Nikare and his family
Painters added color to limestone and sandstone sculptures. Usually a thin layer of gypsum
plaster or gesso (chalk and glue) was applied first, then pigments of various colors. Only
traces of black remain on this sculpture.
Fragment of a battle scene
Stone reliefs were almost always painted. The colors have remained remarkably fresh on this relief because it was on a block from a temple wall that was reused in building the foundations of a later temple.
Menna and his family fishing and fowling
This is a facsimile, made by a member of the Museum’s Egyptian Expedition, of a tomb painting . Notice the balance of warm and cool colors and the way they are laid on in flat areas defined by thin dark lines. Many of the colors used by ancient artists are apparent here. Red and yellow pigments come from ocher. White was often made from gypsum, black from soot or manganese, and blue was an artificial pigment called "Egyptian blue." It was made by heating a mixture of sand, natron, and a copper compound such as malachite. The resulting blue frit (a glassy substance) when added to yellow pigment produced green, a color that could also be created by grinding the mineral malachite.
Hippopotamus
Artists often used flakes of stone as sketch boards and practice "paper" for their paintings. Like other animals in two-dimensional Egyptian art, this hippo was drawn in profile.
Riverboat
Wood sculptures were always painted, at least in part. Because Egypt’s climate is so dry, perishable materials such as wood, pigment, and linen--all seen here on this model boat--have survived in much greater quantities than in other ancient civilizations. Notice such colorful details as the two painted hide-covered wooden shields that hang on the walls of the cabin.
Section from a Book of the Dead
The painted scenes of events in the afterlife were integral parts of funerary papyrus scrolls. Notice the flat areas of color and the linear clarity.
