Ancient Egyptian Art Flashcards
Palette of King Narmer
3150-3125 BCE
Made for Grinding up paint. Circle In middle represented roundel for balance or Ma-at. Religious purposes, larger than any other palette ever found. Bulls symbolize the sky realm. Found in a temple buried with Horus. Shows Narmer’s power by showing him beating his enemies with a mace. Mace represents authority. The back shows composite views, multiple views at once. Bull at the bottom represents King killing his enemies. Horus is the Falcon holding the papyrus for Lower Egypt. This shows him gaining power of lower Egypt.
Mastaba “Bench”
These were the fist burial Tombs. Many mastabas very simple. They were big, but not as big as Pyramids. Made with bricks, mud, lay, stone. At first only the elite were buried. Bodies were mummified. Objects of daily comfort were placed for afterlife. There were statues placed next to the sarcophagus to insure the Kaa was kept safe. Kaa is spirit.
Funerary Complex of King Djoser “Saqqara”
2681-2662 BCE
Was the first Necropolis “City of the dead.” Located at the Capital Memphis, It had 33ft. walls built around it. The Pyramid in the middle had steps surrounding it pointing exactly North, East, West, and South. Right outside of the complex, there was a temple that held burial ceremonies. The Necropolis was a mimic of his palace and included 14 fake gateways. This burial complex was made to last compared to the people living in everyday building. His complex was made of stone while homes were made of mud and clay. A life size statue of him is sitting on a throne so that his presence is always at the ceremonies held at the Necropolis. His burial chambers had 2 holes so that his Kaa could witness these ceremonies. “Imhotep” was the man who planned all of it out. He later became a deity for his skill in architecture.
Sculpture of Khafra
2500 BCE
Sitting on a throne this statue was made to show authority. These statues were lined up at his palace to show his presence or ruling. His open hand shows approval for himself and other matters. This is an example of a “rigid frontality”, which means it is meant to be viewed from the front. Ripped body shows strength in authority and papyrus represents lower Egypt.
Menkaure and his wife
2515 BCE
This was another work of “rigid frontality.” This showed unity of the two by them being close to the same height, the Woman conjoining arms with the man. Female is slender and smoother sculpting. Man is muscular. Left foot forward shows dignity. This was high relief because it was not freestanding.
Prince Rahotep and his wife
2580 BCE
This portrayed males as darker skinned and females as lighter skinned. The inscription in the back tell that he is a government official. The pose they were in was a ritual pose. The were technically in high relief due to the non freestanding nature of the sculpture.
Relief panel of Hesy-Ra
2660 BCE
This sculpture was carved out of wood in low relief. It was also meat for “rigid frontality” and the stance the man is in is standard for court officials. His body is potrayed in composite view showing his head as side, body frontal, feet side. This was only used for important people in art. The man had 2 left feet.
The Canon
The canon is a common form of guidelines that important people were potrayed. This included dimensions of people and porpotions of body parts. Even symbolism was constant as papyrus was commonly representative as the lower kingdom. Males were depicted in 2 ways, young: muscular, old: fat and wise.
Sculpture of seated scribe
2400 BCE
The man was in the wise form. He was old and wise looking. Man was fat to show he was well fed. Scribes were in elevated position. The man was holding a stylus and a piece of papyrus paper showing he was a scribe.
Sculpture of Ka-Aper
2450-2350 BCE
It was very lifelike wood sculpture and the left foot forward shows his elevated position and wisdom. Staff also means he is a official. He was fatter and wiser in the mature state.
Sculpture of Senwosret lll
1850 BCE
He was no longer immortal looking and portrayed feelings of the Kings. He looked tired and sad after a loss in a military campaign against Nubia. However the body was still idealized while the face was impressionistic. Women were also changed, they were slimmer in the shoulders waists and limbs. Males were not as muscular.
Sculpture of Lady Sennuwy
1920 BCE
She is sitting with her hands on her lap, all new cannons apply. She has slimmer shoulders, waists and limbs.
Rock-cut Tombs of Beni Hasan
1950-1900 BCE
These tombs were hidden in the walls of rocks. There were low relief sculptures covered in the walls. There was a niche in each tomb with a statue. The statues were there to preserve the Kaa if it were to ever leave and needed a place to stay.
Valley of the Kings
These were the tombs cut into rack faces in mountain sides. Many Kings had entrances covered after they were buried.
Hatshepsut’s Temple
1478-1458
She became Pharaoh when Thutmose III was too young to rule. She ruled until she died. Her temple was placed beside an older temple to show how powerful she was. She built her temple to match the natural surrounding around it. It harmonizes with the lines of the cliff and the pathway to it lined with sphinxes and trees. She had many sculptures within the temple including one of her husband crowing her. Eventually when Thut took over, he wanted to erase the memory of her by scratching out very work of art that had to deal with her.