10.48255/1973-9494.JCSCH.21.2021.14
Il lavoro tratta i lineamenti del viso di alcune statue di re e regine del Nuovo Regno al fine di valutare se sono “realistici o idealistici” rispetto ai volti delle loro mummie. Lo scopo è cercare di capire fino a che punto le differenze anatomiche dei volti delle statue differiscono dai tratti del viso riscontrabili sui corrispondenti volti delle mummie.
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Sara A. Abdoh
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Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
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Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom
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Sara A. Abdoh
2021
10.48255/1973-9494.JCSCH.21.2021.14
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Department of Sculpture, Architectural Formation and Restoration Faculty of Applied Arts, Benha University, Egypt
1973-9494
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Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/15256/14620
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M     UMMIES’ PHYSIOGNOMY AND ITS REFLECTIONS IN
      THE ARTISTIC STYLE OF THE NEW KINGDOM

   Sara A. Abdoh * 1




   Department of Sculpture, Architectural Formation and Restoration
   Faculty of Applied Arts, Benha University, Egypt

   Keywords: sculpture, mummies, artistic style, anatomy, New Kingdom.

   DOI: 10.48255/1973-9494.JCSCH.21.2021.14



   1. Introduction

    As tangible evidence, New Kingdom mummies (ca. 1539 - 1075 B.C.E.) are a pow-
erful element to study and understand the history of ancient Egyptian artistic styles
because of the mummifying techniques developed in that period, and which enabled
the Egyptians to maintain the features of the faces of some mummies, especially
kings and queens, in a well-preserved state. Although artistic styles differed from one
era to another, the functional purpose of funerary statues necessitated portraying the
real features of the person, which also had to reflect their strength and youth. Therefore,
this research comprises the study of a number of faces of statues of the same person
and the faces of their mummies and, bycomparing them, try to understand to what ex-
tent the individual features of the statues’ faces resemble the physical features of the
real person.


   2. Materials and Methods

    The terms “realistic” or “idealistic” have only recently been used by art historians
and archeologists to try to explain the artistic style of a statue. Studying the faces of
mummies may help in understanding the ancient Egyptian art schools, whether it is
idealism, realism or a school that combines both idealism and realism. For example,
the faces of kings’ statues of the Old (ca. 2675-2130 B. C. E.) and New Kingdoms of-
ten followed an idealistic style, except Akhenaten, known as King Amenhotep IV, who
had his own special artistic style and may be considered an artistic revolution. On the
contrary, the faces of the kings’ statues of the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1980-1630 B. C.
E.) were realistic. However, there are still many mysteries and secrets in ancient
Egypt that have not yet been discovered; some specifically, include the hidden rea-
sons behind depicting kings and queens with different styles through the dynasties.
Therefore, I chose the mummies of several important, influential figures in the New
Kingdom for two reasons; the first is the quality of the mummifying in the New King-
dom which enables us to compare the features of the true faces with their statues,
and the second is the availability of a number of statues for each person, which en-



   * Corresponding author: s.mohammed@fapa.bu.edu.eg
                                                                                                  ables a fuller comparison to be made with the mummy. The study discusses the fol-
                                                                                                  lowing kings and queens:
                                                                                                     • Thutmose III, Thutmose IV, Tiye and Tutankhamun from the 18th Dynasty.
                                                                                                     • Seti I and Ramesses II from the 19th Dynasty.
                                                                                                     • Ramesses III from the 20th Dynasty.
                                                                                                      Before studying and comparing the facial features of the mummies and statues, it
                                                                                                  is necessary to identify the continual changes that occur with aging and the importance
                                                                                                  given to statues and mummies in ancient Egypt.


                                                                                                     2.1. The importance of statues and mummies in Ancient Egypt
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




                                                                                                      Statues had a ritual purpose in ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians believed that
                                                                                                  the deceased soul could inhabit the statue of the same person, which is why artists
                                                                                                  tried to avoid any technical problems that might weaken some areas of the statue
                                                                                                  and so ensure the statue would accomplish its function. However, the nose and
                                                                                                  chin remained the weakest and most fragile areas in the faces of the statue, de-
                                                                                                  spite artists’ attempts to use abstraction art for these particular features; the Egyp-
                                                                                                  tologist Edward Bleiberg, however, believes that a statue’s nose was intentionally
                                                                                                  damaged to prevent the spirit from breathing anymore [1]. The importance of mum-
                                                                                                  mifying lies in maintaining the body in good condition because of the belief in the
                                                                                                  idea of resurrection.


