Basic Principles of Egyptian Sculpture

Basic Principles of Egyptian Sculpture

The works here demonstrate the basic principles of Egyptian sculpture in its symbolic formality. For over three thousand years the Egyptians adhered to a prescribed set of rules as to how a work of art in three dimensions should be presented. Egyptian art was highly symbolic and a painting or sculpture was not meant to be a record of a momentary impression. Apparent differences were the result of subtle changes, not an altered conception of art or its role in society.

Of the materials used by the Egyptian sculptor -- clay, wood, metal, ivory, and stone -- stone was the most plentiful and permanent, available in a wide variety of colors and hardness. Sculpture was often painted in vivid hues as well. Egyptian sculpture has two qualities that are distinctive; it can be characterized as cubic and frontal. It nearly always echoes in its form the shape of the stone cube or block from which it was fashioned, partly because it was an image conceived from four viewpoints. The front of almost every statue is the most important part and the figure sits or stands facing strictly to the front. This suggests to the modern viewer that the ancient artist was unable to create a naturalistic representation, but it is clear that this was not the intention.

Seated Man	Seated Scribe
Nebwenenef, High Priest of Amun	Sebek em hat, a Leader of Priests
Head of a Man

Egyptian Beliefs and the Afterlife

The need to preserve the body from decay was probably the most important part of the Egyptian belief in a life after death because the spirit was thought to inhabit it at times. In the Predynastic period before 3,000 B.C. and the beginning of the Pharonic Age, the body was placed in a grave in the sand with some simple offerings. The natural heat and dryness preserved it with little need for embalming or other preparation. As society developed in Egypt and tombs became much more elaborate, it was necessary to treat the body to protect it from decay.

Mummies could be elaborately wrapped in decorative patterns, as on the example of the Roman Period in the collection. The face was usually covered with a mask of plaster or precious metal fashioned as a likeness of the deceased.

The removed internal organs were separately treated and, during much of Egyptian history, placed in jars of clay or stone. These so-called Canopic Jars were closed with stoppers fashioned in the shape of four heads -- human, baboon, falcon, and jackal -- representing the four protective spirits called the Four Sons of Horus.

In addition to the decorations on the tomb walls, in some periods, models for the use of the spirit were included in the funerary arrangements. A model boat was transportation on the waters of eternity. Likewise, models of granaries, butcher shops, and kitchens would guarantee the continued well-being of the deceased in the life after death.

Canopic Jars	Mummy
Papyrus of Nes-min (detail)

Egyptian Tombs

Much of what we know about art and life in ancient Egypt has been preserved in the tombs that were prepared for the protection of the dead. The Egyptians believed that the next life had to be provided for in every detail and, as a result, tombs were decorated with depictions of the deceased at his funerary meal, activities of the estate and countryside, and the abundant offerings necessary to sustain the spirit.

The offering list on the relief of Ka aper includes various kinds of drink and food (both fresh and preserved), as well as colored eye paint to protect the eyes in the harsh Egyptian sun.

Because the spirit was thought to live in the company of the gods, the standard formula asks for "bread and beer and all things good and pure on which a god lives."

Ka aper with Funerary Offerings

Peasants Driving Cattle and Fishing

Holy Animals

In the religion of ancient Egypt deities were associated with various aspects of nature and the cosmos, particular geographical localities, or even episodes in human experience such as birth and death. Osiris, originally a god of vegetation and fecundity, was the most important deity related to the afterlife. His wife, Isis, was his principal mourner but also served as an image of motherhood. Some deities had animals associated with them and some were depicted as having animal characteristics. The ibis-headed god Thoth, as an example, was the patron of scribes and writing as well as being a moon god.

In the Late Period images of gods and sacred animals were produced by the hundreds of thousands. The quality of such votive objects naturally varied but this image of a graceful cat is one of the great masterpieces of its type.

Sacred Cat of Bast

Falcon of Horus

Greek and Roman Influences

Some new artistic influences were introduced when Egypt came under the influence of the Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) world. One of the most important of these was the realistic painted representation of individuals. This portrait is an excellent example. Only from the Roman frescoes at Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy have similar realistic examples of portraiture been preserved. We know from contemporary authors that realistic portraiture was highly regarded by the Greeks and the Romans and it is only by accident of preservation that the best examples of the type have been found in Egypt. The faces of people represented in the mummy portraits reflect the mixed population of Egypt in the Greco-Roman age when Greek was the language of the ruling class and the country was a part of the Roman Empire.

Mummy Portrait of a Woman