Art History: Vocabulary

Ka

In ancient Egypt, the immortal human life force

Post and Lintel

A system of construction in which two posts support a lintel. “Two upright stones (posts) support a horizontal block (lintel or Beam)” Neolithic Maltese temples are known for this combination

Mortise and Tenon

A joint formed by the insertion of a tongue (the tenon) into a hole (the mortise). It’s used in stone masonry (like stone henge)

Twisted Perspective

Or composite view, a strategy in which combines more than one viewpoint of the same subject within a single image

Relief Sculpture

A three-dimensional artwork in which figures or designs project out from a flat background surface.

High relief Sculpture

the image projects bodily, such as medieval weighing-of-soul scene

Low-Relief

Or bas-relief, the projection is slight. Done by either carving or casting

Cuneiform

A system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia, in which wedge-shaped characters were produced by pressing a stylus into a soft clay tablet, then baked or allowed to harden. Beginning of writing

Ziggurat

In ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a tired platform for a temple

Stele

A carved stone slab used to mark graves or to commemorate historical events

Cylinder Seal

A cylindrical piece of stone usually about an inch or so in height, decorated w/ an incised design, so that a raised pattern is left when the seal is rolled over soft clay. Documents, storage jars, and important possessions were signed, sealed, and identified in this way

Hieractic/Hierarchical Scale

An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance

Lamassu

Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged Bull or Lion

Register

One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative or the particular levels on which motifs are placed

Ground Line

In paintings and reliefs, a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand.

Mastaba

Pyramid

Ashlar Masonry

Nemes Headdress

Faience

Canon of Proportions

Canopic Jars

Mummification

Sarcophagus

Papyrus

Sphinx

Serdab Sculpture

Ankh

Crook and flail

Fresco

Theseus and the Minotaur

Labyrinth

Cyclopean Masonry

Corbel Vault

Relieving Triangle

Megaron