                                                                                                     2.2. Facial changes with age

                                                                                                      The craniofacial skeleton undergoes changes with age. When comparing older
                                                                                                  people to younger ones [2] it is clear that the midface skeleton is one of the anatomic
                                                                                                  areas predisposed to resorption, including the periorbital region, cheek, pyriform re-
                                                                                                  gion of the nose, the orbital rim, and the prejowl area of the mandible [3-4].
                                                                                                      When a person goes from being a baby to a teenager, the main differences are that
                                                                                                  the face becomes larger [5] and continues to change until the age of twenty, with facial
                                                                                                  skin also undergoing a fundamental modification as time progresses, including the
                                                                                                  muscles and wrinkles [6-7]. And when a person goes from the age of 50 to 60, the main
                                                                                                  changes of the face lie in a change in skin texture and the gradual development of
                                                                                                  wrinkles, senile plaques, and bags under the eyes [5, 8, 9].
                                                                                                      There is, moreover, no doubt that facial aging affects the individual facial features,
                                                                                                  such as the mouth, eyes and nose [10]. The internal features of the shape and size
                                                                                                  also help to indicate the age of the face; for example, big round eyes and a shorter
                                                                                                  nose reduce the person’s estimated age, while lips become thinner and the borders
                                                                                                  become less well-defined with age [6]. The structural support of bones and teeth is also
                                                                                                  affected by aging [11].
                                                                                                      The shape of the skull of an adult person also changes with age [12], a change
                                                                                                  that involves a remodeling of the cranial bones [4]. The upper jawbone is displaced
                                                                                                  backwards with aging and the maxillary angle is decreased by about 10 degrees
                                                                                                  when comparing differences between young and old people. The nose lengthens
                                                                                                  and its tip droops as one ages, and the length of the lower jaw changes with aging
                                                                                                  for both genders [3].


                                                              300
   3. The 18th Dynasty mummies and statues

     Thutmose III (Tables 1.1 and 1.2 – n.1)
     Age: 35-40 years; 55-60 years [13]; over 40 years old [14]; late fifties or early six-
ties [15] according to various studies. Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) was one of the
strongest pharaohs in ancient Egypt and established a great empire [16-17].
     In 1898, the tomb of Thutmose III, “KV34,” was discovered by archeologist Loret’s
workmen [18].
     The wars of Thutmose III brought some new ideas from the Asian and Aegean world,
which led to the emergence of a new artistic style characterized by softer lines. Old age
never appeared on his statues [19], which had the same idealism as the Old Kingdom
but was more delicate. The art of the 18th Dynasty reflected the power of that period, and
was reserved and impersonal [20]. The mummy of Thutmose III had a rectangu-
lar-shaped face, wide chin and a broken nose. The main features common to his statues
are: slightly smiling lips, an aquiline nose, almond-shaped eyes and soft angled eye-
brows. We can see that some of the Thutmose III statues had a full, rounded face, such
as in A and B, and others had less rounded full faces C, D, E and F; A, B and C had a
round chin and D, E and F had a wide chin similar to the mummy’s face. Hatshepsut, the
aunt and stepmother of Thutmose III, had the same full, rounded face as A and B.
     Eric H. Cline and David O’Connor dated statue A to the beginning of the coregen-
cy of Thutmose III with Hatshepsut; statue B was made during the first seven years of
his reign; statue E is from the second half of the third decade of his reign and statue F
was made during the last twelve years of his reign [21]. From those dates, we can see
that the statues of Thutmose III with full, rounded faces, such as those found in Hat-
shepsut’s artistic style, were produced at the beginning of his reign; at the time of its
end, the shape of his statues’ faces resembled more that of his mummy. Melinda K.
Hartwing has stated that the artistic style of Thutmose III changed and was different
from Hatshepsut’s artistic style, so as to appear more youthful and to remind us of the




                                                                                                CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
preceding artistic style of Thutmose I [22]. It is clear how the artistic style of Thutmose
III changed from that used during his coregency with Hatshepsut. His statues were ini-
tially influenced by her statues’ style, but later show how he developed his own artistic
style. Actually, I disagree that his artistic style “became more youthful,” because the
rounded, full face that he abandoned gives the impression of youth more markedly,
and as mentioned before, one of the signs of aging is the loss of fullness in the face.
So, I can say that when the artist chose his artistic style for Thutmose III, he was trying
to portray the real features of the king’s face and wanted to ensure it resembled him,
but at the same time hide the signs of his aging.

