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- The Later Canon of Egyptian Art (After Panofsky)
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt
- Techniques:
- broad shoulders and narrow hips
- conceptual approach
- characteristic main parts at right angles
- symbolic representation of eternal wakefulness
- systematic figure construction
- composite figures with a large frontal eye
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- Palette of Narmer
- Era: Early Dynastic, 3000 BCE
- Techniques:
- from upper Egypt
- slate slab, durable stone
- earliset historical record of the subjigation of lower Egypt
- actual event happened over several centuries but to the Egyptians it was one miraculous event
- utilitarian object (had a practical use) - application of make-up
- Egyptians painted black around the eyes to prevent the glare of the sum
- black substance prepared in this palette
- top of both sides have two heads of the goddess Hathor who had the horns of a cow
- hieroglyph between two heads is Narmer's name inside a palace frame
- Back Side
- -Narmer is the largest figure (hierarchy of scale) slaying an enemy
- -inevitable triumph of god-king over the enemy
- -bare-footed on ground line=flat footed - standing on holy ground and this is therefore a holy event
- -servant holding sandals but not on ground line - not true ground line
- -Narmer is wearing crown of upper Egypt (bowling pin)
- -Horus, the falcon, is the protector of the king
- -falcon has human arms
- -falcon is taking captive human-headed heiroglyph with a papyrus plant growing out of it representing lower Egypt
- -unification of upper and lower Egypt
- -bodies falling from lower to upper Egypt
- Front Side
- -two cats (sacred animals) with long necks create make-up well
- -long necks represent the unification of Egypt
- -Upper Register
- ~Narmer wearing a crown that is a curled bowling pin (crown of lower Egypt)
- ~Narmer viewing the dead (private ritual)
- ~dead are lined up, decapitated with their heads between their legs
- -Bottom Register
- ~bull kncoking down wall
- ~bull in profile but city in aerial view
- ~brutal yet divine support
- not a narrative, event took place over centuries
- Narmer is isolated from ordinary men
- he is the sole victor of the war
- thought, art, and state policy establishes a pharroh as a divine ruler
- registers and ground lines used for organization
- stone slab is eternal and functional
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- Mastaba Tomb
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt
- Techniques:
- rectangular brick with sloping sides erected over and underground tonb
- sarcophagus is placed deep beneath the surface
- deep shaft leading to sarcophagus
- first singles, then families, and then more complex mastabas
- surrounded by storage rooms
- built a chapel into outer structure to house a statue of the deceased, a serdab
- false door to hide real treasure
- interior of wall covered in painted relief carvings to provide deceased with food and entertainment
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- Stepped Pyramid of Kind Zoser
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt, 2650 BCE
- Architect: Immotep
- first recorded artist and architect
- Father of Egyptian Medicine
- also a wizard, sage, scribe, and priest
- official royal architect for King Zoser
- Pharroh's chancellor
- high priest of sun god
- Techniques:
- each face matches one point of the compass
- first monumental royal tomb
- 200 feet tall
- symbolize's the pharroh's god-like power
- network of underground galleries
- entire complex surrounded by 540ft long, 34ft tall white limestone wall
- funerary temples, tent buildings, around the step pyramid have early forms of columns
- tent buildings were dummy structures used to fool grave robbers
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- Upper Egyptian Tent Building
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt
- Techniques:
- poles (early form of colums) hold up roof
- lower part of poles had fluting (vertical grooves)
- "captials" mimic papyrus stalks
- engaged column (attached to wall)
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- Great Pyramids of Gizeh
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt
- Techniques:
- built over 75 years
- oldest of the Ancient Wonders of the World (all chosen based upon collasal size and enormous cost
- symbolizes:
- -arts of magic
- -political stability
- -eternity
- -Egypt itself
- -primevall wisdom
- Re's (god) ben-ben was his symbol (pyramid shaped) that represented the sun
