Artwork And Art History
Kings held a unique position in Egyptian society. Somewhere between human and divine nature, they were believed to have been chosen by the gods themselves to serve as their mediators on earth.” (HISTORY) The materials that were used to create Khafre’s Enthroned Statue, symbolized the Pharaoh’s time as King of Egypt and his eternal afterlife. The enthroned statue portrays the body of Khafre which shows the great power that given to him by God, and the formal design shows the qualities of religion and political status entombed in the statue. This unique design symbolizings his eternal life as being timeless with hidden religious messages that is depicted within the sculpture. The seated Statue reflects Khafre’s political nature and religious convictions of his time through the formal qualities of its design and iconography. The statue is made of diorite, which was extremely valuable, unbreakable stone, that symbolizes and expresses Khafre’s unwavering power as a Pharaoh.
Khafre’s enthroned statue is shown as how a King was supposed to be portrayed, with a perfect statue of divine flawlessness that is intertwined with lotus and papyrus plants symbolizing the unification of Egypt of that time period. Horus the sky god is show as extending his protective wings to shelter the Khafre’s Head. This statue plays an important role in the life of Pharaoh’s afterlife, because now only does it serves as his resting place and it also portrays the life force that accompanied him after death. This statue distinguishes how a King should be portrayed in that time period and still looked like a powerful King even after his death.
“Khafre’s enthroned statue is a funerary statue of the Pharaoh Khafre, who reigned during the fourth dynasty of ancient Egypt.” (Wiki2.org) The statue of Khafre is now located at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The construction of Khafre’s Enthroned was made from anorthosite gneiss stone, which is very valuable and is an extremely hard dark stone that was brought four-hundred miles down the Nile River from the royal quarries. The statue highlights Khafre’s importance and power as the ruler of Egypt. The statue carved for Pharaoh’s valley temple locate near the Great Sphinx was part of how the funeral rituals were done in that time period. This was an important function that was done within the Egyptian tombs to show the life force that accompanied a person after death when the body leaves to go into the afterlife, but still needs a place to rest.
The statue of Khafre is an exquisite piece of art and of art history, that echo’s the period of time it was created in, to show the history of Egypt and its people, and stands to this day as a reminder of its significance and value of a long-ago era in history. Keeping this in mind, we learn that there were priceless pieces of artwork that were created, solely depending on each time period that may have similar meanings but also different messages and at the same time. Egyptian artists and sculptors adhered to a system of strict rules known as canon to create the consistencies of their artwork. The Egyptian canon suggested that perfection was to be rigid, and ageless while showing the idealization of the reality of the artwork. Art was also used to portray images of power and authority in those times of Ancient Egypt and the falcon covering Khafre’s head by Horus, who was the god the sky and heavens imply of Pharaoh’s divine status. Roughly 1,500 years later, the progress of the canon design emerged in the Greek artwork by reflecting its new ideals of perfectionism.
