|
Post by Shan on Apr 21, 2006 20:46:56 GMT
Egyptian Art - Frontalism Every example of Egyptian art from any time period strictly adheres to the same style. There is a code, or a set of rules for producing the artwork. The style is called frontalism. In reliefs or paintings, frontailsm means that the head of the character is always drawn in profile, while the body is seen from the front. Although the face is to the side, the eye is drawn in full. The legs are turned to the same side as the head, with one foot placed in front of the other. The head is at right angles to the body. Every figure, in paintings or sculptures, stands or sits with a formal, stiff, and rigid posture. The stance of the body is severe, but the faces are calm and serene, and almost always tilted slightly towards the sky, as if the figures were basking in the warm sun. It is truly remarkable that in thousands of years, this was the one and only style. There are slightly different "rules" for the drawing of animals and slaves from the way pharoahs and gods and portrayed. Some examples: SheikThis early wooden sculpture is entitled "Sheik" It exemplifies the style of "frontalism," which never leaves the evolution of Egyptian sculpture over thousands of years. Menkue and his Queen"Menkue and his Queen" are cut from stone, but do not stand freely; they are not completely liberated from the rock. This sculpture is dated later than Sheik. Rulers are now shown with their wives. While their bodies are stiff, their faces are serene and natural when compared to the Sheik. The style in which they are sculpted was dictated by the pharoah himself. The austere posture was also a symbol, a way to show authority. When looking at Menkue, the way he is sculpted, makes you think that he was a very important person. Ti Hunting the Hippopotamus"Ti Hunting the Hippopotamus" is carved on a surface of a stone. This form of artwork is called a relief. Here we see frontalism in the two dimensional form. Ti's shoulders and head make right angles. All the figures, humans and hippos alike, are etched in profile. However, the slaves and the animals are more natural and relaxed. Ti is enormous, while the slaves who row his boat are comparatively small. Also, in real life, hippos are larger than people, but this image of Ti could easily outweigh two of the hippos he is hunting. Why did the Egyptians paint this way? Didn't they know better? Didn't they have the artistic skill to paint things as they really were? The theory behind the style is that Ti is a pharoah, therefore associated with the gods, and to show that he is a diety, he is painted in the severe style of frontalism. The slaves are lesser beings. To show this, they are painted more naturally, and the animals are painted even more realistically than that. Cute little guy, isn't he? Another artistic "rule" is that nothing should be drawn infront of the face or body of the pharoah. That is why, in this painting, the king has drawn his bow behind his back, with his arms bent at unusual angles. This was not a hunting technique! This noble is spending his leisure time hunting fowl with his cat. His wife accompanies him, as many women did. Notice that the birds, and especially the fish, are painted very realistically, with attention paid to the slightest details, while the humans conform to the cartoon-like frontalistic style.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 21, 2006 20:50:25 GMT
The Funerary SceneOf all the images associated with ancient Egypt, the funerary scene is probably the one that is most frequently duplicated in books and art prints. This scene depicts what occurs after a person has died. Beginning with the upper left-hand corner, the deceased appears before a panel of 14 judges to make an accounting for his deeds during life. The ankh, the key of life, appears in the hands of some of the judges. Next, below, the jackal god Anubis who represents the underworld and mummification leads the deceased before the scale. In his hand, Anubis holds the ankh. Anubis then weighs the heart of the deceased (left tray) against the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice (right tray). In some drawings, the full goddess Ma'at, not just her feather, is shown seated on the tray. Note that Ma'at's head, crowned by the feather, also appears atop the fulcrum of the scale. If the heart of the deceased outweighs the feather, then the deceased has a heart which has been made heavy with evil deeds. In that event, Ammit the god with the crocodile head and hippopotamous legs will devour the heart, condemning the deceased to oblivion for eternity. But if the feather outweighs the heart, then the deceased has led a righteous life and may be presented before Osiris to join the afterlife. Thoth, the ibis-headed god of wisdom stands at the ready to record the outcome. The deceased is then led to Osiris by Horus, the god with the falcon head. Note the ankh in Horus' hand. Horus represents the personification of the Pharaoh during life, and his father Osiris represents the personification of the Pharaoh after death. Osiris, lord of the underworld, sits on his throne, represented as a mummy. On his head is the white crown of Lower Egypt (the north). He holds the symbols of Egyptian kingship in his hands: the shepherd's crook to symbolize his role as shepherd of mankind, and the flail, to represent his ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. Behind him stand his wife Isis and her sister Nephthys. Isis is the one in red, and Nephthys is the one in green. Together, Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys welcome the deceased to the underworld.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 21, 2006 20:54:32 GMT
