Art and Society

Ancient and Modern Contexts of Egyptian Art

Proceedings of the International Conference held

at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 13–15 May 2010

Edited by
Katalin Anna Kóthay

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2012

Editor: Katalin Anna Kóthay
Proof-reading: Adrian Hart
Graphic design, prepress work and photo editing: Eszter Balder

Editorial Coordination: Timea Türk

Printed by: EPC Nyomda, Budapest

Publisher: Dr. László Baán, General Director

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2012

Cover illustration: Female statue, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, inv. no. 51.2048

ISBN 978-963-7063-91-6

The publication of this volume was supported by the Hungarian National Culture Fund.
 5

Contents

List of Contributors 7

Foreword 9

Discourses about Works of Art in Ancient and Modern Times 13

Maya Müller

Theban Tomb Graffiti during the New Kingdom. Research on 23

the Reception of Ancient Egyptian Images by Ancient Egyptians
Alexis Den Doncker

Egyptian Pyramids in an East European Landscape 35

Joachim Śliwa

Interaction of Three-dimensional and Two-dimensional Art 45

Helmut Satzinger

The ‘Four Schools of Art’ of Senwosret I. Is it Time for a Revision? 47

David Lorand

Handmade Terracotta Figurines with Hands Secured behind 57

the Backs. The Potential Use of an Art Historical Method in
the Research of Egyptian Minor Arts
Máté Petrik

Privatplastik im Wandel der Zeiten. Skulpturen als 73

Kunsthistorisches Bildmedium
Edith Bernhauer

Kunst und Gesellschaft in der Libyerzeit. Beobachtungen 79

an Königsstatuen der Dritten Zwischenzeit
Helmut Brandl

Stratégie d’épure et stratégie d’appogiature dans les productions 109

dites « artistiques » à l’usage des dominants. Le papyrus dit « érotique »
de Turin et la mise à distance des dominés
Pascal Vernus

„Eine Frage des Geschmacks“ – Anmerkungen zur Grabdekoration 123

auf dem Teti-Friedhof von Saqqara
Gabriele Pieke
6

Hierarchy of Women within Elite Families. Iconographic Data 139

from the Old Kingdom
Vera Vasiljević

Theban Tomb Painting during the Reign of Amenhotep II 151

(1427–1400 BC). Investigation into an Artistic Creation in
its Historical and Sociocultural Context
Maruschka Gathy

Behind the Mirror. Art and Prestige in Kha’s Funerary Equipment 159
Marcella Trapani

‘The Bull Coming out of the Mountain’. The Changing Context 169
and Connotations of an Iconographic Motif
Éva Liptay

sS qd wt – The Attestations from the Middle Kingdom and 185

the Second Intermediate Period
Danijela Stefanović

Tracking Ancient Egyptian Artists, a Problem of Methodology. 199

The Case of the Painters of Private Tombs in the Theban Necropolis
during the Eighteenth Dynasty
Dimitri Laboury

Pour une approche matérielle et expérimentale de la peinture thébaine 209

Hugues Tavier

Thebanische Totenstelen der 3. Zwischenzeit. 217

Zur ihrer Produktion und Verwendung
Marc Loth

The Gamhud Artisans 235

Katalin Anna Kóthay

The Burial Ensemble of Tasenet from Gamhud and the Ptolemaic 257
Coffin style in Northern Middle Egypt
Gábor Schreiber

