Screenshot 2025 09 28 at 4.07.02 pm

Egypt

By Pszkodon
  • Badarian Culture, Egypt Female Figurine, c. 5000 BCE, hippo ivory, 14 x 3.8 x 2.2 cm, British Museum, England
    5000 BCE

    Badarian Culture, Egypt Female Figurine, c. 5000 BCE, hippo ivory, 14 x 3.8 x 2.2 cm, British Museum, England

    This figurine is made of hippopotamus tusk, a very reputable material. The eyes, nose, and head are not proportionate. The feminine characteristics might have been representative of fertility, a deity, or a concept attached to the afterlife, since it was found in a grave.
    Pre-Dynastic Egypt, Egypt Female Figurine, c. 5000 BCE, British Museum, England, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA59648
  • Period: 5000 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Pre-Dynastic Period

    The Pre-Dynastic Period saw the rise of several powerful towns. The craft of sculpture was popular, with large-scale figures carved in stone. The period precluded the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. Death was an extremely popular subject in art in this time.
  • Pre-Dynastic Period, Female Figurine, c. 3500-3400 BCE, painted terracotta, 29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm, Brooklyn Museum, New York
    3500 BCE

    Pre-Dynastic Period, Female Figurine, c. 3500-3400 BCE, painted terracotta, 29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm, Brooklyn Museum, New York

    This statue was excavated from a tomb in southern Egypt and is believed to represent divinity or a woman performing a ritual. Her arms are raised above her head in a way that mimics bull horns, iconography that was very important in Ancient Egypt. The bird-like head is thought to be a nose that would allow a spirit inhabiting the sculpture to breathe.
    Pre-Dynastic Egypt, Female Figure, c. 3500-3400 BCE, Brooklyn Museum, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/4225
  • Period: 2649 BCE to 2130 BCE

    Old Kingdom

    Death and the afterlife were major focuses in art during the Old Kingdom Period in Egypt, and the style of the art remained constant for nearly three thousand years. Egyptians wanted to create artwork for the tombs of Pharaohs: large funerary complexes that would protect their afterlife for eternity, and inside of which people paid their respects through offerings and worship. Iconography in the Old Kingdom reinforced the Divine Right to Rule, and death was a big business.