Ancient Egyptian Art and Terminology

Akh
A spirit like a ghost, an aspect of the deceased personality. This aspect operated within both the living and dead society. When a living relative wrote to beseech the spirit for help, they would write to the akh, not the ka.



Ankh
Symbol of life

Image from the Inner/Outer Coffin of the Charioteer Iotefamun
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-9611521/



Aphis bull
Protective Symbol



Ba
Ba was an element of the individual (like a ‘personality'), which was divided at death but reunited in the Afterlife. Represented as a falcon with a human head. The Ba-bird is often interpreted to be the soul of the deceased, and the representation as a bird emphasizes the mobility of the soul after death.

Image from the Inner/Outer Coffin of the Charioteer Iotefamun
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-9611521/




Canopic Jars
Protective deities (the sons of Horus) watch over the remains, their heads on the jar.
Typically state victim formula for the deceased and name of the son.

Canopic Jar
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad


4 Brothers: 
Duamutef
* Stomach
* Jackal head
* Originally a man wrapped as a mummy.
* From the New Kingdom onwards, given the head of a Jackal
* ‘adoring his motherland’
* Torso and stomach wounds common in war
* Confused a lot with Qebchsenuf

Hapi
* Lungs
* Baboon head

Horussohn
* Liver
* Human head with mummy body

Qebechsenuf
* Intestines
* Falcon head



Coffin
* Means ‘bound mummy’ or ‘that which begets’.

Coffin and Mummy of Tjeby,
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Photo by Brenna Reistad.
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-79513328/




Color Changes
* Some colors on mummy coffins and items can change from a blue to green over time.
* This happens due to resin being used on the item, eventually changing the surface to a transparent yellow, changing the blue to green. 
* Color change can vary due to the paint pigment and thickness of the resin.
* Not all items have color change as not all items were coated with resin. 



Collar
* Images on the collar protect the chest and heart
* Floral motifs symbolize new life
* Falcon head on shoulders
* Upper part of the collar
* Represent Re-Horakhty, the reborn sun god

Image from the Inner/Outer Coffin of the Charioteer Iotefamun
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-9611521/




Death Demons
* Gods whom keep watch over the body of the mummy and body of Osiris.
* A text column by each shown god, shows a magic spell the god recites to protect the deceased.
* In the text column in front of each god, a magic spell is written which he recites to protect the deceased.

Image From Outer Qersu Coffin of the Priest Hor
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/558421



Divine Wig
* Represents that the deceased has merged with the god Osiris
* If male, usually has the crooked divine beard

Image from the Inner/Outer Coffin of the Charioteer Iotefamun
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-9611521/



Djed Pillar
* Symbolizes stability 

Image From Outer Qersu Coffin of the Priest Hor
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/558421



Egyptian Blue, or Cuprorivaite

Pigment made with the formula CaCuSi4O10,  by heating calcium compound (carbonate, sulfate or hydroxide), copper compound (oxide or malachite), and quartz in a specific ratio to a temperature of 900°C using flux of sodium carbonate, borax, or potassium carbonate. 

Ratio: 4 SiO2: 1 CaO: 1 CuO

The powder was then molded and annealed to make objects. 
Catalog: Egyptian blue, Aile Sully, Room 334, Materials and Techniques, Vitrine 6, E 10482
Source and text: Original, Louvre Museum, Paris, France, https://collections.louvre.fr/ 



Facial Colors
Yellow – Women
Red – Men
Green – Osiris, plants, new life, gods
Gold – skin color of the gods



False Door

* Magical doorway for the ka [life-force] (not real door).
* Visitors left offerings inside of the tomb, and the door allowed the spirit to pass back and forth to retrieve them.
Typically inscribed on them:
* A ‘menu’ of offerings in case real offerings were not left by visitors, this would sustain the ka.
* The deceased’s names and titles.
* Depictions of offerings and deceased with offerings.
* Funerary prayers
* Some tombs had actual offering tables to leave tributes of cool water, beer, and wine. Some also had basins for other liberations.

False Door Stele
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-12968140/



Ma’at
The concept of balance later became personified into a deity of the same name. 




Menat
* A necklace made of beads and a keyhole shaped pendant.
* While it could be worn, it was also carried by women during religious ceremonies.
* A percussion instrument, when shaken, it produced a soothing noise believed to appease the gods and goddesses.
* During the New Kingdom, women using both the necklace and sistrum together appeared to have a special status, such as the mummy Renenutet, called the ‘Singer of Amun-Re’.



Paint Colors
* Egyptians associated color with the nature of the object. The words for ‘color’ and ‘character are the same’. 
Original colors:
Black
Green
Red
* closer to a brown, ochre 
* also encompasses yellow and orange
White

Pigments were created later, expanding colors and their meaning
* Colors tended to be in pairs
* Gold/silver- complementary colors, sun-moon, et.
* Red/white – colors of the crown of Egypt
* Green/black – regeneration and stages of
* Skin tones varied from light and dark ocher, also appearing red

Black “kem“
* Fertility, resurrection
* Traditional hair color for Kushites an Nubians
* Sometimes skin color of the pharaohs

Blue ‘irtyu‘
* Gods, heavens, divine, fertility, life, and water
* Hair color of the gods
* Sometimes the skin color of Amun

Gold ‘newb‘
* Skin of the gods, indestructible, eternal

Green ‘wahhdj‘
* Life, resurrection (with black), vegetation, growth, Eye of Horus/Wedjat, positivity, joy, foretelling, promise  
* Includes turquoise

Red ‘deshr‘
* Chaos, dangerous, destruction, fire, Seth (death), rage, war
* Can also represent protection, life, and power
* Used for skin of men and was the color of the army 
* Ra is sometimes depicted in red

