Оливер Голдсмит

Список иллюстраций

1
Колоссы Аменхотепа III в Фивах

2 3
Статуэтка Сен-Нефра.

4
Статуэтка писца из Саккара.

5
Статуэтка царского писца Каи из Саккара.

6
Торс мужчины. Скульптурная модель.

7
Статуэтка писца.

8
Бюст фараона. Скульптурная модель.

9
Коленопреклоненная фигура.

10
Ступня левой ноги.

11
Бюст фараона. Скульптурная модель.

12
Фараон Эхнатон и царица

13
Голова царицы Нефертити.

14
Женский торс. Из Амарны.

15
Сосуд в виде антилопы.

16
Сосуд для благовоний.

17
Статуэтка бычка.

18
Сосуд в виде утки.

19
Статуэтка девушки с жертвенными дарами.

20
Статуэтка девушки с жертвенными

21
Афродита-Исида.

22
Египтянин с дочкой

23
Борцы.

24
Египтянин с женой и сыном.

25
Статуэтка женщины.

26
Фараон Аменемхет III.

27
Голова статуи фараона

28
Голова статуи фараона Аменемхета III. Из Хавары.

29
Фараон Аменемхет III.

30
Голова царицы.

31
Царица Неферт. Из Таниса.

32
Голова царицы.

33
Голова царицы.

34
Ладья с гребцами.

35
Лодка на Ниле.

36
Ладья с гребцами. Из гробницы Менти-Ре в Деир-эль-Бахри.

37
Ладья с гребцами.

38
Статуэтка носильщика.

39
Идущие писцы.

40
Идущий мужчина.

41
Статуэтка писца Яхмеса.

42
Женщина с ребенком.

43
Статуэтка женщины.

44
Статуэтка женщины.

45
Статуэтка женщины.

46
Раннаи, певица бога Амона.

47
Жрец Аменхотеп.

48
Раннаи, певица бога Амона.

49
Статуэтка Нефертари.

50
Статуэтка Хенет-Таун.

51
Статуэтка женщины.

52
Статуэтка Имерет-Неб.

53
Раннаи, певица бога Амона.

54
Статуэтка женщины.

55
Статуэтка женщины.

56
«Супружеская чета», скульптурная

57
Сидящая женщина.

58
Статуя Та-Неферт.

59
Рельеф постамента скульптурной

60
Ниаи и Исида. Скульптурная группа.

61
Пожилая женщина.

62
Статуэтка женщины.

63
Голова молодого мужчины.

64
Статуэтка Аменхотепа III.

65
Рельеф гробницы Хаэмхета.

66 67
Голова мужчины.

68
Статуэтка царевича Ваадра.

69
Сидящий мужчина.

70
Статуэтка юноши.

71
Портретная голова Эхнатона (?).

72
Голова фараона Сменхкара (?).

73
Голова мужчины.

74 75
Голова мужчины.

76
Музыкантши.

77
Девушка с лютней. Туалетная ложечка.

78
Девушка с лютней. Туалетная ложечка.

79
Девушка с уткой. Туалетная ложечка.

80
Цветы. Туалетная ложечка.

81
Плывущая девушка. Туалетная ложечка.

82
Плывущий мужчина.

83
Плывущая девушка. Туалетная ложечка.

84
Плывущая девушка. Туалетная ложечка.

85
Голова негра.

86
Сосуд в виде женщины с ребенком.

87
Сосуд в виде женщины с ребенком.

88
Голова мужчины.

89
Голова царицы.

90
Голова пожилого мужчины.

91 92
Голова мужчины.

93
Голова мужчины.

94
Жрец Пефия со статуей Осириса.

95
Голова мужчины.

96
Голова женщины.

97
Статуя женщины.

98
Статуэтка женщины.

99
Две богини и Птолемей IX.

100
Богиня Исида.

101
Статуя египтянина.

102
Сидящий Осирис.

103
Шествующая Исида.

104 105 106

107
Коленопреклоненная Исида.

108
Коленопреклоненная Исида.

109
Сидящая Исида.

110
Исида с Хором.

111
Шествующий Харпократ.

112 113 114

115
Шествующий Харпократ.

116
Голова Харпократа (№ 6071).

117 118
Шествующий Харпократ (№ 6071).

119
Статуэтка Хора в виде сокола.

120
Статуэтка Хора в виде сокола.

121
Статуэтка Хора в виде сокола.

122
Статуэтка Хора в виде сокола.

123
Статуэтка Сета.

124
Статуэтка Хора в костюме римского воина.

125
Шествующая Мут.

126 127 128

129
Голова коршуна богини Мут.

130
Стоящий Хонсу.

131
Шествующий Амон.

132
Шествующий Амон.

133 134
Шествующий Амон (№ 6827).

135
Статуэтка Птаха.

136
Идущая Сохмет.

