Product Description

For some 3,000 years, the great civilization of the Nile Valley produced some of the finest works of art the world has ever known, whether exquisitely painted on tomb walls, carved in stone or wood, or cast in metal. Illustrated with over 250 remarkable objects from the British Museum and other collections in Egypt, the United States and Europe, this book traces the course of Egyptian art from its sudden initial flowering to its final resurgence during the rule of the Ptolemies. The author explains how the ancient artists developed a system that was perfectly adapted to expressing the Egyptiansâ world view, encapsulated in their religious and funerary beliefs. She explores the different functions of artistic products in temples, tombs and everyday life, and stresses the importance of understanding them within the context for which they were originally designed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #269934 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Gay Robins is Associate Professor of Art History and Faculty Curator of Ancient Egyptian Art in the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. She is a former Lady Wallis Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at Christ's College, Cambridge, and her numerous publications include Women in Ancient Egypt.

Customer Reviews

A very efficient book for art and archaeology students.
Usually, books on Ancient Egypt are very hard to understand the subject clearly because of the dates and dynasties placed in the book. However, this book is so clear that anybody who's interested in the subject can understand it easily.Illustrations are perfect and really helps the students. As an Art and Archaeology student, I advise this book to all the people who finds Egypt interesting..

Excellent introduction to the subject
This British Museum publication is a first rate introduction to Egyptian Art. The author is aware of the latest research, and makes it accessible for an interested reader. The book is well illustrated and does not concentrate exclusively on the BM collections. Its strong point is explaining what the art might have meant to the people who created it.

An accessible and first-rate introduction
This book is an excellent introduction for the general reader into the 3000 year history of ancient Egyptian art. Robins' writing style is clear and accessible, her illustrations well-chosen and exceptionally well-captioned. Presenting a chronological overview rather than a strict thematic examination, Robins carefully walks the reader through the centuries as Egyptian artistic expression began in various mediums and developed specific styles. She lifts for recognition the philosophical integration of Egyptian metaphysics and aesthetics that was always displayed in art work meant to be functional rather than decorative, whether used in a tomb or a temple. Woven throughout her text is an argument for an Egyptian style that was continuous for the length of the Egyptian civilization, a style that avoided foreign influences until the Roman rule that came following the death of Cleopatra VII. The colors plates are beautiful and provide the armchair Egyptologist with an opportunity to become familiar with wonderful monuments and delicate objects joined in their expression of an Egyptian cosmological understanding that remained intact across three millennium.