Through the Eras

Visual ArtsSeated statues of Rahotep and his wife Nofret. SCALA/ARTRESOURCE NY.Kha-merer-nebu II were portrayed walking, the sculptordid not attempt to depict the weight shift in the hipsand the stretch of the muscles that would create the illusionthat the statue could move. This attitude towarddepicting motion is a fundamental difference betweenancient Egyptian and Greek art.STRUCTURAL SUPPORTS AND INSCRIPTIONS. Egyptiansculptors relied on back pillars and the avoidance ofnegative space to support their sculptures. The back pillarin standing sculptures, such as the Menkaure statue,forms a slab that reaches to the shoulders of the figures.In statues of individuals, enough of the block of the stonewas removed so that the back pillar would cover onlythe spine of the figure. In some cases, the entire back ofthe figures disappears into the remaining block of thestone. The negative space, the area between the arms andtorso or between the legs was not carved. Unlike mostsculptures of the Old Kingdom, the statue of Menkaurelacks the inscription that is usually found on the baseand on the back pillar. Instead the artist relies on theidea that Menkaure can be identified from his facial featuresand the find spot of the statue in a temple built byMenkaure. The absence of an inscription indicates thatthe statue was not finished. Finished sculpture almost alwaysincluded a hieroglyphic inscription that identifiedthe subject.RAHOTEP AND NOFRET. Rahotep was a king’s sonwho lived early in the Fourth Dynasty (2615–2492B.C.E.). He was probably a son of King Sneferu andthe brother of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid.His wife, Nofret, held the title “One Whom the KingKnows,” indicative of her high rank. Statues of this couplewere discovered in their tomb in 1871 C.E. Becausethe paint on these statues is fully preserved, they revealthe pristine, original appearance of Egyptian sculpture.They are fully painted. The colors are almost surely symbolic.Rahotep’s skin is painted a dark red derived fromocher. This color associates the deceased Rahotep withthe sun god. Nofret’s skin is painted yellow/gold, symbolicallylinking her skin with a goddess’s skin. An alternative,frequent suggestion for the difference in skintones between men and women is that men spend moretime in the sun than did women in ancient Egypt, andso they were portrayed as lighter in color. This explanation,however, assumes that Egyptian artists fixed on thisone detail as important enough to include visually in asculpture. Since Egyptian art is largely conceptual, conveyingideas rather than visual reality, it seems likely thatthe color is symbolic rather than a representation of visualreality. The eyes on both statues are inlaid ratherthan carved from the same stone as the rest of the statue.The sculptor carved the eyes from rock crystal with a flatback. On the back, the iris and white have been addedin paint. A hole drilled in the center, also painted black,represents the pupil. The front was highly polished, resemblingthe cornea of a living eye. The crystal was surroundedwith a metal frame and placed in the socketcarved in the statue. The effect is amazingly life-like.These crystal eyes must have been quite valuable in ancienttimes. They are only rarely preserved in statues,usually the loot of ancient tomb robbers who often lefta statue behind without the eyes. The seated statue wasalso a common pose for high officials. These statues arevery early examples, thus they do not preserve the laterconventional hand gestures. Rahotep and Nofret bothplace the right arm across the chest. He holds the righthand in a fist while she lays it flat against her body.Rahotep’s left arm stretches on his lap toward his knee.The left hand is positioned as if it held some insignia ofhis office. Her left arm and hand are hidden behind hercloak. Later in the Old Kingdom, both men and womenwill reach forward with the left arm for offerings in theconventional pose for three-dimensional sculpture.284 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)