The Musicians and The Dancers When Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten) was Pharaoh, he decreed that artists should create images showing everyday life. Up until then, art was very focused on scenes showing topics related to death and the afterlife. Concerned that future generations would believe that the Egyptians were obsessed with death, he commissioned artwork that showed everyday activities such as making music and dancing. On the heads of the musicians, you'll see cones made of perfumed wax. As the heat from the room and the women's bodies melts the wax, it releases its scent into their hair.\ The above picture of the three musicians comes from a tomb relief of a man named Nakht who lived under the reign of Tuthmoses IV, around 1401-1391 BCE. Nakht was a scribe and a temple star watcher. The picture of the dancers comes from a tomb in Thebes of an official named Nebamen who lived under the reign of Amenhotep III, around 1550-1307 BCE.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 21, 2006 20:58:05 GMT
The Tree of LifeOn the Tree Of Life, the birds represent the various stages of human life. Starting in the lower right-hand corner and proceeding counter-clockwise: * The light gray bird symbolizes infancy. * The red bird symbolizes childhood. * The green bird symbolizes youth. * The blue bird symbolizes adulthood. * The orange bird symbolizes old age. In ancient Egypt, the direction east was considered the direction of life, because the sun rose in the east. West was considered the direction of death, of entering the underworld, because the sun set in the west. They believed that during the night, the sun traveled through the underworld to make its way back to the east so it could rise in the east again on the next day. On the tree of life, note that the birds representing the first four phases of life all face to the east, but the bird representing old age faces to the west, anticipating the approach of death.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 21, 2006 20:59:56 GMT
Ma'at And IsisThis picture depicts the goddesses Ma'at and Isis. Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice, is the winged goddess who is kneeling. Isis is the goddess seated on the throne. According to legend, Isis was the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus; therefore, the queen of the gods. The identifying characteristics that indicate the seated goddess is Isis include the horned headdress and the vulture on her head. Although sometimes Hathor is also depicted with a horned headdress, only Isis has both the horned headdress and the vulture. Why the vulture? The ancient Egyptians respected the vulture for its commitment to motherhood, and another goddess (Nekhebet) who was portrayed as a vulture is also said to have suckled the royal children, including the pharaoh. So it's natural that Nekhebet would be incorporated into a portrait of the mother of Horus. Notice that Isis is holding the ankh, the key of life. In this particular illustration, because Isis is seated on the throne and facing the goddess of justice, Isis is most likely serving as a metaphor for the queen. Did you think the winged goddess in this picture was Isis? Contrary to what many people believe, not all winged goddess images are Isis. Here's how you can tell it's Ma'at instead of Isis: she has an ostrich feather headdress. Whenever you see a feather headdress like this, the goddess being depicted is Ma'at.
|
|
|
Post by Gray Lensman on Apr 21, 2006 21:43:18 GMT
Some very interesting pieces, Shan. I have some passing interest in this stuff, so I've seen a couple of these before, but still worthwhile viewing.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 2:13:25 GMT
I just felt like it was time to get away from just doing painting for a while. I find some of them very interesting, especially the mummies, coffins, and coffin boards.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 2:15:35 GMT
Hathor And Queen NeferariIn this picture, the goddess Hathor (the one with the horned headdress) is leading Queen Neferari by the hand. Like Isis in the picture above, Hathor is wearing a horned headdress. But instead of including a vulture in the headdress, she wears the cobra-shaped symbol. How do we know that the woman in the dress is Neferari? From the cartouches next to her, which portray the name Neferari in hieroglyphics. Hathor was the Egyptian mother goddess and goddess of all that is best in women. In her aspect as goddess of music and dancing, her emblem was the sistrum, an ancient musical percussion instrument. All Egyptian women worshiped her, from the queen to the lowliest woman of the land, and she was the protectress of pregnant women. According to legend, Hathor was the nurse of Horus the Younger, which is why she is often depicted as either a cow or a woman with the head of a cow. Her headdress was a solar disk resting between horns. In the same way, Hathor was said to suckle the pharaoh, the living Horus. The led to identifying the queen with Hathor, so the queen as chief priestess led the other priestesses, the concubines of the god, in the dancing and music-making which were their part in the temple ritual of Horus and the other gods.
