Dedicated to:

Mrs. Rochester's ART204 class

Overview:

Egyptian culture greatly valued perfection, and their art of the Pharaohs reflected that through elements like the straight-bodied depiction and the physical stature that they portrayed. The Egyptians also believed that the Pharaohs had a direct connection to their Gods, which they often called deities. It was known that the Pharaoh of Egypt was a sort of “human god” and that they were a living representative of the deities for the people. Because of these beliefs, Egyptian sculptures of pharaohs had distinct elements that make them recognizable as pharaohs, and because the Egyptians made all of their art with deeper meanings, every piece and sculpture has some sort of connection to their deities or represented a certain part of Egyptian culture. Each piece that I have included in this field guide share similarities like false beards, the crook and flail, makeup, and headdresses, and they have common aspects that are used to identify the sculpture as a pharaoh. This commonality and consistency between all of the sculptures is due to the Egyptians value of perfection and that their ideals of what their deities wanted from them remained the same all throughout the entirety of Egyptian history.

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Where were they found?

1. Sculpture of King Tut

2. Sculpture of Ramses ll

3. Sculpture of King Menkaure

4. Sculpture of Pharaoh Necho l

5. Sculpture of Hatshepsut

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King Tutankhamun 

(King Tut)

King Tut was only 9 years old when he came into power as pharaoh. He is known for his lavish tomb in Thebes, Egypt (where this sculpture was found) that was found completely intact in 1922 along with his mummy and mask in their original sarcophagus. In this sculpture, King Tut is holding a crook and flail crossed against his chest. These two items were a symbol of authority that only the Pharaoh was allowed to carry because it was one of the ways that Egyptians were able to connect the Pharaoh to their deities. The shepherds crook (right) stood for kingship, and the flail (left) stood for fertility of the land. This sculpture also clearly has makeup visible because wearing makeup was required for all pharaohs. This particular sculpture has black kohl painted around the eyes, and this was meant to resemble and honor the eyes of the god Horus. On the front of  the headdress is a Uraeus. Many sculptures of pharaohs wore this on their neme headdress because it is a symbol of a reared snake, typically a cobra, that represents the goddess Wadjet who was a daughter of the sun god Ra. This item symbolizes the pharaoh's ability to protect Egypt and the Cosmos because the pharaoh was believed to be a "human god." King Tut also wears a false beard like most other sculptures of pharaohs because it was believed to make the pharaoh more closely connected to the gods.

Uraeus

False 

Beard

Crook and Flail

Neme

Ramses 11

This sculpture of Ramses ll was made during the 19th dynasty and is one of a pair that were placed in front of the Ramesseum, which was a temple that Ramses built in honor of the god Ra. It was also found at the Rammesseum in Thebes, Egypt by excavator and field collector Giovanni Battista Belzoni. It is a monumental sculpture, which means that it is larger than life size, and its dimensions are 266.8 cm x 203.3 cm. The materials used are granodiorite and red granite, but there were remnants of color found in 1817 that lead professionals to believe it was once painted red. In the sculpture, we see a similar headdress to the one that King Tut wore. This headdress is called a neme, and these were a symbol of royalty and yet another way people could identify the Pharaoh. Again we see the typical false beard that a pharaoh would wear. Ramses is also shown wearing part of the crown of lower Egypt. Pharaohs would typically wear a double crown of upper and lower Egypt with the lower crown painted red and the upper crown painted white. However, we cannot see the full crown because the sculpture has been partly destroyed. 

Neme

False Beard

King Menkaure

This sculpture of King Menkaure was made during his reign in the time frame from 2520-2492 BC. It is slightly smaller than life size, standing at 5 ft 6 inches tall. It was also found in Giza, Egypt. Like in the sculptures of King Tut and Ramses ll, we can see that King Menkaure is wearing a false beard and the neme headdress. What is interesting about the false beards is that the pharaohs were actually forced to shave off their actual beard so that they could wear the false one. This was because of the Egyptians value of perfection; they did not want to risk having any imperfection on the Pharaoh's body, so they replaced their natural beard with the false one that they viewed as perfect. This sculpture is made out of the diorite stone, and because of its sleek, black look, a sense of eternity and perfection is created. We can also see the physicality expectations in this sculpture that was set for the pharaohs. They were expected to have a strong and lean build. King Menkaure is also wearing a kilt in this sculpture. This was typical for for pharaohs, and they often had them embroidered with hieroglyphs of the Egyptian values.

Neme

False Beard

Kilt