   Thutmose IV (Tables 1.1 and 1.2 - n.2)
    Age: 25-28 years (Smith, in 2012); 25-35 years (Harris and Weeks, in 1973);
30-35-40 years (Wente and Harris, in 1992); 30 years (M.E. Habicht and others) [13].
    The tomb of Thutmose IV, “KV43,” was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903, with-
out his mummy, because the burial chamber had been looted in the past. In fact, his
mummy, had been discovered earlier, in 1898, by Victor Loret in the side chamber of
the tomb of Amenhotep II, “KV 35,” [18] and, in 1903, was the first royal mummy to
have been x-rayed [15]. There are many different opinions about his age; for example,
Smith suggested that he was 25 years old, Krogman and Baer concluded his age was
between 35-40 years old, and J.L. Angel suggested that Thutmose IV died when he
was 55 or 60 years old [23].


                                                                                              301
                                                                                                     The face of the mummy of Thutmose IV has a square shape, wide chin, slightly
                                                                                                  smiling lips and a small nose. The main features of the statues of Thutmose IV are a
                                                                                                  square-shaped face, wide chin, smiling lips, small nose, big eyes and straight eye-
                                                                                                  brows, which are the same features as those of his mummy.

                                                                                                     Tiye (Tables 1.1 and 1.2 – n.3)
                                                                                                       Age: 40-50 years old, according to Hawass and Saleem [14].
                                                                                                       In 1898, the mummy of the “elder lady” was discovered in one of the side chambers
                                                                                                  of the tomb of Amenhotep II and was identified as Queen Tiye by an American team led
                                                                                                  by James E. Harris [24].
                                                                                                       The face of the mummy of Queen Tiye is triangular in shape, with a long, pointed
                                                                                                  chin, and the corners of her mouth droop downwards, which conveys the impression
                                                                                                  of frowning, and a small nose. The statues of Tiye have two different styles, the first de-
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




                                                                                                  picting Queen Tiye with a full, rounded face, big sleepy eyes, rounded eyebrows, a
                                                                                                  small nose, smiling lips and a wide chin compared with the mummy’s chin in A, B and
                                                                                                  C. The second style depicts her with a triangular, frowning face, sleepy almond-shaped
                                                                                                  eyes, rounded eyebrows, a small nose, and the corners of her mouth drooping down-
                                                                                                  wards, as in the mummy of Tiye with a long, pointed chin in D and E. The first style
                                                                                                  dates back to the era of King Amenhotep III, the husband of Tiye, and the second one
                                                                                                  dates back to the era of King Akhenaten, the son of Tiye. The artistic style of Akhenat-
                                                                                                  en changed a lot compared with the artistic style of his father Amenhotep III and that is
                                                                                                  what is evident in the two different styles of Tiye’s statues during the two different eras.
                                                                                                  However, there are still some common features in Tiye’s statues of the two different
                                                                                                  styles, such as the sleepy eyes, rounded eyebrows and the small nose, which is proof
                                                                                                  that these features were realistic. Comparing both styles with the mummy of Tiye, it
                                                                                                  can be seen that the second artistic style of her statues closely resembles her mummy.
                                                                                                  Even if we bear in mind the difference in the two different ages, the second artistic style
                                                                                                  is still closer to reality, because it is impossible for a face to change from a triangle to
                                                                                                  a circle as a result of aging. With age the face becomes less full and thinner, it does not
                                                                                                  completely change the shape or structure of the face. Therefore, Tiye’s statues reflect
                                                                                                  the artistic styles used during the two different periods of the reigning kings (father then
                                                                                                  son) and the transformation that occurred in the era of her son, Akhenaten.
                                                                                                       Because of the revolution that took place in ancient Egyptian art during the reign of
                                                                                                  Akhenaten, it was necessary to change the ideas stemming from the concept and tra-
                                                                                                  ditions of kingship, as the main point of Akhenaten’s teachings was the principle of
                                                                                                  “living by truth” [20].