137
Сидящая Сохмет.

138
Сидящая Сохмет (№4361).

139
Сидящая Сохмет.

140
Статуэтка Имхотепа (№ 5655).

141
Статуэтка Имхотепа.

142
Идущий Нефертум.

143
Идущий Нефертум.

144 145 146 147

149
Статуэтка Тота в виде павиана.

150
Статуэтка Тота в виде ибиса.

151
Статуэтка Тота в виде павиана.

152 153 154 155

156
Статуэтка Тота в виде павиана.

157
Статуэтка Тота в виде павиана.

158 159 160 161

162
Осирис-Аах.

163
Осирис-Аах (№ 5687).

164
Статуэтка сидящей Маат.

165 166
Осирис-Аах (№ 5687).

167
Шествующий Собек.

168
Шествующий Собек (№ 5700).

169 170 171

172
Хапи (Нил).

173
Богиня Нрит.

174 175 176

177
Анубис в виде шакала.

178
Упуат в виде волка.

179
Сидящие кошки.

180
Анубис в виде шакала.

181
Кошка с двумя котятами.

182
Сидящая кошка.

183
Голова кошки.

184
Бэс, держащий сосуд.

185
Бэс с бубном.

186
Шествующая Бэсит.

187
Стоящий Бэс.

188
Стоящий Бэс

Стоящий Бэс

190
Бэс, стоящий на колонке.

191
Бэс со щитом.

192
Бэс с наосом.

193
Бэсит с Бэсом.

194
Таурт.

195
Статуэтка Пта-Сакара.

196
Таурт.

197.
Статуэтка Пта-Сакара.

198
Стоящая Таурт.

199 200 201

202
Лежащий гиппопотам.

203
Ручка в виде козла.

204
Баран бога Амона.

205
Палочка с головой барана.

206
Апис.

207
Ихневмон.

208
Лягушка на колонке.

209
Скульптура лягушки.

210
Лягушка на жертвеннике.

211
Сосуд в виде ежа.

212
Рыба.

213
Рыба.

214
Саркофаг ушебти Сеннеджема.

215
Ушебти Сеннеджема в саркофаге

216
Ушебти Хати.

217
Ушебтн Хонсу.

218
Ушебти певца первого жреца Амона Пайнеджема III.

219
Ушебти Сеннеджема.

