Articule - Crystal Eyes in Ancient Egypt - Allan Diane

Crystal Eyes in AE During the Old Kingdom particularly, although also seen in the 12th and 13th dynasties, there have been several instances of crystal lenses being used for statues of the deceased. The following comprise the majority of these human statues, as well as the figurine of a cat. Rahotep and Nofret

Cairo Museum CG3 and CG4 The painted limestone statues of Rahotep and Nofret were found at Meidum in the mastaba of Rahotep during A Mariette’s excavations of 1871. They are dated to the 4th Dynasty, during the reign of King Sneferu (ca. 2575-2551 BCE)

Rahotep (CG3) – Height: 121cm Photograph – Jon Bodsworth

Crystal Eyes in AE ________________________

Detail of Rahotep’s eyes … The large eyes are inlaid with quartz and rock crystal and are outlined with heavy black eye-paint …1

Nofret (CG4) – Height: 122cm Photograph – Jon Bodsworth

Detail of Nofret’s eyes. The eyes in Nofret’s statue have a quartz orb and are inset with iris made of amethyst. … The inset eyes are slightly narrower than those of Rahotep.2 1 2

Tiradritti, p.62 Tiradritti, p.77

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Seated male figure Cairo

Cairo Museum, JE 30273 (CG 35) This painted limestone statue portrays a male figure seated on a cube-shaped throne with a projecting front step on which the feet rest. It was found at Saqqara during the Egyptian Antiquities Service excavations of 1893, and dated to c. 2450 BCE. … The man’s rounded face is tilted slightly upwards and possesses a great and intense luminosity. The large inset eyes are outlined with rims of copper representing the lines of eye-paint and topped by relief eyebrows…… The sculpture was discovered at Saqqara, not far from the statue of a scribe (CG 36)…3

Detail of eyes

3

Tiradritti, p.77

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Seated scribe Cairo

Cairo Museum JE3072 (CG 36) Photograph – Jon Bodsworth Height: 51cm, width: 41cm, depth: 31cm This painted limestone statue, on a black-painted rectangular base, represents a scribe seated on the ground with his legs crossed. A partially unrolled papyrus scroll, held in his left hand, rests on his crossed legs. The right hand, intended to grip a stylus, is poised over the open papyrus in the act of writing.

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The statue was found in the Saqqara necropolis by the Antiquities Service excavations in 1893 and is dated to ca. 2450 BCE. The man is wearing a black flaring wig that leaves the lobes of his ears exposed and elegantly frames his strong facial features. His countenance is rather rounded and he has a broad forehead. Two large, inset eyes are outlined by a thick rim of copper representing eye-paint and are surmounted by eyebrows in relief………..4

Detail of the Scribe’s eyes

Ka-aper

Cairo Museum, CG 34 Height: 112cm Ka-aper was a high-ranking official during the reign of King Userkaf. His statue, made from sycamore wood, was found at Saqqara, in Mastaba C8, during A Mariette’s excavations in 1860. The statue is dated to the Fifth Dynasty, ca. 2465-2458 BCE). … The high, smooth forehead is interrupted by eyebrows in slight relief that arch over striking eyes. These are outlined in copper to imitate the lines of eye-paint and are inlaid with rock crystal. …5 It is said that the eyes are inlaid with alabaster, with perfectly ground and polished plano-convex rock crystal lenses in the centre forming the irises. The pupils are black dots painted behind the lenses.

4 5

Tiradritti, p.77 Tiradritti, p.74

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Photograph – Jon Bodsworth A side view of Ka-aper's face, showing the convexity of the crystal lens

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Kaemked

Cairo Museum, CG1196 Height: 43cm This kneeling statue of Statue of Kaemked, a priest of the Treasurer (Werime) is of plastered and painted limestone. It was found in the necropolis of Saqqara in the tomb of the Treasurer (No. 62), during A Mariette’s excavations in 1860. The statue has been dated to the second half of the 5th Dynasty. … His thin face has rather prominent features: inset eyes decorated with eye-paint represented by a thick copper outline…7

Detail of one of the eyes of Kaemked 6

Note: this is not a true crystal lens example; however, it is included to show the intricate obsidian insets and the copper outline of the eyes 7 Tiradritti, page 80

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Kapunisut Kai

Cairo Museum Photograph – Jon Bodsworth

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Seated statue of a scribe found in the Western cemetery at Giza and dated to the 5th Dynasty. On display during the Hidden Treasures exhibition, Cairo Museum, 2003. The scribe is seated with his son (hand to mouth) and a female which could either be his daughter or wife.

