SCULPTURE
Because sculptures are made of stone or other durable mate-
rials such as ivory, many from ancient Egypt survive intact.
Most sculptures were created for one of two purposes. One
was to be placed in tombs, and the other was to serve as a vo-
tive off ering in temples. Overall, the purpose was not realistic
representation; particularly in the case of tomb art, it was ex-
pected that no one would ever see it. Rather, the purpose was
to preserve an idealized image of the individual in death when
he or she stood before the gods. Accordingly, the emphasis was
on idealized types rather than individual portraiture.
Egyptian sculptors worked with a variety of materials.
Generally, sculptures were made with soft stone. Th e most
easily obtained was limestone, which could be found in the
cliff s on both sides of the Nile River. Other soft stones in-
cluded alabaster (calcite), sandstone, graywacke (a dark gray
sandstone sometimes mixed with bits of quartz or feldspar),
and schist (a crystalline rock that can easily be split along
parallel planes). Egyptian sculptors also worked with hard-
er stone, including basalt, granite, granodiorite (a granular
rock with characteristics of both quartz and granite), dio-
rite (a crystalline rock containing a number of minerals),
and quartzite (a type of sandstone). Sculptors shaped soft er
stone using stone tools and copper chisels. Harder stone
was shaped by hammering it and using abrasives made from
still-harder stone.
Whichever type of stone the artist used, it was oft en
covered in plaster and painted; in some cases it was painted
without plastering. Frequently, though, the stone was left un-
painted because of its color symbolism: black stone symbol-
ized the life-giving silt left behind by the fl ooding of the Nile;
reds, golds, and browns represented the sun; and green repre-
sented vegetation and the emergence of new life.
Sculpture included not only statuary but also relief
carved into the surface of stone. Relief work was of two types.
In raised relief, the background is cut away, leaving the fi gures
standing out from the surface of the stone. (A modern coin is
a good example of raised relief.) In sunk relief, the opposite is
done: the background is left as it is, and the fi gures are carved
into the stone. Typically, the outside walls of a temple or tomb
used sunk relief, where sunshine and shadow had the eff ect ofBanquet scene, fragment of wall painting from the tomb of Nebamun, Th ebes, Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty, around 1350 b.c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the
British Museum)
art: Egypt 95