The arts produced during ancient Egypt are monumental and unchanging.
The arts were created for divine kings and around ideas concerning eternity, afterlife, and rebirth. Two such artifacts include King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen artifact and House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three of their Daughter . This paper will delve at comparing and contrasting the two arts mentioned above.
One of the similarities between King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen and House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three of their Daughter artifacts is that they were both not created to be viewed but to serve a practical purpose, as they are both historically significant. Secondly, both artifacts depict ancient Egyptian rulers with their families. King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen artifact depict King Menkaure and his wife while House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three of their Daughter artifact depicts King Akhenaten, his wife, and their three daughters. Thirdly, both statues were designed to benefit a divine recipient. Sculptures provided a room for the recipient to manifest as well as obtain the value of ritual action. King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen and House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Three of their Daughter artifacts are both an interesting piece of artwork. The two artworks help understand how life in Egypt was lived. For instance, King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen artifact help us understand how the Egyptian was obsessed with death and the afterlife.
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King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and Queen is a sculpture of King Menkaura and his wife, and it was created in the 4th dynasty, between 2490 B.C.E and 2472 B.C.E (Harrison Humanities, N.d). On the other hand, House of Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three of their Daughters depicts King Akhenaten, his wife, seated on thrones holding three of their daughters and it was created in the 18th dynasty, between 1355 B.C.E and 1335 B.C.E (Harrison Humanities, N.d). The second difference is that King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and Queen was constructed out of greywacke, a form of quickly deposited sandstone, while House of Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three of their Daughters was constructed out of limestone (Calvert, 2015, and Zucker & Harris, 2015).
King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and Queen depict the Egyptians obsession with death and the afterlife as well as the importance of death. The statue exemplifies divine majesty with a wife supporting a husband. To assure their comfort in riches in the afterlife, most Pharaohs carved their funerary statues during their reign. Once they die, the souls were believed to transfer to the statues. On the other hand, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three of their Daughters depicts the concept of monotheism. In the art, King Menkaura is depicted basking in the rays of the sun god Aten. The worship of Aten was radical, and King Menkaura believed in only one god, switching state religion from polytheistic culture to a monotheistic culture. The symbols at the end of the sun rays depict the giving of life from the one and only god Aten.
The purpose of King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and Queen artifacts was to be placed in tombs in order to serve the purpose of a permanent replacement of a body after death. This shows the belief in the afterlife. On the other hand, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three of their Daughters was meant to be a house altar. The purpose of the iconography Aten and depiction of Akhenaten and his family was to encourage people to embrace the new monotheistic religion.
References
Calvert, A. (2015). King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen. [Online]. Available at: https://smarthistory.org/king-menkaure-mycerinus-and-queen/ . Accessed 1st June 2019.
Harrison Humanities. (N.d). Early Egyptian Art. [Online]. Available at: https://harrisonhumanities.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/0/4/58047613/early_egyptian_art.pptx . Accessed 1st June 2019.
Zucker, S., & Harris, B. (2015). House altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three of their daughters. [Online]. Available at: https://smarthistory.org/house-altar-depicting-akhenaten-nefertiti-and-three-of-their-daughters/ . Accessed 1st June 2019.
