This paper will analyze and compare the Egyptian Standing Figure of Osiris with Egyptian Mummy Coffin of Pedusiri, visual elements of Ancient and Medieval Art and Architecture works from the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum. By comparing and contrasting these two works, we will be able to see the salient parts of each of them more clearly and can better understand the relationship between their periods, cultures, or artists. This comparison will also reveal how these two cultures view the human anatomy and human spirit in different ways.
First association with the Egyptian culture for me is related to Sphinx. That’s why first what caught my eyes was Sphinx of Hatshepsut. No, of course, it is not that massive Great Sphinx in Giza, Egypt but his history is also interesting.
The sphinx of Taharqo was build around 100BC- 600 BC. This sphinx was located in Kawa, Sudan Africa. The Sphinx of Taharqo is made of sand stone. It has a height of 40.6cm and a width of 73cm. In African cultures, figures made with a human head and the body of a lion symbolizes Egyptian royalty and power. Also they could symbolize creatures of myths and legend. However in this particular sphinx it symbolizes the royalty and power of King Taharqo. This is not a typical sphinx because this one was build for a black man. King Taharqo was a powerful and a great leader of the Kush kingdom located in Sudan, Africa. He was so powerful that he was able to take over Egyptian ruling. When you take a closer look at the head of the sphinx, you might be
In what kind of society/culture was the object produced? Is it a monotheistic or polytheistic society? What type of government does the society have?
Hatshepsut was cunning by using the social structure of Egypt, people’s beliefs and relationships with officials to legitimise her ruling as a female pharaoh. Hatshepsut stepped into the role of senior co-regent which was driven by her ambition and Thutmose III must have resented the subversion of patriarchal values as Hatshepsut. Nonetheless, more recent evidence shows that this move may have been caused by a political crisis at that time, therefore Hatshepsut may have been acting to save the throne for her stepson. The French historian R Tefnin explains that Hatshepsut was cunning in reinventing her image, gradually taking the characteristics of a male pharaoh with a beard and large muscles. As the protector of Egypt, Hatshepsut portrayed herself as a ‘warrior pharaoh’ with statues showing her in full pharaonic regalia in the guise of a Sphinx, seen in plate 1. These strategies were not attempts to fool people with her gender, but ways to assert her authority as she felt she had the same right to rule as men
Almost hidden away in LACMA’s Art of the Ancient Americas exhibit, among the intricate and sophisticated works of art from the ancient civilizations of Mexico and South America, is a small unassuming figure of a prominent Aztec deity – Xipe Totec. Xipe Totec is both god of spring and vegetation, as well as the patron of goldsmiths (Britannica). The Xipe Totec stone sculpture at LACMA stands at twenty-five inches high and ten inches wide and is carved from basalt by an Aztec artist from the Basin of Mexico around 1400-1521 (LACMA). Even thought the figure may seem modest at first glance, upon closer inspection the viewer can see a gruesome story quietly being told through exquisite Aztec sculpture.
The credit for this artifact was given to Fletcher Fund in 1928, this artifact dates to 449 B.C. The period was Classic Greek, this was attributed to the Persephone and it is made up of Terracotta, which means clay based unglazed or glazed ceramic. The dimension of this artifact is 41 centimeter in height and diameter of the mouth is 45.4 centimeter. The story behind this artifact was Persephone is the queen of the
The Kifwebe Mask was used as the embodiment of a police force for ruling elite. Ten to twenty men would parade with these masks through the streets. In addition to serving as agents of social control, the masked performers extracted contributions from community members.
Bazin argues "only the impassive lens, stripping its object of all those ways of seeing it, those piled- up preconceptions, that spiritual dust and grime with which my eyes have covered it, are able to present it in all its virginal purity to my attention and consequently to my love. By the power of photography, the natural image of a world that we neither know nor can know, nature at last does more than imitate art: she imitates the
Even though women had more independence in Egypt compared to other societies, equality among the sexes was not apparent. There were certain roles in societies that were strictly male or female, causing a limited choice on careers and within the job had certain tasks relating the gender. For example, it was obtainable for both men and women to be servants but within that, they acquired different responsibilities. Men worked with the beer and meat, brewing and butchering it: and women dealt with grounding grain and baking bread. Throughout the kingdoms, an evolution of gender roles in society took place. In the Old Kingdom, musicians and dancers were only allowed to be women, but as the New kingdom approached, the position was open to both genders.
King Tutankhamun, since the discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter in 1922, has become a household name as it is the only complete Ancient Egyptian tomb to be found in tact, thus allowing for clear and intellectual information to be shared amongst the world of Archaeology. However, some may say that the events which occurred during his reign also impacted heavily upon his popularity. The following essay will discuss how the discovery of Tutankhamun’s complete tomb has resulted in the adoption of the name of ‘The Greatest Egyptian King’ as well as exploring how the events which happened during his rule could also result in the conception of this name.
Overtime, man has talked about many mythical beasts, monsters, and demons. For the Assyrians, one of their favorite mythical creatures to talk about was the mighty sphinx. The sphinx is typically shown “with the body of a lion, most often with a human head and sometimes with wings” (http://www.ancient.eu/sphinx/). The sphinx was also recognized as a symbol that was representative of multiple parts of the Assyrian society including trading, displaying the artistic aptitude of the Assyrians, as well as a guardian piece to the royals.
Have you ever wondered how the Great Pyramids of Giza were built? Or how the Egyptians mummified the dead? Or, even simpler, how they lived their daily lives? Well, according to David Macaulay in the book Pyramid, life was fairly simple. Most Egyptians were farmers. Since the Nile flooded for a time from July to November, farmers were drafted for pyramid building since farming was impossible. Pyramids were constructed for a pharaoh so that when he dies, he is mummified and put into a sarcophagus inside the pyramid along with everything else that belonged to him including is pets, servants, and possibly even his wife. But in order for a pharaoh to get his desired afterlife, he has to go through a series of mummification steps. Most
Throughout time sculptures were known to represent important people and actions within their society. Different materials were used, depending on the culture, period and location of the artwork. What did these tell us about the beliefs, morals, and customs of their times? In this essay, we will look at the differences between the statue of Gudea, from the Neo-Sumerian period, and the Statue of Memi and Sabu, from the Old Kingdom period in Egypt.
The Great Pyramid of Giza from Ancient Egypt has continually demanded awe and recognition from us standard mortals, and justifiedly therefore. The unbelievable study specimen was inbuilt around 2560 BC, and control the record for the world’s tallest structure for a banging three,800 years with its then-impressive height of 481 foot (146.5 m). however before we get into figures and statistics, the good Pyramid is usually believed to be created as a mortuary monument for Khufu (or Cheops in Greek), who was the second Pharaoh from the Fourth dynasty. And, in spite of such ‘monumental’ comes, the one portrait of this mysterious ancient king (with a myriad of conflicting accounts of his life) survives from solely a little 3-inch ivory figure that was discovered in early twentieth century.