EGYPTIAN ART

the ancient architectural monuments, sculptures, paintings, and decorative crafts produced mainly during the dynastic periods of the first three millennia BC in the Nile valley regions of Egypt and Nubia. The course of art in Egypt paralleled to a large extent the country's political history, but it depended as well on the entrenched Egyptian social system. A hierarchical class structure, sustained by official religion, demanded obedience to authoritarian laws and adherence to obligatory ethics. Egyptian art, perhaps more than any other art, served those in power as a forceful propaganda instrument that perpetuated the existing framework of society. Ancient Egyptian art reflected the culture's religious beliefs and grew from the conviction that life on earth is merely a brief interlude compared with the eternal life to come. Persons of all classes collected useful and decorative objects to accompany them in the afterlife, and they lavished as much care on their burial sites as means permitted. Consequently, a large portion of the artworks that have survived are associated with ancient tombs. Archaeological excavations have turned up artistic remains from Predynastic Egypt (to c. 2925 BC) including rock carvings, decorated vases, terra-cotta figurines, and toilet articles. Wood was scarce, and buildings were constructed of Nile mud and reeds until builders learned how to make sun-dried bricks. The best-known object from the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2925c. 2575 BC) is the Palette of Narmer, a carved slate object that depicts King Narmer defeating his enemies and symbolizes the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. In its clarity of individual scenes and glorification of the pharaoh, it marks a style that was to persist over the long course of Egyptian art. During the period of the Old Kingdom (c. 2575c. 2130 BC), stone began to be used for monumental construction. Great pyramids were built to contain the burial chamber of the ruler and were surrounded by an architectural complex of tombs and temples. The so-called step pyramid at Saqqarah is the earliest-known pyramid. The famous monuments at Giza represent the most classic form of pyramid construction. Nobles were buried in rectangular structures called mastabas close to the king's pyramid, and the Great Sphinx, carved in the form of a lion with the ruler's head, lies near the pyramid of Khafre. Temples were built for worship of the dead pharaohs and the various Egyptian gods. Within the tombs furniture, jewelry, and other crafted objects have been preserved through the ages. The stone tombs and temples of the Old Kingdom were decorated with brightly painted reliefs illustrating with vigour and realism the daily life of the Egyptian people. Large and small statues carved in wood or stone presented convincing portraits of the deceased. During this period, rules for depicting the human figure were established, specifying correct proportions, postures, and placement of details. Rulers and officials were always portrayed in certain dignified postures befitting their status. Servants and labourers, shown performing their various tasks, were represented in a freer manner. This canon of sculpture lent a continuity of style and a high standard of workmanship. At the end of the Old Kingdom civil war and general economic depression made elaborate tomb building impossible, and artistic quality declined. A revival in the arts accompanied the more stable political climate of the Middle Kingdom (1938c. 1600 BC). Particularly notable were the portrait sculptures of the kings, with faces that displayed feelings of worry or pessimism in contrast to the majestic serenity of Old Kingdom figures. The royal funerary pyramids and temples, built near the Fayyum oasis, were smaller during this time and were mainly of dried brick with a stone facing. Relief sculpture and painting, however, attained a high level of artistry and precision of execution. After another interval of political turmoil, the prosperous New Kingdom (15391075 BC) brought a magnificent flowering of the arts. Temples, chapels, rock-cut tombs, and inscribed stones were erected along the entire length of the Nile valley in Egypt and Nubia. Great granite statues and wall reliefs glorified rulers and gods. Painting became an independent art, and the decorative crafts reached new peaks. The treasures found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen typify the variety of luxury articles created for both royalty and persons of lesser rank. During the 18th dynasty particularly, painting and sculpture displayed elegance and refinement, following the classical canon of representation a bit more freely. Human figures were light and graceful, and details were precisely rendered. A brief revolutionary episode, the Amarna style, accompanied the reign of King Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV). Complete freedom of expression was allowed, and members of the royal family were depicted with unblinking realism in their informal daily activities. The most notable architectural works of the New Kingdom were the great stone temples for worship of the gods. In both their interior layout and their monumental size, they attested to the rising power of the priesthood. A typical structure might include a massive gateway, a colonnaded courtyard, a hall of columns, a shrine chamber, and one or more chapels. The innermost regions were accessible only to the pharaoh and the high priest. The design of columns and capitals was based on plants, such as the palm and papyrus, and plant motifs embellished the walls. Huge statues of gods and rulers served to inspire awe and dread. Burial at this time took place in tombs cut into the rock face of desert cliffs. New Kingdom rulers built elaborate complexes of tombs and mortuary temples in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes. Imposing temple remains can be seen today at Luxor, Karnak, Abydos, Tell el-Amarna, and Abu Simbel. In the late centuries BC and early centuries AD, Greece and Rome dominated the Mediterranean world, and in Nubia their artistic traditions were fused with those of Roman Egypt. A distinctively Egyptian contribution to art, however, was made by the coffin portraits of Roman Egypt (30 BCAD 642), which marked the emergence of a new painting style that was to culminate in Byzantine icons. the ancient architectural monuments, sculptures, paintings, and decorative crafts produced mainly during the dynastic periods of the