Imitation of Materials in Ancient Egypt 265

Manuela Gander

Plates 273
 45

Interaction of Three-dimensional and Two-dimensional Art

Helmut Satzinger

Reality is three-dimensional. Art may render reality in two or three dimensions. Drawings and paint-
ings are two-dimensional. Although relief is theoretically three-dimensional, the shallow Egyptian
relief – whether raised or sunken – follows the conventions of two-dimensional art. Sculpture in the
round is three-dimensional.
There are also rare cases where two-dimensional reality has to be rendered by art. A drawing or
painting may be the object of a painting, as in the famous Art of Painting by Vermeer.1 Recently,
Miral Lashienhas drawn attention to the representation of painting activity, and consequently to
the depiction in painting of some paintings, in the tomb of Baqet III of the Middle Kingdom, at
Beni Hasan.2
Not infrequently, three-dimensional art is presented in two dimensions. As early as during the
period of the Old Kingdom the wall scenes of the tombs depict manufacturing and the transporta-
tion of statues: Marianne Eaton-Kraus has dedicated a monograph to this topic.3
In contrast to this, it is not clear from the outset that Egyptian art depicted statues also in the
round, i.e. that there are ‘statues of statues’. We owe the detection of their existence to a recent ingen-
ious study by Sergio Donadoni.4
So much by way of introduction. The topic of the following is yet another switch of dimensions,
namely the rendition of two-dimensional art in sculpture. There appear to be two basic solutions:
1) the application of painting: within the sculpture, a painting/drawing is rendered in painting; or
2) the rendition of a picture in a plastic interpretation, i.e. in three dimensions.
For the rendition of a picture in painting on a sculpture, one may compare a statue in the Vatican,
featuring Saint Veronica who presents the Veil which carries Jesus’ portrait, imprinted with the sweat
and blood of the tortured Saviour – a work completed by Francesco Mochi (Mocchi) in 1629.5
A different solution is found in the sculpture of the numerous calvaries of Brittany. There, the tra-
dition is to render Jesus’ portrait in relief when depicting Saint Veronica with the Veil. One example
of many: the Calvary of Guimiliau, Finistère (Plate 9.1).
This strategy can also be found in Graeco-Roman art. A case in point are female statues that dis-
play a cloak, worn over a chiton. Obviously, the vertical folds of the chiton were vaguely visible under
the horizontal folds of the cloak. This, again, was rendered plastically, though in a very subtle way.
A case in point can be found, e.g., in the Classical Department of the Vienna Art Museum (inv. no.
I 1052; Plate 9.2).
I would finally like to mention an attestation in Egyptian art, namely the squatting reader from
the Old Kingdom (Vienna Art Museum, inv. no. 7789; Plate 9.3). This sculpture was discovered in
January 1914 in the rubble south-west of the mastaba of Shepses-ptah (S 338/339) by Hermann
Junker’s team.
In the publication by Brigitte Jaroš-Deckert and Eva Rogge, the following description is given:6

Die Statue eines Mannes, mit untergeschlagenen Beinen in der Art eines Schreibers sitzend, hält
einen Papyrus aufge¬rollt im Schoß. Kopf und Hals sind bis auf den vorderen Halsansatz abge-
brochen … Über dem gespannten Stoffstück zwischen den Unterarmen ist eine leicht reliefierte
Papyrusrolle, die ursprünglich eine Inschrift in schwarzer Tinte trug, ausgerollt; sie wird mit
beiden Händen gehalten. Die kurzen Daumen – mit abgeflachten Nägeln – liegen jeweils auf
46 Helmut Satzinger

der Rolle, während die übrigen, gleich dicken Finger sich in Hochrelief unter dem ausgebreiteten
Papyrus abzeichnen und ursprünglich in Rotbraun unter dem Weiß des Papyrus durchschim-
merten.

The remarkable feature is the fingers of the hands that are visible from under the papyrus. This gives
the impression that they are sticking through the material. However, the reason for this is different.
New papyrus of good quality is transparent, as I have been informed by Corrado Basile, Siracusa.
This is what the sculptor wanted to show here: when the scribe holds his hands under the sheet, one
can see the fingers through the papyrus. In reality, it was a smooth surface through which the fingers
could only vaguely be seen. The sculptor decided on the same strategy as was practised in Graeco-
Roman art, in the way described, and also in the traditional sculpture of the calvaries of Brittany
when rendering Veronica’s Veil.

1 Cf., e.g., http://www.alloilpaint.com/vermeer/24.jpg

2 M. Lashien, Artist’s Training in the Old and Middle Kingdoms, GM 224 (2010), 81–85.
3 M. Eaton-Krauss, The representations of statuary in private tombs of the Old Kingdom, ÄA 39, Wiesbaden 1984.
4 S. Donadoni, Statue di statue, Ægyptus [Rivista Italiana di Egittologia e Papirologia] 85 (2005), 175–184.
5 A photo can be found, inter alia, sub b: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2552309302_8737852b33.jpg
6 B. Jaroš-Deckert – E. Rogge, Statuen des Alten Reichs, CAA, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien 15, Mainz am Rhein
1993, 95.
 Helmut Satzinger

Plate 9

1 Saint Veronica, calvary of Guimiliau, Finistère.

Photo: H. Satzinger.

2 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, 3 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ägyptisch-Orientalisch Sammlung,

inv. no. I 1052. © Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. inv. no. 7789. © Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.