Through the Eras

Visual ArtsKneeling statuette of Pepi I. BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, 39.121,CHARLES EDWIN WILBOUR FUND. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.the Sixth Dynasty. The broad but gently arched eyebrowextends nearly to the ear. The eye, like many statues inancient Egypt, is made from precious materials and inlaid.The pupil is obsidian, while the white is calcite.These materials are held in place by a copper armaturethat represents the cosmetic line around the eye. Thecosmetic line then extends in stone toward the ear, runningparallel to the eyebrow. The nose and cheeks arefull. The philtrum is modeled. The king’s mouth hasbroad lips and is shaped like an oval, without corners.The king’s torso and arms are elongated, not as muscularas Khafre’s body. This body type represents a secondstyle in Egyptian art, identified by the art historian EdnaR. Russmann. It contrasts with the more muscular androbust body of Khafre, for example, portrayed earlier andlater in Egyptian history. This second style seems moreexpressive, and Egyptologists believe its source was religious.In common with the seated statue of Pepi I, thenegative space between the arms and the king’s torso iscarved. Again this is probably due to the small scale ofthis work.ANKH-NES-MERYRE II AND PEPI II. The calcitestatue of Queen Ankh-nes-meryre II and her son PepiII (2288–2194 B.C.E.) reveals further Sixth-dynasty innovationsin royal sculpture while still relying on ancientconventions. The statue portrays a small, adult-lookingking sitting on the lap of a woman who is much larger.The fact that Pepi II ascended the Egyptian throne atthe age of six explains the difference in size between thefigures. Taken alone, the small statue of the king resemblesmost seated royal figures. The king wears aNemes kerchief and Uraeus over his forehead. He alsowears a shendjet kilt, another symbol of royalty. Theking’s left hand reaches for offerings in a conventionalway, while his right hand holds a piece of linen, an offeringhe has already accepted. The sculptor placed thisconventional statue at a ninety degree angle to a seatedstatue of the queen. The queen sits on a low-backedthrone. She wears the vulture-headdress that indicatesher status as a royal woman. The vulture further identifiesher as the royal mother since this bird is also thehieroglyph for the word “mother.” The hole above herforehead probably once held a vulture head in someprecious material. She also wears the tri-partite hairstyle,a traditional style for both women and goddesses. Shewears a tight fitting dress with straps that pass over herbreasts. Both the king and queen bear similar, Sixthdynastyfacial characteristics including the broad eyebrow,long cosmetic line, and oval-shaped mouth withno corners. Though most Egyptian statues are frontal,meant to be viewed from only one direction, clearly thisstatue has two fronts. But the queen here must be themajor figure because she is so much larger than the king.Usually in Egyptian art, the king appears to be thesmaller figure only in the presence of a deity. Thus manyEgyptologists understand this statue to represent the kingand his mother in the guise of the goddess Isis caringfor her child Horus, the divine manifestation of the livingking. Here the mythological interpretation mostprobably overlaps with reality since the six-year-old Pepimust have relied on his mother to rule Egypt during hisminority.STANDING ROYAL SCULPTURE. The standingsculpture of King Menkaure and Queen Kha-merer-nebuII is a masterpiece of Egyptian sculpture and illustratesthe Egyptian conventions for representing a standing kingand queen. The sculpture is just under life size, 54 3 /4inches tall. The sculptor used greywacke, a hard graystone that the Egyptians prized. The archaeologistGeorge Reisner discovered the statue in 1910 in thevalley temple of this king’s pyramid at Giza. This sculptureclearly illustrates the main conventions of Egyptian282 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)