Sculptures of the ancient state. The oldest sculptures
Pharaonic tombs, temple rooms, royal palaces were filled with various sculptures that formed an organic part of the buildings. The main images developed by the sculptors were images of the reigning pharaohs. Although the needs of the cult demanded the creation of images of numerous gods, the image of a deity, made according to rigid schemes, often with the heads of animals and birds, did not become central in Egyptian sculpture: in most cases it was a mass and inexpressive product. Of much greater importance was the artistic development of the type of the earthly ruler, his nobles, and, over time, ordinary people. From the beginning of the III millennium BC. NS. a certain canon was formed in the interpretation of the pharaoh: he was depicted sitting on a throne in a pose of impassive calmness and greatness, the master emphasized his enormous physical strength and size (powerful arms and legs, torso). During the Middle Kingdom, masters overcome the idea of cold grandeur and the faces of the pharaohs acquire individual features. For example, the statue of Senusret III with deep-seated, slightly sloping eyes, a large nose, thick lips and protruding cheekbones quite realistically conveys an incredulous character, with a sad and even tragic expression on his face.
Credits: Laokon and his children; Caryatids; Sphinx of Giza. Typically, we have an image of Greek and Roman statues that are traditionally exhibited in museums, without color, except as represented by their raw materials. However, many of them were originally painted in vibrant colors of gold, red, blue, yellow and a range of shades.
The impression of limestone and white marble sculptures dominates our image of classical antiquity in the Mediterranean world. Fascinated by the aura of purity of the material, we focus exclusively on form. However, we know that ancient architecture and the sculpture was painted in vibrant colors, said the Museum of Art History in Vienna, describing the glorious Gods in Color exhibition that has traveled the world.
The masters felt more free when they portrayed nobles and especially commoners. Here the constraining influence of the canon is overcome, the image is developed more boldly and more realistically, and its psychological characteristics are more fully conveyed. The art of individual portraiture, deep realism, a sense of movement reached their peak in the era of the New Kingdom, especially during the short period of Akhenaten's reign (Amarna period). The sculptural images of the pharaoh himself, his wife Nefertiti, and members of his family are distinguished by a skillful transfer of the inner world, deep psychologism, and high artistic skill.
A few years ago, the archaeologist Wingenz Brinkmann, former curator of the Glyptotek Museum, and Raimund Wunsche, to correct this popular misconception, prepared an itinerant exhibition that continues to this day through museums to show what they looked like. classic statues antiquities. The exhibition has expanded.
To show the big difference between what is seen today and how it was in the past, the original work was reproduced and colored with the same pigments that were identified in the wear analysis. A special photographic technique using ultraviolet light enhances how the original statues glowed. They identified patterns and colors that at first glance were not perceived.
In addition to round sculpture, the Egyptians willingly turned to relief. Many walls of tombs and temples, various structures are covered with magnificently executed relief compositions, most often depicting nobles in the circle of their families, in front of the altar of the deity, among their fields, etc.
A certain canon was developed in relief paintings: the main "hero" was portrayed larger than others, his figure was conveyed in a double plan: head and legs in profile, shoulders and chest - in front. All figures were usually painted.
What you saw when you walked through ancient city, a cemetery or a shrine, explains Suzanne Ebbinghaus, curator of ancient art, “will be colored sculptures: painted marble, colored bronze, images of gold and ivory. It completely changes our image. the ancient world Ebbinghouse said, according to the Archaeological Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America.
Instead of the pale Roman Caligula seen in museums today, his painted image had colored cheekbones showing his rounded cheeks, his slightly red lips, and his light brown hair. From the Trojan archer, various colors emerged, dominating the yellow, on the pediment of which was the Temple of Afaei at Aegina. His cheerful picture with bright trousers is clearly confirmed by the ultraviolet light.
Along with the reliefs, the walls of the tombs were covered with contour or pictorial paintings, the content of which was more varied than the reliefs. Quite often, these paintings reproduced scenes of everyday life: artisans at work in a workshop, fishermen fishing, peasants plowing, street vendors at their goods, litigation, etc. The Egyptians achieved great skill in depicting wildlife - landscapes, animals, birds where the restraining influence of ancient traditions was felt much less. A striking example is the paintings of the tombs of nomarchs found in Beni Hasan and dating back to the time of the Middle Kingdom.
