Art History Chapter Four: Egyptian Art from the Predynastic Nile Valley through the Old Kingdom: 4000-2000 BCE

Copy of a wall painting from Tomb 100- Hierakonpolis, Egypt. Predynastic period, c.3500 BCE. Watercolor painting

Depicts: Everyday activities along the Nile River, including fighting, hunting, and herding, in a seemingly unstructured way. The artist does not distinguish water from land, and people and animals stand in areas in which the boats are presumably floating

Example of: Material culture, hierarchical use of space

Gebel el-Arak knife (both sides)- Gebel el-Arak, Egypt, 3450-3300 BCE. Flint knife and hippopotamus ivory handle

Depicts: Two individuals in hand-to-hand combat. Below them, two different types of boas, similar to those in the Hierakonopolis wall painting, move near the battle. On the other side of the handle, a bearded man in a long robe grasps the throats of two lions that have reared up on their hind feet. This individual is similar to the male figure interpreted as a priest-king depicted in many seals, vases, and sculptures from Uruk in southern Mesopotamia

Examples of: Iconography and symbols of kinship between Mesopotamia and Egypt, registers (individuals in hand-to-hand combat)

Narmer Palette (both sides)- Excavated at the sacred enclosure of Horus, Hierakonpolis, Egypt, end of Dynasty 0, c.3000 BCE. Graywacke

Depicts: Narmer, legendary king who united lower and upper Egypt by 3050 BCE. On one side, Narmer is represented striking a kneeling enemy with his ceremonial mace. He is observed by a falcon representing the god Horus who is perched on a papyrus plant. Narmer wears the white crown of Upper Egypt and is followed by his sandal-bearer. The king is barefoot, signifying he is walking on sacred ground. Two defeated enemies pose in subjugation at the bottom of the palette on the lowest register. A pair of frontally depicted human faces with cows’ ears and horns is carved on the top with a hieroglyph in between them. In the register above the circular depression, Narmer is seen wearing the red crown of lower Egypt. He walks toward the headless corpses of enemies lined up across the field with their severed heads tucked between their own feet (designed to instill fear).

Example of: Low relief, hieroglyphics, hierarchical scale

Funerary enclosure of King Khasekhemwy- Abydos, Egypt, Early Dynastic period, Second Dynasty, 2890-2686 BCE. Made of brick and smoothed with mud, painted white

Use: Make offerings to the deceased king, Khasekhemwy (ruled c.2704-2686 BCE) The enclosure does not contain burials but retainers of the kings were buried in the pits outside the enclosure walls. Intentionally destroyed after a short period of use, perhaps as part of a ritual burial or to give prominence to the next ruler’s enclosure

Mastaba tomb (sectional drawing)- Saqqara, Egypt, second or third dynasty. The ka statue of the deceased is visible in its small chamber (serdab). A vertical shaft that links the mastaba superstructure to the underground burial chamber

Use: Funerary use, held the burials underground and the deceased’s ka statue in another small room that people can look into

Example of: Mastaba

Djoser’s funerary complex, with the Step Pyramid (schematic drawing)- Saqqara, Egypt, Old Kingdom, Third Dynasty, 2667-2648 BCE

Use: Funerary complex of Djoser (ruled 2667-2648 BCE), holds Djoser’s ka and two royal burial structures: the Step Pyramid and the South Tomb. The Step Pyramid has six levels that resemble mastaba-like structures, each made of small brick-shaped limestone blocks

Example of: Step Pyramid,

Djoser’s funerary complex- looking toward the Step Pyramid from the Heb-Sed Court, with limestone ashlar buildings for the king’s funerary cult. Saqqara, Egypt. Old Kingdom, third dynasty, 2667-2648 BCE

Use: A place for Djoser to celebrate the Heb-Sed (Sed festival, or royal jubilee). Living rulers celebrated this festival in the thirtieth year of their reign as a ritual of rejuvenation by running around two large stones that were symbolic boundary markers of Upper and Lower Egypt

