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In the ancient Egyptian culture, any king, or Pharaoh, was seen as a divine figure because he was believed to be connected to the gods/goddesses. He was also believed to be chosen by them. The Triad of King Mycerinus and Two Goddesses is a sculpture that demonstrates this belief. It was first found in Giza, Egypt. Today it can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. During the Ancient Egyptian times, sculptures were very important to the culture. Often times, people of the higher class had sculptures made to resemble themselves. Material of the sculpture usually told a lot about the importance of the person it portrayed. The Triad of King Mycerinus and Two Goddesses, for example, is made out of Greywacke. The reason why quality material was usually used on royalty sculptures is because it was believed to last for a long time. Judging by the condition of The Triad of King Mycerinus and Two Goddesses, this appears to be true. Having a strong sculpture symbolized the immortality and strength of the king. After death, the king is believed to live on forever in the afterlife with ...
Looking at this Palette, it isn’t hard to see how the old Egyptian subjects were so entranced by their leaders and how that compares to our modern viewpoints. Where we view politicians and leaders as a wiry group, always keeping an eye on them lest today be the day they raise their daggers against us, the ancient Egyptians saw their leaders as infallible, godlike beings to be trusted, obeyed, and adored. Standing just over 2 feet tall and 1.4 feet wide, this Palette was carved out of a majestic shade of grey-green siltstone, almost shield-like in appearance. Both sides are exquisitely carved out, each one uniquely decorated but both sides containing a central serekh used to identify and in this case even confirm the subject as royalty. This serekh contains the symbols n’r and mr, which as you may have noticed, phonetically spell Narmer. These symbols are surrounded by two bovine heads, which could either represent the Goddess Hathor or Bat. The front s...
...nt through the women. The power to rule was passed from wife to husband. Kha-merer-nebty II is shown here presenting her husband, Mycerinus, as the pharaoh. Unlike the sculpture of Augustus, this sculpture also has a religious purpose. The Egyptians believed that in order for the “ka” (spirit) to live forever, the body had to be preserved which is why they mummified their bodies. As an extra precaution, sculptures like these were made to serve as a “replacement body” for the ka should something happen to their body.
Sculpture is a medium that artists in ancient Greek commonly used to express spoken truths in an unspoken form. Every piece of ancient Greek sculpture has more than what the eye sees to explain the story behind the [in this case] marble.
The Head of Augustus, that is located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a combination of Roman and Egyptian art. The Roman technique used to sculpt Augustus’ head is highly valued, but it is the Egyptian faience practice that makes this work of art significant. To best understand why this sculpture was created under the influence of these two cultures, a brief review of history is discussed.
The Egyptian culture was a culture that lasted about 3,000 years and was located near the Nile River. The Nile River provided most of the resources for the Egyptians; therefore, a lot of the artwork was based on representing these bountiful resources. Another major influence of the artwork that was created was the kings and gods that were held at such high standards (Stokstad and Cothren, 50). There is one king in particular that was known in history for his great accomplishments, this king was King Narmer. The Egyptian’s expressed their respect for this king through a palette known as The Palette of Narmer. This piece is one of the firsts of Egyptian times that sets the morals for Egyptian artwork; it was created in the Early Dynastic time period. The Palette of Narmer tells a vast political story of the history of Egypt and the king, King Narmer.
Monumental architecture in Pharaonic Egypt is represented primarily by the funerary complexes of the pharaohs. The principal function of these elaborate complexes was to ensure that the pharaohs, who were exalted as living gods, would attain the afterlife they desired. This required that two basic conditions be fulfilled: the body had to be preserved from disturbance or destruction; and the material needs of the body and the ka had to be met (Edwards 20). Pharaonic burial complexes were also centers of worship for the god-king interred there and were designed to exalt his memory and deeds.
The statue of King Khafre Seated , from the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, 2520 - 2492 BCE, was created by an unknown artist in the smooth permanence of graywacke stone. Although the statue is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as number 56 in the Special Egyptian Exhibition, its true home is at the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo. The man being portrayed, King Khafre, ruled Egypt for approximately thirty years, during which he commissioned the single most recognizable monuments of Egypt, the a fore mentioned Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. These monuments of symmetry and solidity characterize the focus of popular architecture and sculpture from the Old Kingdom in Egypt.