Ebbinghaus and other archaeologists believe that most would ignore the pigment traces of the ancient statues, which were minerals based on organic binders that decayed over time. This is why many of the remains of the painting on the statues are eventually lost during cleaning.
Using a technique called "shallow light", the lamp is carefully brought closer so that the path of the light is almost parallel to the surface of the object. When used in paintings, it shows strokes, sand and dust. In statues, the effect is more subtle as the painting fades at different rates. However, complex patterns become visible with ultraviolet light.
All ancient Egyptian art obeyed cult canons. Relief and sculpture were no exception. The masters left outstanding sculptural monuments to descendants: statues of gods and people, figures of animals.
The man was sculpted in a static but majestic posture, standing or sitting. In this case, the left leg was extended forward, and the arms were either folded on the chest, or pressed against the body.
Ultraviolet light causes many organic compounds to become fluorescent, in contrast to modern paints, which use them frivolously. This method can identify the pattern pattern and color. X-ray spectroscopy is also used.
Painting of statues and reliefs is also found in Mesoamerica. During the Mayan reign in the Mirador Basin in northern Guatemala, the beautiful reliefs that dominated the style of imposing structures were colored with pigments that adhered to a layer of clay, usually red in color.
Some sculptors were required to create figures of working people. At the same time, there was a strict canon for the depiction of a specific occupation - the choice of the moment characteristic of this particular type of work.
Among the ancient Egyptians, statues could not exist separately from religious buildings. They were first used to decorate the retinue of the deceased pharaoh and were placed in a tomb located in a pyramid. They were relatively small figures. When the kings began to be buried near temples, the roads to these places were forced by many huge statues. They were so large that no one paid attention to the details of the image. The statues were erected at the pylons, in the courtyards and already had artistic significance.
Most famous sculptures- Greeks. They achieved perfection that was never achieved, which is why they left a legacy and inspired artists to this day. They were inspired by Egyptian sculptures and were copied by the Romans. Egyptian sculptures were static, did not represent movement and depicted, especially the pharaoh. The Greeks, in turn, were able to give these static representations of movement, idealized or perfect beauty, and balanced proportions.
Slowly, the arms outstretched by the body gained some movement as the muscles protruded from their sculptures and other details, just like the hair. In addition to human figures, figures of animals, especially horses, were also made. Bronze was the favorite material of the Greeks and later marble, which was destroyed by the use of drills, iron tools, and wooden spacers. The limbs were cut out and then attached to the body.
During the times of the Old Kingdom, a round shape was established in Egyptian sculpture, and the main types of composition emerged. For example, the statue of Mikerin depicts a standing person with his left leg extended and his hands pressed to his body. Or the statue of Rahotep and his wife Nofret represents a seated figure with hands on his knees.
The painting is used on skin, hair, and clothing, and the eyes are made of bone or glass. Meanwhile, spears and helmets were made of bronze and, in some sculptures, a disc placed to prevent them from becoming the object of the birds' mud. The bronze statues were waxed and polished. Copper or silver was used on the lips.
Fidias is the most famous of them all Greek sculptors... The sculpture of Zeus is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Fortunately, the Greek masterpieces were copied by the Romans as they survived and could come to us as the Greek originals were lost.
The Egyptians thought of the statue as the "body" of spirits and people. According to information from Egyptian texts, the god left the temple dedicated to him and was reunited with his sculptural image. And the Egyptians revered not the statue itself, but the embodiment of the invisible god in it.
Some statues were erected in temples in memory of "participation" in a certain ritual. Others were presented to temples in order to provide the depicted person with the constant protection of the deity. With prayers and appeals to the dead for the gift of offspring is associated the custom of bringing female figurines to the tombs of their ancestors, often with a child in their arms or next to them (ill. 49). Small figures of deities, usually reproducing the appearance of the main cult statue church, were given by believers with prayers for well-being and health. The images of women and ancestors were an amulet that promoted the birth of children, for it was believed that the spirits of ancestors could infiltrate the women of the clan and be reborn.
