AOI- Approaches to Learning

Unit Question- What can the art of the Ancient Societies tell us about the culture and the people who lived at that

time?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa.jpg

The cylinder seal, small stone cylinder engraved in intaglio on its surface to leave impressions when rolled on wet clay.

The seals first appear during the Protoliterate Period (c. 3400–2900 bc), and, although the earliest examples used primarily geometric, magical, or animal patterns, later seals incorporated the owner’s name and depicted a variety of motifs.

Cylinder Seal with the Name of Pepi I

Period: Old Kingdom Dynasty: Dynasty 6 Reign: reign of Pepi I Date: ca. 2289–2255 B.C. Geography: Egypt

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name.

While the cartouche is usually vertical with a horizontal line, it is sometimes horizontal if it makes the name fit better, with a vertical line on the left.

At times amulets were given the form of a cartouche displaying the name of a king and placed in tombs.

Why do you think items like these were important to archaeologists?

Ancient Egyptian cartouche of Thutmose III, Karnak, Egypt

Such items are often important to archaeologists for dating the tomb and its contents.

Cartouches were formerly only worn by Pharaohs.

The oval surrounding their name was meant to protect him from evil spirits in life and after death.

The cartouche has become a symbol representing protection from evil and give good luck

Egyptians believed that if you had your name written down in some place, then you would not disappear after you died. If a cartouche was attached to their coffin then they would have their name in at least one place.

Tomb wall depicting Queen Nefertari, the great royal wife of pharaoh Rameses II

In your workbook, with a drawing pencil—Figure out your name in hieroglyphics

Enclose your design in an ellipse

You do not have to use vowels

For instance- if your name is Jenn, you would find the sounds of “J” & “N”

Place the letters artistically, going up or down, backward or forward (however it best fits)

Trace your design onto tracing paper

Transfer your design onto the linoleum block

Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD.

Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and

sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic. Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past.

In a more narrow sense, Ancient Egyptian art refers to the

canonical 2nd and 3rd Dynasty art developed in Egypt from 3000 BC and used until the 3rd century. Most elements of Egyptian art remained remarkably stable over that 3,000 year period with relatively little outside influence.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hi/te_index.asp?i=14

http://art.thewalters.org/browse/category/art-of-ancient-egypt-and-nubia/

British Museum-

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlights_search_results.aspx?place=8085&advSubmit.x=0&currentPage=1

What stylistic characteristics do you notice in these Egyptian artworks?

Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD.

Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic.

Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past.

Predynastic (4210 BC–2680 BC)

Old Kingdom (2680 BC–2258 BC)

Middle Kingdom (2258 BC–1786 BC)

New Kingdom (1786 BC–1085 BC)

Amarna Period (1085 BC–1055 BC)

Third Intermediate Period, First Persian Period, Late Period of ancient Egypt

Second Persian Period and the start of Greek Egypt (1055 BC–287 BC)

Ptolemaic

Ancient Egyptian art is characterized by the idea of order.

Clear and simple lines combined with simple shapes and flat areas of color helped to create a sense of order and balance in the art of ancient Egypt.

Vertical and Horizontal reference lines in order to maintain the correct proportions in their work. Political and religious, as well as artistic order, was also maintained in Egyptian art.

Hierarchical Perspective

Pharaoh's regalia (symbolizing his power to maintain order) to the individual symbols of Egyptian gods and goddesses, is omnipresent in Egyptian art.

Animals were usually also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art.

Colors were more expressive rather than natural: red skin implied vigorous tanned youth, whereas yellow skin was used for women or middle-aged men who worked indoors; blue or gold indicated divinity because of its unnatural appearance and association with precious materials; the use of black for royal figures expressed the fertility of the Nile from which Egypt was born.

Predynastic Art (4210 BC–2680 BC)

Equivalent to the Neolithic Period

Palette of King Narmer

from Hierakonpolis, Egypt

ca. 3,000-2,920 B.C.E. slate approximately 25 in. high

Palette of King Narmer

from Hierakonpolis, Egypt

ca. 3,000-2,920 B.C.E. slate approximately 25 in. high

Palette of King Narmer

from Hierakonpolis, Egypt

ca. 3,000-2,920 B.C.E. slate approximately 25 in. high

Imhotep

Pyramid and Mortuary of Djoser

Saqqara, Egypt

ca. 2,630-2,611 B.C.E. limestone

Old Kingdom Art 3rd millennium BC

Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods.

Great Pyramids

Gizeh, Egypt

Pyramids of Menkaure, ca. 3,000-2,920 B.C.E.; Khafre, ca. 2520-2494 B.C.E.; Khufu ca. 2551-2528 B.C.E. limestone largest (Khufu) approximately 450 ft. high

Great Pyramids

Gizeh, Egypt

Pyramids of Menkaure, ca. 3,000-2,920 B.C.E.; Khafre, ca. 2520-2494 B.C.E.; Khufu ca. 2551-2528 B.C.E. limestone largest (Khufu) approximately 450 ft. high

Great Sphinx

Gizeh, Egypt

ca. 2520-2494 B.C.E. sandstone approximately 65 ft. high

Khafre

from Gizeh, Egypt

ca. 2,520-2,494 B.C.E. diorite approximately 66 in. high

Menkaure and Khamerenebty

from Gizeh, Egypt

ca. 2,490-2,472 B.C.E. graywacke approximately 54 1/2 in. high

Menkaure and Khamerenebty

from Gizeh, Egypt

ca. 2,490-2,472 B.C.E. graywacke approximately 54 1/2 in. high

Seated Scribe

from Saqqara, Egypt

ca. 2,450-2,350 B.C.E. painted limestone approximately 21 in. high

Ka-Aper

from his mastaba at Saqqara, Egypt

ca. 2,450-2,350 B.C.E. wood approximately 43 in. high

Ti watching hippopotamus hunt

from Saqqara, Egypt

ca. 2,450-2,350 B.C.E. painted limestone approximately 48 in. high

Goats Treading Seed and Cattle Fording a Canal

Saqqara, Egypt - Mastaba of Ti

ca. 2450-2350 B.C.E. painted limestone

Middle Kingdom Art between 2055 BC and 1650

the funerary cult of Osiris rose to dominate Egyptian popular religion.

Rock-cut tombs

Beni Hasan, Egypt

ca. 1,950-1,900 B.C.E.

Rock cut Tombs BH 3-5

Beni Hasan, Egypt, Dynasty XII

ca. 1950-1900 B.C.E.

Riverboat

from tomb of Meketre, Thebes, Egypt

ca. 1,985 B.C.E. gessoed and painted wood 50 3/8 in. long

Granary

from tomb of Meketre, Thebes, Egypt

ca. 1,985 B.C.E. gessoed and painted wood 29 1/8 in. long

Statuette of an offering bearer

from tomb of Meketre, Thebes, Egypt

ca. 1,985 B.C.E. gessoed and painted wood 44 1/8 in. high

Hippopotamus

from Thebes, Egypt

1991-1783 B.C.E. faience and ceramic 7 7/8 in. long