Palette Of King Narmer Essay

The main purpose of this paper is to describe the visual analysis of the artwork. This paper examines an Egyptian half nude portrait art which is taken from Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig.1). The statue characterized both male and female seated figure with a Braid hair. In this essay, I will present a complete visual description of this artwork (its preservation, costume and iconography), and then I will compare it to another artwork which is chosen from Textbook that is Akhenaten and his Family (Fig. 2).

In the sculpture, Yuny and His Wife, Renenutet, the artist conveys a strong, affectionate marriage between two important social figures in New Kingdom Egypt. This relationship is visually conveyed by multiple factors in the visual properties of this sculpture. To provide a quick description of the piece which is dated to ca. 1294–1279 B.C.E., Yuny, a chief royal scribe, is portrayed sitting next to his wife, Renenutet, a temple-ritual singer for the god Amun-Re on a bench. The sculpture was made out of limestone and originally painted. It’s 33 1/4” in height and 21 7/16” in width. Yuny and Renenutet are both depicted in elegant clothing with equally elegant wigs. Renenutet is shown wearing a long, tight-fitting dress that comes down to her ankles ending just where her bare feet start. A large, elaborate necklace takes up the majority of her chest. Her left hand sits in her lap as she holds a menat that drapes down in front of her legs and her right hand is wrapped around the lower back of Yuny. Yuny is shown wearing a long pleated skirt with hieroglyphs down the center of it. He also wears a sophisticated top going up to his neckline with the sleeves stopping at his elbows where it flares out with elaborate pleating. Unlike Renenutet, Yuny wears sandals and his forearms and hands are broken off but it’s suggested that they originally laid by his sides.

The Ancient Egyptian artifact that I chose to analyze and is the most interesting piece I have seen in the museum is the Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpare. The artwork itself was larger than me and that was one of the reasons why this artwork was very interesting to me, since I am a fairly tall individual. It was created during the Third intermediate period that was around Dynasty XXII or the twenty second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and was possibly acquired from Thebes. The dynasty was also known as the Bubastite dynasty which was approxamently from 945-718 B.C.

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).

Looking at the Stele of Iku and Mer-imat causes some questions to arise. Which class did the man and woman on the stele fall in? Was it made during the time of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, or New Kingdom? Did the two love each other? We can answer or infer the answers to the questions by finding out more about the work. The Old Kingdom lasted from about 2686-2055 BCE and this piece was made by about 2100 BCE, which explains why the polychrome on the limestone has faded so much and the edges are chipped and damaged very badly. The man and the woman were probably in the upper class, seeing as they could afford to have a funerary stele made of them and they are painted wearing expensive outfits. As for whether or not the two were in love, it is obvious that they cared for each other deeply. The woman, Mer-imat, outstretches her arm and wraps it around his upper body, placing it on his shoulder. She is facing in his direction, ready to follow him wherever he may venture. Although he is not caressing her or even looking at her, he wanted her to be shown in the stele with him. In fact, it was very common for Egyptian men to have their arms to their sides, balling their hands in to fists to hold pegs. He is just showing his power, and the whole work is very similar to the statue of King Menkaure and his Queen.

Shara Vilagi Art 210 4/16/15 Research and Criticism The Head of Nefertiti The Head of Nefertiti seemed to be more intriguing than other artifacts to me. The rich blue pigment in her headdress was enough to catch my eye. My first thought was, how did they get such beautiful pigments? After reading the two paragraphs that the textbook had on Nefertiti, I realize that there was no information regarding my question. I was hoping to gain a better understanding as to how these pigments were made.

Stretching across ten countries and spanning over four thousand miles, the Nile River became the heart of Egyptian civilization. The lower (northern) Nile overflowed its banks several months out of the year before the creation of the Aswan High Dam in 1970. When the floodwaters receded, they left a new layer of rich silt behind, making the surrounding valley and delta a fertile and desirable habitat. As early as 8000 BCE, the people who inhabited the valley of the world’s longest river became relatively sedentary and in 5000 BCE they adopted the agricultural village life commonly associated with Neolithic culture. Throughout the Predynastic period, the North African climate was immensely dry. In order to combat this problem, many villages formed alliances that worked to control the river’s flow. Over time, these small federations of villages conquered and absorbed other weaker ones. As communities grew into chiefdoms, they began to advance rapidly toward refined civilization shortly after 3600 BCE.

This artifact is a fragment or part of a vandal that an Ancient Egyptian wore on his or her feet. Ancient Egyptian sandals were usually made out of plant fibers or leather, so this part of a sandal might be made out of plant fibers or leather. The sandals were tied together by two thongs. This was used for footwear so that the sand of the hot deserts couldn't burn his or her feet also for protection from scratches or cuts on his or her feet. But sandals were also worn on special occasions.

Examining the Ancient Egyptian civilization reveals much about the nature of its art. The art was mainly religious in content and purpose and, as the “religious dogma” remained unchanged for nearly 3000 years, so did the art (Piper, 1991: 24). Because Isis and Horus are divine beings, they had to be portrayed “with limited human expression” according to “strict formal conventions, in keeping with their divinity” (Mason, 2007:13). The sculpture is fairly flat on the back side of the throne, for the sake of functionality. It was not “intended to be seen in the round”, but was most probably placed against the wall of a tomb (Ancient Egypt – Myth & History, 2002: 439). In fact, this sculpture was not made

The palette of King Narmer is more than simply a work of art. It is a blend of artistic creativity, mixed with the function of recording the history of King Narmer. Revealing, Narmer's rise to power as well as share the narrative of how Egypt was united.

I find this piece to be very mysterious. Why does the head become narrow at the top? The face seems to be of an older woman, as shown by the wrinkles indented within the sides of the nose and the mouth, although they are not as prevalent as the one of NYC. There’s a soft jaw line of a woman. What is interesting to me is the indented/concave region of the eyes. Instead of forming an extruding eye with a pupil, the sculptor chose to extract the material to form the eye, unlike the piece we saw of Abu, with eyes stamped with bitumen tar. The lips are very well sculpted, and textured well. It seems like it would mean a lot to a Pharaoh who has lost his mother, or who hopes to forever remember his family. To see the portrait of his family along with himself would’ve made him feel happy and in the presence of his family. I feel this way much of the time when seeing photos of lost family members with me beside them within the photos. It’s like an everlasting memory of that person and being with them in the memory.

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.

Similar to most Egyptian art, the figures in the stele are drawn with a twisted perspective – the frontal view of their faces and the profile view of their bodies. This is also seen in the relief of “King Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions.” This twisted perspective was common in most Ancient Egyptian art.

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What makes the sculpture different from others of this time period are two things; the subject matter, in that it depicts no god, nor Pharaoh only a mortal human writing in a mostly illiterate society. Secondly it demonstrates age shown in sagging muscles and rotund belly. Due to this relaxed style we can gather that the subject is not a Pharaoh as it was dishonourable to insinuate that they aged as they were supposed to be gods on earth.