N@tM 2023 Gallery

Photo

Seated Statuette of Pepy I with Horus Falcon

Egyptian Alabaster probably from Upper Egypt

2338-2298 BCE

Egyptian priest sits on stone steps dressed in religious appearing garb with falcon sitting behind his head. The statue is a out the height of ones forearm and is carved out of white marble or something similar.

What do you see going on in this work of art? Is there a story depicted?

There isn’t really a narrative but it serves a still image which captures the devotion and order of perhaps the Egyptian religious order and values. It seems to capture this particular Egyptian’s devotion and portrays him as a tool to serve his religion as opposed to an individual through his rigidity and lack of expression.

What different visual elements (ie: line, color, light, proportions, scale, composition, media type etc.) do you notice, and how do they help you make sense of the artwork?

The composition, and the mostly symmetrical way his body is fashioned is contrasted by the lack of symmetry in the falcon giving an otherworldly presence perhaps representing his faith. Moreover the use of one color, despite likely being in it of practicality and degradation over time, gives the piece an ethereal and eternal presence, as the human, falcon and stone are shaped to be of the same stone, perhaps representing how connected all things are.

What choices do you think the museum made about the object’s display?

It seems to be displayed with many other seated figures depicted from this time period. Our group thought perhaps, in the theme of several religious figures being shown that it was meant to show the calm and quiet, yet overwhelming power displayed by these beings.

Group Members

Name (first and last) Campus Seminar 1 Professor
Benjamin Vella and Azul Coss (resubmission due to error) Brooklyn Irina Patkanian