Art history- Ancient Egypt lecture notes

Principles of Egyptian art

Egyptian Landsape

• There is a drastic contrast between the green landscape around the nile and the desert landscape (most settlements developed around the river)

• Deshert (red land) VS Kemet( Black land) (fertile land along the nile)

• Upper Egypt is in the south

• Lower Egypt is in the north

The direction of the flow of the nile

• The Nile flows from the south to the north (from Upper Egypt to Lower Egypt)

Narmer Palette (Key work #1)

Narmer’s Palette characteristics

• King Narmer's name in hieroglyphics (Catfish and chisel)

• In the middle is a circular grinding area

• was found in the temple area

• A ceremonial or ritual object (Found with other ceremonial objects, so it was also a ritual object)

• The lines on the palette are called “registers”

• Each register is its own story 

One side of the palette

The king is holding the enemy with his left hand and holding his scepter

• Composite pose/twisted perspective: The king’s face and legs are facing to the side (profile), but both shoulders can be seen(shown in the frontal view)

* Egyptian art: Head in profile, shoulders frontal, chest in hybrid form, waist and buttocks in profile, legs in profile

• Narmer is defeating the enemy

Other side of the palette

• Hierarchical scale register: Narmer is depicted really large, but the servants next to him are really small (the difference in size shows status)

• Serpopards: modern term: serpent + leopard

• Bull is on the bottom: showing Narmer as an authority figure (maintains order)

What signifies that Narmer is king?

• Narmer is shown barefoot- a holy or sacred figure

• Narmer is shown as king of Upper Egypt, wearing a white crown of upper Egypt, red crown of lower Egypt, royal beard, and bull’s tail

• Bull= strength and power (so the bull tail confirmed Narmer’s strength and authority)

• The double crown meaning: Narmer’s power is confirmed throughout both Upper and Lower Egypt

• Red crown of Lower Egypt and white crown of Upper Egypt = double crown

Menkarure Dyad (Key work #2)

Menkarure Dyad Characteristics

• The king is on the left side, and the right side is suggested to be his wife (but uncertain)

• It was found in the Menkaure Valley Temple

• Both figures are strongly oriented to the front

• Can still see traces of pigment (red pigment) (around the face and ears)

Menkaure statue

• If you look down at Menkaure’s feet, his left foot is forward (even the woman’s left foot is also forward), showing a sense of movement

• Royal beard: States Menkaure as king

• Nemes (the wig on his head): States Menkaure as king

• He has broad shoulders and a strong figure

Woman statue

• The woman is almost the same scale as Menkaure signifying her importance

• The woman’s gesture almost looks protective (wrapping her arms around him)

• The woman’s body is much more slender and smooth (more youthful)

Ti watching a Hippopotamus Hunt (Key work #3)

Ti watching a Hippopotamus Hunt Characteristics

• Ti also had composite perspective (chest is profile but legs and head is to the side)

• Ti also has Hierarchical scale

• Papyrus extends more upwards (there are a lot of birds)

• The bottom has fish

• The vertical lines are individual stems of papyrus (looking at a marsh environment near the Nile)

• Can get a sense of abundance near the Nile (fish and birds) for hunting

  
  

Hippo hunting

• The marsh can be dangerous: the men are hunting hippos (a crocodile is being bitten by a hippo)

• Can think of the hunting as a way to control the powerful creatures (hippos)

• The men hunting hippos: The man on the far left; his arms and shoulder are muscular (and very twisted)

• Why did they choose to represent other figures in a rigid way?- For the other Egyptian works

• If they could, why did they choose not to make the body more flexible and fluid and muscular?

Faience Hippopotamus (“William”) (Key work #4)

Faience Hippopotamus (“William”) Characteristics

• Bright blue color

• Lotus flowers are painted on the hippo's body (almost as if the marsh itself is covering him)

• Blue: signifies fertility, life, water, marsh environment

• The water, the plants, and the hippo seem to be connected together

• The figure’s feet were mostly broken (which makes sense because the people hunted hippos and took out their legs and feet first) 

• William viewed under UV light: The feet of William reveal the extensive modern restorations performed on them by emitting UV light

Firing Silica

• Faience is made from silica: the replication process can leave the bright blue color

• After firing is when the object gets blue

• The blue surface develops through the process of firing

  
  

Sacred Places and powerful images

Key works

• Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser, Saqqara c. 2600 BCE

• Great Temple of Amun-Re, Karnak, c. 1500-1000 BCE

• Mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, c. 2450 BCE

• Horus Stele c. 664-600 BCE

Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser, Saqqara c. 2600 BCE

Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser characteristics

• Can clearly see levels and steps of the Pyramid

• It is the First monumental Pyramid

• The bottom part was the earliest stage (it started as a mastaba)

• At first, the mastaba was extended outwards. Instead of just getting wider, it started growing upward

Reconstruction of Djoser’s funerary complex, Saqqara. Dynasty 3 (c.2630-2575)

• The whole complex was surrounded by a wall (enclosure wall) 

• There are only one entrance (most of the other entrances are fake)

• MOST of it was built of stone 

Chapels of the Hed-Sed court, Step Pyramid Complex

• was a ritual of royal renewal. You were not meant to enter the chapel. 

