UoPeople
Art History: Week 1 Written Assignment Statues have been used throughout history to immortalize important people, as well as common subjects. Depending on the purpose of the statue, different materials and postures were often selected to communicate these differences.
For this paper we examine one example of a statue of a powerful ruler is the statue of Gudea, which was created around 2090 BCE in Mesopotamia. (Metropolitian Museum of Art, n.d.) We contrast this with a statue of the non-royal, statue of Memi and Sabu which was found in Egypt in the fourth dynasty period, which ran from 2575 to 2465 BCE. (Metropolitian Musem of Art, n.d.) Both statues are kept by the …show more content…
The statue of Gudea is made of Diorite, which is a type of hard and dark rock which is very difficult to carve, in fact we still have limited understanding of how the Egyptians managed to carve small details on such a hard rock. (Olivia, 2015) This can be compared to the statue of Memi and Sabu which is created in limestone, which is much lighter in tone and was an easily available material for carving and was probably drilled with a simple makeshift drill. (Alkhalifa, …show more content…
Works Cited
Alkhalifa, M. (2014, July 25). Visual Analysis of a work of art or design in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved from Newschool: http://portfolio.newschool.edu/alkhalifa94/2014/07/25/visual-analysis-of-a-work-of-art-or-design-in-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art/
Metropolitian Musem of Art. (n.d.). The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from All Collection Records (Metropolitian Musem of Art): https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/543899
Metropolitian Museum of Art. (n.d.). Statue of Gudea. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from Metropolitian Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/329072
Olivia. (2015, June 12). 9 Engineering Feats Pulled Off by the Ancient Egyptians That Would Be Nearly Impossible for Modern Engineers to Duplicate Today. Retrieved from Atlanta Black Star: