Egyptian Art
There are different types of art that the ancient Egyptians created that we learned about on our trip. Some are: painting, sculptures, cartouches, symbolism, papyri, pottery, dye making, hieroglyphics, literature, temple offerings, and canopic jars. There was even a style called the Armana Style that a pharaoh created (more information on Major Developments and Key Individuals). The Egyptians used a wide variety of materials, both local and imported such as semiprecious stones or wood. On our trip, we learned how to make two different types of art; pigments and relief sculptures, and we also watched someone make this art. We created a set of instructions that me wrote here on how to create different types of pigments and relief sculptures.
Pigments
The ancient Egyptians used pigments for a variety of things. For example, they used it as a writing medium, and also used it for other art, such as the relief sculptures we saw. There are many different strategies that we use today to make pigments, but this is the way that ancient Egyptians made it.
Materials
- Mineral of which color your pigment will be (carbon=black, gypsum=white, iron oxide=red or yellow, azurite and malachite=blue and green, orpiment=gold/bright yellow)
- Plant or animal based glue such as Acacia tree gum or alum
- Mortar and pestle
Step 1: Thoroughly grind one mineral with the mortar and pestle.
Image of mortar and pestle from hubpages.com
Step 2: Stir in plant or animal based glue.
Image of animal based glue from wikipedia.org
Image of relief on the tomb of Ti from history.com
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Relief Sculptures
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Materials
- Flat drawing surface such as stone
- String
- Red pigment dust
- Any small carving tool such as copper chisels
- Black and red paints
- Additional paints to be used for illustration
- Mud plaster
Step 1: Coat string with red pigment dust, and snap on wall to create grid lines to help align figures properly.
Image of string from successsystemforeventplanners.com
Step 2: Draft out scene elements using black paint.
Image outlined with red from touregypt.net
Step 3: Make corrections using red paint.
Step 4: Carve image, either with the sunken style or raised style. The sunken style is where you carve out your figures and images, and raised is where the figures are raised out of the surface, and everything else is cut back.
Raised relief carving from history.com
Step 5: Smooth surface with applied plaster.
Plaster picture from www.comparequotes.net.au
Step 6: Paint colors onto relief one at a time.
Photo of the god Anubis at the temple of Seti I from history.com