Ancient Egyptian Art
Pre-Dynastic Egypt
4,800-3,000 BCE (think c. 3000 BCE
Old Kingdom Egypt
c. 2,675-2,475 BCE (think c. 2,500 BCE)
Middle Kingdom Egypt
c. 2,000-1,900 BCE (think c. 2,000 BCE)
Amarna Period
1,353 to 1,335 BCE (think 1,350 BCE)
New Kingdom Egypt
c. 1,500 to 1,162 BCE (think c. 1,325 BCE)
Prevailing winds
Goals
• Recognize the characteristic features of Egyptian art, including:
– Symbolic representation:
• Of Upper and Lower Egyptian gods, etc
– Falcon = Horus (upper Egypt god of sky), etc
• Hieroglyphic writing—symbolic and phonetic
– Decoded in the first quarter of the 19th century
–
–
–
–
Composite/conceptual representation of human bodies
Hieratic scale: more important figures are depicted larger
Rectilinear forms
Canon of proportions
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Pre-dynastic Palette of Narmer
• earliest surviving “historic” artwork, c. 3,100 BCE, includes some text
• ceremonial palette used to prepare and apply eye makeup
• features hieroglyphs (pictographs) of catfish + chisel
• pronounced n’r + m’r, therefore King Narmer.
• depicts ceremony reenacting a battle that unified upper and lower Egypt
• bas (low) relief, slate, 2’ tall
• two-sided, shows Narmer on one side as ruler of Upper Egypt and on the
other side as ruler of Lower Egypt
• discovered in 1898 by the archaeologist James E. Quibell in the Upper
Egyptian city of Nekhen (today, Hierakonopolis)
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Warka Vase, Sumerian, c. 3,100 BCE
Palette of Narmer, Egyptian, c. 3,100 BCE
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
The god Horus symbolically
represented as the falcon
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Narmer’s name appears three times
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Narmer’s name appears three times
Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE
(British Museum)
Discovered by Napoleon’s
armies in 1798.
Written in Egyptian
hieroglyphs, Egyptian
Demotic script and
Archaic Greek
Decoded by Jean-François
Champollion by 1824
Detail of the Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Typical Old Kingdom, mud-brick mastaba tomb
c. 2630 BCE
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Typical Old Kingdom sarcophagus,c. 2630
BCE
Sarcophagus is a Greek word meaning flesh
eater.
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Mummified remains
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
The mummy’s vital organs were removed and saved in
storage jars. The brain was not considered to be vital,
so it was removed with a hook through the nose and
thrown away.
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Book of the Dead, c. 1275
By the 13th century BCE, the mummified body of those
with sufficient resources was entombed with a copy of
the Book of the Dead to provide instructions on how to
pass a series of challenging tests and thereby pass into
the afterworld.
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Horizontal section of a mastaba: A=chapel, B=false
door with serdab behind, C=burial shaft
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Reconstruction of a mastaba chapel
interior with false door to the right
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Reconstruction of a mastaba chapel
interior with false door to the right
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Old Kingdom false door
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Old Kingdom false door
Archeological site showing the opposite side of the false door
with a seated ka statue in its serdab
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Seated ka statue of Djoser, c. Saqqara,
c. 2630 BCE
Archeological site showing the opposite side of the false door
with a seated ka statue in its serdab
Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2500 BCE
Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre,
diorite, c. 5’6”, c. 2500 BCE
Archeological site showing the opposite side of the false door
with a seated ka statue in its serdab
Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre,
diorite, c. 5’6”, c. 2500 BCE
Detail of Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre with
god Horus protecting his head and signifying him
as king.
Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre,
diorite, c. 5’6”, c. 2500 BCE
King Mankaure and his queen, c. 2472 BCE, graywacke,
c. 4’ 6” tall, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Old Kingdom canon of proportions
King Mankaure and his queen, c. 2472 BCE,
graywacke, c. 4’ 6” tall, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Prehistoric Aegean Art
Cycladic Art, c. 2,500 BCE
Minoan Art, c. 2,000-1,400 BCE
Mycenaean Art, c. 1300 BCE
The Aegean Sea
The Cyclades
or Cycladic
Islands in the
Aegean Sea
were home to
a pre-historic
culture that
created marble
sculptures
known as
Cycladic Idols
or Cycladic
figurines.
The Aegean Sea
The Cyclades
or Cycladic
Islands in the
Aegean Sea
were home to
a pre-historic
culture that
created marble
sculptures
known as
Cycladic Idols
or Cycladic
figurines.
Cycladic Art, c. 2,500 BCE
• Prehistoric figures made of local marble, originally decorated sparsely with
paint.
– the surface of the marble was painted with mineral-based pigments—azurite for blue
and iron ores or cinnabar for red
• First scholarly reference to Cycladic “idols” was in 1818.
• They were first collected in European museums in the 1840s.
• First archaeological exploration was by James Theodore Bent in 1883.
– Most figures seem to have come from graves, where they were lying down.
– A few have been found in Greek settlements.
• Major influence on Modern Art of the early 20th century
– Highly desired by modern art collectors for their geometric simplicity and abstraction.
– Looting, forgeries, and poorly documented excavations make scholarly study nearly
impossible.
Cycladic figurine of a
woman from the island
of Syros, c. 2,500 BCE,
Cycladic culture,
1’ 6” tall, National
Archaeology Museum,
Athens (NAMA)
Cycladic
Male lyre player from the
island of Keros, c. 2,500
BCE, Cycladic culture, 9” tall,
National Archaeology
Museum, Athens (NAMA)
The large
Island of Crete
defines the
southern edge
of Aegean Sea
and was home
to a civilization
known as
“Minoan” that
emerged just
as the Cycladic
civilization
began to
decline.
Minoan Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 to 1400 BCE
Excavated by Minos Kalokairinos in 1878 and Arthur
Evans (above) 1900-1930.
Minoan Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 to 1400 BCE
Plan of the Minoan Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 to 1400 BCE
Throne Room with gryphon frescos (20)
Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c. 1450-1400 BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’
6” long
Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c. 1450-1400 BCE,
limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long
Detail of a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c. 1450-1400
BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long
Warka Vase (presentations to Inanna),
c. 3,200 to 3,000 BCE, ~3’
Detail of a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c. 1450-1400 BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long
Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c. 1450-1400 BCE,
limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long
Detail from a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c.
1450-1400 BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long
Snake goddess from the Palace of Knossos, Crete, c. 1500 BCE
Aegean island of Thera
Aegean island of Thera
Aegean island of Thera
Reconstruction drawing of Mycenae
Aerial view of Mycenae
Reconstruction drawing of Mycenae
What purpose did the wall that juts out serve?
Lion Gate with “cyclopean” walls at Mycenae, c. 1300 BCE
Later Greeks thought the stones (up to 12 tons each) were so large
only the giant Cyclops could have put them into place
Megarons at Tiryns…
Mycenae…
and Athens
Megaron at Tiryns