A Comparison of two Egyptian artworks:
Seated statue of Hatshepsut and Senwosret III as a Sphinx
Any analysis of Egyptian artwork must take into consideration the purpose for which the work was created. We must assume that the statues were created according to the common process of commissioning by the reigning pharaoh, for the purposes of self-promotion. The scope for the sculptors' creativity was limited by the artistic conventions of antiquity. The Egyptians believed that preserving the likeness of a pharaoh would ensure their immortality in the afterlife. Therefore, the task of a sculptor was to chisel the image of the pharaoh out of imperishable rock and entomb it with his body, where it would not be viewed by mortals, but would be easily recognizable by the soul of the dead king ("Art Criticism."áBritannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2004.)á
The pieces under analysis here are a seated statue of Hatshepsut, ruler of Egypt during the New Kingdom period (c. 1473 û 1458 B.C.E) and a portrayal of Senwosret III as a sphinx (c. 1836 û 1818 B.C.E).
Seated Statue of Hatshepsut, Sphinx of Senwosret III, ca. 1878û1841 B.C.E.;
ca. 1473û1458 B.C.E.; Dynasty 18; Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret III; reign of Hatshepsut and Middle Kingdom Egyptian; Anorthosite gneiss.
An important similarity apparent between these two pieces is their crafting from types of stone common to many Egyptian sculptures. Both pieces are hewn from minerals which occur naturally in the Aswan region of Egypt. The monumental red granites are coarse-grained and pinkish to reddish in color. When polished, red granite makes an excellent material for sculpture, as does the coarse-grained granite gneiss which was used in the Senwosret sphinx. As Ernst Hans Gombrich explains,
The Egyptian style comprised a set of very strict laws,
which every artist had to learn from his earliest youth. No one wanted anything different, no one asked ...