Summary

The book of V. V. Pavlov and S. I. Hodjash consists of two separate parts. The first part is the last work of the eminent soviet egyptologist proffessor V. V. Pavlov, who devoted many years of his life to the publication of the collections of the Moscow Pushkin Museum, expecially of its small-scale sculpture.
Prof. Pavlov makes a comprehensive survey of the history of this part of Egyptology both abroad and in this country, and gives his conception of the particular features of Egyptian small-scale plastic. He proceedes outlining the historical development of the Egyptian small-scale sculpture from the earliest period to the Roman time.
In the plastic art of Ancient Egypt the small-scale sculpture was a significant and original branch. Some of its principles are similar to those of monumental sculpture. However it evolved its own style and means of expression.
The concepts of plastic arts in Egypt were connected with religious beliefs and magic practices of the Egyptians, who believed that image had a magic power. As such it was created according to strictly determined canons. The plastic art, besides being organically linked to religious and magic notions, was closely related, both in its large and small forms, to monumental architecture.
Monumental sculpture and the art of small plastic forms share the following characteristics: frontal pose, hieratic nature of imagery, monumental quality and laconic form and geometrical structure of the composition, the sense of mass and magnitude. Monumental quality is achieved not solely through size – the cult of quantity, – but rather through the correlation of scale and size.
Along with this, the art of small-scale plastic forms has its own distinctive features different from those which are peculiar to monumental sculpture. This divergence became apparent primarily in the approach to canon.
Egyptian artists had special instructions for their guidance. There is an inscription on a wall in the temple of Dendera, erected in the Ptolemaic times, testifying that each of the statues of the goddess was executed in canonical proportions, in accordance with ancient books.
In Egyptian art the observance of canons in the general construction of composition, proportions in individual figures and adherence to established types in treatment of particular subjects could be traced back to the times of the first two dynasties. With particular clarity the role of canons is revealed in the so-called «sculptural models» – a sort of aids which were executed by experienced masters for young sculptors. A special network of lines drawn on these statues and reliefs enabled the pupils to keep strictly to the established canon and proportions. Auxiliary lines were scratched on the face of a cube, on its lateral surfaces where the figure was developed in profile, and on the back. This allowed one to produce a statue according to a given scheme. Quadrifacade figures, so characteristic of ancient Egyptian sculpture, were the result of using this method in chiselling stone blocks.
Nevertheless, the observance of canons and established proportions did not diminish creative fontasy of the artists. A genuine master never followed canons mechanically: his work would invariably be an embodiment of his personal conception and vision.
Two principles of plastic art – monumental quality and decorativeness – usually coexist in the works of Egyptian architects and sculptors. In small-scale sculptures they are combined to form an organic unity. However diverse the quests of Egyptian artists in respect of form and colour, composition and interpretation of the image might be, such essentials as the beauty of the silhouette and the perfect lines of the contour <110> would never slip from their mind. Among other features of their art are their sensitive use of the material, the delight they take in the beauty of its texture, be it the texture of stone or wood, bone or clay, metal or one of the numerous colourful pastes.
The earliest artistic work in Egypt included clay statuettes. This tradition goes back to the pre-dynastic period. Work in clay remained popular among Egyptian artists at all times, till late Hellenism. However, the basic material of sculptors, predominant in monumental work, was stone, especially hard rock.
Granite, diorite, basalt – used widely in the production of monuments – were also materials important in the development of the art of small plastic forms.
Apart from granite, sculptors commonly preferred hard material for portrait works, such as diorite or basalt.
Among the soft-rock materials, limestone and sandstone were held in special regard. In their handling of stone Egyptian sculptors achieved an unprecedented perfection. Those stones were most successfully used in the period of the New Kingdom, particularly in the Amarna epoch. Easily hewn into shape and yielding to chisel, they allow the sculptor to render all the nuances of bodily form and facial expression. The artists of the Amarna epoch, who carried on the stylistic quests which had been commenced in the middle of the 15th century В. С, turned a new page in the art history of the New Kingdom, influencing all subsequent development of art, till late Hellenism. The element of novelty that was brought in by them was a more straightforward manner of depicting the living realities, primarily, the portrayal of man. The art of Amarna has glorified sandstone as a material of art, just as the Greek sculptors have brought fame to marble.
Another favourite of Egyptian sculptors, a soft stone which played an outstanding role in small-scale sculpture from the time of the Old Kingdom, was alabaster – a translucent, warm mineral possessing exceptional decorative qualities. Sometimes, intending to enhance the aesthetic effect of an alabaster statuette, the artist painted or gilded it, added details made of other materials – bronze, faience or bone. In some cases the decorative effect and harmonious unity were achieved through contrasting combinations of materials, in other cases, on the contrary, by a monochromatic ensemble.
