Art forms & their features in Ancient Egypt

1. UNIT 1 - VISUAL ARTS
Contents: Genesis of Arts – the concept and meaning of arts. The presence of the past – Stone Age
beginnings, ancient Egyptian Art, Arts and society, Unity and Diversity, Time, Place and Idea.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART
 Egypt is known as “The Land of Pharaoh“, & “desert Land”.
 The “Nile River” is their means of communication,highway& lifeline.
Egypt’s greatest wealth was its fertile “soil”.
 Kingdoms - Old Kingdom (2680 BC–c. 2200 BC)
 Middle Kingdom (2055 BC–1650 BC)
 New Kingdom (1550 BC–1069 BC),
 Communities were in the hierarchy:
 Slaves, Farmers, herdsmen, Artists, Craftsman,
Soldiers, Scribes, Priests, Royal Family.
 The leader was called a pharaoh.The pharaoh was believed to be half man, half god.
 Egyptian art remained remarkably stable over the 3000 year period that represents the ancient
civilization without strong outside influence.
 Homeometric regularity, keen observation and exact representation of actual life and nature, and strict
conformity to a set of rules regarding representation of three dimensional forms dominated the character
and style of the art of ancient Egypt.
 Completeness and exactness were preferred to prettiness and cosmetic representation.
THEMES / CHARACTERISTICS OF EGYPTIAN ART:
 Ancient Egyptian art was highly symbolic and fascinating.
 Because of the highly religious nature of Ancient Egyptian civilization, many of the great works of
Ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and Pharaohs, who were also considered divine.
 Ancient Egyptian art forms are characterized by regularity and detailed depiction of human beings and
the nature, and, were intended to provide company to the deceased in the 'other world'.
 It reflects their beliefs in the afterlife and immortality.The afterlife of the pharaoh is an important theme
in ancient Egyptian art.
 Major monumental structures such as the great pyramids and the sphinx reflect those beliefs.
 Their biggest concern was assuring a comfortable afterlife for their rulers who they viewed as Gods.
 Ancient Egyptian art is characterized by the idea of order.
 Clear and simple lines combined with simple shapes and flat areas of color helped to create a sense of
order and balance in the art of ancient Egypt.
 Ancient Egyptian artists used vertical and horizontal reference lines in order to maintain the correct
proportions in their work.
 In order to clearly define the social hierarchy of a situation, figures were drawn to sizes based not on
their distance from the painter's point of view but on relative importance
 Symbolism also played an important role in establishing a sense of order.
 Animals were usually also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art.
 Color, as well, had extended meaning - Blue and green represented the Nile and life; yellow stood for
the sun god; and red represented power and vitality.
 The colors in Egyptian artifacts have survived extremely well over the centuries because of Egypt's dry
climate.

2. PURPOSE OF EGYPTIAN ART
 Ceremonial- most of their art was used for religious purposes that dealt with the afterlife and the gods.
 Narrative- Hieroglyphics that told stories of everyday life.
 Functional- sarcophagus held dead, vases held organs.
EGYPTIAN ART FORMS
 The greatest architectural achievements of the Ancient Egyptians were
the pyramids.
 Egyptian people had a rich culture and loved to make art.
 The Egyptian people also made statues, relief carvings, paintings,
pottery, jewelry, sculptures and even coffins.
PAINTINGS
 Paintings and Hieroglyphics (formal writing system) tell the story of
the deceased’s life &activities
 Themes - Paintings of pharaohs, slaves, and everyday life.
 Tomb Paintings show activities that the deceased were involved
in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity.
 Ancient Egyptian artists used a style called frontalismto draw people.
FRONTALISM
 The face is from a side or profile view.
 The eye is from a front view.
 The arms and feet are from a profile view.
 The shoulders and chest are from a front view.
HIEROGLYPHICS
 Hieroglyphics is the written language of the ancient Egyptian people.
 Hieroglyphs appear on tomb and temple walls, statues, papyrus (paper)
and even jewelry.
 A hieroglyphic script is one consisting of a variety of pictures and
symbols.