• The pillars were made from wooden roof beams recreated in stone (it looks like bundled plant stems)

• Modern mudhif: a comparative example of bundled-reed construction

*Wood decays, but stone is more preserved

Serdab

is a small chamber in a tomb made to hold a statue (statue is enclosed in a stone chamber and can only look at it in front)

• Inside the chamber, you see the statue of Djoser, painted limestone

  
  

Statue of Djoser

• Inside the serdab you see the statue of Djoser, painted limestone

• The statue of Djoser has the headdress and the royal beard

Mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, c. 2450 BCE

Mastaba of Ti Characteristics

• Mastaba: Has a low rectangular shape (mastaba is Arabic for bench)

• The actual chamber was underground 

• *Mastaba can also be family tombs 

• The main ritual place was deep inside the tomb (The location of the Serdab)

• Where living can dead could interact (through the false door)

False door in the Ti of Mastaba

• The tomb of Ti has two false doors (you couldn’t actually open the door) (but during rituals, the door would be used for rituals and offerings) 

• Offerings: can include food and drink (Ancient Egyptians) bread, beer, incense, clothes, ointments) 

• His wife had her own false door! 

• His son had his own false door! Where offering rituals could be made for them 

Architectural details of the false door

• Panel: rectangular area in the middle 

• Cavetto cornice (the area in the top): similar to A papyrus

Great Temple of Amun-Re, Karnak c. 1500-1000 BCE

Great Temple of Amun-re characteristics

• As you enter the temple, you enter the monumental gate, the first Pylon

• Then the second Pylon

• As you go into the temple, the space becomes more enclosed

• The most sacred place is the inner sanctum

• As you go deeper into the temple, you are getting closer to the presence of the god/goddess

*Karnak: how architecture, imagery, and art maintain order - Temple as an ordered world

Procession of Amun from the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut, Dynasty 18. Karnak Temple

• In certain times, the god himself was brought out to the people 

Columns with papyriform and bud capitals, Hypostyle Hall, Great Temple of Amun at Karnak

• Hypostyle hall: The hall where the roof is supported by columns (Greek)(hypo: under)(stylos: column)

• The uppermost part of the column is called the capital 

• The columns are based on the form of a Papyrus

• The top(the tall) is almost like the bud of the Papyrus

• When you moved through the halls, it was as if you were moving through a giant papyrus marsh

Clerestory in the Hypostyle hal

• Clerestory: almost like windows that let sunlight through 

Walls of the hypostyle hall

• The walls of the column show a lot of drawings and rituals 

• Amun-re on the walls of the column: has the divine beard 

• Ma’at is presenting an offering to Amun-re: she is holding an ankh

*Ankh: Means order and life

Horus Stele c. 664-600 BCE

Horus Stele characteristics

• Is a child because his hair has a sidelock

• His name is Harpocrates: Horus the child 

• He is holding all the dangerous animals 

• Horus’s mother: Isis 

• Isis healed him and came to the rescue 

• Bes: on top of Horus's head of Horus: Bes=god

• Bes’ role was to protect children 

• It is apotropaic

• Horus’ face is smoother and worn out: might mean that people touch that part more often

*How images could be used for protection and healing

Apotropaic

something meant to protect you from danger 

Portable amulets= Horus Cippi

• Horus Cippi: can come in different scales and sizes

• Can be handheld (portable) 

• People touched the object repeatedly

Back of the Horus stele

• it is covered in Heiroglyphics 

• It is protective spells 

Overview of Scared places and powerful images 

The living and the dead

Key works

• Stela of the Standard Bearer, Smen, c. 1400-1390 BCE - connecting the divine and ancestor cults 

• Coffin of Khnumnakht, c. 1850-1750 BCE- Coffin as cosmos 

• Ancestor Bust, c. 1200 BCE- The dead among the living 

• Book of the Dead of Hunefer, c. 1275 BCE- The dead as ritual actor 

Coffin of Khnumnakht, ca. 1850-1750 BCE

Coffin of Khnumnakht characteristics

• Rectangular coffin, covered with hieroglyphics 

• How the space around his body is organized 

• On the right side: There is a pair of eyes: Wedjat eye: protective symbol 

• Head towards the north and face turned towards the east

• East is the direction of the rising sun: meaning rebirth and renewal 

• Middle Kingdom coffins: Four corners: the names of the sons of Horus 

• The names of the gods are helping to organize the coffin

The two kites on the Coffin of Khnumnakht

• Upper panel Isis: looks almost like steps

• Lower panel Nephthys: Basket over the head 

• Isis and Nephthys are placed on opposite sides of the body (to protect the deceased)

