Egyptian sculpture

METHODS OF THE ARTIST 25

Though the proportions of the figures of the New Kingdom are very close to those of the earlier periods, the slight difference in the waist width and the length of the thigh, and above all the difference in the carriage of the figures as shown by the vertical line, make it possible to distinguish New Kingdom work with considerable ease.

Tell el Amarna

The canon of the art of Tell el Amarna differs considerably from that of the earlier periods. In the Old, Middle, and early New Kingdoms, the proportion of the head to the rest of the body is as 1:8; in other words, the figure is nine head-lengths from the ground to the top of the forehead. At Tell el Amarna, in the reliefs, taking the head as one unit, the whole height is seven to eight head-lengths; the proportion, therefore, of the head to the rest of the body is very much larger than in indigenous Egyptian work—the body, too, is completely out of proportion compared with the earlier canon. The arms are represented as much thinner than in the earlier periods, though the hands are the same size, or even larger. It is instructive to compare the statues of Akhenaten with the statues of the Pharaohs of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.

The unit of proportion being from the root of the hair to the base of the neck, the proportions of the whole figure are as follows:

Ground to hair F «fk Pe .. 7 units Ground to nipple .. - . .. 32 units Ground to base of hip ae se .. 2} units Ground to base of knee .. .. .. I units Across the shoulders ae oe .. I units Across the waist .. z = .. I unit

Across the feet a a oe .. 2% units