Réflexions sur le portrait royal et son fonctionnement dans l'Égypte pharaonique

in Ktema : Civilisations de l'Orient, de la Grèce et de Rome Antiques (2009), 34

Ancient Egyptian art’s concern with individualized human representation has generated much debate among Egyptologists about the very existence of portraiture in pharaonic society. The issue has often – if ... [more ▼]

Ancient Egyptian art’s concern with individualized human representation has generated much debate among Egyptologists about the very existence of portraiture in pharaonic society. The issue has often – if not always – been thought in terms of opposition between portrait and ideal image, being a major topic in the broader question of realism and formal relation to reality in Ancient Egyptian art. After a brief analysis of the problem from a theoretical point of view, the article considers the concepts involved in the notion of portrait within the context of Ancient Egyptian thought. Then, a few significant cases selected in royal statuary are investigated in order to elucidate the motives and modalities of the interaction between portrait and ideal image in Ancient Egyptian individualized representations [less ▲]