Parallel with these hard and soft minerals, a considerable part of work, especially in the New Kingdom period, was done in wood. Use was made of the species indigenous to the valley of the Nile (sycamores, palms, acacias), as well as of other timber imported for these purposes from Syria, Lebanon, Nubia or the Somali coast.
Small sculptures and vessels were also done in faience, glass or metal: copper, bronze, silver, gold.
Vessels for incense would be decorated with sculptured details or even take the form of a human figure or an animal. A looking-glass handle could be done as a figurine, musical instruments often had a sculptural handle which formed a harmonious unity with the functional part. Having its origin in the earliest, pre-dynastic times, this tradition survived through all the periods of Egyptian history, till the end of Hellenism.
A small statuette, even a tiniest figurine could bear the stamp of monumentality. Small-scale Egyptian sculpture had a history of three millennia during which it retained its own specific features as well as some of the traits that were common to all branches of ancient art of Egypt. Yet in the course of its evolution it underwent considerable changes.
The art of the Old Kingdom (early 3-d millennium B. G.) is exemplified by the Statuette of a Woman (MPM, No 5127, stone, height 14 cm.).
A sculpture representing the time of the 5th dynasty, the middle of the Old Kingdom, is the Sitting Egyptian with his Daughter (MPM, No5745, limestone, height 64 cm). This sort of composition, characteristic of the Old Kingdom sculpture, was retained at the later stages of Egyptian art. Typologically the monument belongs to the mature form of portrayal that was evolved by the Old Kingdom art.
In the period of the Middle Kingdom, this typology gave way to a more individualized treatment of the image.Very prominently these new features stand out in the Statuette of Amenemhet III, a Pharaoh of the 12th dynasty (MPM, No4757). The work is a remarkable example of the 19-th century В. С art. This portrait, produced by an <111> outstanding master in the epoch when Egyptian sculptors were at their best in the genre of portraiture, stylisticaly is very different from what we find in the statues of the Old Kingdom. A mere comparison between the statuette of Amenemhet III and that of the sitting Egyptian will show that while the oval of the Egyptian's face has been given a very generalized treatment with scarcely any peculiar nuances of form, in the Pharaoh statuette the planeness in the treatment of the stone surface characteristic of the earlier period, has been superseded by a more graphical representation.
There is another work from the reign of Amenemhet III a small Head of the Queen (MPM, No 1013), chiselled from a piece of red granite with motley inclusions.
The statuette of a Sitting Scribe, dating from the latter half of the Middle Kingdom, is done in grey granite of a darker shade (MPM, No 5125).
A branch of Egyptian art that merits special attention is small-scale plastic woodwork. It was widespread in the epoch of the Middle Kingdom. The thematic range of the woodcarvers was broader than in the other branches of sculptural work. It included subjects related to everyday realities.
Naturally this deviation from the established canons could only be very limited. They retained the frontal type of presentation as well as some other features common to official ritualistic, ecclesiastical and sepulchral sculpture. Yet no other category of plastici art could produce genre scenes so natural and diverse. They could be naive or entertaning, but they always stemmed from popular art. Multifigure compositions and individual figures often represented servants who accompanied their master to the imaginary next world where they were to discharge their usual earthly duties. Among these we find carriers and maid-servants, bakers and brewers.
Several interesting works represent small-scale wooden sculpture of the Middle Kingdom. Among these are a group of walking scribes (MPM, No 5872), a statuette of a carrier (MPM, No 4668) and a statuette of a walking man (MPM, No 4765). Of special interest are models of boats (MPM, No 5363, 5364) which, like the numerous compositions with servants, are done in the genre of multifigure wooden sculpture. The boats in these compositions represented those that were used to carry the dead.
Sculpturing figurines of women could be part of magic practices as such statuettes were believed to bo conducive to fertility (MPM, No 5912, No 5882). The sculpture of a woman and a child (MPM, No 5913) is done in the style of the New Kingdom art which inclined towards a more realistic representation of a nude model and to a greater decorativencss. These statuettes represented the New Kingdom art in its mature period.
In the New Kingdom period some rare species of wood, primarily ebony, as well as ivory, colour stones and gold were widely used as the materials of art. To a great extend this was due to an unprecedented inflow of riches which was a consequence of the Pharaohs' military successes.
In its collection of the New Kingdom small-scale sculpture, the Pushkin Museum has two excellent and widely known statuettes done in ebony. These are figures of Priest Amenhotep and Priestess Rannai (MPM, No 0000, No 0000). The plasticity of the figurines is enhanced by the beauty of the polished nut-brown wood and the gold of the jewellery, the overall effect being that of a harmonious unity of material and form.
Married Couple (MPM, No 2101), a sculptural group with strong decorative elements and a composition deriving from the art of the Old Kingdom, however stylistically a typical production of the New Kingdom art. Another characteristic example is a group sculpture (MPM, No 1962) representing Niai, a scribe in the gold-accounting office of the Lord of the Two Lands, and his wife, «the lady of the house Isis», whose colours have preserved much of their original intensity and freshness.
There is a vein of decorativeness in another small sculpture – Head of a Man (MPM, No 1958) dating from the reign of the Pharaoh-reformer Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), with a very delicately modelled surface.