3.  Some of symbols had independent meanings, whereas some of such symbols were used in
combinations.
 Text could be read from left to right, right to left, or up and down depending on which way the symbols
faced.
 Hieroglyphic writing is one of the most beautiful systems of writing ever created.
 Ancient Egyptians would attend a special school to learn to write and read hieroglyphics.
 Egyptians who learned how to write the language were called Scribes.
CARTOUCHE
 In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a horizontal
line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name.
 In Ancient Egypt the people wore the cartouches with the names
of gods and royalty around their necks.
 The cartouche has become a symbol representing protection from
evil and give good luck
The Rosetta Stone was found by French soldiers who
were rebuilding a fort in Egypt in 1799.
Made in 196 B.C.
Inscribed with three different texts Greek, Demotic,
Hieratic. Each text says the same thing.
The Rosetta Stone text was written by the priests in
ancient Egypt to honor the Pharaohs. It lists all the good things
the Pharaohs have done for the people and priests.
STATUES / SCULPTURES
 Statues usually depicted the gods, Pharaohs, or civic officials, and were
composed with special reference to the maintenance of straight lines
 Egyptian sculpture has two qualities that are distinctive; it can be characterized as
cubic and frontal.
 The front of almost every statue is the most important part and the figure sits or
stands facing strictly to the front.
 Of the materials used by the Egyptian sculptors, clay,
wood, metal, ivory, and stone - stone was the most plentiful
and permanent, available in a wide variety of colors and
hardness.
 Portrait statues as an alternative dwelling place in case the
mummified corpse deteriorated
 Sculpture wasoften painted in vivid hues as well.
Nefertiti - Queen ofEgypt. “The Beautifulone is
come”. Located atBerlin'sEgyptianMuseum
 The goddess Isis, sister-consort of Osiris, god of the dead, is represented
seated with her son placed at a right angle to her on her lap.
 The child is supported by his mother's left arm, while her right hand offers
her breast for suckling.

4.  A new style of art was introduced during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten
known as Amarna Art.
 It is characterized by a sense of movement and activity in images, with
figures having raised heads.
 The illustration of hands and feet were
important, shown with long and slender fingers, and
great pains were gone to be show fingers and finger
nails.
 Sculptures from the Amarna period were a lot
more relaxed and depicted people as they really were
and not focusing on just some of their features.
BAS RELIEF CARVINGS / STELE
 Virtually all the wall-sculptures of the Ancient Egyptian Empire are in the
form of bas-relief (low-relief)
 Relief-composition merely meant
arranging the figures in horizontal
lines so as to record an event or
represent an action.
 The principal figures were
distinguished from others by their
size - gods were shown larger than
men, kings larger than their
followers, and the dead larger than the living.
MUMMY COFFINS
 The Egyptian people created mummies by packing the dead with salt and then wrapping the body
with linen cloth.
 The process of mummification took about 70days.
 The mummified body would be placed in a wooden coffin. That coffin would be placed in a stone
sarcophagus.
 Carefully carved; colorfully
decorated with Hieroglyphics,
Pictures of Gods. Even insides
were decorated. Often made in
Layers
Tomb of King
Tutankhamen.Tomb
found in Valley of
the Kings.Dated back to 1327 B.C.E.The inner coffin is made
from hundreds of pounds of gold, and decorated
with colored enamel, and gemstones.
CANOPIC JARS
 Canopic jars used by the ancient Egyptians during the
mummification process to store and preserve the viscera
(organs) of their owner for the afterlife.
 They were commonly either carved from limestone or were
made of pottery.

5.  The viscera were not kept in a single canopic jar: each jar was reserved for specific organs.
 The canopic jars were four in number, each for the safekeeping of particular human organs: the
stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver, all of which, it was believed, would be needed in the afterlife.
 There was no jar for the heart: the Egyptians believed it to be the seat of the soul, and so it was left
inside the body.
POTTERY
 Pottery was used by the ancient Egyptians for decorative and functional purposes.
 Two distinct Types
o Nile silt ware - Nile clay. After being fired, it has a red-brown color. This type of pottery
was used for common, utilitarian purposes, though at times it might have been decorated
or painted.
o Marl Clay – made from material found around Qena in Upper Egypt. This type of
pottery was usually thought superior to the common Nile mud pottery, and so it was
often used for decorative and other functions.
JEWELRY
The ancient Egyptians placed great importance on the religious significance of certain sacred objects,
which was heavily reflected in their jewelry motifs
Tutanhkamun pendantTutanhkamun lapis scarabInlaid diadem, or wigFunerary mask
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

