Menkaure and His Queen
The sculpture group of King Menkaure and His Queen is positioned in one of the basic types of Egyptian sculpture - the Standing/Striding pose. The figure of Menkaure is rigidly frontal, although his head is slightly turned to the right. His left foot is slightly advanced, however the upper body does not respond to this uneven distribution of weight - there is no tilt in the shoulders, nor a shift in the hips. All movement of the figure is suppressed: his muscular arms hang down his athletic body, they are not flexed at the elbow and do not break through the front contour of his thighs. The body remains wedded to the block of stone from which it was carved. The artist does not remove the "dead stone" between the arms and torso and most importantly his advanced leg is not carved in the round, which contributes to the solid and majestic appearance of the statue. The Queen assumes the same rigidly frontal posture, however her left leg is less advanced than his, which alludes that she is a subordinate figure to her king - in this stance she is just echoing the pharaoh's decisive actions. She embraces the pharaoh with her right arm placing her hand aroun
d his waist; her left arm is bent at the elbow and covering her stomach rests on the king's left arm. The nemes - symbol of leadership also emphasizes the royal and divine status of pharaoh. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that she stands a step behind him, is being overlapped by his figure and she is the one embracing the pharaoh. The silhouettes are closed - they have very few projecting parts. The almond-shaped eyes, snub-nose, small mouth with full lips and elongated neck - seem to be rather more realistic features than idealized. The most finished parts are the heads, torsos, and king's feet. The queen is wearing a ceremonial wig common among the females. Everything about the statues: the scale (life-size), their solid appearance, the hard stone from which they were executed conveys a feeling of royal dignity. The face of the pharaoh takes on a squarish shape, his eyes are not deeply set in within their sockets, the nose is short and turned up, the lips are full, the cheeks are protruding, his ears are rather prominent. There is a space of about couple of centimeters between the statues that widens towards the base, and which makes Menkaure appear standing independently from his female counterpart. The queen's feet were carved out and left unpolished. The back slab goes up to the shoulders of the figures without revealing their backs. The statue group is left unfinished. The Queen, however, cannot be thought of as an independent statue.
Common topics in this essay:
King Menkaure,
Menkaure Queen,
royal dignity,
king menkaure,
rigidly frontal,
,
subordinate figure king,
figure king,
menkaure wearing,
hard stone,
solid appearance,
subordinate figure,
left arm,
tucked ears,
|
Acceptance Essays
