Statuette: Hatshepsut Statuary Room

The sculpture I’ve picked depicts a woman swimming (debatable) as she holds an ibex or gazelle shaped dish, and it is almost as long as a hairbrush. It nests in a glass case with other pieces of the ibex motif just a few turns away from the Hatshepsut statuary room. The purpose of this essay is to detail the statuette’s properties, hopefully finding how the properties display specific qualities of Egypt in its eighteenth dynasty. I chose this item because I couldn’t help but make the connection of the item’s cosmetive purpose and ancient Egyptian’s frequent use of makeup, particularly kohl, which they rimmed around their eyes to protect them from the brutal sun’s glare. It is made of alabaster and greywacke, and the ankles and feet of the …show more content…
There is no separation carved between the female figure and the dish, since the arms vanish, from the elbow, into the dish’s bottom. For each arm, there are two handles attached and flanking the bowl. Unlike the elongated female figure, the dish is bulky and dense, wider than the female. An oblong flat lid caps the dish and lies in a length from below the female’s chin to the slope of the ibex’s sloping neck, fastened to the neck itself. At the ibex’s head, there is a dip that looks like it’s been worn rather than carved, where a person can slide the lid off by pulling the ibex/gazelle off. The ibex/gazelle’s neck narrows right under the lower jaw, which is as long as the upper jaw and has a nub. This could be a tuft of beard that these animals typically have. While the ibex/gazelle’s features are incised like the female’s face, the lines carved are deeper. The ripples in the muzzle convey either that the ibex will roll back its lips or that it just has fold on folds of skin. Oval for the eyes etch above and the alabaster slightly distend like sockets. Over these eyes, three lines suggest more folds of skin, and where the long arcing horns should be there are only nodes. Under these horns, the pointed ears point …show more content…
Since the entire piece is of alabaster I believed that the piece was too delicate for a person to used daily. Nevertheless, a noble could have used it to display their own grace and wealth. Another reason why the artist might have chosen alabaster instead of ordinary wood, aside from the noble or royal user’s status, lies in alabaster’s almost supernatural quality to absorb light. This is beauty in itself; beauty held by the user whenever they held this tool. The alabaster raises the user’s pleasure and would have given them a sort of boost in confidence. Then the statue Rahotep and his wife Nofret reminded me of the style of gender differentiation the Egyptian artists used with skin tones and colors. The beige alabaster further signifies the figure’s gender. Aside from this, the palette was more of a political statement of power than this “spoon” seems, as the worn dip under the ibex/gazelle’s neck shows how many times the lid would have been slipped off. An abundance of direct symbols, the twisted perspective of Narmer’s body and him smiting an enemy all hold the traits of the confident classicism the Egyptians are known for. Likewise, the female figure is stiff on the outset: legs glued with a light seam between them and bent up like a tail, and an unemotional face, even only an impression of a face. Seemingly, the artist made her body long and flatter so