Don Barone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It appears on page 137 in Volume I of E. Wallis
> Budge's The God's of The Egyptians published in
> 1969.
>
So my first estimate of a publication date in the 60's wasn't entirely wrong.
> In addition to the 131 text illustrations from the
> standard edition this reprint includes black and
> white half tone reproductions of the 98 color
> plates from the limited edition. Six of these
> plates are reproduced in full colour on an insert
> attached to the inside back cover of Volume II of
> this editon
Which was what I thought was the case; a modern artist's rendering of an ancient Egyptian drawing. Drawings aren't the same as photographs, and the proportions generally are subtly altered, even in professional archaeological drawings. There are a number of problems with the piece you're using -- in general, they reflect the cultural bias of the artist.
Here's an authentic piece of Ptah on his throne:
[
i-cias.com]
Here's another one. He's seldom depicted sitting:
[
www.egyptology.com]
Although you may not be familiar with this issue, the ability of artists to correctly represent something depends on how familiar they are with the material and what their biases are. It's a REAL problem with the art during the romantic period which certainly included the early 1900's. I ran into it myself when I had a number of drawings by a professional as part of my source material. When I actually went to the site and took photographs I found that the images were not entirely correct and in some cases context had been added that was very wrong.
I would recommend that you not use those drawings (they do show some bias -- incorrectly shows him nude from the waist down and without the Djed staff, for instance.) I suggest instead use photos even if the originals are badly damaged.
-- Byrd
Moderator, Hall of Ma'at
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2009 08:56PM by Byrd.