Head of a Man from the museum collection has a resemblance to the portraits of Pharaoh Achnaten. The explanation may lie in the practice of Egyptian sculptors who tended to impart the individual features of the Pharaoh to the portraits of his contemporaries. <112>
The tendency toward decorativeness, so manifest in the art of the New Kingdom, has been vividly revealed in an ointment spoon made of ivory and ebony. Its handle represents a swimming girl who holds in her hands a vessel which has the shape of a pink lotus. The natural yellowish tone of the body is in exquisite harmony with the dark-brown wig and the pink of the lotus.
At the turn of the 2-nd and the 1-st millennium В. С, Egypt was shaken by major upheavals. Again and again the country was invaded by Assyrians, Persians and other conquerors. It was only for a comparatively short period, during the rule of the XXVIth Sais Dynasty, that Egypt was able to regain its independence. The rulers of the dynasty, who claimed the rights of succession to the great Pharaohs, patronized cultural and artistic activities, particularly the attempts to revive the traditions of the earlier epochs. The old examples were imitated, but the resemblance was only superficial. The sculptural portraits of the period, for all their technical virtuosity and perfection of form, bear but an outward similarity to the creations of the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. These excellently executed, perfectly finished portraits with elongate skulls and a light smile on the thin lips obviously lack the expressive force which marks out the monuments of the more archaik times.
A typical example of the Sais period portrait is the Head of a Man chiselled in grey basalt (MPM, No 2104).
Another basalt statue, Walking Woman (MPM, No 6719) goes back to the time of Hellenism. Long before that epoch the Egyptian masters had attained high artistry in rendering the forms of a naked body showing through the thin fabric of the clothes. In this figurine, however, one can trace elements of a different tradition, that of Hellenistic art.
A monument representing one of the latest periods covered by the museum collection is a statue of a young man standing with his left foot in front (MPM, No 5746). The figure, which is chiselled in dark-grey basalt, is monumentally serene. The impression is heightened by a strictly frontal composition, the harmony of wide, beautifully shaped folds and a support pillar at the back of the figure, forming part of the statue. There is an obvious kinship between this statue and the Egyptian sculpture of any earlier epoch, yet its traditional attributes are combined with very distinct features of Roman and Hellenistic art. Having originated in the reign of the Ptolemies, in the 3-d and 2-nd centuries B. C, this peculiar stylistic combination entered a new stage of development in the plastic art of Roman Egypt of the 1-st century В. С and the early 1-st century A. D. The statue of a standing young man thus illustrates the syncretic nature of art in which the Roman and the Egyptian elements were interwoven in a single whole.
The evolution of small-scale sculpture from the earliest times to the Roman era serves to demonstrate how strong were canons in the art of Egypt. The Egyptian art developed within the bounds of rules and traditions which were established over centuries and millennia. Herein lay its vitality and its peculiarity as an art of the pre-antique period.
The canons were created by great attists and were followed both by real masters who made wonderful works of art and by craftsmen who were just reproducing the accepted patterns.
In the second part S. Hodjash discusses the role of Egyptian mythology, showing how the mythological notions of Ancient Egyptians were embodied in the statuettes of gods and figures of sacred animals.
The material for the second part of the book, «Egyptian Mythology in Small-scale Sculpture» has been mainly provided by the MPM collection. Some of the selected monuments have not been reproduced before.
So as to present the material in a more coherent and consistent form the author did not follow a strict chronological order but arranged the monuments in thematic groups. The chapter opens with the great triad: Osiris-Isis-Horus.
In a bronze statuette (MPM, No 5370) Osiris is represented in a sitting position with his figure wrapped up in a robe. Over the robe there is a broad necklace. In his hands, which are not covered by the clothing and pressed to his breast, he holds a warder and a lash. On the god's head is a high crown with an uraeus. <113>
The museum collection includes numerous representations of Goddess Isis, the wife and sister of Osiris. The most interesting of them is the statue of walking Isis (MPM, No 2056). The goddess, with her left foot put forward and her arms pressed to the body, is clothed in a long close-fitting dress. She has a necklace on her neck and bracelets on her arms. On her head is a kerchief falling down on her shoulders and covering part of her back. Over the kerchief there is a headdress in the shape of a hawk with wings dropping on each side of her body. Her crown consists of uraeuses with the sun disk between the horns. On the pedestal there is an hieroglyphic inscription reading: «May Great Isis, the Mother of the Gods, grant... son... an eternal life». The paleography of the inscription indicates that the statuette is a production of the Sais period.
Another statuette of Isis (MPM, No 5417) is made of light-blue faience. The goddess, bent on one knee, is covering the face with her arm. This iconography has its origin in the Myth of Osiris describing the grief of Isis when she learns of her husband's death.
A bronze statuette (MPM, No 5434) shows Isis as a loving mother suckling her baby-son Horus. Isis wears a long dress and has a kerchief on her head. The crown over her striped kerchief consists of uraeuses, horns and a sun disk. In accordance with the canons of Egyptian iconography, the baby Horus is shown naked with a royal uraeus and a curl hanging from the shaven skull. The curl which children wore till they attained their majority testifies to his age. The body of the infant-god is proportioned like the body of a grown-up man.