White “hedj” 
* Purity, simplicity, sacredness, cleanliness
* Sacred tools and animals were painted white
* White was also used to depict typical clothing
* “Hedj” also referred to silver, which at times was valued more than gold

Yellow ‘khenet‘
* Woman’s skin (along with people from regions such as the Mediterranean, Syria, et), gold, sun, perfection
* Included orange
* descriptions can show ‘orange’ objects being referred to as ‘yellow’ until the 15th century


Register
* Parallel lines used to provide ground lines for figures and to separate scenes
* Scenes with no registers tend to be evoking chaos such as battle or hunting
* The higher up the scene, the higher the status was
* Figures that overlap are implied to be underneath and further away from the main figure

Tomb Lintel of Ihii
Chrysler Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://chrysler.emuseum.com/objects/25263/tomb-lintel-of-ihii?ctx=6e2e874e-9e00-4ebe-a3d4-b1d799d8e325&idx=26



Sarcophagus
* Device to hold the coffin inside the tomb
* Greek for ‘flesh eater’
* Egyptians called it ‘neb ankh’ (possessor of life)
Terms also used
* Wet – unknown meaning though appears derived from embalming and ‘mummy bandage’
* Suhet – inner coffin/mummy board. Also means ‘egg’ (new life emerges).

Sarcophagus Cover
Chrysler Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://chrysler.emuseum.com/objects/9965/sarcophagus-cover?ctx=961662a0-d1ce-450c-a0a2-06c25545e4cc&idx=30



Scale
* Hierarchy was also used via scale, the larger the figure, the more important they were.
* Kings and deities are usually equal in size, but far larger than average Egyptians.

Tomb Relief
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-12958341/



Shabtis
* Earliest are from the Middle Kingdom; made of wood, or wax, and one per tomb.
* Mini figures that acted as servants in the afterlife to the deceased
* Formed with various tools for labor, along with magical text to activate them
* New Kingdom; made of wood, metal, stone, faience. Multiple shabtis per tomb, along with their overseers.

Shabti of Hapi
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-12951677/



Sistera
* Made of clay, then later bronze. When made of bronze could be used in rituals,
* Connected to Hathor and Bastet (later combined into one entity). The handle shows the cow face likened to either Hathor or Bastet.
* Egyptians called it ‘sesheshet’, after the sound it made when shaken, likened to a whirring or rattling noise.
* Used to scare away evil spirits such as Set, and to avert flooding of the Nile River.

Image From the Inner/Outer Coffin of the Charioteer Iotefamun
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-9611521/



Statue
* Statues provided a conduit for the ka (spirit) of the image, to interact with the terrestrial realm
* Cult statues were treated nearly as living beings. Every day they would be anointed, perfumed, and dressed. 
* Occasionally they would be hidden nearly from view and carried in processions. The point being for them to ‘see’ and for the people to feel their ‘presence’.
* Elite and royal statuary acted as intermediates between people and gods.
* Family chapels could have statuary of deceased forefathers and act as a family temple
* The family would eat in the chapel during festivals honoring the dead
* Flowers – symbols of rebirth
* Incense – considered divine scent
* It is stated that the family would write letters to the deceased, asking to aid them in both the current world and the next.

Statue of Seated Scribe: Sema-Tawy-Tefnakht
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-12965007/



Three-Dimensional Art
* Formal, aimed to reproduce statuary in an idealized manner
* Stone art tended to be more linear and closed to work with the natural stone
* Wood and metal were able to be more expressive than stone, allowing figures to have arms outstretched et.



Two-Dimensional Art
* Rendered from most recognizable angle
* Figures grouped together
* Thus why face, limbs, and waist are in profile, but shoulders and eyes are viewed from the front



Tyet, Knot of Isis
* Symbol associated with goddess Isis.
* ‘Welfare’ or ‘life’
* Similar to ankh but arms curve down.
Tyet amulets came to be buried with the dead in the early New Kingdom of Egypt (circa 1 550 BC – 1 070 BC). The earliest examples date to the reign of Amenhotep III, and from then until the end of dynastic Egyptian history, few people were buried without one placed within the mummy wrappings, usually on the upper torso.

Image From Outer Qersu Coffin of the Priest Hor
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/558421



Uraeus
* The cobra represents the goddess Wadjet, a very ancient goddess who is associated with royalty.
* When the snake is worn over the king’s brow, its head raised and hood dilated ready to attack if needed, it is called a uraeus.
* The uraeus constitutes the consummate symbol of royalty. As time passes it is also worn by royal women and certain gods.

Fragment of a Mythological Papyrus Scroll
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-8524225/



Wadjet
* The Eye of Horus. Typically used as an amulet, it represents well-being, protection, healing, and rebirth.
* Means ‘The one that is sound’.​​​​​​​

Rectangular Wadjet Eye Amulet
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-151266472/ ​​​​​​​



Was
* A scepter, the name translates to ‘power, domination’.
* Used as a symbol often in ancient Egyptian art regarding religion.
* It is a long straight staff, with the head of an animal, and forked end. Supposedly fashioned after the Typhonic Beast/Set-animal
* Associated with Gods (usually Set or Anubis) and the pharaoh. Later, the meaning transitioned to being a symbol to control the chaos that Set represented.
* The scepter doubled as an amulet, representing the four pillars which held the sky up.
* It was responsible for the well-being of the deceased and is scene in funerary art.
* Was a symbol to represent the nome of Thebes/Waset, the fourth Egyptian nome.



Winged Scarab
* Meant to guarantee the rebirth of the deceased
* Funerary amulets
* Scarab beetle with two separate bird wings

Winged Scarab Pectoral
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Photo by Brenna Reistad
https://www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-151294117/

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