Sakhmet Lioness Head Essay

The work I chose to analyze was from a wall fragment from the tomb of Ameneemhet and wife Hemet called Mummy Case of Paankhenamun, found in the Art Institute of Chicago. The case of the Mummy Paankhenamun is one of the most exquisite pieces of art produced by the Egyptian people during the time before Christ. This coffin belonged to a man named Paankhenamun, which translates to “He Lives for Amun” (Hornblower & Spawforth 74). Paankhenamun was the doorkeeper of the temple of the god Amun, a position he inherited from his father.

The reliefs of Ankh-neb-ef are limestone panels with paint that originated from the Old Kingdom of Egypt in 2150 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Pepy II. The delicate carving of the panels in the sunken relief presents a magnificent image. They portray Ankh-neb-ef, an ancient Egyptian priest whose name translates to “may his lord live.” In the reliefs, Ankh-neb-ef holds a Kherep-sceptor and a walking stick, which were symbols of authority in ancient Egypt. Egyptian civilization was extremely religious and most ancient Egyptian artworks involved the portrayal of gods, goddesses, and Pharaoh, as well. Moreover, the Egyptian reverence for order and conservative ideals led to the institution of intricate rules that governed how artists represented both humans and gods (Saylor.org 4). For instance, the apparel worn by Ankh-neb-ef in the painting is not a simple fashion statement. The priest is wearing a prestigious sarong and ornamentation, bracelets, and a wide collar. The jewelry kept their owner safe in a dangerous passage to the afterlife. This formula for representing the human figure in a painting remained popular over several centuries (Robins 24).

The falcon figure was highly worshipped, and the animal was called the lord of the two lands, Upper and Lower Egypt. Like the lamassu, Horus wears a hat which symbolizes those two regions of Egypt. The cobra emblem on the hat represents royalty because it is also associated with the pharaoh. The lamassu creature is not a god but wears a hat and belt which are symbols of divinity. It makes the statue god-like in nature but does not represent a god in way the falcon does. The head of the statue was made to be a human’s representing humans’ intelligence. These works show that the artists were interested in animal anatomy. Although its body is made up of the parts of animals, the human-headed winged lion is far from being a natural creature. The statue of Horus is a much better example of the natural animal world because of the fine skill put into carving its anatomy.

One of the greatest and most ancient of the worlds mysteries, still undeciphered by archaeologists today, resides at the Giza plateau. It is ‘The Great Sphinx’. This colossal statue holds centuries of untold secrets. Standing “sixty feet high and two hundred and forty feet long, the Sphinx is the biggest single stone statue in existence” (“Secret: The Sphinx”). This Egyptian masterpiece represents a fictitious creature that has the head of a man, but the body of a lion. Unfortunately, the Sphinx’s appearance has suffered greatly over the years. “The head of the Sphinx has been badly affected by…years of erosion” and pieces of the monument are missing, like the nose (Haughton, 45). However, historians

His posture exudes power and dignity, and the symmetrical nature of the statue creates an eternal stillness. Even Khafre’s face is emotionless and ageless, referencing his time as a controlling and powerful pharaoh. In this particular statue Khafre is timeless and his power will exist even in the afterlife. The characteristics of Khafre Enthroned embody those of a typical Egyptian block statue: frontal, immobile, and perfectly

The first object that I have picked while I was at the museum is the Kneeling Statue of Senenmut, Chief Steward of Queen Hatshepsut. It is said that it was created in the early 18th century between the years 1473-1458 B.C. The instant I walked in into the Ancient Egyptian collection I couldn’t take my eye off of that sculpture, due to that being it was probably the the darkest object there. The kneeling Statue of Senenmut was engraved from a grayish green stone, I like this object because, all the achievement and work that Senenmut have done in his life was carved all over this object. One of my dislikes is

In the late 19th century, the Seated Statue of Ramesses II was uncovered in the Temple of Harsaphes, Heracleopolis, by Sir William Flinders Petrie (Horne 1985, 22). Currently, it rests in the Mummies Gallery in the Egyptian section of the Penn Museum. The king sits heroically with his hands resting on his lap and wears the nemes headdress on his head. Made of quartzite sandstone, the statue sits at an impressive height of 226 cm, with a width of 74 cm and length of 149 cm. On his arms, there are faint traces of red and the nemes headdress has touches of blue and yellow. When it was originally crafted, the statue’s colors would have been more prominent than they currently are; there also would have been a false beard inset that has been lost to history.

