Egypt at the Met

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The Met’s new show on the art of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom is pretty terrific – for me, not so much for its scholarship, which is largely beyond my ken, but just because Egypt’s art is so terrific. I don’t think the show argues that Middle Kingdom art is any better than art from Egypt’s other periods – in fact, it’s not all that different. Focusing on this 380-year period (2030 to 1650 B.C.) simply allows the Met to trot out a lot of related wonders and gather similar pieces from the other great collections of Europe and America.

The hieroglyphs of Egypt are certainly the most visually appealing writing system ever devised (the concurrent papyri in the show demonstrate an altogether different script that apparently coexisted). What fun to look for recurring combinations, especially when you are shown the characters that constitute the name of the official being memorialized. And then, look for your favorite “letter”: is it the owl? the wasp? the snake or the slug? Hieroglyphs are a birdwatcher’s delight, as so many different species are used, and recognizably outlined: ducks, vultures, partridges, geese, ibis and on.

The gallery of pharaohs’ busts is one of the more instructive, not that I had heard of, or could now remember, any of their names. But subtle differences were made clear, as portrayals moved from idealistic to more realistic, as the benevolent smile was replaced by more serious mien. The statue of Amenemhat III Wearing the White Crown from Copenhagen was described on the audio guide as a “masterpiece of Egyptian art” and is more beautiful and beguiling than it appears on the cover of the museum’s fall members calendar. The smooth, sleek crown sets off the contours of the cheek and chin. For a pharaoh, he is realistic and sympathetic. Then there is the beauty of the stone. The deserts of Egypt must be minerally rich; they supplied sculptors with a variety of wonderful substances to carve: granodiorite, quartzite, yellow limestone, diorite, steatite, in addition to the best, the graywacke of Amenemhat.

The other work illustrated in the members calendar, the sealer Nemtihotep, is another marvel. It is smoothly abstracted, with subtle undulations where the arms are poised beneath the robe. The minutely pitted texture and the amber color of the quartzite provide a pleasing softness to a work that the best carver of Angkor Wat or the American Alan Houser would be proud to claim as their own.

I was captured even earlier in the show by the stele of Gatekeeper Masty. His figure is exquisite,  down to his fingernails, and so are the images of all the offerings that will accompany him to the underworld: duck, ram’s head, fish, leg of beef, head of cow. He is seated on a designer throne with lion’s paw feet.

The Egyptian sense of style is nowhere more manifest than in its symbols: the ankh is elegance, and the wedjat (protective eye) has got to be the all-time greatest logo ever. The mystical power of the sphinx is unquestioned. And for sculptural form, the block statue invented in the Middle Kingdom is as timeless and modern as can be.

The pieces of jewelry that have survived and are displayed give a hint as to the source of Egypt’s artistic richness. Although there were wars, Egypt largely thrived in isolation and could devote its resources toward lavish living and opulent dying (like Tang Dynasty China). Mummies were outfitted with necklaces, pendants, belts of silver, gold, precious stones – hence the tomb robbers that so often beat the archaeologists to the punch. Women were not just outfitted well: they seemed to be accorded respect, judging from the number of statues, tombs, stele that either featured women or placed them on equal footing with their husbands.

Although a majority of the pieces come from the Met itself – clearly one reason for the exhibition – I was impressed with the quality of objects from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen; there must be a story behind that collection. And my final thought (for now) involves the small pieces that were often whole forms of Egyptian art that I didn’t know existed: a perfect ivory headrest; an ornithologically correct painting of a grey heron and anhinga(?); and something called an Apotropaic Rod, made up of five small blocks with relief wedjat, crocodile and striding lions on the side and a symmetrical series of tiny animal sculptures on top, a turtle in the middle and on either side toads, crocodiles and resting lions. What fun!

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