Differences between Greek and Roman sculpture
Greek sculpture gave rise to Roman sculpture, however, this ascribes to its representations the realism of forms, while greek sculpture was essentially idealistic. Thus, the Romans portrayed elderly faces, while the Greeks, above all, gave youth to Greek busts - even those who were no longer young - emperors without imperfections, as well as complex hairstyles for Greek women.
Typically "Greek art" is understood to mean a variety of works of art created by between -100 and -30 Greek speaking people. The most important Greek works that came to this day were sculptures, temples and pottery vessels. Of the other art forms, few remain: some jewelry, ornaments, and panel paintings. Although the early art styles were heavily influenced by Crete, cities, Egypt and the cultures of the Middle East, the Greeks then developed their own distinctive features.
Statues were created for ka the deceased. Because ka it was necessary to “recognize” his own body and enter it, and the statue itself “to replace” the body, each face of the statue was endowed with a certain unique individuality (with the generality of indisputable rules of compositions). So already in the era of the Old Kingdom, one of the achievements of ancient Egyptian art appears - a sculptural portrait. This was also facilitated by the practice of covering the faces of the deceased with a layer of plaster - the creation of death masks.
Noted for the monumental architecture of the circles of graves, palaces, fortified cities and vaulted tombs. After the collapse of the Mycenaean world, separate settlements in the Greek territory developed new artistic styles, in particular the ceramics of the geometric style. The sculpture had very few expressions and almost no architectural work has survived.
With the resumption of economic development, the colonization movement and subsequent contact with other civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greek art had a great boost. The first stone stones, statues of kouroi and kurai, and ceramics of black figures appeared.
Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, a narrow, closed room was built in the mastabs next to the prayer house ( serdab), in which the statue of the deceased was placed. There was a small window at the eye level of the statue so that the living in the statue ka the deceased could take part in the funeral rites. It is believed that these statues served to preserve the earthly form of the deceased, as well as in case of the loss or death of the mummy.
The criteria for beauty established during this period served as the basis for all Western art. Artistic designs have evolved towards an unimaginable concept of nature. Sculpture, painting, temple architecture and all other art forms show new concepts of beauty. Called the Golden Age, or Pericles, because he defended democracy and free thinking. Greece valued human dignity and value.
While Egyptian art is an art associated with the spirit, Greek art is associated with intelligence because its kings were not gods, but intelligent and just creatures dedicated to the welfare of the people. Greek art is transformed into the enjoyment of real life. Contemplating nature, the artist is excited about life and tries to express his manifestations through art. In his constant quest for perfection, the Greek artist creates the art of intellectual development, in which rhythm, balance and perfect harmony prevail.
The spirit of the deceased endowed the statues with life force, after which they lived for eternal life... For this reason, we never see images of people, for example, in a dying or posthumous form, on the contrary, there is an exceptional vitality. The statues were made in full size, and the deceased was portrayed as extremely young.
They have characteristics: rationalism; love of beauty; interest in man, this little creature, which is "the measure of all things"; and democracy. In addition to serving religious rituals, these vessels were used to store water, wine, oil, and groceries, among others.
Geometric art - vases with geometric stripes and simplified friezes of animals and humans. They were so bright that it was once said that a little bird is gluing a fruit basket painted on the wall, so realistic that it is a painting.
In statues and reliefs, a person was always portrayed as seeing, since it was with the eye that the symbolism of the “illumination” of the deceased and the acquisition of vitality by him was associated. Moreover, the sculptor made the eyes especially large in the figures. Οʜᴎ they were always inlaid with colored stones, blue beads, faience, rock crystal (ill. 50). For the eye for the Egyptians is a receptacle of the spirit and has a mighty power of influence on the living and on spirits.
They are distinguished by free statues and reliefs of temples and burial steles. Loose statues of naked men and women, more or less dressed, were carved from stone or bronze and were used mainly to represent a god or goddess, athletes and other prominent figures, and to decorate tombs.
In the classical period, we started looking for movement in statues because we started using bronze, which was more stable than marble and could capture movement without disturbance. The female nude appears because in the archaic period, the figures of women were sculpted, always dressed, modest.