There were several iconographic types of Horus. The most widespread were statuettes of a child-god known as Harpocrates. The museum has in its possession two remarkable bronze statuettes of walking Harpocrate, One of them (MPM, No 6070) represents the god with the nude figure and the crown of United Egypt with an uraeus on his head. The curl of youth falls from under the crown down to his shoulder. His left foot is put forward and left arm is pressed to his body. With the index finger of his right hand he touches his lips. The whites of his eyes are inlaid with gold. An inscription engraved on the pedestal reads: «May Harpocrate grant the life to Pa-nephr-amon, the son of Pa-di-osiris, born by Ta-di-amon». The iconography of the other statuette (MPM, No 6071) is analogous to that of the above-mentioned work, but its inscription is dedicated to Pa-di-nefer-hotep. Both statuettes date from the first millennium В. С
Since in Egyptian religion Horus for more than three thousand years was a figure of great importance, his extant images range chronologically from the steles of the Pharaohs from the first dynasties to the monuments of the Roman Emperors. Over that period his iconography changed more than once.
In the later times, especially in the the Greco-Roman epoch, his representations acquired martial characteristics, like those in the portraits of the Roman military leaders. In its collection the museum has statuettes representing Horus as a warrior. One of these (MPM, No 2985) portrays him walking with his right arm raised. On his feet he has laced-up boots. He is dressed in a short tunic and a coat of mail over it. His armour is scaly in the upper part, while the shoulder-pieces and the lower part are made of long plates. His waist is begirded with a belt in which the ends are fastened with a wattled buckle. His breast is decorated with the head of Gorgon. On his head the god wears the crown of United Egypt. Some characteristics of the statuette – the free posture of the figure, the style of the costume and the armour – indicate that it is a work of the second century A. D. At that time the cult of the Egyptian god was professed at the court of the Roman emperors.
Another interesting personage of Egyptian mythology was Seth, the brother of Osiris and Isis. He was usually embodied with the muzzle of a beast and long ears. What particular animal was impersonated in this image can only be surmised. It is conjectured that there were different prototypes of Seth in the fauna of Egypt and the neighbouring lands. It is also possible that the rare animal which had served as the prototype of Seth became extinct in the dynastic period. The collection includes an alabaster statuette of Seth (MPM, No 5450). It represents the god as standing with his arms pressed to the body. His head is decorated with the crown of Upper Egypt.
A place of honour in the religion and imitative art of Ancient Egypt belonged to the famous triad of Thebes: god Amon-Ra, his wife goddess Muth and their son Honsu. <114>
Amon was the principal god of the Egyptians and, according to the Theban version, he was the Creator of the Universe.
The museum owns a bronze statuette of standing Amon (MPM, No 5691) which represents the god as dressed in a short girdling garment and wearing a crown with two plumes. Among the museum exhibits there is an excellent bronze statuette of goddess Muth (MPM, No 5697). The goddess is shown walking, with one foot put in front and one arm stretched forward. In her lowered hand she holds the sign of life. She wears an long narrow dress, a necklace and a kerchief. On her forehead the goddess has a uraeus, and on her head – the crown of United Egypt. On the pedestal there is an inscription reading: «May Honsu-child grant life and strength to Pa-yu(-n-)-Hor, son of Ah(ta)». This statuette, matchless in artistry and quality of casting, is a production of the Ptolemaic period.
According to the version prevalent in Memphis, the creator of the world was god Ptah. He gave birth to the gods, established cities and nomes, built the sanctuaries and instituted the offering of sacrifices. The iconography of Ptah is characterized by constancy. During many centuries he retained the image of an upright figure in tightly binding clothes, with a staff in hand. His effigies can be found in reliefs on temples and tombstones, in large and small sculptures. A bronze statuette of Ptah in the collection (MPM, No 6729) represents the god wrapped up in his clothing from neck to heels. Over his vestment he wears a necklace. In his right hand he holds a staff, in his left hand – the sign of life. On his head there is a small wig, under his chin – a suspended beard.
The spouse of Ptah, the beloved daughter of Ra, Sohmet was a highly esteemed deity, in whose honour people sang songs and told legends.
Sohmet was usually depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness, in a long dress, with the solar disk and an uraeus on her head. The museum has in its possession several bronze statuettes of this iconography (MPM, No 5054, 5278,5288).
The proximity of two cults – those of Sohmet and the cow-goddess Hathor had an effect on the iconography of Sohmet. In one of the statuettes (MPM, No 4361) the head of Sohmet is decorated with cow horns. The goddess is represented as sleeping on a cubic throne. A picture of god Horus standing on crocodiles is engraved on the lateral side of the throne. In his hands the god is holding two lions. Over his head there is a picture of the head of god Bes. The chronology of the statuette is uncertain as no direct analogies are known. Yet the picture of Aorus on Horus on crocodiles is similar to such pictures on stelae, while the latter began to appear in Egyptian art not before the second half of the first millennium В. С This allows us to assume that the statuette of Sohmet couldn't be done earlier than that time.
The son of Ptah and Sohmet, the god of vegetation Nephertum had the sacred lotus flower as his symbol. The collection includes a silver statuette of walking Nephertum (MPM, No 5451). The god wears a pleated girdling garment on his hips. On his head he has a kerchief and a blue lotus flower with two plumes rising from its centre. A demotic inscription on the statuette can be regarded as an indication that it was produced approximately in the third century В. С
