Egyptian Revival Art, Evolution of Egyptian Revival, The Roman rule of Egypt from 30 BC to 395 AD led to Roman decorations incorporating Egyptian motifs and an increased interest in the Egyptian culture. During the Italian Renaissance “Egyptomania” resurfaced again when ancient Roman artifacts reflecting an interest in Egyptian culture along with actual Egyptian artifacts were discovered and exhibited and elements of Egyptian art were used by Italian artists. Travellers took theses Egyptian themed designs back to other parts of Europe in the 18th century.
Napoleon’s Egyptian occupation in 1798 lifted exposure of Egyptian art in the West after he assembled a contingent of over 500 scholars including biologists, archeologists, historians, artists and scientists, who were employed to catalogue their sights and new discoveries in Egypt. This was considered as an indication of Napoleon’s devotion to the principles of the Enlightenment. The results of their labours appeared in the monumental 20-volume Description del’ Égypt, completed in 1828, and in the course of their research Egyptology was born.
The British confiscated most of the French collection of Egyptian artifacts after the defeat of the French in Egypt in 1802 and most ended up in the British Museum. However the grandiose scale of Napoleons research project and their discoveries in Egypt gave rise to an increased fascination with the ancient Egyptian culture.
The Egyptian Gallery, a private room in the Duchess Street home of connoisseur Thomas Hope to display his Egyptian antiquities, and illustrated in engravings from his meticulous line drawings in his book, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807), were a prime source for the Regency style in British furnishings. The book inspired a generation of fashionable English homeowners to install parlor suites featuring chairs, tables and sofas in shapes that evoked the objects depicted on Egyptian tomb paintings.
Later discoveries prompted further revivals, with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb creating an especially large revival in the 1920s. This revival in particular had a sizable influence on the Art Deco movement.
ISIS: was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – c. 2181 BCE) as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her slain brother and husband, the divine king Osiris, and produces and protects his heir, Horus. She was believed to help the dead enter the afterlife as she had helped Osiris, and she was considered the divine mother of the pharaoh, who was likened to Horus. Her maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit ordinary people. Originally, she played a limited role in royal rituals and temple rites, although she was more prominent in funerary practices and magical texts. She was usually portrayed in art as a human woman wearing a throne-like hieroglyph on her head. During the New Kingdom (c. 1550 – c. 1070 BCE), as she took on traits that originally belonged to Hathor, the preeminent goddess of earlier times, Isis was portrayed wearing Hathor’s headdress: a sun disk between the horns of a cow.
The cycle of myth surrounding Osiris’s death and resurrection was first recorded in the Pyramid Texts and grew into the most elaborate and influential of all Egyptian myths. Isis plays a more active role in this myth than the other protagonists, so as it developed in literature from the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BCE) to the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 BCE), she became the most complex literary character of all Egyptian deities. At the same time, she absorbed characteristics from many other goddesses, broadening her significance well beyond the Osiris myth.
Wall painting fragment from the Tomb of Nebamun
The Tomb of Nebamun was an ancient Egyptian tomb from the Eighteenth Dynasty located in the Theban Necropolis located on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes (present-day Luxor) in Egypt. The tomb was the source of a number of famous decorated tomb scenes that are currently on display in the British Museum, London.
Nebamun, who lived around 1350 BCE, was a middle-ranking official scribe and grain counter at the temple complex in Thebes. His tomb was discovered around 1820 by a young Greek, Giovanni (“Yanni”) d’Athanasi, who at the time was working for Henry Salt, the British Consul-General.
Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co. majolica Egyptian Revival garden seat
Two major losses to one side of the base, two major hairlines spreading from the rim of underneath of the front, also one overpainted chip and a further visible chip to side of the lower part of base and a loss to the tip of one of the papyrus leaves underneath the seat, and an area of fritting to its side and two tiny nibbles to the ornament of Cleopatra’s head.
A T.C. Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co. majolica (Majolique)garden seat in the Egyptian taste, modelled as an Egyptian slave-girl supporting a seat elaborately decorated with Egyptian motifs, 55cm high, painted black pattern no. 1256 , circa 1875 Cf. Karmason & Stacke, Majolica (1989),
Le Vampire (ou La Chauve-Souris) 1903 Agathon Léonard
Dominating a rock, a young woman with lascivious and devilish movements stretches her arms towards the sky. His evil wings protect his naked body. At her waist, a heavy, wide belt holds a dress embroidered with stars that fixes her in the rock. Neither human nor hybrid, nothing seems to link this vampire to our world. It is an exalted and deeply unique vision of a dark and melancholy femininity. A masterpiece of art nouveau, The Vampire or The Bat remains a mysterious sculpture, a synthesis of the works of Agathon Léonard.
In 1900, the sculptor Agathon Léonard was already famous for his Jeu de l’écharpe, an exceptional series of statues featuring the frenzied dance of the famous Loïe Fuller and recalling the enchantment, the transparency of the dances of Salomé, celebrated in the a piece of the same name by Oscar Wilde in 1891 or in the opera by Richard Strauss in 1905. Through its virginity and candor, the Scarf Game ignites the twirling femininity of its dancer. Commercial success was immediate and many editions were produced during the nine months of the Universal Exhibition where it was presented in 1900.
Wings of Isis clock – Toscano
Egyptian Goddess Isis Statue – Isis, the Egyptian goddess of marriage, fertility, motherhood and medicine, was considered to be the mother of all Egyptian pharaohs. The bold Egyptian symbolism in this clock is perfect for display and use in an entertainment area
Egyptian Revival – This over a foot wide sculptural clock is an art deco inspired, Egyptian revival statement in your mummy inspired home theater, amateur archaeologist study or Egyptian theme home bar
High-Quality Egyptian Decor – Hand-cast using real crushed stone bonded with durable designer resin, our Wings of Isis clock is hand painted in faux bronze and the rich colors of the Egyptian palette and then fitted with a modern quartz clock movement mechanism
Design Toscano Sculptural Clock – Exclusive to the Design Toscano brand, this detailed Egyptian clock makes a great addition to your Egyptian style home, it also makes the perfect gift for the Egyptian history buff, a goddess royal altar, or pyramid display.
Bastet the cat goddess
Bastet was the goddess of protection, pleasure, and the bringer of good health. She had the head of a cat and a slender female body. Bastet was the daughter of Ra, sister of Sekhmet, the wife of Ptah, and the mother of Mihos. Since the Second Dynasty, Bastet was worshiped as a deity, most commonly in Lower Egypt.