Since through the nostrils the life-giving power of the lotus, symbolizing magical revival, was “inhaled”, a person's nose was usually depicted with an emphasized cut of the nostrils.
Since the lips of the mummy were endowed with the ability to pronounce the words of the afterlife confession, the lips themselves were never abstracted into a schematized sign.
In public ceremonies in front of temples, sculptures of deities told stories. Caryatids are carved women who served as pillars. Column types: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Doric Order was simple and massive. The column shaft is solid and thick. The capital was a stone pillow. Born into the feelings of the Greek people, he expresses this thought. The oldest of the Greek architectural orders, the Doric order, in its simplicity and rigor, gives the idea of strength and splendor. We see influence to this day, like this column in Washington.
In the creation of the type of seated statues (with hands on their knees), statues of the pharaohs, made for the holiday, played an important role. cheb-sed. His goal was the "revival" of an aged or sick ruler, for there was a perception from the earliest times that the fertility of the earth was due to the physical condition of the king. During the ritual, a statue of the ritually "killed" pharaoh was erected, while the ruler himself, who was "rejuvenated" anew, performed a ritual beau in front of the tent. Then the statue was buried and the coronation ceremony was repeated. After that, it was believed that the ruler, full of strength, was again seated on the throne.
In the centuries that followed, the sculpture of Buddha and a large pantheon of Buddhist deities became an important artistic tradition in almost every culture between Afghanistan and Japan. Not surprisingly, given the wide scope of his teachings, Buddha and other Buddhist deities have been widely interpreted in many different styles and materials. Artisans used stone, plaster, terracotta, wood, lacquer, and metals such as bronze, gold and silver to recreate them.
According to Brook, identifying a material can help pinpoint where a particular image was made and at what time period. Some materials have been approved in different countries, he says. "The ancient Gandhara region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example, favored the sculptural flexibility of plaster, while the medieval Nepalese were some of the finest bronze rollers in the world."
The statues of the same person placed in tombs could be of different types, for they displayed various aspects of the funeral cult˸ one type conveyed the individual features of a person, without a wig, in fashionable clothes, the other had a more generalized interpretation of the face, was in an official girdle and a magnificent wig.
The desire to ensure the "eternal" performance of the funeral cult led to the fact that statues of priests began to appear in tombs. The presence of figurines of children is also natural, for their immutable responsibility was to take care of the funeral cult by their parents.
The first ushabti(they were discussed in question 2) date back to the 21st century. BC. If it was not possible to achieve a portrait resemblance to the deceased from the ushebti, the name and title of the owner, whom she replaced, was written on each figurine. Tools and sacks were put into the hands of the ushabti, and they were painted on the backs. Figurines of scribes, overseers, boatmen appear (ill. 51-a). For ushabti, baskets, hoes, hammers, jugs, etc. were made of earthenware or bronze. The number of ushabti in one tomb could reach several hundred. There were those who bought 360 pieces - one person for each day of the year. Poor people bought one or two ushabti, but together with them they put a list of three hundred and sixty such "helpers" into the coffin.
During individual rituals, sculptures of bound prisoners were used. Οʜᴎ probably replaced living prisoners during the corresponding rituals (for example, the killing of defeated enemies).
The Egyptians believed that the constant presence of sculptural images of participants in a religious ritual in the temple, as it were, ensures the eternal performance of this ritual. For example, a part of the sculptural group has survived, where the gods of Horus and Thoth wear a crown on the head of Ramses III - this is how the coronation ceremony was reproduced, in which the priests in appropriate masks played the role of the gods. Installing it in the temple was supposed to contribute to the long reign of the king.
Found in tombs it is wooden the statues are associated with a funeral ritual (the repeated raising and lowering of the statue of the deceased as a symbol of the victory of Osiris over Set).
Statues of the pharaohs were placed in sanctuaries and temples in order to place the pharaoh under the protection of a deity and at the same time glorify the ruler.
The giant colossal statues of the pharaohs embodied the most sacred aspect of the essence of kings - their ka.
In the era of the Old Kingdom, the canonical figures of the pharaoh appear˸ standing with his left leg extended forward, wearing a short girdle and a crown, sitting with a royal shawl on his head (ill. 53, 53-a), kneeling, with two vessels in his hands (ill. 54) , in the form of a sphinx, with gods, with a queen (ill. 55).