Besides the divine son, the Memphian god Ptah was believed to have an earth-born son who was identified with the famous sculptor Imhotep. A bronze statuette of Imhotep (MPM, No 5655) represents him as sitting with a scroll of papyrus in his lap. An inscription engraved on the scroll reads: «Imhotep».
The ideas of learning – the subject of high esteem and religious worship – were reflected in the cult of Thoth, the god of wisdom and alphabet. Usually Tlioth (the Egyptian name – Tehuti) was represented as having a human body and the head of an ibis. There are many statuettes of ibis in the museum, the two most interesting being a white stone figurine with the head and legs of dark bronze (MPM, No 5759) and a bronze figurine in which the featheres and wings are decorated with inlaid blue paste (MPM, No 4374).
God Thoth also assumed the appearance of a baboon. The collection includes a slate statuette of a baboon sitting on a round pedestal (MPM, No 4397). Another figurine (MPM, No 5709) represents a baboon on a taller pedestal, both parts being carved in a single block of stone. On the pedestal there is an engraved portrait of the Pharaoh and an inscription: «Sacrifice which the king offers up to Thoth, pre-eminent, handsome <115> with his plumes on the throne. May Thoth grant his love for a good age and every day to the soul of the chief of the troop charter keepers».
A lively representation of the figure, natural posture, the handling of the hair, the style and the inscriptions bear evidence that the statuette could belong to the period of the 20th dynasty. Another statuette of a baboon (MPM, No 5703) represents it sitting on a stepped pedestal. In the lower part it has an inscription: «Thoth... great god... Ra, dignitary of the gods, great god staying in Hermopolis in life, wholeness, health, understanding and love... Oh, Thoth, of high plumes, the place (of your worship) is blessed. The love of Thoth for a long age to the assistant chief of the troop charter keepers... (the name is undecipherable). That great prince of the gods in Unnu...».
The museum also owns a statuette of Thoth in the shape of an ibis and Maath, the goddess of truth, sitting before him (MPM, No 4349).
Goddess Maath, the daughter of the supreme god Ra, was worshipped in Egypt as the goddess of justice. Her presence was required in any controversy, from a worldly dispute to the Last Judgment. Maath, who was usually in the company of god Thoth, as a witness to his decisions, was represented sitting, clothed in a long dress, with an ostrich feather on her forehead. (MPM, No 5709).
God Thoth, among many other functions, was supposed to personify the cult of the Moon. He was in relationship, both functional and iconographie, with the other lunar deities: Honsu and Osiris-Jah. In the possession of the MPM (No 5687) there is a statuette of Osiris-Jah which is a work of one of the later periods, notable for its high artistic quality. On the pedestal it has an hieroglyphic inscription which reads: «May Osiris-Jah grandt life to Ре-stench, the son of Pe-di-bastet».
The cult of Thoth and the related gods, which was kept up throughout the cultural history of Ancient Egypt, passed down to antiquity and survived till the advent of Christianity.
A prominent place in their religious beliefs the Egyptians allotted to the cult of god Sohek which they visualized as a crocodile.
The museum owns a bronze statuette of god Sobek decorated with inlaid coloured paste, a work of unique artistic perfection. A dedication to the god is inscribed on the socle: «May Sobek grant life to Pe-di-Amon Ben-an-nesr, the son of Pa-neheret-net-cher Hurtchep». By its iconographie peculiarities and details of the inscription the statuette can be referred to the Sais period.
One of the oldest Egyptian cults was the worship of goddess Neith who was considered to be the mother of human race and was called «Father of fathers and mother of mothers». Her cult, which was closely related to that of god Sobek, had bearing on fertility, the Nile floods, hunting and fishing.
Belonging to the select group of Egyptian gods, Neith was worshipped in every part of the country, particularly in Lower Egypt. As a native of Sais, the centre of the fifth nome in Lower Egypt, she was considered to be the protectress of the city and the patron goddess of weaving, since many citizens were weavers. The museum collection includes a very typical effigy of Naith: the goddess is shown walking with one foot put forward. She wears a narrow dress and a crown on her head (MPM, No 5654).
The god of the dead, Anubis was usually represented as a wild black dog lying on a rectangular base or a pedestal shaped like a temple. Many museums have such statuettes in their Egyptian collections. These are works of different artistic value, crudely or carefully formed, covered with a coat of paint or inlaid gold work. But hardly any of them, with the exception of the wooden statuette from the Tutankhamen tomb, would compare in elegance and beauty with the effigy of the god in the MPM (No 5706) – a lying black dog with a white ribbon on its neck.
The god of war Upuath was worshipped in an image of a wolf. A bronze statuette of Upuath in the collection (MPM, No 3598) shows a wolf with a lowered tail. Strips of the hand on its nock and the hair of the tail are decorated with inlaid gold.
Very graceful are the statuettes of cats – the sacred animals of Bastet, the goddess of love, joy and merriment. A statuette of a sitting cat (MPM, No 6835) is characteristic of sculpture of the 22-nd dynasty period: a beautiful lean body with jutting paws. Statuettes with more fluent and rounded forms (MPM, No 5383 and No 6665) date from the 26th dynasty period. There is a statuette of a cat with kittens sitting at its paws (MPM, No 3542). <116>
Among many animals which were idolized in Egypt the most important were oxen, cows, rams, goats – the livestock of ancient cattle-breeders and cultivators. Clay statuettes of these animals are found in excavated settlements and necropolises of the pre-dynastic period. Among them are one-figure pieces and group compositions.
