Narmer Palette C. 3000 BC

    •    Illustrates the act of the new institution of this united kingdom
    •    Found by archaeologists in the 1890s in "hierchonpolis" as its known by later Greeks,
    •    Votive Object - meant to fulfill a religious belief need.
    •    The importance of this piece is that it's a historical document.
    •    It commemorates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by a particular person who can be identified.
    •    For egyptian art/representational system ,it is the first recognizable historical event shown in their art
    •    The eagle is horus.
 

Akehnaten 1350 BC Dynasty 18

    •    -Amenhotep the third co ruled with son amenhotep the fourth; the 4th commissioned to be chiseled into stone. "when I was down river from thebes where today we call that site elemarna almost halfway down the nile; I had this experience as the sun came up over the horizon it spoke to me as the God Aten. Aten is all about the lifegiving properties of the sun rays. Aten revealed to Amenhotep that he was the only god, and he only believed in the sun god aten. He changed his name to Akhenaten. He moved downriver to telemarna or w.e that place is called.
    •    Emarna style or wahtever the town is elongated figures; difference between subject matter and themes that are from akenathens time period. Informal subjects/every day life.
    •    Time period of extended experimentation
    •    Crook and flail pose; typical of egyptian kings statues.

Khafre as a Sphinx, AT GIZA

Dynasty 4 2530 BC

    •    He needed a place to celebrate his anniversary of coronation which is  why "The funerary AND ceremonial "
    •    2650 BC the largest architectural complex built totally out of stone anywhere in the world
    •    A sphinx is a fantasy creature body of lion head of a human
    •    supernatural power
    •    associated with royal family and seen to be a protector of the king
    •    in LATER times they associated it with horus
    •    

Seated Scribe

Dynasty 5  2400 BC

-Cross legged pose + left hand's unrolled papyrus scroll = scribe

The scribes extra weight = he could afford to eat, so he isn't poor.
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The new aging/anxious look new to the egyptian sculptures 

Great Pyramids at Giza

Constructed by Imhotep

Dynasty 4 2550-2460 BC

Relief of Hesire Dyn 3 2650 BC

1 of 11 wooden panels originally set into niches of the funerary chapel of hesira on the mastaba or whatever
    •    Hesira is a government official who has the right to be buried near his boss.
    •    Edge of the desert is where the dead is buried, its taboo to bury the dead in the land of the living.
    •    The panels that went along with the Hesira one were about four feet tall.
    •    one of the most important pieces in old kingdom work.
    •    He was a scribe.
    •    Not a sword, its a staff or scepter of authority.
    •    Left hand, long staff is another staff of authority. Along with three items which is the tool kit of his scribe profession.
 

Khafre dyn 4 2500 bc

-In egyptian art all important people do get a modified portrait
-If your an ordinary egyptian then your just a clone of each other "standard face and body"
-Even the Gods and Goddesses had a standardized face and body.
-Show no emotion nor sense of thought in Egyptian portraiture
-Khafre,  third king of Dynasty 4, second owner of the Great Pyramids at Giza.
-Cartouche tells us status, king or queen.
-5 Ft statue found by excavators in Giza.
-Hawk behind khafre means like they are one
-no personality or expression of inner self coming through

Sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen

dyn 18 1325 bc

Queen Nefertiti

1350 BC DYN 18

-Writing on the body of akenhaten, it was a no-no in egypt but in mesopotamia they typically wrote or inscribed in their art.
- The bust of nepherite was meant to serve as a reference model in Akenhaten's chief sculpture studio
- It was found together with the bust of akenhaten  found in the house or studio area of that chief sculpture
-eye was left blank to serve as a guide for people sculpting.

Rahotep and Nofret

2560 bc Dyn 4

- Ka statue = magical body substitute
- In conceptual reality art,  bodies and faces are generic "ken and barbie" types
- Women pale
- Men brown
- All "upper-class" issue portrait, not just generic face.
- Portrait - representation of a historical person, with reference to that individuals specific facial features.
-Absolute bilateral symmetry - mirror image
 

Djoser Step Pyramid at Saqqara

2650 BC DYN 3

Sesotris III

Dyn 12 1850 BC