|
|
|
Post by Gray Lensman on Apr 22, 2006 2:17:26 GMT
Sounds good to me. Egyptian architecture is also quite interesting. Really intrigues me how much care and craft they took in their burials.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 2:25:22 GMT
Coffin, Coffin Board and Mummy of TahatEgypt. 21st Dynasty, ca. 1070–946 BC. Painted wood, linen, and human remains. This coffin is the most beautiful in the Niagara Collection and one of the finest to be found anywhere in the world. This exquisite coffin belonged to the Lady Tahat, a chantress in the temple of the god Amun at Karnak. Such women were usually of high rank, as this unusually fine coffin indicates. Women served in temples not as priests, but as chantresses, or singers, who presumably played instruments and recited hymns to the gods. On the coffin lid, the lady Tahat is bedecked in a full wig surrounded by protective gods and symbols and adorned with her finest jewelry. The breathtakingly lovely scenes delicately painted on the sides of the coffin depicted mythological scenes and Tahat being judged in the underworld and being reborn into eternal life. Over the mummy was placed a coffin board, that looked like and served as a secondary lid with more decorative elements to protect the mummy.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 2:33:46 GMT
Wrapped Mummy with Cartonnage TrappingsLate Ptolemaic Period, ca. 167–30 BC. Human remains, linen, cartonnage, paint, gilt. In order to enter the afterlife, it was important that the deceased have a proper burial with all the correct rituals and traditional funerary equipment. First, the body had to be preserved through mummification, a process by which it was artificially dehydrated and then wrapped in linen bandages. The invention of mummification may have resulted from the practice of burying bodies directly in the ground during the Predynastic Period. The preservative properties of the hot, desiccating sand may have suggested to the Egyptians that survival of the body was necessary for continued existence in the afterlife. Later, in the Early Dynastic Period, when the body was no longer directly surrounded by sand, but was placed in a specially constructed burial chamber, the natural processes of decay set in. When they observed this effect, the Egyptians developed a method for keeping the body intact using resins and natron, a naturally occurring salt. The mummy here has been shown through x-rays and CAT scans to be that of a middle-aged man. His name is not known. The body, wrapped in bandages with arms at the sides, is enveloped in a linen shroud. Trappings of painted and gilded cartonnage, a material consisting of layers of linen stiffened with plaster, have been placed over the shroud. A mask with a gilded face, identifying the deceased with the sun god, covers the head. Across the chest lies a panel in the form of a broad collar. Below the collar, another panel depicts a winged scarab beetle and a kneeling figure of the sky goddess, Nut, with outstretched wings. The hieroglyphic sign for "sky" is painted in blue above the head of the goddess. A third panel, covering the legs, contains a scene showing the mummy on a lion-shaped bed, mourned by the sister-goddesses Isis and Nephthys. The lower portion of the third panel consists of a series of mummiform figures representing the different forms of the sun god in the underworld. Figures of the jackal god Anubis atop a shrine appear on the foot covering. The toes are depicted in the form of rearing cobras crowned with sun disks which represent the toenails.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 2:37:57 GMT
Statuette of the Goddess TaweretLate Period, ca. 712–332 BC. Faience. Pregnancy, birth, and its aftermath were times of great risk for both mothers and their offspring, and women needed deities to whom they could turn for protection against the dangers involved. One such deity was the goddess Taweret, who was depicted with the head of a hippopotamus, the limbs and paws of a lion, a mane in the form of a crocodile's tail, pendulous breasts, and a belly swollen by pregnancy. Her grotesque appearance was probably intended to ward off malicious spirits and to harness the terrifying powers of the hippopotamus, lion, and crocodile so that they might protect women and their children. Although there were no state temples dedicated to Taweret, there is evidence that her cult formed part of the rituals celebrated at the household altar. In addition, her image appears on domestic objects, such as cosmetic items, and amulets in the form of the goddess have been found at a number of settlement sites and at temples, where they were presented as votive offerings. The provenance and exact function of the piece shown here is unknown, but one may surmise that it either formed part of the furnishings of a household shrine or was presented as a votive offering in a temple.
|
|
|
Post by ptsteelers on Apr 22, 2006 13:43:28 GMT
good stuff ... Kept my idle hands busy for awhile.
Liked the break down on the funerary scene, Have seen it many times but never knew the story. Thanks.
While my knowledge of Egyptian Gods is minuscule. at best, I do like reading this stuff. (You ever read any of P. C. Dohertys Egyptian based murder mysteries ? My wife loves 'em)
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 22:52:27 GMT
good stuff ... Kept my idle hands busy for awhile. Liked the break down on the funerary scene, Have seen it many times but never knew the story. Thanks. While my knowledge of Egyptian Gods is minuscule. at best, I do like reading this stuff. (You ever read any of P. C. Dohertys Egyptian based murder mysteries ? My wife loves 'em) I'm glad you found it interesting. I have very little knowledge of Egyptian art even though I've enjoyed just looking at it for quiet a while. I found the funerary scene very interesting. Like you I had no idea what the pictures meant until I started looking for pictures and information to post in this thread. No, I haven't read any of P. C. Dohertys works. I would be interested in taking a look at some of them though. Does your wife have a favorite that she could recommend?