In the eyes of ancient Eastern people, the physical and mental health of the king was understood as a condition for the successful fulfillment of his function as an intermediary between the world of people and the world of the gods. Since the pharaoh for the Egyptians acted as a guarantee and embodiment of the “collective” well-being and prosperity of the country, he not only could not have flaws (which can also cause disasters), but also surpass mere mortals in physical strength. With the exception of the short Amarna period, the pharaohs were always portrayed as endowed with immense physical strength.
The main requirement for the sculptor is to create the image of the pharaoh as the son of God. This determined the choice of artistic means. With the unchanging portraiture, a clear idealization of the appearance appeared, there was invariably developed muscles, a gaze directed into the distance. The divinity of the pharaoh was complemented by details˸ for example, Khafre is guarded by a falcon, the sacred bird of the god Horus
The Amarna period was marked by a completely new approach to conveying the image of a person in sculpture and relief. Pharaoh's desire to be different from the images of his predecessors - gods or kings - resulted in the fact that in the sculpture he appeared, as it is believed, without any embellishment˸ on a skinny, with folds, neck - an elongated face, with pendulous, half-open lips, long nose, half-closed eyes, puffy belly, thin ankles with full thighs
Private statues.
The Egyptians have always imitated official sculpture - images of pharaohs and gods, strong, strict, calm and majestic. Sculptures never express anger, surprise, or smile. The proliferation of statues of private persons was facilitated by the fact that the nobles began to arrange their own tombs.
The statues were of different sizes - from a few meters to very small figures of a few centimeters.
Sculptors, sculpting private individuals, were also obliged to adhere to the canon, above all frontality and symmetry in the construction of the figure (ill. 60, 61). All the statues have their heads equally erect and hold almost the same attributes in their hands.
In the era of the Old Kingdom, sculptural statues of married couples with children (ill. 62, 63), scribes sitting with their legs crossed, with an unfolded scroll of papyrus on their knees appear - at first only the royal sons were depicted in this way
Temple of Horus in Edfu
Material and processing.
Already in the Old Kingdom there were sculptural images of red and black granite, diorite-quartzite (ill. 68), alabaster, slate, limestone, sandstone. The Egyptians loved hard rocks.
Images of gods, pharaohs, nobles were made mainly of stone (granite, limestone, quartzite). It should be said that for small figurines of people and animals, bone and faience were most often used. Servant figurines were made of wood. Ushabti were made of wood, stone, glazed earthenware, bronze, clay, wax. Only two ancient Egyptian copper sculptures are known.
Inlaid eyes with contoured relief lids are typical of statues made of limestone, metal or wood.
The limestone and wood sculptures were originally painted.
Sculptors late Egypt limestone and sandstone began to prefer granite and basalt. But bronze became the favorite material. Images of gods and figurines of animals dedicated to them were made from it. Some are made up of separately made parts, the cheap ones were cast in clay or plaster molds. Most of these statuettes were made using the lost wax technique, widespread in Egypt; the sculptor made a blank of the future image out of clay, covered it with a layer of wax, worked out the conceived shape, coated it with clay and put it in the oven. The wax flowed out through a specially left hole, and liquid metal was poured into the resulting void. When the bronze cooled down, the clay mold was broken and the product was taken out, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ was carefully processed and then its surface was polished. For each product, its own form was created and the product turned out to be the only one.
Bronze items were usually decorated with engraving and inlays. For the latter, thin gold and silver wires were used. The eyes of the ibis were circled in gold stripes, necklaces of gold threads were worn on the necks of bronze cats.
The famous ancient Egyptian colossus statues are of interest from the point of view of the complexity of processing hard materials.
On the western bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, there are two statues dating from the New Kingdom, called the Colossi of Memnon. According to one version of Egyptologists, the Greek name Memnom comes from one of the names of Amenhotep III. According to another version, after the 27 ᴦ earthquake. BC. one of the statues was significantly damaged, and, probably, due to the fluctuations of night and day temperatures, the cracked stone began to emit continuous sounds. This began to attract pilgrims, who believed that in this way the Ethiopian king Memnon, the character of Homer's Iliad, welcomed the goddess of the dawn Eos, his mother.
