Egypt Under the Pharaohs

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AP Art History

• Chapter 3
• Egypt Under the Pharaohs

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PREDYNASTIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT
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Analyze the Pairing of Images (L) Figure 3-3
Palette of King Narmer (back), Predynastic, ca.
30002920 BCE. Slate, 2 1 high. (R) Figure
3-3 Palette of King Narmer (front), Predynastic,
ca. 30002920 BCE. Slate, 2 1 high.

• CONSIDER PURPOSE/FUNCTION and ORIGINAL
  PLACEMENT/INTENDED SETTING
• To commemorate an event
• To assert power or authority
• To glorify or commemorate the life of an
  individual.
• To tell a story
• As propaganda
• For private and personal enjoyment
• To establish personal or cultural identity
• To emphasize symbolic meaning

What to Look for in Each Art Form SCULPTURE Scal
e/Proportion Relationship to viewers
space Original and intended setting Interaction
among figures Sculpting technique Material/media S
urface texture/color Degree of realism or
abstraction Movement/gesture/facial
expression Stance/presentation Open/closed
form Negative/positive space

• VOCABULARY
• canon
• transactual function
• multivalent meaning
• palette

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Figure 3-3 Palette of King Narmer (left, back
right, front), from Hierakonpolis, Egypt,
Predynastic, ca. 30002920 BCE. Slate, 2 1
high. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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Analyze the Pairing of Images (R) Figure 3-4
Section (top), plan (center),and restored view
(bottom) of typical Egyptian mastaba tombs. (O)
Figure 2-15 Ziggurat (northeastern facade with
restored stairs), Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar),
Iraq, ca. 2100 BCE.

• ARCHITECTURE
• Architectural style and aesthetics
• Location/site/orientation
• Decoration (sculpture/relief, etc)
• Interior space organization
• Engineering technique
• Building material/structure
• Plan/elevation
• Scale/proportion
• Space/light
• Vaulting/fenestration

• CONSIDER PURPOSE/FUNCTION and ORIGINAL
  PLACEMENT/INTENDED SETTING
• For religious worship
• For human obsession with death and to provide for
  afterlife
• To assert power or authority
• As an expression of wealth and status
• To glorify or commemorate the life of an
  individual.

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Figure 3-4 Section (top), plan (center),and
restored view (bottom) of typical Egyptian
mastaba tombs.
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Figure 3-5 IMHOTEP, Stepped Pyramid and mortuary
precinct of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third
Dynasty, ca. 26302611 BCE.
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Figure 3-6 Plan (top) and restored view (bottom)
of the mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara,
Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 26302611 BCE.
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Figure 3-7 Detail of the facade of the North
Palace of the mortuary precinct of Djoser,
Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 26302611 BCE.

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OLD KINGDOM
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Analyze the Pairing of Images (R) Figure 3-8
Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty.
From bottom Pyramids of Menkaure, ca. 24902472
BCE Khafre, ca. 25202494 BCE and Khufu, ca.
25512528 BCE. (O) Figure 3-5 IMHOTEP, Stepped
Pyramid and mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara,
Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 26302611 BCE.

• CONSIDER PURPOSE/FUNCTION and ORIGINAL
  PLACEMENT/INTENDED SETTING
• For human obsession with death and to provide for
  afterlife
• To assert power or authority
• As an expression of wealth and status
• To glorify or commemorate the life of an
  individual.

• ARCHITECTURE
• Architectural style and aesthetics
• Location/site/orientation
• Decoration (sculpture/relief, etc)
• Interior space organization
• Engineering technique
• Building material/structure
• Plan/elevation
• Scale/proportion
• Space/light
• Vaulting/fenestration

VOCABULARY In situ
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Figure 3-8 Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth
Dynasty. From bottom Pyramids of Menkaure, ca.
24902472 BCE Khafre, ca. 25202494 BCE and
Khufu, ca. 25512528 BCE.
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Figure 3-9 Section of the Pyramid of Khufu,
Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 25512528 BCE.
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Figure 3-10 Model of the Fourth Dynasty pyramid
complex, Gizeh, Egypt. Harvard University Semitic
Museum, Cambridge. 1) Pyramid of Menkaure, 2)
Pyramid of Khafre, 3) mortuary temple of Khafre,
4) causeway, 5) Great Sphinx, 6) valley temple of
Khafre, 7) Pyramid of Khufu, 8) pyramids of the
royal family and mastabas of nobles.
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Analyze the Pairing of Images (L) Figure 3-12
Khafre enthroned, from Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth
Dynasty, ca. 25202494 BCE. Diorite, 5 6 high.
(R) Figure 3-14 Seated scribe, from Saqqara,
Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2500 BCE. Painted
limestone, 1 9 high.