The painting on the Coffin- Two kites

• Birds are depicted as Isis and Nephthys 

• The deceased is represented by the god Osiris (see Osiris with green skin) 

• The birds are mourning over the body 

• After Osiris is killed by his brother Seth, they mourn for the body 

• Two kites: Isis and Nephthys 

“The ‘screecher’ comes; the kite comes Isis and Nephthys; they have come seeking their brother Osiris, seeking for their brother the King”. 

Sons of Horus

Duamutef, Amset, Hapi, and Qebhsennuf (the names are on the four corners) 

• Their names protect the deceased body

Canopic jars

Jars made in the shape of the sons of Horus 

• Imseti: human head

• Hapi: Baboon head

• Duamutef: Jackal head

• Qubehsenuef: Falcon head 

Stela of the Standard Bearer smen ca. 1400-1390 BCE

Stela of the Standard Bearer smen Characteristics

• Has a rounded top 

• Divided into two registers

• Upper register and lower register 

• Below is the offering formula 

• Upper and lower  register structure seems similar: both have the offering table in the middle, piled with food and drinks, has ritual actors on the right; there is a recipient of the offerings 

Upper register

• Osiris is seen: He has an atef crown - has feathers on either side, a crook and a flail 

• On the right is Smen

• Smen’s gesture represents worship (to Osiris) 

• Divine cult: ritual directed towards a deity

• Divine cult: Osiris ← Smen

Lower register

• Hesetre is Smen’s wife

• Hesetre is on the right 

• Her deceased parents are on the left 

• She is performing a ritual and offering to her ancestors

• Ancestor cult: her deceased parents ← Hesetre

Wife: to her deceased parents

Smen: to a divine god

Ancestor Bust c. 1320-1237 BCE

Ancestor Bust Charactertistics

• Only the head and chest are shown 

• Can see original color ( the blue) 

• Relatively large; facial features are carefully carved 

Deir el-Medina

• Deir el-Medina: one of the locations in which these objects are found 

• The village of Deir el-Medina, home of the workers who built the royal tombs KV, and their tombs

• The village itself is very well preserved. 

Domestic cult

A small niche is built into the wall (niches could contain religious images and objects) 

• There is a false door in the house that connects back to the false door in the tombs

• Interaction between the dead could be part of an everyday experience

Ancestor bust 

• Small ancestor bust on the left; a woman is performing an offering, incense 

• The dead could “assist and protect the living” - reciprocity, the living give offerings to the dead

• Akh/ effective death 

Book of the Dead ca. 1275 BCE 

Book of the Dead characteristics

• Looks like a judgement scene (judgement after death) 

• One side of the balance: neper’s heart, feather of ma’at

• Ma’at: representation of order 

• All the way on the right: Osiris is seating in his throne and shrine 

• Behind Osiris are two women/ goddess 

• Isis and Nephthys 

• In the papyrus: the owner and his wife are in a worshipping gesture

Weighing scene

• more complex

• Weighing the deceased person’s heart and the ostrich feather of Ma’at

• The deceased person's heart (representing their soul, conscience, and all the deeds—good and bad—they committed during their lifetime).

• The ostrich feather of Ma'at (the goddess of truth, justice, balance, and cosmic order)

• Spell 125: declaration of the innocent (not tampering with ritual objects) 

• Repeats “I am pure” four times 

The heart Scarab

• The heart of Scarab: a relatively large scarab inscribed with spell 30B 

• Spell 30B: Works against the deceased; the spell helps it keep in proper condition (proper condition of the heart) 

• Weighing: a judgement (not only moral), whether the deceased is in the proper condition to approach Osiris 

• Horus leads Hunefer towards Osiris 

Another scene from the Papyrus

• They are doing the worshiping gesture (two people)(Hunefer and wife) 

• On the right are two images of renewal 

• Baboons gesturing worship towards the sun= represents daily renewal 

• Djed: In Egyptian hieroglyphs, the pillar-like symbol representing the backbone of the god Osiris, the main god of the afterlife. It symbolized stability and permanence and was closely associated with the regeneration of Osiris.

• On either side of the djed are Isis and Nephthys (protecting the deceased) (two kites) 

• The two goddesses are in a worshiping pose 

Overview of The living and the dead

Overview of Ancient Egypt