Ancient Egyptian Cartouche



EGYPTIAN SELF-PORTRAIT

Introduction

The canon (standardized set of rules) that ancient Egyptian artists used was developed during the Old Kingdom. These artistic devices were used almost consistently throughout Pharaonic Egypt. When Egypt experienced long periods of stability and prosperity, the style remained intact. There are examples of deviations from the canon, but they are rare. Variations can be found from the intermediate periods, from the reign of Akhenaten, and in some private collections.

Bodies

The goal in ancient Egyptian art was to show the body as completely as possible. This goal served an aesthetic purpose as well as a religious one. The ancient Egyptians believed that in order for the soul to survive after death it needed an earthly home, which is why mummies were created. Portraits of the deceased often served as a backup plan just in case the mummy would suffer damage. Since these portraits sometimes served a religious function, it was necessary to show as much of the person as possible, and this is difficult to do when the artist needs to transfer a three-dimensional image to a two-dimensional surface. One of the devices the Egyptians used in their canon was twist perspective: they combined frontal and profile views of a person. Going from bottom to top, the Egyptians showed the feet in profile, which is logical because it is much easier to illustrate feet from the side than the front. Often, the feet are separated with one slightly in front of the other to show both. The legs were also made in profile in order to show the knees and muscles. The torso is twisted to a frontal view at the shoulders so both arms can be seen. It was also crucial to illustrate both hands, but sometimes an artist would show the same hand twice or put the hands on backwards. This doesn’t mean that the person in the portrait was deformed or the artist was incompetent; artists did this because it was more important to show all of the fingers than get the hands in the correct spots.

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Heads and Faces

|Heads were almost always depicted in profile view in two-dimensional |[pic] |

|art. It is easier to draw a face from the side in order to get the | |

|nose correct. Pharaonic artists didn’t use shading in their paintings,| |

|and it is nearly impossible to render a realistic nose without shadow | |

|because noses don’t have outlines in real life. Profile heads also | |

|allowed the artist to show the ear and headdresses or hair. However, | |

|artists did not depict the face entirely in profile. Egyptians showed | |

|the eye from a frontal view, which is why the iris is in the center of| |

|the eye. Additionally, some headdresses were twisted to show the front| |

|view to make the image cleared to the viewer. Because of this rigidity| |

|in the canon, some poses and postures look stiff and unnatural. | |

Scale

|[pic] |Not only did ancient Egyptians have to keep the canon in mind when |

| |making artwork, they also needed to use scale to their advantage. Some|

| |people in Egyptian murals are much larger than others, and there is an|

| |important reason for that. The most important figures in artwork were |

| |the biggest; this draws the viewer’s attention to them first. If there|

| |are any Gods and Goddesses depicted, they are the largest. Pharaohs |

| |are the next biggest, and the size diminishes with the rank of the |

| |person. Children are often shown the smallest, regardless of age. If |

| |the artwork does not have any Deities or royalty in it, usually the |

| |head of the household is the biggest because s/he made the commission.|

| |In the photo to the left, the person drawn the largest is the Pharaoh |

| |Akhenaten. The small person behind him is his wife Nefertiti, and |

| |behind her is one of their daughters. |

Colour

| |Color is another visual element that pharaonic artists had to |

| |consider. Many times, the artists used color as they saw it in the |

| |natural world. They were limited in their color choices based on what |

| |paint they could make in their surroundings, so they often used |

| |primary colors, neutral colors, and green. However, artists also used |

| |color symbolically and so color can’t always be interpreted literally.|

| |During the Old Kingdom, men were painted with red skin and women were |

| |painted with yellow. Some colors had religious connotations too. For |

| |example, red was sometimes used as a magical color. Black and green |

| |symbolized rebirth and fertility because the rich, fertile soil in |

| |Egypt was black and the growing plants were green. Gods that are |

| |associated with the afterlife, such as Wesir (Osiris) and Ptah, were |

| |sometimes shown with green skin to show resurrection. Yinepu (Anubis) |

| |was shown in black to represent rebirth. Even some lighter-skinned |

| |Egyptians were shown with black skin in their tombs to symbolize life |

| |after death. |

Conclusion

Overall, there is much more to two-dimensional ancient Egyptian art than what meets the eye. It is vital to keep in mind that Pharaonic artists stuck to the strict canon in order to achieve the goal of showing figures as complete as possible, so it is impossible to make literal interpretations from paintings and reliefs. Additionally, Egyptian artists also used scale to show importance and they sometimes used color symbolically. This information makes it much easier to interpret ancient Egyptian art and understand what the artists wanted to share.

Ancient Egyptian Cartouche

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DESIGN A CARTOUCHE OF YOUR OWN NAME

A cartouche is an oval frame which surrounds the hieroglyphs that make up the name of an Egyptian God or royal person.

It represents a looped rope which has the magical power to protect the name that is written inside it.

A cartouche was meant to protect against evil spirits both in this life and the afterlife.

It can be arranged both horizontally or vertically depending on the best layout for its design.