- Heliopolis, city around the sun
- sides of pyramids are ramps to the sun and the heavens
- people are reborn in the afterlife just as the sun is reborn everyday
- sides face compass points so than one can ride up the ramps into the sun
- 3 different pyramids for 3 different pharrohs
- Khufu's Pyramid
- -2530 BCE
- -one side at the base runs 775ft
- -originally 480ft tall but now is 450ft
- -2.3 million stones on the surface each weighing 2.5 tons
- -covers 13 acres
- Menkaure's pyramid constructed in 2460 BCE
- Khafre's pyramid constructed in 2500 BCE
- almost solid mass of limestone masonry
- smooth sides of pyramid reflect sunlight to make the pyramid shine like the sun
- represented the pharroh's power over the people if they would build him a giant pyramid
- relieving stones over sarcophagus and doorways
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- Great Sphinx
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt, 2530 BCE
- Techniques:
- in front of Khafre's pyramid
- 65ft tall and 200ft long
- combination of man and beast
- facial features of Khafre
- guards the ruler's tomb
- represents the ruler's absolute power
- cloth headress worn
- body of lion
- composite figure of sphinx represents human intelligence and the strenght and authority of the lion
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- Khafre
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt, 2500 BCE
- Techniques:
- 66in tall
- 1 of 23 figures carved for his temple
- subtractive sculture
- side of throne has intertwined papyrus and lotus blossums in relief representing the unification of Egypt
- rigidly upright figure
- frontal pose surpresses movement and time symbolizing the eternal stillness of figure and the Ka
- closed sculpture
- one hand is clenched symbolizing power, determination, and control
- throne has lions on front showing his power and authority
- wearing simple kilt and headress
- relief carving of cobra on forehead
- Horis is behind his head
- pharroh is flawless and god-like, looks young and strong
- facial expression - serene
- compact, serenity, solidity=few breakable parts
- cubic style of sculpture - intenses skill, working from front to back
- coming out of stone shows his strenght
- made of diorite, as stone that lasts for eternity
- diorite has a slight shine known as the play of light and shadow on the sculpture
- represents the eternal Ka
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- Menkaure and His Bride
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt 2490-2472 BCE
- Techniques:
- rigid upright stance
- clenched fist
- made of graywhacke
- double portrait sculpture
- female almost equal
- eternal home for the Ka
- well built body
- his left leg is slightly forward but there is no shift in the hips and he is flat-footed (not realistic)
- stereotypical gesture of their martial status
- no emotion ever portrayed
- traces of paint on sculpture
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- Seated Scribe
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt, 2450-2350 BCE
- Techniques:
- hanging skin and sunken cheeks demonstrate age
- painted limestone (not as durable)
- 12 inches tall
- frontality of head and body
- increased realism
- has personality and shows sympathy
- holding a scroll
- sitting on the ground shows a laxed formality
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- Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt, 2400 BCE
- Techniques:
- 4ft tall
- painted limestone relief used often as funerary art inside tomb
- Ti was head architect
- composite figure
- hierarchy of scale
- every activity and chore is done for him
- demonstrates triumph over evil forces (hippos)
- towering papyrus stalks in background
- presentation of natural life
- other men are frantic and chaotic, connecting them to the material world but Ti stands apart from the chaos as a passive observer
- life and death occur simultaneously, two states of being
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- Rock-Cut Tombs
- Era: Middle Kingdom Egypt, 2000 BCE
- Location: Beni Hasan
- Techniques:
- cut into cliff side
- well hidden
- portico led to columned hallway and then sacred burial chamber
- fluted columns, not weight-bearing, merely decorative
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- Feeding of Oryxes
- Era: Old Kingdom Egypt, 1900 BCE
- Location: Tomb of Khnumhotep, Beni Hasan
- Techniques:
- oryx was a pet of the gentry
- greater realism
- profile bodies with frontal eye
- foreshortening with upper mans arms
- angular figure on top and rounded figure on bottom
