Friday, April 13, 2007
A few days after starting the last article that got picked up as a "Did You Know", I did a piece on Ankhhaf, a prince of the 4th dynasty. The inspiration came from the famous bust of him that I saw at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, several pictures of which I added to Wikimedia. He was a son of the Great Pyramid builder Khufu and likely oversaw the construction of the sphinx, depicting a likeness of his brother the pharaoh Khafre.
The article is mainly about the bust, which is a very striking object in person. When I was in the room where the early dynasty pieces from the Giza plateau, I had the distinct feeling that piece was changing expression. A closer look at it revealed the reason why: the mouth has been sculpted, either deliberately or not, so that the expression appears to be slightly different depending on one's orientation to it. A striking effect, and in the dim light of an enclosed mastaba who knows how this affect would have been enhanced by torchlight.
Anyways, I was able to pull together a short and relatively comprehensive article on the man and particularly his statuary bust, and someone noticed it and nominated it for another "Did You Know" piece. I only got word about it immediately prior to it being posted, otherwise I might have missed it.
It's a a nice "thank you" and to some degree an acknowledgment of the quality of the piece.
Labels: Ankhhaf, Boston, Did You Know, Museum of Fine Arts, Wikipedia
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