Sahure ancient egyptian art
Sahure ancient egyptian artOn Sunday, November 7th, I took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Ancient Egyptian Art exhibit that was on display amazed me. One of the most alluring pieces I saw was �Sahure and a Nome God,� a gneiss high-relief statue which was created between 2458 BCE and 2446 BCE. In this statue, the second Egyptian King of the Fifth Dynasty, Sahure, sits on the throne with the small god of the Coptite Nome to his side. Although the statue was quite small, only sixty-four centimeters in height and forty-six centimeters in width, it demonstrates many features akin to Egyptian Art.
Art enthusiasts can immediately notice the origin of this statue because of its rigidity, an indicator of art originating in ancient Egypt. Part of the reason for the stiffness of the statue of Sahure and the nome is because it was constructed in relief. A �relief� statue is still attached to a surface or background, whereas a statue that is �in the round� is independent and freestanding, and can be seen from every angle. Statues that are in high relief rise significantly from the surface, while statues that are in low relief rise minimally and appear to be flat. In this statue, Sahure, his throne, and the nome rise from the stone block that makes up the background and the base of the statue in high relief. This statue is a relief statue because it cannot be viewed from behind, probably because it was originally carved in to a block of stone in the wall of a temple and later removed by archaeologists.
The inflexibility of the poses of the figures in the sculpture provides another reason for the overall rigidity of the statue. In general, poses of less important people in the culture depicted by ancient Egyptian statuary are more active than those of significance. Most important people in Ancient Egyptian statuary are stiff. Sahure�s position in this statue goes along with such claims: his firm pose in the statue, his perfect posture on the throne and clenched fists indicates his importance. Just so, the nome is slightly more active, as he is slightly less important, as he reaches his hand out with an ankh. The ankh, a hieroglyphic sign meaning "life"...
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