Egyptology shared a few photos
Illustration showing ancient columns and the Egyptian obelisk, 1809. Constantinople / Istanbul, Turkey. Anonymous Greek painter, V&A Museum.
This image shows the comparative heights of ancient colu... View MoreIllustration showing ancient columns and the Egyptian obelisk, 1809. Constantinople / Istanbul, Turkey. Anonymous Greek painter, V&A Museum.
This image shows the comparative heights of ancient columns still extant in Istanbul. From the left: - The Column of the Goths, The Burnt Column, the four sides of the Egyptian Obelisk, the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, and the Column of Marcian.
This picture was one of a series commissioned by Stratford Canning (later Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe), 1786-1880. He began his long diplomatic career in Turkey as first secretary to Robert Adair on his mission to Istanbul in 1808. On arrival Canning soon arranged to see officially (and unofficially) all manner of Ottoman institutions, buildings and customs. What made his curiosity really valuable is that he hired a local artist to make this large series of views and studies of what he had seen. The identity of the artist is unknown, though Turkish scholars believe that he was part of the studio or circle of Konstantin Kapidagli. His style combines the dense and brilliant water and bodycolour used by Ottoman artists with European conventions of representation and perspective.
As a young man, the artist and future neo-classical architect Charles Cockerell went to Istanbul in 1810, stayed at the embassy, and even met Byron there. There Cockerell (with an interpreter) met and discussed painting technique with this Greek artist whom, frustratingly, he did not name in his letters. Cockerell's copies of the Greek's architectural views are now in the British Museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum finally acquired the original set of drawings from Canning's daughter Charlotte in 1895.
Within a few years of coming to the throne Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) dedicated himself to one god: the Aten (sun disk). A faceless disk that shined in the sky with long thin rays and little hands on th... View MoreWithin a few years of coming to the throne Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) dedicated himself to one god: the Aten (sun disk). A faceless disk that shined in the sky with long thin rays and little hands on the rays that held out the ankh of life to the Egyptian royal family.
King Menkaura, the goddess Hathor, and the deified Hare nome
Old Kingdom
The sublime beauty of this triple statue masks the sophistication of its composition. The central and largest figure is Hathor, a... View MoreKing Menkaura, the goddess Hathor, and the deified Hare nome
Old Kingdom
The sublime beauty of this triple statue masks the sophistication of its composition. The central and largest figure is Hathor, an important goddess throughout Egyptian history associated with fertility, creation, birth, and rebirth. She was the king's divine mother and protector. Here, she wears a headdress of cow's horns and a sun disk, but otherwise her appearance is that of a human female, and she is depicted with the same hairstyle and garment as her earthly counterparts.
Hathor embraces King Menkaura, who is standing to her left. He wears a crown symbolic of Upper Egypt (the Nile Valley) and a wraparound kilt whose sharp pleats conform to the outline of his body. In his right hand he holds a mace, a weapon frequently wielded by kings in relief, but until now not reproduced in stone sculpture. Here, artists solved the problem of carving its thin and fragile shaft in the round by resting it on Hathor's throne. In Menkaura's left hand is a short implement with a concave end; it is generally interpreted as a case for documents. Size corresponds to hierarchical position in Egyptian art, and while visually Hathor and Menkaura appear to be the same height, the seated goddess is significantly larger in scale. Like Menkaura's queen in the pair statue (pp. 86-87), Hathor's embrace is one of association, not affection, and all three figures gaze impassively into a distant horizon.
The third and smallest figure is a goddess of lesser importance, associated not with the entire country, but with a single district in Upper Egypt known as the Hare nome. It is symbolized by the rabbit standard she wears on her head. An artist has cleverly merged the ankh sign she carries in her left hand with Hathor's throne. The Hare nome goddess, like Hathor and Menkaura, exhibits a body proportioned according to the Old Kingdom ideal of beauty and is modeled with the restrained elegance that makes this period a highpoint of Egyptian art.
The inscription on the sculpture's base clarifies the meaning of this complicated piece: "The Horus (Kakhet), King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Menkaura, beloved of Hathor, Mistress of the Sycamore. Recitation: I have given you all good things, all offerings, and all provisions in Upper Egypt, forever." It signifies that all the material goods produced in the Hare nome will be presented to the king to sustain him in perpetuity. One theory suggests that eight such triads, each featuring the king and Hathor with one of the other nome deities, were set up in Menkaura's Valley Temple.
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Menkaura, dated to 2490–2472 B.C.
Findspot: Egypt, Giza, Menkaura Valley Temple
MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Greywacke
DIMENSIONS
Width x height x depth x weight: 43.5 x 84.5 x 49 cm, 187.8 kg (17 1/8 x 33 1/4 x 19 5/16 in., 414.02 lb.)
Mount (Steel pallet sits on wooden reinforced pedestal/4-steel clips): 10.2 x 62.5 x 64.8 cm (4 x 24 5/8 x 25 1/2 in.)
Case (wooden pedestal): 100.3 x 68.6 x 71.1 cm (39 1/2 x 27 x 28 in.)
Block (Plex-bonnet): 105.4 x 64.5 x 67 cm (41 1/2 x 25 3/8 x 26 3/8 in.)
CREDIT LINE
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
ACCESSION NUMBER
09.200/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Egyptology shared a few photos
Heruben papyrus. Scene from the Book of the Dead. Egyptian Civilization, Third Intermediate Period. (c. 1069 BC – c. 664 BC) Egyptian Museum Cairo
The erect penis evokes Osiris at his most powerfull... View MoreHeruben papyrus. Scene from the Book of the Dead. Egyptian Civilization, Third Intermediate Period. (c. 1069 BC – c. 664 BC) Egyptian Museum Cairo
The erect penis evokes Osiris at his most powerfully regenerative moment, and is a feature of 'corn-mummies,' the quintessential symbols of rebirth and resurrection.
3rd Intermediate Period
Egyptology shared a few photos
Statuette of a Serving Girl Terracotta, originally painted statuette of a serving girl. New Kingdom, ca. 1323-1186 BC. Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Egyptology shared a few photos
Hedgehog Model. Model of a hedgehog from Tomb 416 at Abydos (Egyptian faience). New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1550-1292 BC. Now in the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
Great Sphinx of Giza, colossal limestone statue of a recumbent sphinx located in Giza, Egypt, that likely dates from the reign of King Khafre (c. 2575–c. 2465 BCE) and depicts his face. It is one of E... View MoreGreat Sphinx of Giza, colossal limestone statue of a recumbent sphinx located in Giza, Egypt, that likely dates from the reign of King Khafre (c. 2575–c. 2465 BCE) and depicts his face. It is one of Egypt’s most famous landmarks and is arguably the best-known example of sphinx art.
The mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I has been digitally unwrapped
Amenhotep I ruled Egypt from around 1525 to 1504 BC and his pristine mummy has never been unwrapped, but CT scans have now allowed us to peer inside
Egypt breakthrough as ‘man-made chamber’ found after scan below Great Sphinx | Science | News | Express.co.uk
AN EGYPT researcher says a ‘man-made chamber’ has been found below the Great Sphinx after a scan of the area uncovered a ‘void’ below the surface, in a video shared with
Express.co.uk.
page=11&callback_module_id=pages&callback_item_id=18&year=&month=
View More
WitChKinG likes this. 
