94 art: Egypt made of stone or wood and used for various purposes), and maces (ceremonial staffs) These objects, often used as votive offerings (gifts made for the gods), played an important role in religious rituals, and their possession helped define the status of a person in the social order Many of these kinds of items have been found in and around the temple at Hierakonpolis In fact, this temple and its environs have been a treasure trove for archaeologists and art historians A partial list of “firsts” and “onlys” from this temple includes such large structures as the first tomb cut into stone, from about 3100 b.c.e.; the earliest painted tomb, depicting a funeral procession; the earliest preserved royal palace, from about 2900 b.c.e.; and Egypt’s earliest temple, dating to about 3400 b.c.e Notable statuary includes the oldest life-size statue of a human; the earliest large-scale metal statuary, including a life-size statue of the Sixth Dynasty (2323–2150 b.c.e.) king, Pepi I, and his son; and the oldest known stone statue of a named person, King Khasekhemwy of the Second Dynasty (2770–2649 b.c.e.) The first mummies, from about 3600 b.c.e., also come from this temple, as Egypt’s earliest masks, made of pottery; the oldest-known cult image, a golden hawk head of the god Horus; and the largest flint knives made in Egypt, along with huge bowls, maces, and other items There are a number of other interesting items, including the earliest surviving house in Egypt, from about 3600 b.c.e.; the first preserved beard; Egypt’s earliest beer brewery; and the first evidence of hair extensions and henna hair dye PAINTING Most of the painting that survives from ancient Egypt is found on pottery and stonework Paintings have been found on relief stonework, but many paintings have also been found on flat stone Unfinished paintings have given art historians clues about how painters worked Evidence suggests that skilled draftsmen marked out the areas to be painted by making sketches with red paint and then making corrections with black paint In the Middle Kingdom (2140–1640 b.c.e.) painters began to use a system of grid lines to plan out the composition—in representing humans, the canon of human proportion referred to earlier These grids would then aid the painter in maintaining proportions as the painting was sketched in Sometimes the lines were etched in using a straight edge, but often they appear to have been done with red chalk lines made with a string that was stretched tightly and then snapped against the surface (in the same way that modern builders “snap lines” on the floor when marking out the interior walls of a house under construction) Once the plan of the composition was in place, artists made a sketch using fi ne brushes, similar to the brushes used for writing Brushes were made with reeds cut at an angle and split to produce bristles To apply the paint, more substantial brushes were made with fibrous wood A typical brush was made of twigs that were tied together; the ends were then pounded to break the fibers into bristles Pigments were made from local minerals that could be found in the deserts surrounding the Nile River valley White paint was made with gypsum (calcium sulfate), “whiting” (calcium carbonate), or huntite, a chalky white compound of calcium and magnesium Soot and charcoal were used to produce black, and iron oxide (rust) produced a range of yellows and browns Various other minerals, including realgar (arsenic sulfide), orpiment (arsenic trisulfide), jarosite (potassium sulfate and iron sulfate), azurite (copper carbonate), and malachite (also copper carbonate), were mixed to produce other colors, including blues, greens, reds, and yellows Many of these compounds are unstable in light, and the colors have faded over the centuries Most surviving painting can be found on the walls of tombs and temples built at the behest of royalty, though similar work was increasingly part of private tombs and houses beginning in the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1307 b.c.e.) The Egyptians believed that painted scenes in tombs would help ensure the continuity of life In temples they believed paintings preserved the memory of the accomplishments of the pharaohs and, by depicting rituals, would serve as a visual record that would ensure that important rituals were later performed While many examples of fine relief painting could be cited, art historians often point to the painting found in the tomb of Mentuhotep II (r 2061–1991) at Dayr al-Bahri and to the carvings found in the shrine to Sesostris I (r 1971–1926) in Karnak as particularly superior examples One feature of ancient Egyptian painting that strikes modern viewers is the lack of three dimensions Most later painting, beginning in Renaissance Europe, creates the illusion of a third dimension, depth, by arranging the elements of the composition and altering their size so that some are in the viewer’s foreground and others in the background and objects themselves have a sense of depth Egyptian painters, in contrast, remained happy with flat, two-dimensional paintings and drawings Further, more modern painting creates the sense that the objects are viewed from a single perspective An Egyptian painting, in contrast, employs multiple perspectives Modern viewers, too, are often struck by a kind of oddity in the way human figures are represented in Egyptian painting Rather than giving the figures naturalistic poses, the paintings seem almost to be made of a collection of parts Thus, for example, the head might be in profi le, but with a full “frontal” view of an eye The shoulders may then be rendered frontally, but the legs and buttocks may again be in full profi le No discussion of painting would be complete without mentioning the illumination of papyrus manuscripts Papyrus is a form of paper made from the reeds of papyrus plants Beginning in about the Eighteenth Dynasty, artists started to include small drawings and paintings on official and religious documents Among the best examples of this type of work are the illuminations of the Book of the Dead by a scribe named Ani in the Nineteenth Dynasty (about 1250 b.c.e.)