Categories
Egyptian Artifacts

Amarna Art (Part 2)

Something I love about visiting various museums is seeing similar pieces of Egyptian history no matter where I go! The Brooklyn Museum has a wonderful collection of Amarna-era pieces (many of which were found by Petrie), so it’s no surprise that I have seen similar pieces in various museums around the world!

In the middle of the display, you can see a red quartzite inlay of Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ–. Inlays are part of what archaeologists call β€œcomposite statues,” or statues π“„šπ“ˆ–π“π“­π“€Ύπ“¦ that are composed of many different parts that would come together to form a single statue π“„šπ“ˆ–π“π“­π“€Ύ! The part that would be the crown, and the stone π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“‚‹π“Šͺ that was supposed to go in the hole that represents the eye 𓁹𓏀 are both missing. Either the statue π“„šπ“ˆ–π“π“­π“€Ύ was never finished or both were lost in antiquity.

Next to the inlay of Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ–, there is another quartzite composite statue but it is a head 𓁢𓏀 of possibly Smenkare π“‡³π“‹΄π“Šπ“‚“π“‚¦π“†£π“ͺ, the mystery pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 that ruled π“‹Ύ for a short period of time in between Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– and Tutankhamun π“‡‹π“ π“ˆ–π“π“…±π“π“‹Ήπ“‹Ύπ“‰Ίπ“‡“. The statue π“„šπ“ˆ–π“π“­π“€Ύ is in very bad condition, so it is really difficult to gather much information about it. However, at the time the statue π“„šπ“ˆ–π“π“­π“€Ύ was made, it was made with high quality workmanship!

The style during Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– rule π“‹Ύ was very different than the traditional Egyptian art styles, which makes these pieces so weird and wonderful in their own way! I will never get tired of studying Amarna art!