Art Knowledge News
Brooklyn Museum opens Exhibition of Body Part Fragments of Egyptian Sculpture |
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| Written by Sally Williams |
| Friday, 20 November 2009 03:29 |
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The ancient Egyptians carefully depicted each part of the human body, respecting the significance of every element. When viewed individually these sculptures and fragments reveal the ancient notions of body and pose, as well as details of workmanship frequently unnoticed in more complete sculptures. To better explain each of these elements, the exhibition will make connections to specific objects in the Museum’s Egyptian collection and to Egyptian hieroglyphs. A major highlight of the exhibition is an eye cut from crystalline limestone, obsidian, and blue glass that was once part of an anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin similar to the Museum’s famous Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere, currently on view in the permanent installation. Body Parts also features a headless kneeling statue of Khaemwaset, a son of Ramses II, whose pose reflects a new development in religious sculpture, and a colossal left foot that was created as a votive offering for the god Serapis. Traditional Egyptian relief rendered both feet as seen from the inside, with the big toe closer to the viewer. In the Eighteenth Dynasty, however, artists began to experiment with more accurate representations, first in tomb painting and then in sculpture and relief. This relief, representing all five toes of the right foot, is one of the first examples of a break with the earlier tradition. The standardized shape of the block and the realistic modeling are characteristic of the Amarna Period. While several royal women of Amarna wore floor-length pleated garments like these, the life-size scale points to Queen Nefertiti as the owner of these feet. ( see image above ) Visit The Brooklyn Museum at : http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/ Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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