                                                                                                     Tutankhamun (Tables 1.1 and 1.2 – n.4)
                                                                                                       Age: 18-20 years (Derry, in 1927); 23-27 years (Wente and Harris, in 1992); 17-19
                                                                                                  years (M.E. Habicht and others, 2016) [13]; 19 years old (Hawass & Saleem, 2018)
                                                                                                  [14].
                                                                                                       Tutankhamun’s tomb, “KV 62,” was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 [25].
                                                                                                       He came to the throne of Egypt around 1333 BC when he was no more than nine
                                                                                                  years old, and he died early in 1323 BC [18]; so, when he died, he was around 19
                                                                                                  years old. Tutankhamun’s statues, discovered in “KV 62”, presented the type of mature
                                                                                                  Amarna artistic style [22], and shows the gradual transformation in the artistic style that
                                                                                                  followed the abandonment of Atenism, as Tiye’s statues show us the transformation
                                                                                                  from the worship of Amun to that of Aten.


                                                                  302
     Tutankhamun’s mummy has an elongated skull, heart-shaped face, small nose and
narrow chin. The main features in Tutankhamun’s statues are: the heart-shaped face,
big eyes, rounded eyebrows, full lips with a cupid’s bow and a small nose. A, B and C
have a round chin. In D, E and F the chin became a bit wider. In A and B we can see
the mature Amarna artistic style, the face is not that full compared with C, D, E, F. In A
we can see the elongated skull, as in some Amarna portraits, and the area around the
mouth in B looks a bit like that in Tiye’s statues D and E. Gradually, we can see the ar-
tistic transformation in C and D while retaining the same main features in all of Tut-
ankhamun’s statues except for some fullness in his face. In E and F the artistic style
reached its climax and returned to the ancient artistic traditions used before Akhenat-
en, completely abandoning the Amarna artistic style.


Table 1. The 18th Dynasty mummies and statues.


 18th Dynasty
 MUMMIES
 Front view




                1.Thutmose III          2. Thutmose IV          3. Tiye                 4.Tutankhamun
                40 + Y.                 30-40 Y.                40-50 Y.                19 Y.
 Table 1. 1
                Photo archive of        Photo archive of        Photo archive of        Photo archive of
                Dr. Zahi Hawass         Dr. Zahi Hawass         Dr. Zahi Hawass         Dr. Zahi Hawass




                                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
 A



                                                                                       Wood lined with stucco
                Granite              Black granite            Limestone                and painted
                Metropolitan Museum, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
                New York. [21]       Photograph by the author Photograph by the author Photograph by the author




 B



                Granite                                         Granodiorite
                Egyptian Museum,        Steatite                Egyptian Museum,        Indurated limestone
                Cairo. Photograph by    Museum of Egyptian      Cairo. Photograph by    Metropolitan Museum,
                the author              Art, Munich.[26]        the author              New York. [27]



                                                                                                                  303
                                                                                                  C




                                                                                                      Calcite                    Granite          Granite                    Wood lined with stucco
                                                                                                      Egyptian Museum, Cairo     Louvre Museum,   Egyptian Museum, Cairo.    and painted
                                                                                                      Photograph by the author   Paris. [28]      Photograph by the author   Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




                                                                                                  D




                                                                                                                                                  Yew wood, silver, gold
                                                                                                      Greywacke                                   and faience inlays         Gilded wood and bronze
                                                                                                      Luxor Museum, Luxor.                        Egyptian Museum,           Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
                                                                                                      [29]                                        Berlin [30]                Photograph by the author




                                                                                                  E




                                                                                                      Schist                                      Quartzite                  Quartzite
                                                                                                      Egyptian Museum, Cairo                      Metropolitan Museum,       Karnak temple,
                                                                                                      Photograph by the author                    New York. [31]             Egypt. [32]




                                                                                                  F




                                                                                                                                                                             Gold,
                                                                                                      Indurated limestone                                                    Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
                                                                                                      Egyptian Museum, Cairo                                                 Photo archive of
                                                                                                      Photograph by the author                                               Dr. Zahi Hawass



