Brooklyn Museum: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art: Tear Drop Shaped Vase with Painted Designs of Maidens, Cows, Swamp Plants, etc.

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Tear Drop Shaped Vase with Painted Designs of Maidens, Cows, Swamp Plants, etc.

The faces on most statues of Amunhotep II differ slightly from those of his two immediate predecessors. Compared with the sculptures of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, for example, this statue's face is a little longer, the eyes somewhat narrower, the brows a bit straighter, the nose slightly thicker, and the mouth less curved. Each change is minute, but together they create a distinctive, recognizable image of Amunhotep II. This face is not a portrait, but an official image conceived by the chief royal sculptors to communicate the ideal physical appearance of Amunhotep II. The Egyptians believed that reality was momentary and thus, within the context of eternity, meaningless. Only an ideal representation would endure forever.

Medium: Terracotta, paint
Place Made: Egypt
Dates: ca. 1390-1353 B.C.E.
Dynasty: XVIII Dynasty
Period: New Kingdom
Dimensions: 11 5/8 x 6 5/16 in. (29.6 x 16 cm)
Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art
Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
Accession Number: 59.2
Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Image: Overall, 59.2_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009

Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art: Tear Drop Shaped Vase with Painted Designs of Maidens, Cows, Swamp Plants, etc.