The Arts and Crafts of Ancient EgyptPetrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders)
History
The Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt
Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders)
Art, Egyptian
The facial surfaces are well rendered: observe the varied treatment
of the cheek below the eye in figs. 32, 33, and 35, which are clearly
individual. The entirely different form of the mouth in these three
is as evidently personal. Throughout Egyptian work the eye is of two
distinct types, both of which we see here in the XIIth dynasty. In one
type (fig. 32) the upper lid rises to its highest point near the inner
side; and with this form the actual corner, or canthus major, may end
in a mere angle or in a lachrymal fossa more or less developed, an
extreme case of the long and wide fossa being seen in fig. 32, and in
the black granite figure from Alexandria (so-called Hyksos) in Cairo.
This may be called the gibbous form of lid, and it is the more usual
in the sculpture and on coffins. The use of a copper frame round the
inserted eye in Old Kingdom statues makes it uncertain how far the
lachrymal fossa was intended to appear. But the statues of a single
material show a small fossa in most cases, such as Khafra, Dadefra, the
(so-called) wife of the Sheykh, and Sebekhotep III. In later work there
is no fossa, but only an angle, as in Tahutmes III, Amenhotep III,
Amenhotep son of Hapi, and other instances to the end of the dynasties.
But a slight fossa is shown in Akhenaten and his family, and in
Ramessu II; and, under the Ethiopians, Taharqa and Amenardys are both
shown with a long fossa.
The other type of eye seen in figs. 33, 35 may be called the narrow
eye. This seems to belong mainly to the Middle Kingdom, and is seen
in Senusert III, Amenemhat III, Queen Nofert, and Noferhotep. It is
perhaps unknown at an earlier age; and later it rarely occurs, but may
be seen in Merenptah, and somewhat in Mentu-em-hat and some portraits
of the XXVIth dynasty. These remarks are merely to draw attention to
a detail which is easily observed and seldom defaced; but for drawing
conclusions an extensive study is needed of all the varieties of form
and treatment, not only of the eye, but also of the lips, nostrils,
ears, and hair. How far such detail belonged to the subject, and how
much is due to artistic conventions, we cannot yet say; but from the
similarities of portraits of the same person it seems probable that the
details are really due to differences of type.
[Illustration: MIDDLE KINGDOM SCULPTURE
32. Senusert I
33. Senusert III
34. Foreign type
35. Amenemhat III]
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