                                                               304
18th Dynasty
MUMMIES
Side view




                                                          3.Tiye
                                                          40-50 Y
               1. Thutmose III       2. Thutmose IV       http://historicaleve.   4.Tutankhamun
Table 1. 2
               40+Y                  30-40 Y              com/all-facts-about-    19 Y
               Photo archive of      Photo archive of     egyptian-queen-tiye-    Photo archive of
               Dr. Zahi Hawass       Dr. Zahi Hawass      mother-of-akhenaten/    Dr. Zahi Hawass




A




               Granite
               Metropolitan Museum   Photograph by the    Photograph by the       Photograph by the
               [21]                  author               author                  author




                                                                                                            CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
B




                                     Steatite                                     Indurated lime-stone,
               Photograph by the     Museum of Egyptian   Photograph by the       Metropolitan Museum
               author                Art, Munich. [33]    author                  [34]




C




                                     Granite bust of
               Photograph by the     Thutmose IV,         Photograph by the       Photograph by the
               author                Louvre Museum [35]   author                  author



                                                                                                          305
                                                                                                   D




                                                                                                                                                       Yew wood, silver, gold
                                                                                                                Greywacke,                             and faience inlays,      Photograph by the
                                                                                                                Luxor Museum.[29]                      Egyptian Museum [30]     author
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




                                                                                                   E




                                                                                                                                                       Quartzite,
                                                                                                                Photograph by the                      Metropolitan Museum.     Quartzite,
                                                                                                                author                                 [36]                     Karnak temple.[37]




                                                                                                   F




                                                                                                                Photograph by the                                               Gold,
                                                                                                                author                                                          Egyptian Museum.[38]



                                                                                                   3.1. The 19th Dynasty mummies and statues

                                                                                                   Seti I (Tables 2.1 and 2.2 – n.5)
                                                                                                    Age: 40-50 years old (Hawass & Saleem, 2018) [14].
                                                                                                    The faces of the statues of Seti I remind us of the artistic style of earlier kings of the
                                                                                                  18th Dynasty, such as Hatshepsut. The main features of his statues’ faces are the full,
                                                                                                  rounded face similar to Hatshepsut’s face and the smiling lips, as in the Thutmose III
                                                                                                  statues. The Seti I statues have big eyes and rounded eyebrows. The mummy of Seti
                                                                                                  I has a diamond-shaped face, and the face is longer than it is wide. The cheekbones
                                                                                                  are more prominent than those of his statues which have a round face, and the mum-
                                                                                                  my’s nose is smaller than the nose of Thutmose III or Ramesses II; his nose is also de-


                                                               306
picted in statue A as not being long but a bit wide. In addition, the chin of the mummy
is longer than his statues’ chin, which may indicate that the artists were trying to make
the real shape of his chin more abstract for some reason. Despite that, his statues’ fac-
es are similar to but not exactly like the face of his mummy.

 Ramesses II (Tables 2.1 and 2.2 – n.6)
  Age: over 70 years old (Hawass & Saleem, 2018) [14].
  The tomb of Ramesses II is located in the Valley of the Kings, “KV7.”
  He ascended the throne in 1290 BC and he died at over 90 years old [18]. Ramess-
es II veered from his father’s artistic style, from delicate to coarse [22]. The eye sock-
ets of the Ramesses II mummy are larger than those of the mummy of Thutmose III,
Seti I and Ramesses III, which means that when he died, he was older than all of them
[3]. In addition, the angle of his lower jawbone has dropped more than theirs. The face
of the Ramesses II mummy is rectangular, with a wide chin, a mouth with downturned
corners, a hooked nose and prominent cheekbones. We can classify his statues into
two different styles: one depicts him with a heart-shaped face, almond-shaped eyes,
soft-angled eyebrows and a round chin as in A and B; the other style depicts his face
as full and rounded with big eyes, round eyebrows and a wide chin as in C, D, E and
F, and his statues are not similar but completely different, and the size of his nose in
both artistic styles is very much smaller than the nose of his mummy. We can also see
that the smiling lips found on the statues of Seti I are no longer present on those of the
Ramesses II statues, except in A and B, so it seems there was a transition from his fa-
ther’s artistic style to his own personal artistic style. So even though two different styles
were used for Ramesses II the same concept was adopted for both: that is, he was de-
picted as being young and strong without focusing on his real individual features, as is
evident in his statues, because they are completely different from each other.