Example of: Step Pyramid

The King running during the Heb-Sed festival- in the underground tomb at Djoser’s funerary complex. Saqqara, Egypt, Old kingdom, Third Dynasty, 2667-2648 BCE. Stone relief on a false door

Example of: Low relief

Engaged columns of the House of the North- detail of papyrus-shaped capitals, in the Heb-Sed Court, Djoser’s funerary complex, Saqqara, Egypt, Old Kingdom, Third Dynasty, 2667-2648 BCE

Use: Column shaped like papyrus to show that Egyptians believed that these plants filled the marsh along the journey to the afterlife so they were included in Funerary complexes

Example of: Capital, engaged column

Pyramids on the Giza plateau- Egypt. The pyramid of Menkaure is in the foreground; the Great Pyramid of Khafre is in the center; Khufu’s is on the right, in the background. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty, 2589-2503 BCE

Use: Monumental pyramids became central to the ideology of the Egyptian state and expressions of state power. Also created by rulers to enact their rebirth to ensure the order of Egypt and the cosmos

Example of: Corbeling, mastaba pyramids (queen’s pyramids)

The Great Pyramid of Khufu- Giza, Egypt. Schematic drawing of the pyramid and its subsidiary tombs. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty, 2589-2566 BCE. Facade was covered with fine white limestone

Use: Inside the pyramid are passageways that ascent from the entrance to separate burial chambers for the king and queen, and descend to an unfinished chamber carved into the bedrock beneath the pyramid. Boats are buried around the pyramid that were intended for the deceased king and his family to use on their journey to the afterlife and may also have carried the king’s body across the Nile to his funerary complex

Khafre as the enthroned king- Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty, 2558-2532 BCE. Anorthosite gneiss. Found in the mortuary complex of Khafre

Depicts: Khafre wears a ceremonial pleated kilt and also the linen head cover and false beard reserved for royalty. The king’s posture and solemn gaze into the distance create a sense of permanence and eternity. His youthful and muscular body and smooth face convey ideal strength. A Horus falcon embraces the king’s head from the back, placing him under the god’s protection

Use: To portray the king as youthful, strong, and powerful. Like the Narmer Palette, the stature identifies Khafre’s kingship with territorial unity

The Great Sphinx- Giza, Egypt, 2558-2532 BCE.

Depicts: Like the Khafre statue the Sphinx wears the royal nemes headdress, making it a portrait of an Egyptian ruler, perhaps Khafre himself, whom it resembles

Use: Likely a guardian of Khafre’s causeway

Example of: Hybrid

King Menkaure and queen, probably Khamerenebty II- Giza, Egypt, Old Kingdom. Graywacke

Use: Representation of the royal couple as the ideal calm, youth, and strength

Ka statue of Djoser, visible through a hole in the serdab wall, Djoser’s funerary complex- Saqqara, Egypt, Old Kingdom, Third Dynasty, 2667-2648 BCE

Use: Funerary purposes, upon his death the King’s ka and ba were united so that the king became an akh, a glorified being of light like the sun god. The King could come back and inhabit the body of the ka. Ka statues became a feature of Egyptian royal funerary complexes

Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt (detail), Tomb of Ti- Saqqara, Egypt, Old Kingdom, Fifth Dynasty, c. 2494-2345 BCE. Painted limestone relief

Use: The interior walls of the mastaba tomb of Ti, a high-ranking official in Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty, were pictorially vibrant, with reliefs and paintings intended to nourish his ka and assist him in engaging in the activities depicted. Reflects his honors, accomplishments, professional responsibilities, and goals

Example of: Low relief

Seated statue of scribe- found out of context in Saqqara, Egypt. Old Kingdom, fifth dynasty, 2494-2345 BCE. Painted limestone, with inlaid eyes of rock crystal, and magnesite mounted in copper

Difference from Egyptian king statues: stomach fat that distinguishes a wealthy man, relaxed posture

Example of: Inlay (eyes)