Art 100: Introduction to World Art
Visit to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
INTRODUCTION:
For the first assignment in Instructor Laude’s Art 100 class, the class had to visit the Brooklyn Museum’s Egypt Exhibit on the 3rd floor. Where we chose a work of art each student thought was interesting and writes a paper describing and analyzing the art work. The work of art that I chose is the Anthropoid Coffin of the Priest Thothirdes. The reason I found this artifact interesting because I wonder why the museum felt they had to put a dead body to lay in the middle of the hallway.
NAME AND DATE OF PIECE:
The Coffin and Mummy of Thothirdes were stated to be created in the Late Period, Dynasty 26 around 664-525 B.C.E.
MATERIALS AND TOOLS USED:
The Mummy is wrapped in Linen and organic materials and the Coffin is wood covered in plaster.
A DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF MY OBSERVTION:
The Mummy of Priest Thothirdes is laid vertically fully wrapped in cloth with approximate measurements of 16 x 10 1/4 x 61 in. Actually it is a re-cloth of the Thothirdes the bandages were preserved and reused after scientific research. The Coffin of Thothirdes surface of the coffin box is covered with a plain, open weave fabric of linen, visible in some areas below the linen layer is a reddish-brown, clay-like material. The face figure on the coffin has no beard but it’s a male subject. The exterior of the coffin box is decorated with vertical hieroglyph inscriptions. There are illustrations that seem to tell of story of Thothirdes as a mummy. The interior design of the coffin depicts a woman figure with hieroglyphs below. The coffin bottom is made from several pieces of wood that have been joined together with wooden pins. The Coffin box approximate size is, 8 11/16 x 2 7/8 x 27 3/16 in. with the Coffin Lid approximately, 9 7/16 x 7 7/8 x 27 9/16 in.
SPECULATION ON THE PURPOSE AND THE MESSAGE THIS WORK OF ART ATTEMPTS TO CONVEY:
The coffin shows the Egyptian’s religious