At the same time, there is an intelligible explanation of how the colossi made of quartzite 20-21 meters high, each 750 tons, were also erected on a pedestal made of quartzite weighing 500 tons manually, can not found. Moreover, it was still necessary to deliver stone monoliths (or parts of them?) For 960 kilometers up down the Nile.
Sculpture of the early dynastic period comes mainly from three major centers where the temples were located - On, Abydos and Koptos. The statues served as an object of worship, rituals and had a dedicatory purpose. Large group monuments was associated with the rite of "heb-sed" - the ritual of renewal of the physical power of the pharaoh. This type includes the types of sitting and walking figures of the king, executed in round sculpture and relief, as well as the image of his ritual run. The list of Cheb-Sied monuments includes a statue of Pharaoh Khasekhem, represented as sitting on a throne in ritual attire. This sculpture indicates an improvement in technique: the figure has the correct proportions and is modeled in volume. Here, the main features of the style have already been identified - the monumentality of the form, the frontality of the composition. The pose of the statue, which fits into the rectangular block of the throne, is motionless; straight lines predominate in the outlines of the figure. Hasekhem's face is portrait, although his features are largely idealized. Attention is drawn to the setting of the eyes in an orbit with a convex eyeball. A similar technique of execution extended to the entire group of monuments of that time, being a characteristic stylistic feature of the portraits of the Early Kingdom. By the same period, the canonicity of the pre-dynastic period, standing at full height, was established and gave way in the plasticity of the Early Kingdom to the correct transmission of the proportions of the human body.
Sculpture of the Old Kingdom
Significant changes in sculpture take place precisely in the Middle Kingdom, which is largely due to the presence and creative rivalry of many local schools that gained independence during the disintegration period. Since the time of the XII dynasty, ritual statues have been more widely used (and, accordingly, made in large quantities): they are now installed not only in tombs, but also in temples. Among them, images associated with the rite of heb-sed (ritual revival of the life force of the pharaoh) still dominate. The first stage of the rite was associated with the symbolic murder of the aged Vladyka and was performed over his statue, which in composition resembled canonical images and sculptures of sarcophagi. This type includes the Cheb-Sed statue of Mentuhotep-Nebhepetra, which depicts the pharaoh in an emphatically stiff posture with arms crossed on his chest. The style is distinguished by a large proportion of conventionality and generalization, which is generally typical for sculptural monuments of the beginning of the era. In the future, sculpture comes to a more subtle modeling of faces and greater plastic dismemberment: this is primarily manifested in female portraits and images of private persons.
The iconography of the kings also changed over time. By the time of the XII Dynasty, the idea of the divine power of the pharaoh was giving way in images to persistent attempts to convey human individuality. The heyday of sculpture with an official theme falls on the reign of Senusret III, who was depicted in all ages - from childhood to adulthood. The best of these images are the obsidian head of Senusret III and sculptural portraits his son Amenemhat III. The original find of the masters of local schools can be considered a type of cubic statue - an image of a figure enclosed in a monolithic stone block.
The art of the Middle Kingdom is the era of the flourishing of small forms plastic, mostly still associated with the funeral cult and its rituals (sailing on a boat, offering sacrificial gifts, etc.). The figurines were carved from wood, covered with soil and painted. Often, whole multi-figured compositions were created in a round sculpture (just as it was customary in the reliefs of the Old Kingdom
Sculpture of the New Kingdom
In the art of the New Kingdom, a sculptural group portrait appears, especially images of a married couple.
The art of relief acquires new qualities. This artistic field is significantly influenced by some genres of literature that were widespread in the era of the New Kingdom: hymns, war chronicles, love lyrics. Often, texts in these genres are combined with relief compositions in temples and tombs. In the reliefs of Theban temples, there is an increase in decorativeness, free variation in the techniques of bas-relief and high relief in combination with colorful paintings. Such is the portrait of Amenhotep III from the tomb of Haymkhet, combining different heights of relief and in this respect is an innovative work. Reliefs are still arranged in registers, allowing for the creation of narrative cycles of enormous spatial extent
Wooden sculpture of one of the Egyptian gods with a ram's head
Sculpture of the Late Kingdom
During the time of Kush in the field of sculpture, the skills of ancient high craftsmanship partly fade away - for example, portrait images on funeral masks and statues are often replaced by conventionally idealized ones. At the same time, the technical skill of sculptors is improving, manifesting itself mainly in the decorative field. One of the best portrait works is the head of the statue of Mentuemkhet, executed in a realistic and authentic manner.