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
 3.2. The 20th Dynasty mummies and statues

 Ramesses III (Tables 2.1 and 2.2 – n.7)
  Age: 60 years old (Hawass & Saleem, 2018) [14].
  In 1881, the mummy of Ramesses III was found in the Deir el-Bahari cache of royal
mummies [39].
  The mummy of Ramesses III has a rectangular face, a wide chin, a mouth with down-
turned corners, prominent cheekbones and a deformed nose. In fact, the faces of the
statues of Ramesses III are completely different from his mummy’s face. The only stat-
ue that resembles his mummy is E, which was found in Beth Shean in northern Israel
[40]. It is the only statue that has a rectangular face, a mouth with drooping corners,
and a wide chin, which are the same features on his mummy’s face. The eyes are not
that big compared with his statues’ eyes and the mummy’s face has soft-angled eye-
brows. A, B and D have a heart-shaped face, big eyes, small nose, thin lips and A and
B have round eyebrows, whereas B has soft-angled eyebrows. In addition, the chin of
B is longer than the chin of A, while D has smiling lips. Photo C of Ramesses III re-
minds us a lot of statues of Ramesses II, especially C. This statue has a full, rounded
face, big eyes, rounded eyebrows, a small nose, thin lips and a wide chin. The statues
of Ramesses III depict him full of youth and strength, except that E shows signs of ag-
ing when compared to his other statues.


                                                                                                307
                                                                                                  Table 2. The 19th and 20th Dynasty mummies and statues



                                                                                                   19th Dynasty                                                         20th Dynasty
                                                                                                   MUMMIES                                                              MUMMIES
                                                                                                   Front view                                                           Front view




                                                                                                                  5. Seti I                  6. Ramsses II                             7. Ramsses III
                                                                                                                  40-50 Y                    70-90 Y                                   60 Y
                                                                                                   Table 2. 1
                                                                                                                  Photo archive of           Photo archive of                          Photo archive of
                                                                                                                  Dr. Zahi Hawass            Dr. Zahi Hawass                           Dr. Zahi Hawass
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




                                                                                                   A                                                                    A




                                                                                                                  Greywacke                  Granite                                   Granite
                                                                                                                  Egyptian Museum, Cairo.    Egyptian Museum, Cairo                    Egyptian Museum, Cairo
                                                                                                                  Photograph by the author   Photograph by the author                  Photograph by the author




                                                                                                   B                                                                    B




                                                                                                                  Granodiorite               Granite                                   Granite
                                                                                                                  Metropolitan Museum,       Egyptian Museum,                          Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
                                                                                                                  New York. [41]             Turin.[42]                                Photograph by the author




                                                                                                   C                                                                    C




                                                                                                                                             Pink Granite                              Red Granite
                                                                                                                                             Egyptian Museum, Cairo                    Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
                                                                                                                                             Photograph by the author                  Photograph by the author



                                                               308
D                                                            D




                                  Granite                                   Greywacke
                                  Egyptian Museum, Cairo                    Luxor Museum, Luxor.
                                  Photograph by the author                  [43]




E                                                            E




                                  Pink Granite                              Basalt
                                  Egyptian Museum, Cairo.                   Israel Museum, Beth
                                  Photograph by the author                  Shan.[44]




                                                                                                     CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
F                                                            F




                                  Pink Granite
                                  Egyptian Museum, Cairo
                                  Photograph by the author


19th Dynasty                                                 20th Dynasty
MUMMIES                                                      MUMMIES
Side view                                                    Side view




               5. Seti I          6. Ramsses II                             7. Ramsses III
Table 2. 2     40-50 Y            70-90 Y                                   60 Y
               Photo archive of   Photo archive of                          Photo archive of
               Dr. Zahi Hawass    Dr. Zahi Hawass                           Dr. Zahi Hawass



                                                                                                   309
                                                                                                  A                                                      A




                                                                                                      Photograph by the           Photograph by the          Photograph by the
                                                                                                      author                      author                     author
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




                                                                                                  B                                                      B




                                                                                                      Granodiorite,               Granite                    Photograph by the
                                                                                                      Metropolitan Museum. [41]   Egyptian Museum.[42]       author




