Friday, 30 September 2011

Art of the Old Kingdom

Royal and private statuary, as well as wall paintings and reliefs, reflected the concepts of art that served the cult of the gods, the kings, and the dead.

In royal statuary, traditional poses are combined with idealistic features. The statuary was designed to depict royalty as physically strong with softened features, sometimes with touches of realism.

This can be traced in the sculpture of King Djoser, the only surviving statuette of King Khufu, the figure of King Khafra in different stones, the schist triads of King Menkaure, and the head of King Userkaf.

The private statuary followed the same concepts, but had more freedom in movement and more varieties of poses.

Artists created seated scribe statues or figures standing, kneeling, or praying and others busy in domestic works.

Examples are the statues of Prince Ra-hotep and his wife Nofret, which look like real humans because of the colors and the inlays of the eyes.

The wooden statue of Ka-aper, with a realistic modeling of the features and the body, his other bust, and that of his wife, are additional examples of private statuary.

Wall spaces in the tombs and temples began to use reliefs and paintings to depict daily activities in homes, estates, and workshops.

There were also scenes of entertainment as well as offerings.
Such reliefs and paintings were sometimes executed to depict the activities of working groups, animals, and birds.

Sunken or raised relief and paintings were well proportioned and composed with fine details, especially in the Saqqara tombs

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