bands conventionally used to nearly order pictorial elements (the preferred mode for narrative art in Mesopotamia)
Source
Palette of Narmer (front), c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’Detail, depression for grinding cosmetics.
Source
Palette of Narmer (front), detail, c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’.
Source
Palette of Narmer (front), detail of bottom register, c. 3000-2920 BCE, Slate, 2’1’’.
Source
Some of the regalia used to identify royalty.
General Concept: conventions in art.
Source, p. 33
Commonly used poses and gestures in ancient Egyptian art.
Source, p. 37
Source
Key terms:
idealization-the depiction of a human or a figure in a way considered to be most ideal according to the values or conventions of a certain culture
canon of proportions-system of proportions using a grid to create a standard, ideal system for depicting the human figure (used in ancient Egyptian Art through the Middle Kingdom)
General Concepts: conventions in art
Source: Stokstad, Art History, 4th ed., p 65
Egyptian Sculptural Relief
Art and the Afterlife
Relevant Key Terms:-canon of proportions
(idealization)-composite view
-hieratic scale
Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt, from the mastaba of Ti, Saqqara Egyptc.2450-2359 BCE, painted limestone
4ft high
Mastaba tomb, Saqqara.
Key Term:
mastaba: the standard tomb type in early Egypt- characterized by a rectangular stone or brick structure with sloping sides and a flat top over an underground burial chamber.
Source
Imhotep, stepped pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara, Egyptc. 2630-2611 BCE.
Mastaba to Pyramid
General Concepts: art as a reflection of a
culture’s central belief systems and social
hierarchies
Great Pyramids, Gizeh Egypt, Fourth Dynasty.
Layout of the Gizeh plateau.Source
Pyramid of Khafre, Gizeh, Egypt, c. 2520-2494 BCE.
Queen Nefertiti Making and Offering to Isis, wall painting in the tomb of NefertitiNineteenth Dynasty, c. 1290-1224 BCE .
Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, from his tomb at Thebes, EgyptPost-Amarna Period, c. 1323 BCE.
6’1” long, gold with inlay [Egyptian Museum, Cairo].
Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, from his tomb at Thebes, EgyptNew Kingdom, c. 1323 BCE.
6’1” long, gold with inlay [Egyptian Museum, Cairo].
Video: How to Make a Mummy.
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-egypt/videos#how-to-make-a-mummy
General concepts: idealization versus naturalism / art and social hierarchies / conventions in art
Menkaure and his wife, from Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, 2490-2472 BCE.4’6” high [MFA, Boston].
Seated Scribe, from Saqqara, EgyptFourth Dynasty, c. 2500 BCE,1’9” high, painted limestone.
Khafre Enthroned, from Gizeh, EgyptFourth Dynasty, c. 2520-2494 BCE
5’6” high.
General Concept: idealism versus naturalism
General Concepts: representations of power and authority / relationship between art and architecture / representations of women in art
Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1473-1458 BCE.
General Concepts: representations of power and authority / relationship
between architecture and artworks / representations of women in art /
conventions in art
Hatshepsut with offering jars, from the upper court of her mortuary temple, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt,
18th Dynasty, ca. 1473-1458Red granite, 8’ 6” high.
[MET Museum, NY; reconstructed].
General Concepts: representations of power and authority / relationship between art and architecture
Façade of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, New Kingdom, c. 1290-1224 BCE,Colossi= 65’ high, sandstone.
Interior of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, New Kingdom, c. 1290-1224 BCEPillar statues= 32 ft high, sandstone
General Concepts: Change in conventions / the human
body in art
Akhenaton from the temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, Sandstone, 13’ highAmarna Period, ca. 1353-1335.
General Concepts:
-conventions in art
-the human body in art
-Idealization versus naturalism
-art and architecture as a display of power and authority
-the relationship between art and politics
-systems of art and the status of the artist
-art and architecture as a reflection of a culture’s central belief systems and social hierarchies
-the relationship between art and architecture