Ancient Egypt
The image supports order, power and ideas about life after death.
Key ideas
Egyptian masters combined different angles: the head could be shown in profile, the shoulders - frontally. This made it possible to make body parts recognizable. The scale of a figure often conveyed position in the hierarchy. Reliefs, statues and architecture participated in funerary and temple practices.
Looking deeper
The tradition has changed over thousands of years. Amarna art under Akhenaten, for example, differed from a number of earlier norms. Instead of judging by similarity to a photograph, ask for whom and for what space the object was created, what the image was intended to provide.
Narmer Palette; sculptural portraits of the Amarna period.
Find the work in the museum's official catalog and start with a description of the visible details.Find ways in Egyptian relief to show significance without perspective.
External educational material or museum catalogue. The above review is not a literal translation of the source.