Late Antique Egyptian Funerary Sculpture: Images for This World and for the Next: Images for This World and the Next - Rilegato

Thomas, Thelma K.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0691034680 ISBN 13: 9780691034683

Casa editrice: Princeton Univ Pr, 2000

Riassunto

Early Coptic art, once heralded as the crude product of a poor, indigenous, Christian peasantry, is here dramatically recast in the more inclusive cultural terms of late antiquity. Focusing on funerary sculpture, one of the best-known categories of late antique Egyptian art, Thelma K. Thomas demonstrates how skilled artisans created a varied repertory of works for a diverse body of commissioners. Some of these sculptures were made for grand monumental tombs and commissioned by an urban, landowning class with strong Hellenistic roots; others were made for smaller and less imposing monuments and commissioned by distinctly different clienteles from monasteries and towns, as well as by different socioeconomic classes within the cities.

Thomas balances keen analysis of the surviving sculptures with close attention to primary written sources and archaeological evidence. The approach yields original interpretations of regional implications for attribution groups, and provocatively atmospheric reconstructions of the works as they would have appeared in their original settings. The sculptures' motifs and styles provide evidence for focused discussions of the cultural affiliations of the late antique Egyptians described in this book--pagan and Christian, secular and monastic, children and adults. Thomas's reading of the sculptures' cosmic and eschatological themes allows for an even richer understanding of this historical moment.

Su questo libro

Dalla quarta di copertina:

"Thelma K. Thomas's book represents a revolution in our understanding of Egyptian art of late antiquity. It brings to bear new data in the form of Thomas's analysis of the original plaster and paint overlays of these sculptures and her recognition of recarving and forgeries, and it radically reinterprets the entire corpus. I found reading this book exhilarating."--Roger S. Bagnall, Columbia University

"This book is the first synthetic study of late antique funerary sculpture from Egypt and the first such study of either regional or general funerary sculpture of the late antique period. Its importance extends to the areas of social and religious practice and beliefs, and of funerary art in the late Roman and early Byzantine empires."--Anna Gonosova, University of California, Irvine

Contenuti:

Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introductory Remarks: Some Problems of Interpretation xvii
PART 1 LATE ANTIQUE EGYPTIAN FUNERARY SCULPTURE
1 Sites, Types, and Themes 3
2 Artistry and Artisans 22
Part 2 MONUMENTS OF THIS WORLD
3 Identities and Communities Attested to by the Funerary Sculptures 33
4 Funerary Beliefs and Rituals: Effecting the Funerary Sculptures 47
PART 3 IMAGES FOR THE NEXT WORLD
5 Funerary Portraits: Individual Identities of This World for the Next 59
6 The Absent Deceased: Corporate Membership for the Hereafter 73
Concluding Remarks: A Broader Intepretive Setting 81
Abbreviation 85
Notes 87
Bibiography 137
Index 157

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Princeton Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0691034680
• ISBN 13: 9780691034683
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 163