Sculpture

1. Ramesside Egypt: Statuary
Ramesses II. British Museum

2. Purpose
• All statues had a religious purpose
• For a god or a king, it was a manifestation that might
itself be an object of worship.
• For a private person, it was a means by which he or she
could exist forever.
• If an Egyptian statue had been properly made and
animated by the correct rituals, it was magically capable
of possessing life.

3. Opinions of Ramesside Sculpture
• Critics
• overblown, careless, impersonal, uniform
• seeks to manipulate & intimidate with size
• Others
• tended to vacillate between a modified version of its
immediate post-Amarna predecessors – indirectly but
recognisably under Amarna influence still
• after effects of Amarna and attempts to revitalise
earlier styles (Thutmose III & Amenhotep III)
• (Russmann & Finn, Egyptian Sculpture, 1989)

4. Statue of
goddess
Sekhmet in the
temple of
Ramesses III at
Medinet Habu

6. Composite statue of Seti I
height 238cm
Egyptian alabaster (calcite)
The type was popular in the Amarna
Period
Buried in the Karnak Cachette

7. Statues of nobles
• Statues were placed in temple
courtyards to participate in the daily
offerings given to the god.
• There were statues of family groups,
seated scribes, individuals at prayer,
statues holding a naos or shrine and so
called block statues.
.

8. Granite scribe statue of
Ramessu-nakht,
High Priest of Amun-Re,
Karnak courtyard,
75cm high,
Time of Ramesses IV, V &
VI
The baboon sitting on his
shoulders was sacred to
Thoth the god of writing
& wisdom.

9. Kneeling statue of Panehsy,
Royal scribe & treasurer,
presenting a naos with
Horus, Osiris & Isis,
Dynasty 19

10. • Block statues were distinguished
from earlier cuboid statues by:
• the suggestion of body
contours
• the carving of arms, elbows &
feet
• the pleating of the garment
• the rendering of a seat cushion
Stylistic Developments

11. Block statue of Samut,
Saqqara,
Dynasty 19

12. • the tomb owner receiving offering and rites from
family members
• statues of gods
• standing statues of the tomb owner and his wife
• servants and shabtis were placed in the burial
chambers.
• the depiction of the chair in seated statues is a
Ramesside motif, previously people merely sat on
cube shaped blocks.
Statues for tombs

13. Rock-cut statues of
Nefer-Sekheru,
(TT 296)
time of Ramesses II

14. Statue of Neye &
his mother Mutnofret,
(Dynasty 19)

15. Shabtis from the tomb of Saroy

16. Shabti box of
Henutmehyt,
the
Songstress of
Amun,
Thebes
c. 1250 BC
plastered &
painted wood

17. Other Sculptural Artefacts
•Amulets & elaborate
jewellery
•Toys & dolls
•Coffins & sarcophagi