                                                                                                  C                                                      C




                                                                                                                                  Egyptian Museum,
                                                                                                                                  Tahrir Square, Cairo       Photograph by the
                                                                                                                                  [45]                       author




                                                                                                  D                                                      D




                                                                                                                                  Photograph by the          Greywacke,
                                                                                                                                  author                     Luxor Museum.[46]



                                                                      310
 E                                                     E




                                   Photograph by the                 Basalt,
                                   author                            Israel Museum. [47]




 F                                                     F




                                   Photograph by the
                                   author



     4. Discussion and Conclusion




                                                                                              CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
    After studying the faces of the mummies and the statues of Thutmose III, Thut-
mose IV, Tiye, Tutankhamun, Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses III, it was noted that
the ancient Egyptian artists did not represent the prominent cheekbones in the stat-
ues even if the real character had prominent cheekbones, and that they preferred to
represent their characters with full, round, or heart-shaped faces. It is clear also that
they avoided representing the face of the statue with a long protruding chin, in addi-
tion to an attempt to giving the nose an artistically abstract shape, so it only vaguely
resembled this facial feature, especially if it was a hooked nose, such as that of Ra-
messes II. The logical explanation for this is that the most appropriate forms for the
functional purpose of the statue were chosen, as bone protrusions on the face would
weaken those areas in the statue and expose them to fracture, which is inconsistent
with the functional purpose of the statue. The artists deliberately formed the statues
out of one block without voids to keep the statue from breaking and ensuring its in-
tegrity for as long as possible. For the same reason they made the statues from hard
stone such as granite, schist, quartzite, limestone, etc., and also depicted kings and
queens with full faces because giving them prominent cheekbones could weaken the
surrounding area, in addition to the desire to portray the kings and queens as young
and powerful.
    The only cases in which the previous artistic rules were broken were the portraits
produced in the Amarna artistic style, as can be seen when comparing the statues of
Tiye (D and E) and Tutankhamun (A, B and C) to the mummies of Tiye and Tutankhamun;


                                                                                            311
                                                                                                  the Amarna artistic style is the closest to realism [48], as the main concept in Akhenaten’s
                                                                                                  teaching was “living by truth.” This is in contrast to the statues of Ramesses II and III,
                                                                                                  which did not resemble their mummies at all. In addition, it was noted that the artistic
                                                                                                  style of the Thutmose III and Thutmose IV statues had faces bearing more individual
                                                                                                  features that resembled the features of their mummies’ faces to a greater extent when
                                                                                                  compared with Seti I, Ramesses II and III; but what distinguishes the statues of Seti I
                                                                                                  from the Ramesses II and III statues is that his statues are similar, and not different, as
                                                                                                  they are for the two kings.


                                                                                                        Acknowledgments

                                                                                                      I would like to thank Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Former Minister of Antiquities of Egypt,
                                                                                                  for providing the required data to complete this paper.
S. A. Abdoh - Mummies’ physiognomy and its reflections in the artistic style of the New Kingdom




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   Biographical notes

    Sara A. Abdoh is an award-winning art historian, associate professor and the head
of the Department of Sculpture, Architectural Formation and Restoration, in the Facul-
ty of Applied Arts, Benha University, Egypt. She has a Master’s degree and a PhD in
the History of Art from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Egypt. She is a Co-
ordinator of the Professional Diploma “Architectural Sculpture Restoration Program”
and is a peer reviewer and editor for scientific journals in Japan, US, UK, China, India
and Greece. She teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and is the su-
pervisor for a number of theses.


   Summary

    The research paper discusses the facial features on a number of statues of kings
and queens from the New Kingdom, and whether they are “realistic or idealistic” when
compared to their mummies’ faces. The aim is to try to understand the extent to which
the anatomical differences of the individual features of the statues’ faces differ to the
facial features found on the corresponding mummies’ faces.


   Riassunto




                                                                                                 CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
     Il lavoro tratta i lineamenti del viso di alcune statue di re e regine del Nuovo Regno
al fine di valutare se sono “realistici o idealistici” rispetto ai volti delle loro mummie.
Lo scopo è cercare di capire fino a che punto le differenze anatomiche dei volti delle
statue differiscono dai tratti del viso riscontrabili sui corrispondenti volti delle mummie.




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