The Art of Ancient Egypt: Revised Edition / Edition 2

by Gay Robins

Overview

From the awesome grandeur of the Great Pyramids to the delicacy of a face etched on an amulet, the spellbinding power of ancient Egyptian art persists to this day. Spanning three thousand years, this beautifully illustrated history offers a thorough and delightfully readable introduction to the artwork even as it provides insight into questions that have long engaged experts and amateurs alike. In its scope, its detail, and its eloquent reproduction of over 250 objects, Gay Robins’s classic book is without parallel as a guide to the art of ancient Egypt. And her eagerly awaited new edition includes many new color photographs and a fully revised and updated bibliography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674030657
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2008
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 9.75(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Gay Robins is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History at Emory University.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	6
	Foreword	7
	Chronology	8
1	Understanding Ancient Egyptian Art	12
2	Origins: The Early Dynastic Period	30
3	The First Flowering: The Old Kingdom (I)	40
4	A Golden Age: The Old Kingdom (II)	58
5	Diversity in Disunity: The First Intermediate Period	80
6	Return to the Heights: The Middle Kingdom (I)	90
7	Change and Collapse: The Middle Kingdom (II)	110
8	A New Momentum: The New Kingdom (I): Ahmose to Amenhotep III	122
9	The Great Heresy: The New Kingdom (II): The Amarna Period and Its Aftermath	149
10	The Glories of Empire: The New Kingdom (III)	166
11	Fragmentation and New Directions: The Third Intermediate Period	195
12	Looking to the Past: The Late Period (I)	210
13	The Final Flowering: The Late Period (II) and Ptolemaic Period	231
14	Epilogue	252
	Abbreviations and Bibliography	256
	Further Reading	265
	Illustration Acknowledgements	267
	Index	269

Editorial Reviews

Robins (art history, Emory Univ.) has produced the first significant general survey of ancient Egyptian art in the English language since Cyril Aldred's Egyptian Art in the Days of the Pharaohs, 3100-320 BC (Oxford Univ., 1980) and W. Stevenson Smith's The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt (Penguin, 1981). The first chapter orients the reader in the cultural, technical, and iconographic contexts needed to explore the evolution of the Egyptian artistic tradition in subsequent chapters. Beginning with the predynastic origins (5000 BCE) and concluding in the Ptolemaic Period (304-30 BCE), Robins traces the development of sculpture, painting, funerary and religious art, and architecture with over 300 illustrations, many in color. Unique to this survey is the inclusion of Ptolemaic art and the attention paid to the decoration of sarcophagi, coffins, and mummy cartonnages over three millennia. The text is authoritative and fully referenced with an excellent bibliography. This work will interest general readers as well as scholars and is recommended for all public and academic libraries.Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Sys., Ft. Pierce, Fla.

Library Journal