One of these рге-dynastic productions, a clay statuette of an ox, very expressive and true to life, is now in the collection of the MPM (No 1510).
The bull was worshipped in different parts of Egypt. There are extant standards of many towns in which the emblem is the figure of a bull. Particularly important was the cult of the bull in Memphis, Egypt's religious centre, where the sacred bull Apis lived at the temple of the supreme god Ptah.
The museum has in its possession a bronze statuette of the Sais period representing Apis and a man of a rather rare iconography standing by his side (MPM, No 3687). The collection also includes a statuette of a ram, god Anion's sacred animal, with a sun disk on its head (MPM, No 4577).
One of the animals associated with fertility was the frog, which was considered to be the sacred animal of Hekate, the goddess of procreation. The frog was referred to as one «re-creating life» or «giving a new life». In the stone statuette of the New Kingdom (MPM, No 5031) a frog is represented as sitting on a column with a lotus-shaped capital. The use of a lotus-shaped support for a statuette of a frog is not a chance combination, as the symbols of the frog and the lotus, which personified birth and revival, were closely associated in Egyptian religion. A bronze altar with a frog, a production of the Sais period, is an exhibit at the MPM (No 4928).
Among many small animals that were venerated by the Egyptians for their usefulness was the ichneumon. Being naturally immune to snake venom, ichneumons resolutely attack even very large reptiles. Tamed ichneumons were kept in people's homes where they served as a guard against rodents and snakes. An ichneumon standing on its hind legs is represented in a bronze statuette (MPM, No 3580).
None of the many peoples that venerated and worshipped animals have achieved such perfection in their artistic representation as the Egyptian did. A living being endowed with a supernatural power, a bearer of divinity, an animal commanded respect and was to be worshipped as a deity. In depicting animals the Egyptians did not lapse into sentimental sweetness or a folly of condescension. A millennium-long practice of a hunter and a herdsman, always in direct contact with the world of nature, reveals itself in the sculptor's chisel and the painter's brush, allowing them to discard all that is fortuitous or fleeting, to perpetuate all that is essential and characteristic. That is why the Egyptian statuettes of animals are always natural and true to life, but, being the images of gods, they are stately and dignified.
The figure of Bes was probably one of the most original and peculiar in the Egyptian pantheon. That was a small dwarfish creature dressed in a lion's hide.
In the MPM collection there is one of the best extant statuettes of this god.
About two hundred effigies of Bes, representing all periods of this cult and all iconographie variants, were collected in the late nineteenth century by V. S. Golenishchev, a noted Bussian orientalist who studied the famous magic stele of Metternich.
A production of the Middle Kingdom period is a statuette of Besith (MPM, No 5669). The wooden statuette of Bes's wife represents her with her arms tightly pressed to her body and a lion's hide on her head. Among the dwarfish gods the wife of Bes was one of the most revered. Like her husband, she was believed to be a protectress of women in childbirth, a guardian of children, one who warded off and cured the bites of snakes and scorpions. Among the statuettes there are some twin pieces representing the husband and the wife together (MPM, No 4291). In the New Kingdom period very common were censers imitating the figure of god Bes. They were made of different materials: faience, stone, wood, clay. There are two such vessels in the museum collection, one chiselled in stone (MPM, No 4215) and the other carved in wood (MPM, No 4208). Chronologically they probably belong to the 18th dynasty, having such characteristic features of the period as an unconstrained posture, a friendly expression of the face, pliant modelling, the hair rendered naturally in straight, thin lines. A more conventional treatment prevails in the statuettes of the 3d Transitional period. A typical example of the Sais period iconography is provided by a bronze statuette showing Bes on a column with a papyrus-shared capital (MPM, No 4277). Another work of <117> that period is a statuette of Bes holding a tambourine in his hands (MPM, No 4256). The cult of Bes as the patron of music, which appeared in Egypt at the time of the 18th dynasty, remained till the Greco-Roman period. According to a legend describing the return of goddess Hathor–Thephnuth from Nubia, all the participants in the ceremonial processions were accompanied by gods Beses.
The cult of Bes was widely spread at the time when Egypt was under the Persian rule. That period was marked by a wide-scale production of round amulets with the impressed head of Bes. Stylization in them is more pronounced, the features of the face and the curls of the hair tend to become more decorative. The facial expression becomes more aggressive. Bes, showing a warlike temperament, is depicted as a warrior dragging prisoners or brandishing the sword or performing a ritualistic dance and accompanied by griffins.
In the Hellenistic-Roman period, a shield and a sword became permanent attributes of Bes. The museum owns several statuettes representing anarmed Bes (MPM, No 4268, No 4272).
The cult of Bes took root in the antique world. The area of its prevalence extended from the Mediterranean to Transcaucasia. Statuettes of Bes, Egyptian or locally-made, have been found in Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia and on the Black Sea coast.
Owing to their small size, objects of small-scale plastic art: statuettes, handicraft productions, toilet articles, more often than works of monumental art, served as commodities in bartering and trade. Both in Egypt and far beyond the confines of the Nile Valley they were used as offerings and gifts. And it was through them that many peoples of the ancient world got to know elements of Egyptian mythology and were introduced into the wonderland of Egyptian art.

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