6. MASTABA- flat top or tapered solid temple
 Predecessor of the pyramids was a type of tomb used
during the early stages of Egyptian civilization.
 Simplest mastabas have ridges in the form of truncated
pyramids.
 It was used by the rulers of dynasties as well as important
members of the court
ROCK –CUT CHAPELS
 A rock-cut tomb or koka is a burial chamber that is cut
into the living rock usually along the side of a hill.
 It was a common form of burial for the wealthy in
ancient times in several parts of the world.
PYRAMIDS
 Most famous of all types of burial tomb.
 Built for the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom to last for all
eternity
 The dead was accompanied by all the things required for
comfortable afterlife
 Evolved from MASTABA ; four sides facing the Cardinal points , they were made by 100,000 men
for 100 years.
TYPES
 STEP PYRAMID – evolved from Mastaba
BENT OR BLUNT PYRAMID – 2 degrees of inclination of slope. The first pyramid was built for King
Zoser. It was designed and built by an artist and architect named Imhotep.
 SLOPE PYRAMID – parts (king’s chamber ,Queen’s chamber , subterranean chamber, grand gallery,
airshafts.)
PYRAMID OF THE CHEOPS OR KHUFU OR GREAT PYRAMID
 146.4 mts. High & 750 sq. ft. in plan. Constructed in 2600-2480 BCE. Base covers 13 acres.
 The Great Pyramid was originally 481 feet high and each side was 756 feet long.
 The plan is two times the area of the famous “St. Peter Basilica in Rome”.
PARTS OF PYRAMID COMPLEX:
 Elevated Causeway
 Offering Chapel
 Mortuary
 Valley Bldg.
SLOPE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
 These were buildings that housed chambers and passages,
including small air shafts that may have been used for
ventilation -- or were, perhaps, passages for the spirit of the
pharaohs to pass through.

7.  These were built during the 4th dynasty.
 Construction was hugely labour intensive but this was paid labour during slow agricultural
seasons, not slave labour as is commonly supposed.
 To build the Great Pyramid it took an about 2,300,000 dressed stone blocks (averaging 2.5 tons
each) more than any other structure ever built.
 The blocks were moved on log rollers and sledges, and then ramped into place.
EGYPTIAN TEMPLES
TEMPLES ( 2 TYPES)
 Montuary – built in honor of the Pharaohs
 Cult – built for the worship of the gods, only high priest can enter in both types of temple.
PARTS OF AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE
 Entrance Pylon – massive sloping towers fronted by an obelisks known as gateways in Egypt
 Hypaethral Court – large outer court open to the sky
 Hypostyle Hall - a pillared hall in which the roofs rest on column.
 Sanctuary – usually surrounded by passages & chambers used in connection w/ the temple
service.
 Avenue of Sphinx – where mystical
monsters placed

8. PYLONS - monumental gateway to the temple consisting of slanting walls flanking the entrance
portal
The ancient Egyptians
also built beautiful
temples.
This is the Temple of
Ra
Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
Date: ca. 1478–
1458 BCE.
Temple of Ramses
II, Abu Simbel.19th
Dynasty.
Date: ca. 1279-
1213 BCE.
Interior Temple of Ramses II,
Abu Simbel.19th
Dynasty.Date: ca. 1279-1213
BCE.
Entrance pylon
SPHINXES
 The Sphinx is another example of a
Pharaoh (Khafre) demonstrating his power.
 The massive size and the head of Pharaoh
Khafre on the body of a lion or ram or
woman was intended to demonstrate the
power of the pharaoh.
 Carved from stone at the site and stands at
65 feet tall.

9. OBELISKS
 It is a monumental tapering column carved from a single block
of stone capped with a pointed top.
 Sacred symbol of sun-god Heliopolis. Square base and height is
9 to 10 times the base diameter
 The term is derived from the Greek word obelisks meaning
“needle”.
 On each side of obelisk contains a line of hieroglyphic
inscriptions containing the title of Pharaoh and praising the God was
seen.
 Placed in pairs at the entrance of the temples associated with
sun, also on some tombs.