The ancient Egyptians and the Greeks of the Hellenic era shared several important characteristics. Among them were a complex system of gods, each requiring his or her own ritual worship, and a love of the monumental in terms of architecture and selected art forms. As Laurie S. Adams (p. 73) has commented, both groups followed certain canons and conventions in sculpture, leading to creations that were life-sized or larger, monumental and powerful, and firmly rooted within the guiding sociocultural ethos in which they were produced. This report will compare two works of art. The first is an Egyptian statute of Ranofer, a limestone sculpture of a standing male produced in about 2750-2625, B.C. (Gardner, p. 54). The second sculpture to be discussed is known as Kouros, a life-sized figure of a male youth completed around 540, B.C.
Ranofer is a formal standing figure facing directly forward with left foot advanced and arms held closely to the side. The pose is remarkably similar to that used some 2100 years later by the Greek sculptor who produced the Kouros. Ranofer represents sculptural portraiture characterized by a quality that Gardner (p. 52) calls ôaliveness,ö or sufficient personality and controlled motion potential to represent a real model and not merely an idealized physical being. At the same time, this sculpture is permeated with a feeling ôof imperturbable calm that conveys the impression not of an individual but of something greater" (Gardner, p. 53).
In this sculpture, we see a cubic view of the human form in full force. This Old Kingdom work is a figure that is almost overpowering in its three-dimensional firmness and immobility (Janson, p. 61). Made of painted limestone, Ranofer wears a sheer kilt-like garment, a pectoral collar of office and a formally arranged wig. Gardner (p. 53) believes that by simplifying the contour of the figure, the addition of the wig adds to the compactness of a figure that ...