Egypt’s Art is divided into three Kingdoms, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. Each Kingdom had its own characteristic. The art may also varies during the period of the Kingdom. In the New Kingdom, there is a short period of the time, which is the Akhenaten’s period, the art is almost completely different from the other period of the New Kingdom. Otherwise, the style, the proportion, and the religion of the Old Kingdom, New Kingdom, and Akhenaten period are different. However, they still have similarities, like the women are somewhat being respected in Ancient Egypt, and it represents in certain works.
Old and New Kingdom depict the style through differences in art. As mentioned, the style of each Kingdom is different. In the Old Kingdom, the
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This demonstrates how Egyptians care about how people or even their posterity regard them. Also, there are certain characteristics within the figure of the Old Kingdom. For example, as Scott states in the article “Face and head are therefore shown in profile, shoulders from the front, torso and legs in profile again” (Scott 194). This clearly reveals how the figures in the Old Kingdom look like. Plus, the status of the person is shown by his figure size. For example, since the king is the most important person, he is larger than the others (Lois 279). In the painting Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, Tomb of Ti is much bigger than the people around him. This means he is the most important one, and the small people are perhaps his servers or slaves. Then, for a part of Akhenaten’s period, the style is counter-culture. Cyril Aldred divides the Amarna Style in two periods; he claims that in the early period, there are only a few changes to the human figure of the royal family. Otherwise, almost nothing else changed (55). This
During the New Kingdom of Egypt (from 1552 through 1069 B.C.), there came a sweeping change in the religious structure of the ancient Egyptian civilization. "The Hymn to the Aten" was created by Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1369 to 1353 B.C., and began a move toward a monotheist culture instead of the polytheist religion which Egypt had experienced for the many hundreds of years prior to the introduction of this new idea. There was much that was different from the old views in "The Hymn to the Aten", and it offered a new outlook on the Egyptian ways of life by providing a complete break with the traditions which Egypt held to with great respect. Yet at the same time, there were many commonalties between these new ideas and the old views of the Egyptian world. Although through the duration of his reign, Amenhotep IV introduced a great many changes to the Egyptian religion along with "The Hymn", none of these reforms outlived their creator, mostly due to the massive forces placed on his successor, Tutankhamen, to renounce these new reforms. However, the significance of Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten as he later changed his name to, is found in "The Hymn". "The Hymn" itself can be looked at as a contradiction of ideas; it must be looked at in relation to both the Old Kingdom's belief of steadfast and static values, as well as in regards to the changes of the Middle Kingdom, which saw unprecedented expansionistic and individualistic oriented reforms. In this paper I plan to discuss the evolvement of Egyptian Religious Beliefs throughout the Old,
Information from the textbook and Hays’s article help illuminate the events depicted and their significance in culture and art of the New Kingdom, and how the style ties into the art of the time.
The Ancient Egyptian sculpture, “Statue of Nykara and His Family”, was sculpted during the late fifth dynasty. The sculpture is a depiction of Nykara, his wife, Nubkau, and son, Ankhma-Re. The statue is in poor condition with pieces of limestone missing and chips on the three subject’s faces and bodies. The painted limestone shows the conventional colors for the male and female subjects. There is a clear discoloration among Nykara and his son’s bodies. The brownish red color they once were has eroded to a light yellowish color, which resembles the purposeful color of Nykara’s wife. The hieroglyphs on Nykara’s seat insinuate that the sculpture is meant to be viewed from the front view. This is also evident by the way the three subjects are facing forward in frontal view. There are hieroglyphs on both the chair and base of the statue near Nykara’s wife and son’s feet.
In conclusion, the portrayal of ancient rulers is dependent not only on the style of art popular during the era, but also on the evolution of the political climate. The portrayal of Menkaure, a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt, is of complete authority, control and power. His face does not show concern or grief over his people, because he is not challenged politically, the image of control coincides with his sole power over the kingdom. While the depiction of Alexander the Great, in ancient Greek coins is deified. Alexander’s leadership ended with world domination; therefore, his deified portrayal on monetary funds is particularly appropriate. By contrast, Philip the Arab’s portrait sculpture almost resembles a present day photograph with its capture of fleeting expression. This expression of anxiety and sadness is a representation of the political turmoil during the time period of his rule. Taking the progress of ancient cultures into account, how does the art of sculpting improve in the manipulation of the medium used?
My selected artifact is relief dating to Dynasty 18 in which Akhenaten is depicted as a sphinx, offering to the god Aten. Akhenaten wears the ureaus headdress, marking him as king of Egypt while two cartouches contain his official name. In addition to his cartouche, the relief contains the cartouches of Aten and Nefertiti, delineating the trinity of divinities that compose Akhenaten’s religion. Aten is depicted traditionally, as a sun disk, with his hands holding ankh symbols reaching towards offering tables in front of Akhenaten where the king holds a basket containing Aten’s titles inside. The inscription on the relief reads “great, living Aten”.
