Egyptian hieroglyphs
• mixture of various logographic and alphabetic
elements
• used for religious literature
• over 700 – 800 basic symbols
• Hieroglyph comes from two Greek words meaning
“sacred writing”. This came from the Egyptians’ own
word for their language meaning “divine speech”
• A single picture symbol could stand for a whole word
THE EGYPTIAN
CANON OF
PROPORTIONS
• the different parts of the human body
corresponded to different squares in the
grid
• usually 18 units to the hairline, or 19 units
to the
top of the head
• 5 units from the waist to the shoulder
• 3 units from the top of the head to the chin
• women were identified by lighter skin tone
and with both feet together
• men were identified by darker skin tone
and with their left foot stepped forward
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aim – to show the body as completely as possible
they combined frontal and profile views of the person
in profile: feet, legs, head
in frontal view: torso, shouldres, eyes
the same hand was usually shown twice to depict all the fingers
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the most important figures were the biggest
the colour was sometimes used symbollically
Interior design - New
Kingdom
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The furniture produced during this period is on a luxurious scale,
and is also evidence of greater woodworking skill.
The New Kingdom saw the Egyptians extend their empire to new
lands from Nubia to the Euphrates River and this contact with
foreign cultures seems to have had its effect on furnishings.
In wealthy Egyptian homes chairs appear in greater abundance.
Folding stools were richly painted in bright colors.
Small, low tables were often woven from rush.
Tutankhamun's Perfume
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When the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun was opened,
among the luxurious contents found within were various beautifully
crafted jars and containers. To the excitement of the excavators, one
particular jar was discovered to contain a perfumed unguent, still
radiantly fragrant after so many centuries.
Unguent is the classical word used to describe what modern
English-speakers might better understand as an ointment or a solid
perfume. Despite the occasional ancient Egyptian image or the
discovery of what certainly seems to be functional distillery
equipment in the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, as far as we know today the
distillation process was not popularized until the 10th century of our
time. Thus, Egyptian perfumes were very different in texture from the
liquids now considered "perfumes". For a close modern comparison,
consider the solid perfumes currently imported from India, packaged
in small carved wooden or stone containers. (The resemblance is in
texture, presentation and appearance, not necessarily in fragrance.)
• The perfumed ointment found in Tutankhamun's
tomb was of a solid nature, although it was noted
that it melted and became more viscous within the
heat of a hand. Observers at the time found the
aroma similar to coconut oil and also remarked that
it resembled the scent of valerian (Valeriana
officinalis), the first tip-off to what the jar probably
contained.
• Created by III.AJ