|
Portraiture in Ancient Egypt forms a conceptual attempt to portray "the subject from its own perspective rather than the viewpoint of the artist … to communicate essential information about the object itself".〔Brewer and Teeter, p.194.〕 Ancient Egyptian art was a religious tool used "to maintain perfect order in the universe" and to substitute for the real thing or person through its representation.〔Brewer and Teeter, p.189.〕 Artistic conservatism during the 3000 years of the Dynastic age was a direct result of the ideal of Ma’at. Modification and innovation would have moved art away from the initial state of perfection that was present at the time of the creation of the universe.〔 The deceased "had to advertise for his or her adherence to … Ma’at" and therefore, chose the most perfect way to represent him/herself and excluded his/her imperfect qualities.〔Spanel, p.5.〕 In this civilisation, "a statue of a person was believed to be a permanent abode for the spirit of that individual and guaranteed his or her eternal life after death".〔Brewer and Teeter, p.189〕 Such idealized representation of the deceased made him "eternally beautiful" and attested to his sinless life.〔 In an attempt to "convey the spectrum (and totality) of the deceased’s personality" rather than merely the physical image, there was a "reluctance to show individual features … because it conflicted with the representation of the perfect person".〔Spanel, p.10.〕 When discussing portraiture in Ancient Egypt it is important to differentiate between the modern concept of portraiture and its Ancient Egyptian counterpart. In Western art, portraiture captures the exact physical resemblance of a person as well as his/her inner qualities. Ancient Egyptian art had religious roots and functions, and therefore, the result is quite different. To assess Ancient Egyptian art and portraiture, it must be examined on its own terms and within its specific cultural context. == Overview == Idealism apparent in Ancient Egyptian art in general and specifically in portraiture was employed by choice, not as a result of lack of proficiency or talent. This is evident in the detailed and realistic depiction of birds and animals.〔Brewer and Teeter, p.206〕 This choice was made for religious, political, magical, ethical and social reasons. What can be defined as a portrait outside of the western tradition? It is difficult to understand the Ancient Egyptians’ concept of portraiture, and therefore in approaching portraiture from Ancient Egypt one must try to ignore the modern concept of what a portrait should be. "The Egyptians sought something very different in their representations of the human, and we should not judge them by our own standards".〔Spanel, p.37〕 After understanding why "portraits" were made in Ancient Egypt, one can debate whether they are real portraits especially when they are examined "through ancient eyes".〔Spanel, title〕 There are three concepts one must bear in mind when looking at Ancient Egyptian portraiture: "the person represented may have chosen the particular form, and for him or her, it was real"; "Egyptian may have seen his individuality expressed in terms of conformity to Ma’at"; and "the sense of identity in ancient Egypt was different from ours".〔Spanel, p.21〕 A statue was believed to convey a person’s true identity merely by bearing an inscription of its owner’s name upon it. The identity of a person fully inhabited it regardless whether there was any physical or facial resemblance. Other factors contributing to the further clarification of the person's identity could include a certain facial expression, a physical action or pose, or presence of certain official regalia (for example, the scribal palette). As to the king’s identity, it was determined through his various royal epithets as well as his different manifestations as a human, deity or animal, and as a sphinx.〔 Sometimes certain physical features reoccur in statues and reliefs of the same person, but that doesn’t mean that they are portraits but rather a manifestation is a single quality or aspect.〔Spanel, p.22.〕 The preservation of the deceased body through mummification affected tomb sculpture as artistic objects were created to help further preserve the body for the afterlife. Such objects are apotropaic amulets that "ensured the eternal existence of the deceased’s soul" and "naturalistically sculpted heads of the deceased – reserve heads – (that functioned as) substitutes in case the skull was damaged".〔Spanel, p.19.〕 In such funerary context, the deceased’s statue was not just an abode for his personality, but also became the focal point of the cult’s offerings; in other words, "the image became the reality".〔Spanel, p.5.〕 As the deceased wished to be remembered as an upright and blameless individual, the ka statues tend to be idealized.〔 Many royal ideal representations are a "type of countenance … including iconographic and stylistic details (to convey the king’s) physiognomical characteristics (as well as) physical particularities with a great deal of traditional idealization".〔Mysliweic, p. IX.〕 In other words, they are idealized well studied forms of the ruling kind, and sometimes, hard to be discarded with his death. Therefore, the deceased king’s idealized form may prevail during the beginning of his successor’s reign till the artists found a new conventionalized form to represent the new king. Also, such borrowing of older forms of representations was also used during the Kushite and Saite periods as efforts for a renaissance of the arts. However, it was sometimes an exact copy of older reliefs to the point of even copying the exact names and titles of the older relief as is the case with the relief of "Taharqa as Sphinx trampling fallen enemies" and a 5th Dynasty relief in the Sun Temple in Abu Sir. The concept of portraiture is still debated upon with regards to Egyptian art, but also, its modern definition. The debate arises because of the expression of the inner qualities – that have no concrete manifestation – in contrast to the physical resemblance that is more emphasized for the easy identification of the subject. In other words, portraiture is very subjective as it is not a mere photographic shot of the person. Nevertheless, throughout history, the inner life was found to be more important because it is the main characteristic of an individual and continuous attempts are made to further express such a fleeting concept visually. As a result, likeness between the image and the model could be a more exact expression of such concept as the main idea is to convey a huge spectrum of different types of the model’s qualities rather than mechanically reproduce the external features.〔Spanel, p.3,5,11.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Portraiture in Ancient Egypt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|