Through the Eras

Visual ArtsBack of the Narmer Palette, showing scenes of a triumphantNarmer. In the bottom register, he is a bull attacking a city; inthe top register he inspects the headless bodies of his deadenemies; and the middle register shows two servants restrainingfantastic beasts who represent Upper and Lower Egypt. THE ARTARCHIVE/EGYPTIAN MUSEUM CAIRO/DAGLI ORTI.Front of the Narmer Palette, showing Narmer with upraisedmace, defeating an enemy. This is a pose of the king whichbecame traditional in Egyptian art. THE ART ARCHIVE/EGYPTIANMUSEUM CAIRO/DAGLI ORTI.FIGURE STYLE. The figures of Narmer and the otherindividuals were carved in the typical Egyptian style, integratingmore than one perspective into one representationof a figure. The viewer “sees” a figure from morethan one angle at the same time. The head was carvedin profile, as if the viewer sees it from the side. Yet theeye was carved frontally, as if the figure and viewer areface to face. The shoulders were also carved frontally,but the torso, legs and feet are shown in profile. It isphysically impossible to see this combination of bodyparts in reality. However, the artist’s aim was not to presentvisual reality but rather an idea of what a person is.Thus Egyptian style is described as conceptual ratherthan visual because it meant to convey a concept or anidea rather than an image.CANON OF PROPORTIONS. The Narmer Palettealso used a canon of proportions for the figures. The proportionsof each figure were standardized in Egyptian artso that every figure could be plotted on an imaginary grid.Actual grids only survive from Dynasty 11 (2081–1938B.C.E.) and later. Yet this figure has proportions similarto later representations. In a standing figure, such asNarmer found on the obverse, the grid would have containedeighteen equal units from the top of the head tothe bottom of the foot. Particular body parts were thenplotted on the grid in a regular way. Counting from thebottom of the representation, the knee fell on grid linesix, the lower buttocks on line nine, the small of the backon line eleven, the elbow on line twelve, and the junctionof the neck and shoulders on line sixteen. The hairlinewas on line eighteen. The same ratio of body partswould have applied to Narmer’s standard bearer. The individualunits would have been smaller in this case sincethe overall figure is about one-quarter the size of Narmer.This standardized ratio of body parts gave uniformity toEgyptian representations of people. Seated representationsused a grid of 14 squares.HIERATIC SCALE. Though individual bodies all hadsimilar proportions, the scale of figures varied widelyeven within one register. On the reverse of the paletteArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 275