Part 1.
Selected Ancient Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gallery, New York City
Part 2.
The two selected artworks predates from the early civilizations tracing back to the time of pharaohs in Egypt and Assyrian Empire. Figure 1 is called the Orthostat relief: lion-hunter scene from 9th century B.C Syria while Figure 2 is a stone piece from the South wall of the Tomb Chapel of Raemkai from 2446-2389 B.C Egypt. Both artworks are part of the collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Ancient Art in New York City. Figure 1 depicts a hunt scene together with a lion, Ancient Assyria adorn their palaces with depiction of their everyday conquest. Figure 2 on the other hand is a depiction of the hunting horned animals, which is part of Raemkai’s life exhibited in the walls of his tomb. The two artworks were both carved in stone slabs, but the choice of material is different from the other. The Assyrian art was carved in what appears to be a rough and much harder stone material unlike the Egyptian art, which was carve in limestone that is much easier to work with on a similar method.
Both artworks are classified as relief because they project figures from a flat background, although the Egyptian artwork is much more detailed and includes variation of symbols. Apparently, although the images in the artwork are both carved in stone, they are two dimensional unlike the more contemporary works using the same medium. In general, the two artworks can be considered as cultures, but the techniques used is carving, which involves cutting and chipping away portions of the flat surfaced medium systematically eliminated to reveal shapes and figures. There were no colors applied to both artworks that will highlight the carved images. However, typical Egyptian artworks apply minimalistic colors into images to make it more revealing. It can be speculated from the image of the Egyptian art that it may have had colors applied into it back then and just worn out by time due to the difference in discoloration of the background on some portions of the stone slab.
In terms of lines, shape, value and balance, the Egyptian are encompasses a composition of major figures that are usually larger than the subsidiary figures with more pronounced poses and gestures that explains what the figures are doing. The Assyrian artwork encompasses, distorted imagery of figures that although realistic in nature still appears to have been initiated by clumsier method. There is a distinct similarity between the two ancient artworks; the figures and images depicted in the artworks are consistently facing sideways. It is noticeable distinction among ancient artworks that none of the images in their two-dimensional art works are actually facing forward. It terms of balance forms, Figure 1 assimilates a balanced composition in the way the images where placed in the canvass, meaning the image were placed evenly across the canvass with very minimal blank spaces. Figure 2 on the other hand although balanced in terms of dimension, it lacks the balance of space in between the images because several areas remain blank when it there could have been more images added to the extra spaces.
In terms of texture, the Egyptian art posses more clarity in the way that the lines used to draw the images was more defined and smoother as compared to the Assyrian artwork, which shows rougher lines and curves that overlaps with the other shapes making it somewhat distorted. However, both artworks signifies relevant subject matter as both shows depiction of hunting activity, which is a common in the ancient way of life by most nobles. They are therefore representational images of the ancient royalties’ activities, but the Egyptian art encompasses spiritual value because the purpose of the art is to depict Raemkai’s biographic accounts that are being remembered in his passing. Both artworks are symbolic because they present realities that exist during the ancient period where hunting is a popular activity. However, they have different context and intended function. Egyptians use the same form of art to tell events in their life and immortalized in stone even after their passing, unlike Assyrian art, which is more symbolic.
References
Getty.edu (n.d.). Working with Sculpture (Education at the Getty). Retrieved September 6, 2013, from http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/curricula/sculpture/background2.html
Metmuseum.org (2446- 2389 B.C.). Tomb Chapel of Raemkai: South Wall [Limestone, relief]. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/577372
Metmuseum.org (9th century B.C.). Orthostat relief: lion-hunt scene [Stone-relief]. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/324008
The Metropolitan Museum (2001). The art of ancient Egypt. A resource for educators. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/~/media/Files/Learn/For%20Educators/Publications%20for%20Educators/The%20Art%20of%20Ancient%20Egypt.pdf