first three millennia BC in the Nile valley regions of Egypt and Nubia. The course of art in Egypt paralleled to a large extent the country's political history, but it depended as well on the entrenched Egyptian social system. A hierarchical class structure, sustained by official religion, demanded obedience to authoritarian laws and adherence to obligatory ethics. Egyptian art, perhaps more than any other art, served those in power as a forceful propaganda instrument that perpetuated the existing framework of society. For the purposes of definition ancient Egyptian is essentially coterminous with dynastic Egyptian, the dynastic structure of Egyptian history, artificial though it may partly be, providing a convenient chronological framework. The distinctive periods are: Early Dynastic (1st3rd dynasties, c. 2925c. 2575 BC); Old Kingdom (4th8th dynasties, c. 2575c. 2130 BC); First Intermediate (9th11th dynasties, c. 21301939 BC); Middle Kingdom (12th14th dynasties, 1938c. 1600? BC); Second Intermediate (15th17th dynasties, c. 16301540 BC); New Kingdom (18th20th dynasties, 15391075 BC); Third Intermediate (21st25th dynasties, c. 1075656 BC); and Late Dynastic (26th31st dynasties, 664332 BC). Geographical factors were predominant in forming the particular character of Egyptian art. By providing Egypt with the most predictable agricultural system in the ancient world, the Nile afforded a stability of life in which arts and crafts readily flourished. Equally, the deserts and the sea, which protected Egypt on all sides, contributed to this stability by discouraging serious invasion for almost 2,000 years. The desert hills were also rich in minerals and fine stones, ready to be exploited by artists and craftsmen. Only good wood was lacking, and the need for it led the Egyptians to undertake foreign expeditions to Lebanon, to Somalia, and, through intermediaries, to tropical Africa. In general, the search for useful and precious materials determined the direction of foreign policy and the establishment of trade routes and led ultimately to the enrichment of Egyptian material culture. For further treatment, see Egypt; Middle Eastern religions, ancient. Additional reading BIBLIOGRAPHY. The best general surveys are Cyril Aldred, Egyptian Art, in the Days of the Pharaohs, 3100320 BC (1980); Cyril Aldred (et al.), Le Temps des pyramides: de la prhistoire aux Hyksos, 1560 av. J.-C. (1978), L'Empire des conqurants: l'gypte au Nouvel Empire (15601070) (1979), and L'gypte du crpuscule: de Tanis Mro, 1070 av. J.-C.IVe sicle apr. J.-C. (1980); Kazimierz Michalowski, The Art of Ancient Egypt, trans. and adapted from the Polish and French (1969); Kurt Lange and Max Hirmer, Egypt: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting in Three Thousand Years, 4th ed. (1968; originally published in German, 4th ed., 1967); William Stevenson Smith, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, rev. ed. by William Kelly Simpson (1983); Claude Vandersleyen, Das alte gypten (1975); and Walther Wolf, Die Kunst Aegyptens (1957). On conventions and general principles, fundamental works are Erik Iversen, Canon and Proportions in Egyptian Art, 2nd ed. rev. (1975); Heinrich Schfer, Principles of Egyptian Art, ed. by Emma Brunner-Traut (1974; originally published in German, 4th ed., 1963); and William Stevenson Smith, Interconnections in the Ancient Near-East: A Study of the Relationships Between the Arts of Egypt, the Aegean, and Western Asia (1965). The only comprehensive work on architecture is Alexander Badawy, A History of Egyptian Architecture, 3 vol. (195468); for a thoughtful study, see E. Baldwin Smith, Egyptian Architecture as Cultural Expression (1938, reissued 1968); on the pyramids, in particular, the best introduction is I.E.S.. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt, rev. ed. (1986). For the best introduction to the analysis of sculpture, see Hans Gerhard Evers, Staat aus dem Stein: Denkmler, Geschichte und Bedeutung der gyptischen Plastik whrend des Mitteleren Reichs, 2 vol. (1929). For Old Kingdom to New Kingdom sculpture, see Cyril Aldred, Old Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt (1949), Middle Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt, 23001590 BC (1950), and New Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt During the Eighteenth Dynasty: 1590 to 1315 BC (1951), varying editions reissued as The Development of Ancient Egyptian Art, from 3200 to 1315 BC, 3 vol. in 1 (1952, reprinted 1973); and Jacques Vandier, Manuel d'archologie gyptienne, vol. 3, Les Grandes poques: la statuaire (1958). For the Old Kingdom, see William Stevenson Smith, A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom (1946, reissued 1978); and for the Late Period and Greco-Roman Period, Bernard V. Bothmer (comp.), Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 BC to AD 100 (1969). Excellent reproductions of paintings and drawings are to be found in Nina M. Davies and Alan H. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Paintings, 3 vol. (1936); good surveys and some unusual material are in Emma Brunner-Traut, Egyptian Artists' Sketches (1979). Also see T.G.H. James, Egyptian Painting (1985); Arpag Mekhitarian, Egyptian Painting (1954, reissued 1978; originally published in French, 1954); and William H. Peck, Drawings from Ancient Egypt (1978). A good survey of the whole range of pottery is Janine Bourriau, Umm el-Ga'ab: Pottery from the Nile Valley Before the Arab Conquest (1981). On glassware, see John D. Cooney, Glass (1976). Jewelry is well treated artistically and technically in Cyril Aldred, Jewels of the Pharaohs (1971, reissued 1978); and technically and archaeologically in Alix Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptian Jewellery (1971, reissued 1975). An excellent general account of furniture is contained in Hollis S. Baker, F urniture in the Ancient World: Origins and Evolution 3100475 BC (1966); for a reliable technical study, see G. Killen, Ancient Egyptian Furniture, vol. 1 (1980). On Greco-Roman art there is an excellent summaryin Gnther Grimm, Kunst der Ptolemer- und Rmerzeit im gyptischen Museum Kairo (1975); for useful background essays, see Herwig Maehler and Volker Michael Strocka (eds.), Das ptolemische gypten (1978); and on reliefs in Greco-Roman temples, see Erich Winter, Untersuchungen zu den gyptischen Tempelreliefs der griechisch-rmischen Zeit (1968). The essential work on Fayum portraits is Klaus Parlasca, Mumienportrts und verwandte Denkmler (1966). Thomas Garnet Henry James