• CONSIDER PURPOSE/FUNCTION and ORIGINAL
  PLACEMENT/INTENDED SETTING
• For human obsession with death and to provide for
  afterlife
• To assert power or authority
• As an expression of wealth and status
• To glorify or commemorate the life of an
  individual.
• To establish personal or cultural identity

• What to Look for in Each Art Form
• SCULPTURE
• Scale/Proportion
• Relationship to viewers space
• Original and intended setting
• Interaction among figures
• Sculpting technique
• Material/media
• Surface texture/color
• Degree of realism or abstraction
• Movement/gesture/facial expression
• Stance/presentation
• Open/closed form
• Negative/positive space

• VOCABULARY
• Bilateral symmetry
• Ka
• Diorite

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Figure 3-13 Menkaure and Khamerernebty(?), from
Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 24902472 BCE.
Graywacke, 4 6 1/2 high. Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
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Figure 3-15 Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt,
relief in the mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt,
Fifth Dynasty, ca. 24502350 BCE. Painted
limestone, 4 high.
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MIDDLE KINGDOM
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Figure 3-18 Rock-cut tombs BH 3-5, Beni Hasan,
Egypt, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1950 1900 BCE.
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Figure 3-19 Interior hall of the rock-cut tomb of
Amenemhet (tomb BH 2), Beni Hasan, Egypt, 12th
Dynasty, ca. 19501900 BCE.
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NEW KINGDOM
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Figure 3-20 Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (with
the Middle Kingdom mortuary temple of Mentuhotep
II at left), Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th Dynasty,
ca. 14731458 BCE.
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Figure 3-21 Hatshepsut with offering jars, from
the upper court of her mortuary temple, Deir
el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 14731458 BCE.
Red granite, 8 6 high. Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
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Figure 3-22 Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel,
Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 12901224 BCE.
Sandstone, colossi 65 high.
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Figure 3-23 Interior of the temple of Ramses II,
Abu Simbel, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 12901224
BCE. Sandstone, pillar statues 32 high.
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Figure 3-A Pylon gate of the temple of Amen-Re,
Karnak, Egypt, begun 15th century BCE
Figure 3-B Approaching avenue of the temple of
Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, begun 15th century BCE
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Figure 3-25 Hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re,
Karnak, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 12901224 BCE.
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Figure 3-26 Model of the hypostyle hall, temple
of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290
1224 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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Figure 3-28 Fowling scene, from the tomb of
Nebamun, Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca.
14001350 BCE. Fresco on dry plaster,. 2 8
high. British Museum, London.
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AMARNA PERIOD
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Figure 3-30 Akhenaton, from the temple of Aton,
Karnak, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 13531335 BCE.
Sandstone, 13 high. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
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Figure 3-31 THUTMOSE, Nefertiti, from Amarna,
Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 13531335 BCE. Painted
limestone, approx. 1 8 high. Ägyptisches
Museum, Berlin.
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Figure 3-33 Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three
daughters, from Amarna, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca.
13531335 BCE. Limestone, 1 1/4 high.
Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.
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POST-AMARNA PERIOD
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Figure 3-34 Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen,
from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca.
1323 BCE. Gold with inlay of enamel and
semiprecious stones, 6 1 long. Egyptian Museum,
Cairo.
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Figure 3-1 Death mask of Tutankhamen, from the
innermost coffin in his tomb at Thebes, Egypt,
18th Dynasty, ca. 1323 BCE. Gold with inlay of
semiprecious stones, 1 9 1/4 high. Egyptian
Museum, Cairo.
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Figure 3-36 Last judgment of Hu-Nefer, from his
tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca.
12901280 BCE. Painted papyrus scroll, 1 6
high. British Museum, London.