Through the Eras

Visual ArtsRARE WRITTEN EVIDENCE OF EGYPTIAN ARTINTRODUCTION: The Inscription of Bak, chief sculptor ofKing Akhenaten, represents rare inscriptional evidencefor art. Bak carved this inscription in the granitequarry near Aswan. A relief shows Bak’s father,named Men, seated before a statue of AmenhotepIII while Bak himself offers at an altar. At Bak’s sideis King Akhenaten before his god, the Aten. In thisinscription, Bak claims that Akhenaten himself instructedthe sculptor in the new style used duringthe Amarna period. This is rare evidence of howsuch an official change took place.Above Men: Offering every good and purething, consisting of bread, beer, long-horned oxen,[short-horned cattle], fowl, and all sorts of fine vegetablesby the overseer of works projects in the RedMountain, the chief sculptor in the big and importantmonuments of the king, Men, son of Baimyu. …Above Bak: Giving adoration to the lord of theTwo Lands and kissing the ground to Waenre by theoverseer of works projects in the Red Mountain, adisciple whom his Person [a way of referring to theking] himself instructed, chief of sculptors in the bigand important monuments of the king in the Houseof Aten in Akhet-Aten, Bak, the son of the chief ofsculptors Men and born to the housewife Ry ofHeliopolis.SOURCE: William J. Murnane, Texts from the AmarnaPeriod in Egypt (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1995): 129.this version of a royal body as feminized. The meaningof this feminized body would, however, not be negativeas it might be in modern eyes. Instead the Egyptian artistcould be stressing the king’s role in guaranteeing thecountry’s fertility. The king’s breast-like pectorals andnearly pregnant abdomen suggest common Egyptiansymbols for rebirth and plenty. This version of the king’sbody would also send an important positive message toancient Egyptian viewers.PRIVATE PEOPLE. Increasing wealth throughoutEgypt and the resulting opulence during AmenhotepIII’s reign is clear in art that represents non-royal officialsduring this period. A pair statue representing theofficials Nebsen and Nebet-ta and a tomb paintingrepresenting a lady named Tjepu both demonstrate thatartists portrayed these members of the elite with increasingnumbers of luxury goods. Nebsen was a scribeAkhenaten. BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, 29.34, GIFT OF THE EGYPTEXPLORATION SOCIETY. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.300 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)