During the reign of Sais, statism again becomes relevant in sculpture, conditional outlines of faces, canonical poses and even a semblance of an "archaic smile" characteristic of the art of the Early and Of the ancient kingdom... However, the masters of Sais interpret these techniques only as a theme for stylization. At the same time, Sais art creates many wonderful portraits. In some of them, deliberately archaized forms, imitating ancient rules, are combined with rather bold deviations from the canon. So, in the statue of the approximate pharaoh Psametikh I, the canon of a symmetrical image of a seated figure is observed, but, in violation of it, the left leg of the seated person is placed vertically. Likewise, the canonically static body shapes and the modern style of depicting faces are freely combined.
In the few monuments of the era of Persian rule, purely Egyptian stylistic features also prevail. Even the Persian king Darius is depicted in relief in the attire of an Egyptian warrior with sacrificial gifts, and his name is written in hieroglyphs.
Most of the sculptures of the Ptolemaic period are also made in the traditions of the Egyptian canon. However, the Hellenistic culture influenced the nature of the interpretation of the face, introducing great plasticity, softness and lyricism.
Ancient Egypt. Male head from the Salt collection. First half of the 3rd millennium BC:
A statuette of a porter Meir. Tomb of Nianhpepi. Dynasty VI, reign of Peggy II (2235-2141 BC). Cairo Museum
PEASANT WITH A WOOL. For earthwork, a hoe was used, which was originally wooden, then metal ones appeared, consisting of two parts: a handle and a lever.
Three bearers of sacrificial gifts. Wood, painting; height 59 cm; length 56 cm; Meir, tomb of Nianhpepi the Black; excavations by the Egyptian Antiquities Service (1894); Dynasty VI, reign of Pepi I (2289-2255 BC).
Paleolithic animal grin
Archaeologists have done ancient statue the oldest
Photo Stadt Ulm Ulmer Museum
The Lion Man, a thirty-centimeter tall mammoth bone figurine found on the eve of World War II in southern Germany, was sculpted 40 thousand years ago. The new dating has made the unprecedented work of art housed in German city Ulm, for 8 thousand years. It took scientists more than 70 years to assemble the amazing figurine literally bit by bit. The latest calculations show that the Paleolithic artist spent at least 400 hours on the lion-man - about two months of work in daylight.
The message about the new dating of the lion-man appeared on the eve of the opening in the British Museum of a large exhibition on Paleolithic art. The Ulm sculpture was supposed to decorate the exposition on a par with such works of ancient art as the Zaraisky bison and Vestonitskaya Venus. However, the restorers did not find it possible to transport the lion-man to London: he is too fragile. A copy of the priceless sculpture was sent to the UK.
The Lion Man is found in southern Germany, in an area known as the Swabian Jura or Swabian Alb. There are several caves in the local low chalk mountains, four of which - Vogelherd, Stadel, Geissenklosterle and Hole Fels - became famous thanks to the ancient images of animals and birds discovered in them, the first musical instruments (flutes) and the first images of humans. Most of the finds now date back to 35-40 thousand years, including "Venus from Hole Fels" (an anthropomorphic figure with raised hands) and the entire surviving figurine of a mammoth. The time of making flutes has been pushed back even further - to 42-43 thousand years. Paul Mellars, one of Europe's leading contemporary Paleolithic explorers, commented on the discovery of "Venus from Hole Fels" several years ago that South German caves should rightfully be considered the birthplace of European sculpture.
