The Greatest Period of Anceint Egyptian Metalwork? NY Met Museum Exhibition Explores Subject

Through their long history, the ancient Egyptians used copper, bronze, gold, and silver to create lustrous, graceful statuary for their interactions with their gods – from ritual dramas in the temples and chapels that dotted the landscape to festival processions through the towns and countryside that were thronged by believers. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 16, 2007, Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples is the first exhibition ever devoted to these fascinating yet enigmatic works.

On view will be some 70 superb statues and statuettes created in precious metals and copper alloys including bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) over more than two millennia. The exhibition will bring to New York masterpieces from around the world, including seven extremely rare inlaid and decorated large bronzes from the first half of the first millennium, the so-called Third Intermediate Period (1070 – 664 B.C.), the apogee of Egyptian metalwork. Among these will be the astonishing bronze statue of the priestess and noblewoman Takushit, the treasure of the Egyptian Collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Measuring some 27 inches (70 cm) in height and covered with a luminous latticework of divine figures and imagery in precious metal, this work has never before left Greece.

Understanding the precious metal and bronze statuary of ancient Egypt poses particular challenges. Reverently decommissioned and buried in large temple deposits after long use, the statues often lack historical inscriptions or, indeed, any contextual information. Metal statuary also reveals a somewhat surprising view of Egyptian art, because it represents different cultural, social, and production structures than those of Egypt's stone creations, with which we are more familiar. For instance, the depiction of Hepu (National Archaeological Museum, Athens) with full natural hair – as opposed to the traditional wig – marks him as a member of a newly visible group, probably a soldier in the wars of the early New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1478 B.C.). Through their recent studies of metal statuary, scholars have been able to elaborate a new framework for metal statuary and gain a new appreciation of these works of art.

The exhibition will present an updated understanding of the development of metal types over the centuries. Special emphasis will be given to its time of great flowering, the Third Intermediate Period, revealing that the term "intermediate" does not coincide with the artistic importance of this era. The exhibition runs through February 18. 2008.

Readers of this blog who visit the exhibition are encouraged to leave your comments.

Comments

[Samuel Merrin]

I always enjoy reading your posts on ancient (and modern) Egypt, they're very insightful. This exhibition at the Met all those years ago brings back some memories.

I think you may enjoy an article about an Egyptian sarcophagus I've posted on my blog. Please let me know what you think.

[John Ambrose]

Thanks Sam. Coming from someone so well respected in the art field, I truly appreciate the kind words. I'll take a look at your blog as well.

[Madelyn]

I think that these statues were cheosn by the former Confederate states as an expression of the only heroes that they had at the time, in the most part. The Civil War was still in living memory in the 1920s, and in fact there was friction in World War I when the militias of Northern and Southern states were combined in the AEF (hence the Rainbow Division named so for bringing together the different factions of America into one.)I think the choice of Lee, Davis, et al for the Rotunda was a statement from the still-devastated South, a symbol of defiance. Remember, the South at this time still had little to no industry, and was achingly poor. They really had nothing to look forward to, so looked backwards. This was also the heyday of the romanticism of the Lost Cause Gone with the Wind, Hollywood movies depicting a sympathetic South, etc. The fact that the southern states were allowed to place those statues in the US Capitol speaks more to the strength of the Union than anything else. The choice of these state heroes was not in the spirit of reconciliation at all. It was defiance. Empty defiance. It was a shout to remind the rest of the nation how important they once were. I grew up poor in the Deep South, and this way of thought was deeply ingrained into the psyche of the people, even in the 60s and 70s. Even if some saw these statues as inflammatory (much like the sudden adoption of Confederate symbolism in state flags after the Civil Rights movement started in the 1960s,) there was no question that any state would ever mount another actual insurrection. The nation is strong enough and integrated enough as a people that such acts will never tear it apart again.