Studied by 1 person
Ancient Egypt (Periods/Cultures/Kingdoms)
Period: Pre-Dynastic Period (3,000BCE - 2,700BCE)
Kingdom: Old Kingdom (2,650BCE - 2,150BCE)
Kingdom: Middle Kingdom (1,975BCE - 1,640BCE)
Kingdom: New Kingdom (1,550BCE - 1,070BCE)
Period: Amarna Period (c. 1,350BCE)
Ancient Egypt (location)
Egypt
Pre-Dynastic Period (dates)
3,000BCE - 2,700BCE
Artwork ID: “Palette of Narmer”
Period: Pre-Dynastic Period
Location: Egypt
Dates: 3,000BCE - 2,700BCE
Medium: green schist
“Palette of Narmer” notes
ceremonial, not functional
hieratic scale
sets in motion styles unique to Egypt:
iconography, upright= alive, compromised position= dying/ dead
has registers (ground lines to organize space)
Narmer seen as god descendant (not a god himself)
barefoot: Narmer on sacred ground
Old Kingdom (2,650BCE - 2,150BCE) notes
Egyptian conventions solidified (and stay consistent for another 2,000 yrs)
architecture: mastaba --> stepped pyramid --> pyramid
Old Kingdom (dates)
2,650BCE - 2,150BCE
Artwork ID: “Stepped Pyramid of Djoser”
Artist: Imhotep
Kingdom: Old Kingdom
Location: Saqqara, Egypt (necropolis of ancient Memphis)
Dates: 2,650BCE - 2,150BCE
Medium: limestone
“Stepped Pyramid of Djoser” notes
first piece with a known artist
introduces the idea of verticality
Artwork ID: “Great Pyramids of Giza”
Kingdom: Old Kingdom
Location: Giza, Egypt
Dates: 2,650BCE - 2,150BCE
Medium: limestone
“Great Pyramids of Giza” notes
Khafre, Khufu, & Menkaure
gets even more complex inside than previous burial sites to ward off grave robbers
took 20 years to build but probably should've taken 100
continues idea of verticality
maybe supposed to draw you up towards gods?
maybe geometric perfection meant to stand out?
maybe looks like the shape of Ra's sunbeams?
Artwork ID: “Seated Khafre/Khafre Enthroned”
Kingdom: Old Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 2,650BCE - 2,150BCE
Medium: diorite
“Seated Khafre/Khafre Enthroned” notes
seated in conventional way for Pharaohs' depiction
rigid = stability,
fist with scroll = intellectual
open palm = unpredictable
detached = timeless
Horus wraps wings around him (blessed by gods)
diorite: rare, hard stone that shines blue in light
blue= Horus's color
Artwork ID: “Menkaure and Queen Khamerenebty”
Kingdom: Old Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 2,650BCE - 2,150BCE
Medium: graywacke
“Menkaure and Queen Khamerenebty” notes
one foot in front of other to show figures are alive/moving forward
very rigid
unusual that the queen is shown
queen’s pose implies providing support to the pharaoh (likely)
Middle Kingdom (1,975BCE - 1,640BCE) notes
focused on surviving
lots of war/chaos/upheaval, so there's not much art
Pharaohs trying to keep Egypt above water
Middle Kingdom (dates)
1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Artwork ID: “Head of Senusret III”
Kingdom: Middle Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Medium: yellow quartzite
“Head of Senusret III” notes
first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom
looks more stoic, serious, and wise
the ideal is now an older, aged face
older = more experience = trustworthy leader
wrinkles, less full face, sunken eyes
the life expectancy at the time wasn’t high, so aging was a privilege
the dude with the ears
Artwork ID: “Stele of the Sculptor Userwer”
Artist: Userwer
Kingdom: Middle Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Medium: limestone
“Stele of the Sculptor Userwer” notes
first 2 registers = hieroglyphs
last 2 registers = images
the only reason Userwer had a stele is because he was a sculptor and made it for himself
common people didn’t usually have that privilege
funerary stele
manifesting taking care of the dead
regional style was very stiff
New Kingdom (1,550BCE - 1,070BCE) notes
most prosperous time in Egypt
return to tradition & more art
New Kingdom (dates)
1,550BCE - 1,070BCE
Artwork ID: “Hatshepsut Kneeling with Offering Jars”
Kingdom: New Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Medium: red granite
“Hatshepsut Kneeling with Offering Jars” notes
not holding scroll
offering jars might be a homage to the people who helped her become Pharaoh
nothing to indicate femininity, depicted as any other male pharaoh would be
had to be recovered from pieces
Thutmose III tried to erase her from history
Artwork ID: “Ramose's Brother May and his Wife Werner”
Kingdom: New Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Medium: limestone
“Ramose's Brother May and his Wife Werner” notes
Ramose was 2nd in command to Amenhotep III
“mayor” of Thebes
found in tomb of Ramose
tomb was never finished b/c Akhenaten moved the capital from Thebes to Tel-el-Amarna
lots of texture on hair/ clothes (individuality creeping into style)
space makes more sense than Middle Kingdom art
all these components show the sophistication of the New Kingdom
Artwork ID: “Innermost Coffin from Tutankhamun's Sarcophagus”
Kingdom: New Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Medium: gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones
“Innermost Coffin from Tutankhamun's Sarcophagus” notes
dressed like Osiris