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 23:37:40 GMT
Stela of MentuwoserStela of Mentuwoser, ca. 1955 B.C.E.; Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret I, year 17; Middle Kingdom Egyptian; Probably from Abydos This rectangular stone slab, called a stela, honors an official named Mentuwoser. Clasping a piece of folded linen in his left hand, he sits at his funeral banquet, ensuring that he will always receive food offerings and that his family will honor and remember him forever. To the right of Mentuwoser, his son summons his spirit. His daughter holds a lotus, and his father offers a covered dish of food and a jug that, given its shape, contained beer. To show clearly each kind of food being offered, the sculptor arranged the images on top of the table vertically. The feast consists of round and conical loaves of bread, ribs and a hindquarter of beef, a squash, onions in a basket, a lotus blossom, and leeks. The low-relief carving is very fine. The background was cut away only about one-eighth of an inch. Within the firm, clear outlines, the sculptor subtly modeled the muscles of Mentuwoser's arms and legs and the shape of his jaw and cheeks. The chair legs and the calf's head have also been carefully formed. The hieroglyphic inscriptions in sunk relief state that in the seventeenth year of his reign King Senwosret I presented the stela to Mentuwoser in appreciation of his loyal services. Mentuwoser's deeds are described at length. He was steward, granary official, and overseer of all manner of domestic animals, including pigs. He is described as a good man who looked after the poor and buried the dead. Senwosret's throne name, Kheper-Ka-Re, appears within a cartouche in the middle of the top line. The stela was erected in the temple precinct of Osiris at Abydos. Mentuwoser's image and the prayers on the stela were meant to bring him both rebirth and sustenance at the annual festivals honoring Osiris.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 22, 2006 23:43:10 GMT
Coffin of Khnum-nakhtCoffin of Khnum-nakht, ca. 1900–1800 B.C.E.; Dynasty 12; Middle Kingdom Egyptian; Possibly from Asyut The brilliantly painted exterior of the coffin of Khnum-nakht, an individual unknown except for his name, displays the multiplicity of texts and decorative panels characteristic of coffin decoration in the second half of Dynasty 12. It has at least one feature—the figure of the goddess on the head end—that is rare before the late Middle Kingdom. The figures and hieroglyphs have been drawn by the confident hand of a skilled artist and each hieroglyph has been carefully painted in the prescribed manner of the time and place in which the coffin was made. On the left side of the coffin box there is an architectural facade with a small doorway in the center at the bottom. This is the equivalent of the Old Kingdom false door, which allowed the spirit of the deceased to move between the land of the dead and the land of the living. In this case, it is painted to resemble two wooden door leaves secured with two door bolts. Above the door are two eyes that look forth into the land of the living. The face of the mummy would have been directly behind this panel. The rest of the exterior is inscribed with invocations to, and recitations by, various primeval deities, particularly those associated with death and rebirth, such as Osiris, foremost god of the dead, and Anubis, god of embalming.
|
|
|
Post by ptsteelers on Apr 23, 2006 0:19:43 GMT
No, I haven't read any of P. C. Dohertys works. I would be interested in taking a look at some of them though. Does your wife have a favorite that she could recommend? She has just informed me, that she has only read 2 of his egyptian based novels. The list is as follows : The Mask of Ra (1998) The Horus Killings (1999) The Anubis Slayings (2000) The Slayers of Seth: A Story of Intrigue and Murder Set in Ancient Egypt (2001) The Assassins of Isis (2004) She has read the first 2, said there were pretty good. she actually prefers the medival ones better, starring Sir Roger Shallot (his version of Sherlock, I suppose). Here is a couple links, to help you get an idea ... Mask of RaBook List
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 23, 2006 3:56:51 GMT
Thanks PT. I think I am going to see about getting a couple of them to see what they are like probably one from the Egyptian series and one from the medival series.
|
|
|
Post by LaFille on Apr 24, 2006 2:07:39 GMT
Loved to learn about frontalism and the paintings/drawings/carvings. The mommies and coffins are the artefacts the most known and talked about, it seems. It would be interesting to find the years of each piece and see if/how it evolved.
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Apr 24, 2006 2:29:16 GMT
if you want the years, file, i think i can get them for some of the pieces or at least the time span they came from.
some of them did not give any kind of time span though. want me to add the dates to the posts? that would probably be the easiest, don't you think?
you know, i had always wondered why Egyptian art looked the way it did and how you could easily pick it out. i think frontalism is one major reason.
|
|