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HOW TO CONSTRUCT A CARTOUCHE

Illustration 1 - shows the three elements used to construct the cartouche: the oval frame; the stand; and the rope which binds the other two together.

Illustration 2 - shows the three parts combined to form a basic cartouche frame.

Illustration 3 - shows the frame of the cartouche decorated with small hieroglyphs.

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ADDING YOUR HIEROGLYPHIC NAME TO THE CARTOUCHE

Hieroglyphs are word pictures which represent the sounds of the Ancient Egyptian language.

In this cartouche we have enclosed the hieroglyphs that spell out the sounds of the name 'Michael'. Note that although there are seven letters in the name 'Michael', there are only four basic sounds 'M - I - K - L'. Therefore we only need to use the hieroglyphs that represent those sounds. A more detailed explanation of this translation process is given on our Hieroglyphic Alphabet pages.

Hieroglyphs should be arranged to create interesting designs instead of the straight lines that we use to arrange our letters and sentences.

Cartouches are usually positioned vertically but they can also be positioned horizontally to make them fit more comfortably into a design. The arrangement of the hieroglyphs inside is then reorganized to accommodate the horizontal layout.

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COLORING THE CARTOUCHE

Once the cartouche and hieroglyphs are drawn, you are ready to apply color.

In contrast to the weathered look we created for our Egyptian Art Lesson, the painting technique that we have used here gives a fresher look to your images - the sharp clean look that Ancient Egyptian paintings would have had when they were first painted.

These images were colored using designer's gouache, an opaque watercolor paint which is ideal for applying flat areas of color. The black line work was done afterwards with a felt pen.

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OUR FINISHED CARTOUCHES

These three cartouches of the names Michael, David and Louise were created using our Hieroglyphic Alphabet to translate English into Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODS

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Anubis

Apis

Bastet

Horus

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Khnum

Seth

Sobek

Thoth

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CROWNS

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Atef Crown

White Crown

Red Crown

Double Crown

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Blue Crown

Royal Uraeus

Hemhem Crown

Royal Vulture

HIEROGLYPHIC ALPHABET

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Hieroglyph A Hieroglyph B Hieroglyph C Hieroglyph D

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Hieroglyph E Hieroglyph F Hieroglyph G Hieroglyph H

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Hieroglyph I Hieroglyph J Hieroglyph K Hieroglyph L

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Hieroglyph M Hieroglyph N Hieroglyph O Hieroglyph P

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Hieroglyph Q Hieroglyph R Hieroglyph S Hieroglyph T

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Hieroglyph U Hieroglyph V Hieroglyph W Hieroglyph X

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Hieroglyph Y Hieroglyph Z Hieroglyph CH Hieroglyph PH

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Hieroglyph SH Hieroglyph TH Ankh Cartouche

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Wedjat Eye Pectoral Rosetta Stone Scarab

Miscellaneous Ancient Egyptian Symbols

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Egyptian Self-Portrait

The ancient Egyptian pharaohs commissioned elaborate portraits to decorate their tombs. They often included pictures of the various things they would hope to bring with to the afterlife (pets, slaves, treasure, etc.)

Imagine you are an ancient Egyptian ruler and you are commissioning a portrait for your tomb. How will you decorate your final resting place? What treasures will you want to bring with you to the afterlife? These treasures can be ancient or modern – it’s up to you (your favorite pet crocodile, Playstation, etc.)

• Be sure to follow the style rules for representing the body (head in profile, torso straight, legs sideways, etc)

• Include your name in hieroglyphyics

• Fully colour your self-portrait using pencil crayons

| |Level 4 |Level 3 |Level 2 |Level 1 |

| |80--100 |70-79 |60-69 |50-59 |

|Rendering of the human body |Expertly renders the human |Capably renders the human |Adequately renders the human|Inaccurately renders the |

|using ancient Egyptian |body using the rules of |body using the rules of |body using the rules of |human body using the rules |

|stylistics (twist |ancient Egyptian stylistics |ancient Egyptian stylistics |ancient Egyptian stylistics |of ancient Egyptian |

|perspective) | | | |stylistics |

|Name in hieroglyphics |Expertly depicts name in |Capably depicts name in |Adequately depicts name in |Inaccurately depicts name in|

| |hieroglyphics with high |hieroglyphics with |hieroglyphics with some |hieroglyphics with little |

| |attention to detail |considerable attention to |attention to detail |attention to detail |

| | |detail | | |

|Detail of objects |Expertly includes details in|Capably includes details in |Includes some detail in |Includes little detail in |

| |objects to enhance the |objects to enhance the |objects to enhance the |objects to enhance the |

| |portrait |portrait |portrait |portrait |

|Neatness and effort |Portrait has been done with |Portrait has been done with |Portrait has been done with |Portrait has been done with |

| |a great amount of neatness |considerable neatness and |some neatness and effort |little neatness and effort |

| |and effort |effort | | |

|Overall design |Overall design reflects a |Overall design reflects a |Overall design reflects some|Overall design reflects |

| |high degree of application |considerable application of |application of elements of |little application of |

| |of elements of art |elements of art |art |elements of art |

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