first untouched tomb that archaeologists found
shows return to old Egyptian tradition/ideals after whatever the fuck the Amarna period was
Artwork ID: “Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer”
Kingdom: New Kingdom
Location: Egypt
Dates: 1,975BCE - 1,640BCE
Medium: painted papyrus scroll
“Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer” notes
Hu-Nefer was a royal scribe
shows continuous narration (same figure shown in multiple times to show the story is progressing)
Osiris gets lots of visual mass and the horizontal lines point to him
Anubis (Jackel-headed god) leads Hu-Nefer to judgement area, then supervising scales
Horus (falcon-headed god) leads Hu-Nefer to Osiris (the green one)
Amarna Period (c. 1,350BCE) notes
Amenhotep III has Amenhotep IV (Amun is the traditional god of the sun; highest god)
Amenhotep IV changes his name to Akhenaten and makes Aten the new sun god, and the only god of the new religion
Akhenaten has Tutankaten
Tutankaten changes his name to Tutankhamun, moves capitol back to Thebes, and reinstates original religion/art traditions
Amarna Period (dates)
c. 1,350BCE
Artwork ID: “Akhenaten”
Period: Amarna Period
Location: Egypt
Dates: c. 1,350BCE
Medium: sandstone
“Akhenaten” notes
Nemis headdress, beard, crook & whip of Osiris stayed the same
more details in clothes and jewelry
face is very long & thin, has very defined facial features
very curvy & androgynous figure
Probably tied to Aten b/c they are genderless and Akhenaten saw himself as the physical manifestation of Aten
originally Amenhotep IV, changed to Akhenaten after coming into power
things kept from the past: beard and headdress
name means "effective on behalf of Aten"
not a god himself, but appointed by the gods (this is deviant from tradition of Pharaohs being a god)
Artwork ID: “Bust of Nefertiti”
Artist: Thutmose
Period: Amarna Period
Location: Egypt
Dates: c. 1,350BCE
Medium: painted limestone
“Bust of Nefertiti” notes
wife of Akhenaten
very well known for her beauty
name means "the beautiful one has come"
very idealized image
large eyes, long neck, small jaw
large headdress gives her head a lot of visual mass
these beauty conventions align with the standards of 20th/21st centuries
Artwork ID: “Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters”
Period: Amarna Period
Location: Egypt
Dates: c. 1,350BCE
Medium: sunken relief on limestone
“Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters” notes
depiction of the Pharaoh’s children is new
The kids look like aliens lol
curvilinear style
Akhenaten and Nefertiti are portrayed as equals
king and queen are the same size, Akhenaten isn’t in the center, facing each other, both are playing w/ the kids, 2 of the kids are facing Nefertiti, similar headdresses, Aten holds ankhs out to both of them, Nefertiti’s seat has papyrus on the sides which was only reserved for pharaohs
funerary mask
a mask that goes over the mummy's face
sarcophagus
stone box-like container for the 3 inner coffins
Nemes headdress
striped head-cloth typically worn by Pharaohs
Uraeus = protective cobra often seen on headdress of Pharaohs
ankh
symbol of life (mortal and eternal)
hypostyle hall
geometric sections that can be repeated to form a structure
in this case, pillars in a square unit that is repeated to form a hall
stele
upright tablet to communicate information
hieratic scale
a method of indicating the importance of individuals through relative size, regardless of actual dimensions
persons of lesser importance are thus depicted smaller in size in relation to their superiors
modeling
making something look 3-dimensional, whether via shading or carving
registers
scenes ordered in parallel lines
separate scenes and provide ground lines for figures
mastaba
a low, flat-roofed Egyptian tomb with sides sloping down to the ground
Arabic for "bench"
Rosetta Stone
helped us decode hieroglyphs
necropolis
large group of tombs
means "city of the dead"
conventions
a generally accepted or traditional way of representing forms in art
relief sculpture
sculpture that projects from a flat background
portrait (ancient world)
portraits of Pharaohs all looked similar
each one looked like the last Pharaoh's portrait
validates the last ruler by making him the ideal for your portrait
symbolized the ideals for the Pharaoh, not the actual identity of a specific person
composite view/pose (egypt)
legs and face in profile; eye, torso, and hips shown from front
canon of proportions
system of ratios that artists followed to show people
only way to differentiate people is hieratic scale or iconography
Horus
falcon-headed Egyptian god of the sky
carries ankh
protects the Pharaoh
sunken relief
a carving in which the outlines of figures are deeply carved into a surface so that the figures seem to project forward
hieroglyphs
pictures, characters, or symbols standing for words, ideas, or sounds
ancient Egyptian alphabet
lost-wax casting
the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass or bronze) is cast from an original sculpture
Osiris
Egyptian god of the underworld
The green one
Note 
Flashcard (92)