Egyptian Art

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/gavin.egypt/architec.htm Throughout the history of painting, from prehistoric cave drawings to more sophisticated relief drawings on temple walls, Egyptian mythological murals.

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Some of the painted scenes on pottery vessels continue, during the Predynastic period, period, to reflect the prehistoric rock-carvings

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Jewelry has played various roles in ancient Egypt. In ad dition to man's natural attraction to beautiful items, jewelry had a religious and magical significance in the Egyptian ancient world by protecting the wearer from ev il.

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Ancient Egyptians began making their jewelry during the Badari and Naqada eras from simple natural materials; for example, plant branches, shells, beads, solid stones or bones. These were arranged in threads of flax or cow hair. To give these stones some brilliance, Egyptians began painting them with glass substances. Since the era of the First Dynasty, ancient Egyptians were skilled in making jewelry from solid semiprecious stones and different metals such as gold and silver. The art of  goldsmithing reached its peak in the Middle Kingdom, when Egyptians mastered the technical methods and accuracy in making pieces of jewelry. During the New Kingdom, goldsmithing flourished in an unprecedented way because of regular  missions to the Eastern Desert and Nubia to extract metals. These substances were  processed and inlaid with all sorts of semiprecious stones found in Egypt; for  example, gold, turquoise, agate, and silver.

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Jewelry was used in daily life throughout the Pharaonic era until the Roman times. Egyptians were keen to keep a good number of jewelry pieces in the tomb; these were  placed on the body of the deceased. A large number of such jewelry was found in tombs; for example, wreaths, crowns, or hair bands. On the head or wig, they fixed different types of ornaments, such as small roses, golden ban ds, and some simple bands of jewelry. There were also different types of belts, including waist belts and belts with hanging vertical straps ornamented with colored beads. Other types of jewelry included earrings,  bracelets, anklets, rings, and necklaces. A unique type of jewelry that never appeared in other cultures was the vest, which was worn around the chest. It was usually made of gold or of gold-plated metal. Even when it was made of a cheap che ap material, it was painted yellow to give a golden impression. Wearing a golden vest is still an existing folklore practice in the Egyptian countryside, though it has a different name, the Kirdan. Every village girl dreams of wearing a golden one to boast of. Ornaments and jewelry were not restricted to women. Men also used jewelry until the Roman era in Egypt. However, since the advent of Christianity in Egypt, with many  people converting to that new religion, ornaments and extravagant luxury began to be less common and were replaced by manifestations of piety, religiousness, and righteousness. Most jewelry was made of cheaper materials bearing Christian symbols, such as crosses,

 pigeons, and the Egyptian Ankh sign, instead of the amulets that were used before. After  the arrival of Islam in Egypt, men in particular were prohibited from wearing gold  jewelry, but continued to use jewelry made of other materials, such as silver. Several different types of sticks were found that were used for ceremonial staffs, scepters, flyswatters, hooked staffs, and walking sticks. They were usually made of wo od and sometimes gold plated and inlaid with precious stones. In the 18th century it was from Italy that our interest in Egyptian design came when an English Gentleman visited Rome as part of 'The Grand Tour' and obelisks, sphinxes and other Egyptian style items became fashionable.The first free-standing obelisk which remains today is at Ripon and was erected in 1702. Many of these early obelisks were set on pedestals, reminiscent of a Roman influence. Obelisks were popular throughout the 1700s as landscape ornaments. Castle Howard in Yorkshire has many Egyptian style  buildings erected in the 1700s - obelisk, two pyramids and two gateways with pryamid features. In the 19th century Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798 and Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs helped to fuel our interest. Cemeteries had many Egyptian features on their tombs, obelisks and pyramid forms being common and many mausoleums were built in the Egyptian style. One at Thurnham near Lancaster built for  the Gillow family is a fine example. Highgate cemetery in London included columns and obelisks as part of the entrance. Thomas Hope opened his house in London to the public in 1804 and one room was devoted to Egyptian decoration, furnishings and antiquities and these designs appeared in his book 'Household furniture and interior decoration'  published in 1807. The style was not popular with all, apparently and the architect, C.A. Busby, comments in 1808 : ' Of all the vanities which a sickly fashion has produced, the Egyptian style in modern architecture appears the most absurd : a style which, for domestic buildings,  borders on the monstrous. Its massy members and barbarous ornaments are a reproach to the taste of its admirers; and the travels of Denon have produced more evil than the elegance of the engravings and splendour of his publication can be allowed to have compensated ' (Vivant Denon's account of the Napoleonic campaign was published in English in 1803).

(This piece of architectural plaster sculpture which was recently added to my collection was recovered from the Freemasons Arch Halls in Edinburgh before demolition in 1981. The Sphinx is on the roof of the Royal Scottish Academy Princes Street Edinburgh Gavin) A new style, Art Deco, influenced by elements of Egyptian designs came into vogue around 1925 and many buildings of this style had Egyptian detailing. One such building was the Firestone factory, London of 1929 which was demolished in 1980.Another was the Hoover factory of 1932 with Egyptian centrepiece which is still standing. Quite a few Art Deco Egyptianised cinemas were erected at this time including the 'Luxor' in

Twickenham. One of the latest buildings in Egyptian style is Sainbury's Homebase in Kensington, built in 1988. The walls outside are decorated with Egyptian gods, there are cobra downspouts and lotus capitals to the Egyptian columns at the entrance. I think, done tastefully, buildings of Egyptian design or those with Egyptian features are to be admired. It is a design which does stand out and is not easily missed and adds an element of surprise and interest to our streets. It is a shame we have lost some splendid examples this century so I hope our interest will continue into the 21st century and more  buidings inspired by the designs of the Ancient Egyptians will appear. Anne Midgley, July 1998. Below is an example of American Egyptian architectural design influence in the form of  Reebie's Moving and Storage building in Chigaco Illinois (collage scan courtesy of Lydia from Texas a fellow American Egyptomaniac)