Through the Eras

Visual Artsrare hard stone materials such as diorite, quartzite, greywacke,and Egyptian alabaster, a form of calcite. Thesculptor heated the surface of the stone before working.The heat allowed artists to use the flint drill effectivelyon the hard surface. In the Late Period with the introductionof iron punches, artists could pulverize the surfaceof hard stone, then shape and smooth it with otherstones. The pulverized surface could be polished withquartzite sand. There are also documented cases wherean element could be added or perhaps reattached withdowels if it broke. The two most widely used soft stoneswere sandstone and limestone, which was widely availablein the area near Memphis. The most famous limestonequarry was at Tura, east of modern Cairo. Limestonewas the whitest and considered the best for building. Itis relatively easy to cut in blocks from the quarry bed.The blocks could then serve as the starting point forsculpture. It appears likely that many sculptors’ workshopswere located near to the quarry to at least allowthe sculptor to shape a sculpture roughly before movingit closer to its final destination. This practice made it unnecessaryto transport any heavier blocks than necessary.WOOD. Artists used wood for statues, decorativepanels, doors, and shrines. They executed the initialrough work with saws and axes. An adze (cutting tool)and chisel could be used to shape the statue. Artistswould often smooth wood surfaces with abrasives beforeand after they were done sculpting. But much of thesurface of a wooden statue was covered with plaster andthen the artists applied color. Wood sculptures oftenreached the highest quality because the materials wereimported and expensive. Only the best artists weretrusted with these precious materials. Cedar came fromLebanon and ebony from Somalia beginning in the earliestperiods. Native acacia and sycamore fig could sometimesbe pieced together to form the surface of cheaperstatues. Neither of these local Egyptian woods were asgood for sculpture as the imported cedar and ebony.However, the addition of plaster and paint often disguisedthe poor quality of the native wood.METAL. The Egyptians also created metal statuesfrom copper and bronze. There are two known examplesof royal hammered copper statues from the Sixth Dynastyand one royal example from the Twelfth Dynasty. Othersmust have existed but did not survive. But caste bronzewas by far the more common metal statue type. Thousandsof caste bronze statues have been preserved fromancient Egypt. Egyptian artists had invented the lost waxmethod for casting by the Old Kingdom. They demonstratedgreat skill in nearly every period. First the artistcreated a model in bee’s wax. He then covered the modelwith clay and left holes open. The clay and wax wereheated until the wax melted and ran out the holes andthe clay hardened. Bronze, silver, or gold could then beheated until it was a liquid and poured through the holesin the clay which was now a mould or negative image ofthe bee’s wax model. The clay mould could be removedcarefully for reuse. The metal sculpture was usually polishedas part of its final preparation.GRIDS. Grids are a system of horizontal and verticallines dividing a work of art into regular units. Egyptianartists used grids to create sculpture in two and threedimensions. After the mason had smoothed the stonesurface, the artist could apply the grid with a taut pieceof string dipped in paint or chalk dust. The grid dividedthe stone into equally spaced units. In different periods,the proportions of units used for the head, torso, andlegs changed, creating differing body proportions. Theoutline artist worked from the grid, knowing the numberof units necessary for each body part. The grid allowedartists to keep the various parts of the body in proportionand to enlarge images over vast areas of wall space.RELIEF TYPES. Egyptian artists worked in both sunkrelief and raised relief. In sunk relief the artist chiseledan outline into the stone and modeled a surface that laybeneath the surface of the stone. In raised relief, the backgroundwas carved away leaving a modeled subject raisedabove the surface of the stone. The Egyptians preferredsunk relief in strong sunlight. With sunk relief, the suncould not create as many shadows as in raised relief. Sunkrelief provided a sharper image in bright sun. Raised relief,which requires greater skill to execute, generally wasused for interiors. Here low light could emphasize thesculptural forms by allowing them to cast shadows. TheEgyptians plastered and painted both raised and sunkrelief. They could also use plaster to repair the surfaceof a tomb or temple wall and occasionally modeled featuresfrom plaster.COLORS. Egyptian artists used a variety of colors includingyellow, red, brown, white, blue, and green. Theearth tones were made from natural pigments tinted withwhite. Blue came from a copper-based frit or from coppercalcium tetra-silicate. Yellow and blue combined to makegreen. All colors were mixed in water-soluble gum. Artistsapplied color with almost no shading, only flat areas ofcolor. Most objects were colored naturally. Herbage wasgreen; mud was black. Water was blue; linen garmentswere white. When the Egyptians added color to humanflesh, however, symbolism often dominated. ThoughEgyptian men and women must have had similar fleshtones, men are often painted red while women arepainted yellow. The red associates men with the sun-god268 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)