- attempt at recession into space by providing a fore, middle, and background
- originally brighter
- heiroglyphics that explain the deeds and activities of the Ka
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- Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
- Era: New Kingdom Egypt, 1450 BCE
- Location: Deir El-Bahri
- Techniques:
- erected at the foot of a huge cliff - blends into background for protection
- 3 columned terraces connected by ramps
- leading up to bottom ramp would have been a row of sphinxes
- emphasis on lines - long horizontals (terraces) and verticals (collonades)
- rhythm comes through in the play of light and shadow and repeated patterns in the collonades
- beveled pillars, flattening at the top
- perfectly balanced spaces between pillars
- terraces covered in trees and plants, nature
- believed to be daughter of Amen Re
- represents the achievement of women
- her face was often put on a male body - equal of man
- walls have painted relief representing her Punt coronation and her divine birth
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- Temple of Ramses II
- Era: New Kingdom Egypt, 1257 BCE
- Location: Abu Simbel
- Techniques:
- cut into sandstone cliff
- temple itself is 65ft tall
- 4 colossal statues of himself on the exterior
- statues like detail and refinement
- last great warrior pharroh
- magnifies his power and authority
- each statue is so compact and upright that they are described as caryatids (columns in human form)
- statues inside are only 32ft tall and have the face of Osiris
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- Pylon Temple of Horus
- Era: Ptolomeic Period, 237-212 BCE
- Location: Edfu
- Techniques:
- could honor one or more gods
- side of temple shaped like a pylon cone
- bilaterally symmetrical plan
- only pharrohs and high priests could enter inner sanctuary
- lots of sphinxes leading up to pylon
- sloped front wall to shut off view of outer world
- channels hold standards
- sunken relief sculpture on front wall (figures of Horus)
- tops and edges capped off with a thin molding
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- Temple of Amen-Re
- Era: New Kingdom Egypt, 1280 BCE
- Location: Karnak
- Techniques:
- known for its interior hypostyle hall
- huge columns built to hold up roof
- tallest columns (66ft) in center
- 22ft diameter of each column
- high windows allowed natural lighting
- bud or bell shaped columns
- columns covered in sunken relief
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- Temple of Amen-Mut-Khonsu
- Era: New Kingdom Egypt, 1280 BCE
- Location: Luxor
- Techniques:
- pylon temple
- no sunken relief on front wall
- molding on top is thicker and porjects out further
- unique bud post and lintel columns
- wider stylized fluting
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- Fowling Scene
- Era: New Kingdom Egypt, 1450 BCE
- Location: Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes
- Techniques:
- dry plaster - more fragile
- the activites he is enjoying in the after life
- compostie figures
- naturalism with nature
- the woman kind of creates recession into space
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- Musicians and Dancers
- Era: New Kingdom Egypt, 1450 BCE
- Location: Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes
- Techniques:
- not using canon
- lots of overlap
- figures facing different directions
- soles of feet face out at viewer representing a relaxed state
- suggests movement by loose hair
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- Akhenaton
- Era: Armana Revolution, 1375 BCE
- Location: Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak
- Techniques:
- made of sandstone
- standard frontal pose
- thin arms
- protruding stomach
- fatty thighs
- believed that he actually looked like this
- has a slight facial expression
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- Queen Nefertiti
- Era: Armana Revolution, 1360 BCE
- Location: Tell El-Amarna
- Techniques:
- made of limestone
- sensitivity to contours of face
- long thin neck, thin nose, full lips, high cheek bones, pronounced chin
- unfinished sculpture possibly
- Thutmos is the believed artist
- inlaid eyes mad of glass paste
- elaborate headress
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- Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
- Era: Armana Revolution, 1353-1335 BCE
- Location: Tell El-Amarna
- Techniques:
- sunken relief
- stele
- intimate portrayal of Akhenaton and his family
- undulating curves
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