Menkaure And Queen Analysis

Introduction

The statue of Menkaure and Queen was created 2490-2472 BCE and was found at Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty. This piece of art is referred to as a relief sculpture and made out of sandstone with approx. dimensions of 2x6x6’ feet. The subject’s matter, just as the title suggests, is the representation of the King Menkaure and Queen. Both Menkaure and Queen are displayed in a frontal view in a typical Ancient Egyptian standing pose positioned close to each other. The articles of clothing Menkaure is wearing includes a kilt, ceremonial beard as well as a headdress and the Queen is wearing a long thin appearing dress which is nearly reaching her ankles. The artist’s choice of scale, shape, line, and mass give the viewer the sense of equality,

On the other hand, his well-defined upper body with broad shoulders, muscular chest, and burly biceps are exemplified with smooth and elegant carved lines symbolizing his youthfulness. However, these smooth and elegant lines do not weaken at all his powerfulness which is best illustrated with his straight hanging down arms while his fists are wrapped around some kind of circular solid rod. The viewer captures his youthfulness but still gets the notion of his strength through the indicated tension in his smooth naturalistic carved muscles in his underarms. It is the contrast of these two different usages of lines that gives the sculpture the balance between the strength of confidence and relaxed peace.

Mass/Volume

Once again the theme of support, unity, and strength is further represented in the artist choice of mass and volume. Even though the piece of art shows two individual figures, the sculpture is made out of one solid black sandstone. This lets the sculpture appear more robust and compact, signs of strength. However, when observing the relief sculpture in profile it appears that the Queen is slightly tilted back and held up by the sandstone itself which adds a notion of support to the view’s perspective.