The honor of discovering the lion-man belongs to the German archaeologist Robert Wetzel, who explored the Stadel Cave. Wetzel conducted systematic excavations in the cave since 1937, before him there were dozens, if not hundreds of enthusiasts looking for traces of the presence of primitive people in it, because back in the middle of the 19th century, bones of cave animals and stone tools were found there. Wetzel, an employee of the Ulm Museum, discovered the fragments of the bone figurine a few days before the start of World War II - on August 25, 1939. The wreckage was removed from the ground, packed in a box and sent to the University of Tübingen, where they waited for thirty years. The Wetzel excavation was filled up and securely covered. The professor returned to studying the cave in 1954 and worked there every season until his death in 1961. But he did not think of the bone figurine.
In 1969, during an inventory of the Ulm Museum's storerooms, a box with fragments of a lion-man was finally discovered. The fragments were taken out, a "draft" of the statuette was collected from two hundred fragments (two hundred fragments made up about 70 percent of the volume), dated by the radiocarbon method and received a sensational age: 32 thousand years. Until then, the aforementioned Vestonice Venus (25-29 thousand years old), found in Moravia, was considered the oldest sculpture.
The first explorer of the lion-man was the eminent archaeologist from the University of Tübingen, Joachim Hahn, a specialist in the Upper Paleolithic and an expert on the primitive art of Europe. Thanks to the reconstruction of Khan, it became clear that the statuette has both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features, and the animal component went to the sculpture from a large feline. Khan was unable to find almost a single fragment of the head, and in his reconstruction, the statuette had male genitals.
Han's younger colleague Elisabeth Schmid took up the lion man in the early 1980s. By this time, in the course of new excavations, several hundred more fragments of the sculpture were discovered, and Schmid was able to significantly complement the appearance of the beast - in particular, his lion's face became clearly visible. It is worth noting that before completing the appearance of the lion-man, Schmid took the figurine apart, removed the glue used by Han, and reassembled it. Schmid came to the conclusion that the cat-man was by no means a man, but a woman, and the lion-man temporarily turned into a lioness, becoming the banner of the supporters of the matriarchal model of the Upper Paleolithic society.
By 2000, the sexuality of the sculpture had fortunately subsided. And in 2009, another archaeologist from the University of Tübingen - Claus-Joachim Kind - went to Stadel Cave to complete the search for the fragments. Kind found several important fragments of the back and neck, right paw and hundreds of small debris, so that by the end of 2012, the "three-dimensional puzzle" was completely completed. Alas, many elements of the "puzzle" are lost forever: in particular, it is not clear how exactly the hands and feet of the lion-man looked, whether he had a tail, and so on.
Researchers are countless of questions for the lion-man. Who is this creature - a deity or a guide from one world to another? After all, we do not know anything about the ideas of the creators of the statuette about the world - we only assume, using analogies with primitive societies known to us, where shamans, guides from the world of the living to the worlds of animals and the dead, play an important role. Or maybe everything is simpler, and the lion-man is the perfect male? (There is a grain of joke in every joke.) Why was it sculpted - to worship or to carry it with you as an amulet? And these are only the most obvious assumptions - from our point of view, infinitely remote from the worldview of the inhabitants of the Stadel Cave.
What do the notches on the left shoulder of the figurine mean? Is there any connection between the lion man and the anthropomorphic figure from Geissenklosterle, who also has notches on her arms? Recall that Geissenklosterle is one of the four most famous caves in the Swabian Alb, along with the Stadel. Excavations there were conducted by Joachim Khan, already known to us, and he found a plate on which a relief human (or beast-human) figurine with raised hands is depicted. Chronologically, she is a contemporary of the lion-man. Some interpreters call her an "adorant", that is, one who worships a deity, a higher power; it is believed that the disc depicts a shamanic dance.
Why is the lion-man big - almost 30 centimeters, while most other bone figurines do not exceed seven centimeters in height? In the "adorant" it is less than four centimeters, the height of the "Venus from Hole Fels" is six centimeters.
More general questions also arise: what led 40-45 thousand years ago to such an explosion of plastic art, and not only in the Swabian Alb, but also in other regions of Europe - on the territory of modern France, Spain and Italy? Is the emergence of art associated with the development of language or with the influx of a new population?
Whether it is possible in principle to find answers to these questions is a separate problem. But you can be glad that at least something tangible survived from those distant times. Wild but cute.