King Tutankhamun’s innermost coffin and death mask (Figures 1,2) were completely covered in beaten gold with “semiprecious stones such as lapis lazuli, turquoise, and carnelian” (Kiner, 3-5d). These items showed the how much attention to detail the Egyptians took in preparing their King for his afterlife. The death mask of King Tutankhamun is probably the most recognized item in present day, but beside it being completely aesthetically pleasing it show him with idealized features wearing the traditional false beard and uraeus cobra headdress (Figure 2). For the Egyptians the death mask provided the dead with a face in the afterlife, but also allowed the spirit to recognize his or her body. King Tutankhamun was buried within three different coffin but the innermost portrays him as Osiris, the god of afterlife, “The face was again that of the king, but the features, though conventional, by symbolizing Osiris, were even more youthful than those on the other coffins” (Work at the Tomb of Tutankhamun, 9). While the outermost sarcophagus’ lid and basin were created out of two different types of stone “the lid of the sarcophagus in Tutankhamun’s tomb is also granite, but the basin is made of dark red quartzite” (Eaton-Krauss, 88). The lid of the outermost sarcophagus depicts the god of midday sun Behdety’s icon, and Anubis and Thoth officiating the
Let’s begin with what was going on during the time period for each sculpture. During the 2458-2446 BCE. Userkaf was thriving over his brother Sahure, and he became the new ruler of Egypt. In the start of 2446 BCE, Neferirkare beings his dominant over Egypt. King Sahure and Nome God is a high relief it is still attached to a surface of a stone. The Pharaoh sitting on his thorn wearing a Nemes headdress (it is usually blue and gold striped), fake beard. The king has an emotionless facial expression. It was made for a decoration for the king pyramid complex. The symbol behind this statue could be the gathering of the Nome gods form Upper and Lower Egypt around t...
The ancient Egyptians are known for many of the incredible aspects of their culture and everything they have produced. Some of the well known ancient Egyptian relics are the ones like the ancient pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza, mummies, and their many forms of art. Ancient Egyptian art is one of the most recognized styles of art. The most commonly known types of ancient Egyptian art are types like paintings, ceramics, and sculptures. Not only is Egyptian art beautiful, but it carries a huge deal of value and significance with it. A great portion of the time, the art has some kind of religious meaning to it. Consequently it is very difficult to discuss the art itself without delving into the various gods and goddesses presented in it. Something that particularly struck me about ancient Egyptian art was their proneness to use animals in their art. Not only do they use the animal’s full figure, but they also put individual parts on human bodies. This intrigued me because not many cultures have art that embrace animals to this extent. I will be exploring why the ancient Egyptians depict animals in their art repeatedly, and considering what they meant to them.
As these materials have magical means, often seen in Egyptian religious beliefs, a magical mean of the ushabti followed after-life of its deceased. The figurine appears to be inscribed with a special spell that contains summons; the intent of figure is placed in the tomb to act as substitute for its deceased body. This magical figurine was detailed to respond in the
Perhaps one of the most defining and easily identifiable aspects of the ancient Greek culture was the immortalization of humans and gods in sculpture. Sculpture had existed in the world for thousands of years before the ancient Greeks made their stake in the art, but the Greeks added an entirely new set of aspects to their sculptures. Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture centuries earlier, the Greeks set forth not just to capture the image of a man but to capture that which made him a man. The Greeks set in place three base tenants to display the tone of a sculpture. Through the use of Humanism, Realism, and Idealism the ancient Greeks were able to capture humans and gods forever in marble.
In ancient Egypt, the Egyptians would trade with the Mediterranean so the Egyptians would learn from their ideas and methods. The culture is all about eternity and the afterlife. It was believed that the pharaohs also ruled with gods which made the Egyptians where they would ensure the pharaohs afterlife with all the great things he had while alive. The Egyptians would bury the Pharaohs belongings with him and would even go to the extreme where they killed servants and family members to be buried with him. Over time, the Egyptians realized that art interpreting the people and object would be good enough. The Mask of Tutankhamun characterizes the king. It represents magnificence. Another reason for the headdress was an image that the soul could come into and occupy in the afterlife is something were to ever happen to the body. I believe we do things similar to this. If someone we loved were to die instead of putting things in there casket with them, we put things on the head stone at their grave. On their head stone we put a quote or something and their picture. We also put flower and other nice things down for them. (Debra J. DeWitte, 2012)
The art of the Early kingdom was prodominetly bassed on the divinity of the Pharoh, and his statuse in sociaty. The most famuse example of the Theocracies influance on art would be the Great Spinx and the Pyramids of Chefren. These emence works of art were created to show the importance and divine power of the Pharoah, as well as, to serve as a burial tomb. The Sphix itself is sculped with great percisian and close attension was paid to the basic anatimy of the human face, but the fetures of the Pharoah are idialize. “It is a portiat not of an individual but of the concept of divinity” (Cunningham and Reich, 9). The lion body, falcon headdress and transendental stare of the Sphinx shows a certain calmness and mystery, that encapsalates the ideal perfection of the ideal perfection of the Pharoah.
Life, chaos, harmony and death are aspects that played a strong role in the belief system of the ancient Egyptian people. These aspects focused on the belief of Gods and Goddesses as well as guidelines that affected how ancient Egyptian people lived their lives. Due to these themes having played a role in the ancient Egyptians lifestyle, many symbols, illustrations and works of art were created to go against the aspects of chaos. Countering the idea of chaos, there are works of art that are seen to symbolize the focus on how the ancient Egyptians tried to achieve a harmonious and balanced life by how they viewed their actions and lifestyle choices. Ancient Egyptian art that focus on symbolic images of their belief system are seen