The New Kingdom in ancient Egypt, from 1550 – 1070 BC, was a time of extraordinary wealth, power, and the continuation of the arts in the classic ancient Egyptian style. Characterized by the abstract and impersonal depiction of humans, along with the strength of the Egyptian Empire, the New Kingdom is considered the peak of power and prosperity in ancient Egypt. “Fragmentary lid from the coffin of Wadj-shemsi-su” is a piece created in this time period that was originally part of a portrait located on the top of the king’s coffin. Because the coffin would carry the king’s mummified body in his tomb, the portrait depicts the pharaoh as being prepared for the Underworld, as well as being the ideal body for the spirit of the king to flow through. The objective of the coffin’s portrait is also to convey the power of the kingdom, putting emphasis on the king’s image and the immense wealth that accompanies him. In addition to the piece’s function as a coffin, “Fragmentary lid from the coffin of Wadj-shemsi-su” embodies the strength and wealth of the New Kingdom through the piece’s human face, use of bright colors, and geometric detailing.
Akhenaten had a dream to reform Egypt. He changed the way they worshiped, the way they lived and even the way they created art. His rule was a time of great change for Egypt, however his ideas and reforms were met with little support or enthusiasm. He used tremendous amounts of Egypt’s recourses and time for all his reforms, he also consumed a lot of his own time on these problems rather than on his pharaonic duties. During the 5th and 6th years of his reign Akhenaten set the boundaries for his new capital, Akhetaten, 350 kilometres north of Thebes. It was to be a city dedicated to Aten and all who worshiped him, however like most of Akhenaten’s reforms once his rule concluded, like so many other of his attempts to change Egypt, this too would be abandoned. Akhenaten led an artistic reform, changing the way that Egyptian artists portrayed the people of Egypt. He moved away from the false grandeur that had always been used and opted for a more stark and realistic approach, possible even an exaggerated ugliness. He himself was depicted as a gaunt, frail and pot-bellied man with a stern and imposing face rather than a strong radiant god king as previous pharaohs had always b...
...ars after Khafre’s reign, the fourth dynasty was just the beginning. Monumental Egypt, although it existed in burial tombs before Khafre’s reign, truly became a traditional pattern in the fourth dynasty. Khafre’s seated ka statues were numerous and perhaps the beginning of the formulaic sculpting of Egyptian ka statues. The King Khafre Seated that is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art now is not only the best ka statue of Khafre in existence, but perhaps one of the best examples of classic Egyptian sculpture from the Old Kingdom.
Both pieces to me seem to represent godlike features. For example, in the palette the king is shown as larger than his enemies and in the stele the king is standing over the people and is much higher than them. As rulers, they are both depicted as strong and heroic and as humans, they are depicted as
The Egyptian culture was a culture that lasted about 3,000 years and was located near the Nile River. The Nile River provided most of the resources for the Egyptians; therefore, a lot of the artwork was based on representing these bountiful resources. Another major influence of the artwork that was created was the kings and gods that were held at such high standards (Stokstad and Cothren, 50). There is one king in particular that was known in history for his great accomplishments, this king was King Narmer. The Egyptian’s expressed their respect for this king through a palette known as The Palette of Narmer. This piece is one of the firsts of Egyptian times that sets the morals for Egyptian artwork; it was created in the Early Dynastic time period. The Palette of Narmer tells a vast political story of the history of Egypt and the king, King Narmer.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ‘Egyptian Art’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Art. New Series, Vol. 41, No. 3, Egyptian Art (Winter, 1983-1984): pp. 1+3-56
Over the history of man, there have been many prosperous empires that ruled in different parts of the world. Babylon and Egypt are two of these empires that ruled almost 500 years apart, but had one thing in common, great artistic works. Wall paintings such as the Babylonian work Investiture of Zimrilim, and the Egyptian Queen Neferati Making an Offering to Isis are examples of the great works of their times. Both pieces are rich in meaning and background, share many similarities, but differences can be seen in their style due to the time periods.
Egypt was one of the first River Valley Civilizations. In Egypt there were big advances in art, math and science and also pottery. We still use the same number system and they even had fractions back in that time. During the Old Kingdom times the pyramids were built. The pyramids were tombs for the pharaohs of Egypt. These pyramids are one of the most popular historical sites in the world.
to 2650 B.C., changed his name to the more commonly known Zoser. It was Zoser
All in all, the artworks of Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Aegean cultures, and Ancient Greece have similarities that not only reflect objects and images, but also the media, style and representation, these cultures are vastly exclusive works ranging from triangular depictions of form, to breezy depictions of nature, to sturdy architectural innovations for their citadels. Because of the existence of these major cultures of art in our world, it has made what art is today. These four unbelievable time periods have learned from each other and improved the way they accomplish their art techniques. These amazing cultures set a foundation that we were able to build on for thousands of years now with much more to come.