A formal analysis, contextualizing, and compare and contrast of the Egyptian sculpture of Isis nurturing Horus and the Byzantine icon, The Virgin of Vladimir

They created statues and paintings of their many deities as means of honoring them. One of those deities was the goddess Sekhmet. They created numerous statues in her image that have been recovered and have been place in various museums. One of those statue of Sekhmet can be found within the

The two sculptures presented for this assignment are the Statue of Gudea, which dates back to 2090 B.C. (“Statue of Gudea,” 2000) and The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu, which dates back to 2575–2465 B.C. (“The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu,” 2000). Both statues represent people; however, they depict different types of people from completely different time periods and cultural backgrounds. The Statue of Gudea shows the ruler of southern Mesopotamian, Gudea, whose reign was from 2144-2124 B.C. (“The votive statue of Gudea: A formal analysis,” 2011) sitting in a praying position with his hands locked and his eyes forward. He is dressed in what appears to be a lavish robe with an inscription that clearly depicts what Gudea thought of himself and his successes during his time as ruler. The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu represent what is thought to be a married ancient Egyptian couple who are lovingly embracing each other. Aside from looking at

The Seated Statue of the Steward Sehetepibreankh has been acclaimed to be the most common type of human representation made during the Middle Kingdom and prime example of private sculpture based on its’ detailed features. Although Steward Sehetepibreankh was not a king and instead was a high official, his statue was still modeled in a similar manner that king statues from the time period and prior looked like. Sehetepibreankh is depicted sitting on a chair with his right hand holding a fist gesture as a sign of power and his left hand laying on his leg towards his knee while wearing a typical king’s kilt. In all

The Assyrians were an unquestionably dominant empire in the Mesopotamian region during 934-609 BC. Responsible for the breathtaking sculptures known as Lamassu, Assyrian sculptors drew my interest, most notably because of the attention to detail and history behind their composition. All together, Assyrian art is very masterful, however, this piece in particular stands out from the others, and the fact that I had never seen or heard of it before left me in disbelief. A large portion of the world is familiar with the Great Sphinx of Giza, yet I have taken it upon myself to shed light on a lesser known human headed creature who in my opinion is exceedingly impressive despite it being significantly smaller. The point of view(s) in which the Lamassu

The statue of King Sahure and a Nome god is an interesting piece of Ancient Egyptian art ( c. 2500 BC ) that shows signs of Ancient Egyptian culture and beliefs. The statue is a small relief sculpture, meaning the sculptural elements are attached to the solid background of the sculpture and appears to be emerging from the material. The piece clearly depicts two figures side by side, one standing on the left and one sitting on the right (facing foreward). The purpose of this piece was probably to depict a certain symbolic interaction between the two characters.

Hatshepsut was the first woman pharaoh ever recorded in history. Although there are a few obvious breaks, this granite sculpture was put back together nicely. Because this piece is so important, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has to be careful of what to light up on the sculpture. This does not look easy because the statue is so massive, but the Met did a good job capturing the face with light, and the top of the orbs. The shadows also reflect how angular this statue really is, and the unrealistic body of the woman pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Over the years of art history, there are many great empires that we think of and two of those were ancient Greek and Egyptian. When talking about Greek and Egyptian art history, it is the sculptures that come to mind when you are comparing and contrasting artworks. Egyptian art and Greek art both had mesmerizing sculptures but Egyptian art was more oriented towards religion and Greek art was more focused on philosophy. The Egyptian statue of the Menkaure and a Queen was similar to the Greek statue of Metropolitan Kouros in their posture but both of these statues also had many differences. Menkaure and a queen statue was created from an unusual stone and the statue was discovered in Menkaure’s valley temple. The sculpture has a hard texture and because of the time-consuming task of polishing this sculpture was never completely polished. So, the sculpture is greywacke and has traces of red paint on king’s face, ears and neck because male figures were traditionally painted red and there are traces of black in queen’s hair. The sculpture itself is 54 ½ inches in height and is displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Metropolitan Kouros was created from marble which seems like it has a rough and hard texture. The statue is 6 feet in height and is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.