EGYPTIAN ART

Janin Alfonso
AP Art History
Per.5
Great Pyramids
Giza, Egypt c.
2500 B.C.E.

 Purpose: Giant monuments to

dead pharaohs
 Each pyramid had enjoining
mortuary temple
 Pharaoh buried within pyramid,
unlike stepped pyramid
 Material: Huge pile of limestone,
minimal interior for deceased
 Each side oriented toward a point
on compass
 Four corners oriented to the
compass
 Khafre
Egyptian Museum, Cairo c. 2500

 Idealized form
 Falcon god Horus behind
Khafre, protecting him;
Khafre an incarnation of
Horus; pharaoh shown to be
divine
 Interlocking lotus and
papyrus, the symbol of a
united Egypt, at base
 Figure not cut away from
stone, no negative space
between arms of stomach
 Strictly follows traditional
Great Sphinx
Giza, Egypt c.

 Generalized features, although some say it may be portrait of Khafre

 Body of lion, head of pharaoh/god
 Sphinx seems to protect pyramids behind it
 Originally brightly painted to stand out in desert
 Cats loyal animals in ancient Egypt, saved grain supply form mice
 Head of Sphinx damaged in Middle Ages
 Beard in British Museum
Seated Scribe
Louvre, Paris C.2400 B.C.E.

 PorpuseL for a tomb at

Saqqara as a provision for kha
 Not a pharaoh, wooden
sculpture with sagging chest
and realistic rather than
idealistic features
 Color still intact
 Lifelike but not portrait.
Conventional image of a
scribe
 Attentive expression,
contrasts with pharaoh
 Ti Watching Hippo Hunt
Tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt C. 2400 BCE

 Painted relief in mastaba of Ti,

government official
 Ti’s boat glides through giant
papyri which flower into fan of
birds
 Servants hunts as tribute to
deceased Ti and to destroy
animals considered pests that
damaged crops
 Ti stand on boat (rather than
in) and is double anyone’s size
 Hierarchy scale
Senusret III
Egyptian Museum, Cairo c.1860 B.C.E.

• Moody look in mouth

and eyes, looks
depressed
• Figures reflect the
period of civil unrest
• Introspective
• Firm chin
• Carefully delineated
lines and folds of flesh
between the brows and
at the corners of nose
and mouth
Rock Cut Tombs of Beni Hasan
Egypt c. 1950-1900 B.C.E.

 Cliff walls hollowed out to reveal

small burial chambers
 Reserve columns cut away from
the interior chamber to create the
look of conventional columns
 Columns are not round but fluted
 Façade shows shallow columned
porch
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
Deir el-Bahri, Egypt C. 1473-1458

 3 colonnaded terraces
and 2 ramps
 Visually coordinated with
natural setting; long
horizontals and verticals
of terraces and
colonnades repeat
pattern of cliffs behind
 Terraces originally planted
as gardens with exotic
trees
 First time the
achievements of a woman
are celebrated in art
Queen Hatshepsut
Metropolitance Museum of Art, New York c. 1473-

 Queen represented in
male costume of
pharaoh, yet slender
proportions and slight
breasts indicated
femininity
 Often portrayed as
sphinx
 Headdress, false beard,
and traces of cobra on
crown show her affinity
with male pharaoh role
Temple of Ramases II
Abu Simbel, Egypt 1290-1224 B.C.E.

 Rock-cut tomb,
resembles pylon.
 Material: 4 large situ
statues of Ramses on
façade
 Façade at one point
painted
 Royal family between
Ramses’ legs
 Sun enter center of
tomb on October 21,
Ramses’ birthday
 Interior Ramses
sculptures carved in
Nefertiti
Egyptian Museum, Berlin 1353-1335 B.C.E.

 Long, elegant
neck
 Realistic face; soft,
delicate features
typical of New
Kingdom
 Limestone
 Wife of Akhenaton
 Amarna style
King Tutankhamen
Egyptian Museum, Cairo c. 1323

 Made with gold,

enamel, semiprecious
stones
 Famous tomb
discovered by
Howard Carter in
1922
 Mummified body of
King Tut burried with
143 objects on head,
neck, abdomen, and
limbs; gold mask
over head
 Gold coffin 6’7”
 Smooth features of
Judgment before Osiris
British Museum, London c. 1290-

 Painted on papyrus
 Illustration from Book of Dead, an Egyptian book of spells and charms
 God of embalming, Anubis, has jackal’s head. He leads deceased to a hall where his
soul is weighed against a feather. If sins outweigh feather he will be condemned.
 Hippo/lion figure betweeb scales will eat heart of evil soul
 God Thoth has head of bird; he is the stenographer writing down these events in the
hieroglyphics he invented
 Osiris, god of underworld, appears enthroned on right to subject the deceased to a day
of judgment.