Egyptian Art

- relief sculpture depicted King Narmer uniting Upper and Lower Egypt

- hierarchy of scale

- used to prepare eye makeup (bc of blinding sun); probably commemorative/ceremonial

- believed to compress actions (that took place over many years) into one event

- narrative

- front: Narmer wears cobra crown (of Lower Egypt) and reviewing beheaded bodies of enemy (bird's eye view' heads carefully placed between legs)

- Narmer preceded by 4 standard bears an a priest; followed by food washer/sandal bearer

- center: harnessed lionesses w/ elongated necks (unification?); bottom symbol of bull knocking down city fortress (Narmer knocking over enemies)

- back: Horus as a hawk (god of Egypt) triumphs over Narmer's foes; holds rope around man's head and papyrus plant (symbols of Lower Egypt)

- Narmer w/ bull's tail (symbol of strength) at waist; bowling pin shaped crown as king of united Egypt; beating down enemy; defeated Egyptians lying beneath feet

- servant holding sandals

Palette of King Narmer

- created at tomb at Saqqara as provision for the ka

- realistic features ---> commoner

- color remains

- not specific; conventional image of a scribe

- attentive expression

- thin, angular face

- papyrus in lap; right hand once held brush, ready to write

- common motif in Egyptian art; needed for abilities

-soft body + sagging pectoral muscles = quiet and sedentary lifestyle

Seated Scribe

- giant monuments to dead pharaohs

- each w/ enjoining mortuary temple

- giant pile of limestone w/ minimal interior; pharaoh buried w/in

- oriented to cardinal points

- each w/ funerary temple connected by causeway

- tombs of pharaohs Menkaura, Khufu, and Khafre

Great Pyramids

- generalized features, but portrait of Khafre (pyramid behind)

- carved in situ

- body of lion; head of pharaoh and/or god

- seems to protect the pyramids

- originally painted to stand out in desert

- cats royal animals (ancient Egypt), probably because they saved grain supply from mice

- head badly mauled in Middle Ages; originally had beard (emblem of pharaohs)

- chapel between front feet

- connected to Khafre's tomb through passages

- erosion + damaging efforts to restore

Great Sphinx

- figures attached to block of stone (arms and legs)

- stare out into space

- wife's simple and affectionate gesture and/or presenting him to gods

- ankle length and tightly draped gown on queen; same height indicates equality

- original location: temple of Menkaura's pyramid complex @ Giza

King Menkaura and queen

- Karnark: center of Amun-Ra's cult (main deity in New Kingdom)

- added to for 500 years after initial construction

- columns elaborately painted; carved in sunken relief

- massive lintels bind columns together

- axial plan

- tallest columns w/ papyrus capitals

- lower columns w/ bud capitals

- massive sloped plyon gateway --> peristyle courtyard --> hypostyle hall --> sanctuary (few allowed)

Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall

- 3 colonnaded terraces (originally planted as gardens w/ exotic trees) and 2 ramps

- visually coordinated w/ natural setting

- first time achievements of a woman are celebrated in art history

- body interred somewhere

- play homage to ka

- never intended to be tomb

- bilateral symmetry

Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

- one of 200 statues placed around temple; 1/10 of Queen Hatshepsut w/ offering jars (part of ritual to honor sun god)

- statue of sun god brought before (in a procession)

- inscription on base: offering plants to Amun

- mate costume of pharaoh; false beard, kilt

- slender proportions and slight breast indicate femininity

- white crown of Upper Egypt

Queen Hatshepsut with Offering Jars (from Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut)

- Akhenaton holds eldest daughter (left), ready to be kissed

- Nefertiti holds daughter (right) w/ another daughter on shoulder

- @ end of sun's rays, ankhs (Egyptian symbol of life) points to king and queen

- Amarna period: smoother curved surfaces; low hanging bellies; slack jaws; thin arms; heavy-lidded eyes; awareness of space and depth; genre scene

- from altar in a home

- Akhenaton and Nefertiti having private relationship with new god, Aton

Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters

- famous tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1922

- mummified body buried w/ 143 objects on head, neck, abdomen, and limbs; gold mask placed over head

- gold coffin 6'7"

- golden mask w/ smoothly idealized features of Tutankhamun; naturalism from Amarna Period in youthfulness of face

- holds crook and flail, symbols of Osiris

- perhaps physically handicapped caused by genetic inbreeding (parents were siblings)

- reigned from ages 9-19

- found in the Valley of the Kings: traditional burial ground of Egyptian kings; naturally protected by cliffs against grave robbers

Tutankhamun's tomb, innermost coffin

- illustration from the Book of the Dead (Egyptian book of spells and charms for navigating underworld; helped dead survive test and pass into paradise)

-reverts back to traditional presentations

- each rigid figure in own niche; flat

- Hu-Nefer first kneels before gods and list sins he did not commit (trying to convince he was innocent throughout his life)

- Anubis leads Hu-Nefer into hall where is soul is being weighed against a pure ostrich feather; will be condemned is feather is lighter and devoured by hybrid beast Ammit (between scales)

- believed heart housed soul of a person

- Thoth w/ head of bird writing down these events in hieroglyphics (which he invented)

- Osiris (god of underworld) final test before Hu-Nefer can enter afterlife

Last judgment of Hunefer, from his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead)