The most noticing aspect of Egyptian religion is its obsession with immortality and the belief of life after death. This sculpture can show you this on how mummification gave upbringing to complex arts in ancient Egypt. The sculpture is the Mummy Case of Paankhenamun. The artwork is currently viewed at The Art Institute of Chicago. The sculpture was from the third period, Dynasty 22, in ancient Egypt. However, the sculpture has many features to it that makes it so unique in ancient Egypt from any other time.
Egyptians did not want to die. They saw no reason why life should not go on when they were dead. When the Egyptians thought about what happened when they died, they decided that there would be another life in store for them. A life that lasts forever, just like their life on earth, with parties, hunting, games, and good meals.
What is the definition of a mummy? Egyptians wanted to cheat death. They had to do many things to achieve the gift of rebirth into the after-life. They had to stay on the right side of the gods, and learn the correct magic spells. If the Egyptians wanted to cheat death, their bodies had to be carefully preserved, for all time.
The most important part of a person was thought to be his or her spirit, or double, known as the “ka.” The ka was created at the same time as the physical body. The ka existed in the physical world and resided in the tomb. It had the same needs that the person had in life, which was to eat, drink, etc. The Egyptians left offerings of food, drink, and worldly possessions in the tombs for the ka to use. The second important aspect was the person’s personality or “ba.” Like a person’s body, each ba was an individual. It entered a person’s body with the breath of life and it left at the time of death.
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It moved freely between the underworld and the physical world. The ba had the ability to take on different forms. The last and final aspect was the person’s immortality or “a kh.” The a kh was the aspect of a person that would join the gods in the underworld being immortal and unchangeable. It was created after death by the use of funerary text and spells, designed to bring forth the a kh. Once this was achieved that individual was assured of not “dying a second time”, a death that would mean the end of one’s existence. An intact body was an integrate part of a person’s afterlife.
Without a physical body there was no ka, ba, or a kh. By mummification, the Egyptians believed they were assuring themselves a successful rebirth into the afterlife. One may think that the process of mummifying one’s body took a couple of hours. Not even close, it took a total of 70 days to complete mummification. The process included prayers, magical chants, and mostly drying out the body.
First the corpse was taken to the embalmers’ workshop. The workshop had special magic names, such as the “House of Vigor” (strength).
This name helped to make sure that embalming gave the dead body back its strength. Once in the workshop, it was time to remove all the internal organs that might decay quickly. The first organ removed was the brain. The Egyptians believed that the brain was of little importance and it was thrown away when removed.
The brain was extracted by poking a hole in the thin bone at the top of the nostrils, the ethmoid bone. A large bronze needle with a hooked or spiral end was used to perform this procedure. Next, a small slit was made in the side to remove the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines. The organs were dried out and put in special jars called “canonic jars.” The Egyptians thought that bad magic could be worked against you if an enemy got hold of any part of your body, even a single hair. So these internal organs would eventually be buried alongside the mummy for protection. The heart was the only organ to be left in place, believing it to be the center of a person’s being and intelligence.
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Next, the body had to be dried out. For 40 days it laid packed in crystals of a chemical called natron. At the end of this period the body would have looked horrifying. It was time for the embalmers to restore as life-like an appearance as possible. They filled out the body cavities with packing and anointed the skin with a mixture of spices, milk, and wine. Artificial eyes were added, and perhaps a wig.
Then the embalmers applied a coating of resin all over the body. For women, they added cosmetics and jewelry. Finally, it was time for bandaging. Each mummy needed hundreds of yards of linen. This process lasted 15 days. Magic spells guided each step.
Then the embalmers added a special mask and placed the body in an elaborately decorated coffin. The mummy was now ready for burial. The Egyptians had a very peaceful and prosperous way of living. There love for life lasted even after death. Their beliefs were strong and they carried those with them for eternity. Using the aesthetic terms, you will see how this sculpture is most definitely from ancient Egypt.
This sculpture is naturalistic because it follows nature; it follows how things naturally appear. This vividly painted mummy shows how idealized the case is, meaning that it is shown as perfect or more nearly perfect than what it really is. When looking at the face, you can tell all the features it has on it and how it is shaped like a human body. Another example would be the eagle that is right below in the chest area, it is drawn to perfection. The people underneath the eagle are idealized and are painted Ridgely. You can see that they are standing, not moving or progressing in any way.
The mummy itself is standing, stationary. This also is rational meaning that it communicates splendor. Just by looking at this mummy, the facial expression just shows the good posture of the person. It shows the dignity with the paintings on in front of it. Ancient Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife gave rise to the complex art. It has details that are thick.
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The paintings on the front of the mummy are very well drawn. They show how this person as or who he / she may want to be in the afterlife. The face is drawn very thick for the fact that it becomes complex. A good example would be the gold face with the wide black eyes and the hair at the sides. In addition, the mummy has a two-dimensional effect because it is meant to be seen at from the front, not from any other angle.
The eyes are facing straight so if you stand right in front of it you will completely appreciate the mummy to the fullest. A similar sculpture to this mummy would be the Death Mask of Tutankhamen, Thebes, Egypt, and Dynasty 28. Its also has a gold face and the facial expressions are the same. You can see that the eyes are looking straightforward. They are both two-dimensional.
It has the head an eagle but this one has it on its forehead and the mummy has it below the chest area. Nevertheless, they both have the same animal on them. A different sculpture would be Ch efren. In this one, the sculptors approach to the anatomy and material is realistic; the details are still shown with great accuracy. In this sculpture, a falcon instead of an eagle is protecting him.
The falcon is right behind his head, not in front like the other two. It is a portrait not of an individual but the concept of divine power unlike how the others were portraits of important people. This mummy from ancient Egypt shows their belief in the afterlife and it shows a complex art and science of mummification. The painted mummy case shows how the sculptor wanted the person to see the life this person portrayed. The hieroglyphics inscriptions and painted scenes identify this mummy as a Paankhenamun, a doorkeeper in the temple of the god Amun. Therefore, The central scene shows the eagle-headed god Horus presenting Paankhenamun to Osiris, ruler of the afterlife..