Detail of the inlaid (crystal) eyes with copper surrounds Photograph – Jon Bodsworth

"The Kapunisut Kai statue was discovered by [Zahi] Hawass in 1992 in the Worker's Cemetery at Giza. It is illustrated in the Exhibition catalogue but there is no description of the piece and no mention of the eyes (Hidden Treasures of the Egyptian Museum - One Hundred Masterpieces from the Centennial Exhibition (p.13). It is also illustrated in Hawass's "The Treasures from the Pyramids" (p.223). But again without any discussion of the piece itself or the eyes."8

8

Personal correspondence from Jon Bodsworth, 8 Jan 2004

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Louvre scribe

Musée National du Louvre, Paris – E3023 Photograph – Jon Bodsworth The “Seated Scribe” is considered one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art. Of painted limestone, this statue was found in a tomb at Saqqara, dating to the 5th Dynasty (ca. 25632423 BCE). He is thought to have been a governor of a province. The statue is very geometric but at the same time very realistic, especially in the gaze of the eyes, which are opaque white with quartz cornea, rock crystal iris, and ebony pupils; the eyes are set in bronze.

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Mitri

Cairo Museum, JE93165

The statue of Mitri, as a scribe, is of stucco and painted wood. It was found at Saqqara, in the mastaba of Mitri, during the Antiquities Service Excavations (1925-1926). The mastaba has been dated to the late 5th Dynasty or the early 6th Dynasty. … The splendid eyes are outlined with thin copper rims, the white is made of limestone while the iris is a dark stone…9

9

Tiradritti, p.84

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Detail of the eyes and copper outline Photograph – Jon Bodsworth, November 2003

Cat with crystal eyes

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Dated to 1991-1783 BCE, Dynasty 12. Egyptian alabaster (calcite) Height: 11.4cm

Close-up

The cat first appears in paintings and reliefs at the end of the Old Kingdom, and this cosmetic jar is the earliest-known three-dimensional representation of the animal in Egyptian art. The sculptor demonstrates a keen understanding of the creature's physical traits, giving the animal the alert, tense look of a hunter rather than the elegant aloofness seen in later representations. The rock-crystal eyes, lined with copper, enhance the impression of readiness.10

10

Text from the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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King Awibre Hor

Cairo Museum, JE30948 (CG 259) Photograph – Jon Bodsworth Height of statue: 170cm, height of shrine: 207cm Wooden statue with traces of gold leaf of the ka of King Awibre Hor within a shrine. The statue was found at Dahshur, in the vicinity of the pyramid of Amenemhat III, during the J de Morgan’s excavations of 1894. It is dated to ca. 1700 BCE. … The king’s oval face is particularly refined, with inlaid eyes outlined with bronze…11 11

Tiradritti, p.135

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It has been stated that the irises of his eyes are perfectly ground and polished piano-convex rock crystal lenses. This would appear to be the last time12 [that has been found] that crystal lenses were used for statues and perhaps the knowledge was lost during and/or after the invasion of the Hyksos in 1648 BCE.13

Detail of the eyes Much has been made of the different colouring of the eyes, which may be the by-product of either the photographic technique or the lighting in the Museum. However, in most of the “crystal” eyes, there does not appear to be a separate iris, but the effect of the iris is produced by a disc of resin placed behind the cornea and dimly seen through the surface of the back of the disk. Although sometimes the iris appears grey or blue or pale brown, it is often an optical effect caused when the resin detaches (due to shrinkage) from the crystal. When the resin is in complete contact with the quartz, the eyes appear brown.

12 13

Perhaps with the possible exception of the eyes of the cheetah found in the tomb of Tutankhamun Temple, Robert, The Crystal Sun

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References Temple, Robert, The Crystal Sun, Century/Random House, London, 2000 Tiradritti, Francesco (ed.), The Cairo Museum Masterpieces of Egyptian Art, Thames & Hudson, London, 1999 Jon Bodsworth http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk Egyptian Museum, Cairo http://www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg/ Musée National du Louvre, Paris http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York http://www.metmuseum.org/

Note: For further (technical) information, the following two articles are suggested: Enoch, Jay M., “First known lenses originating in Egypt about 4600 years ago”, Documenta Ophthalmologica, Volume 99, Issue 3, pp. 303-314, 1999 Enoch, J.M., and Lakshminarayanan, V.: “Duplication of Unique Optical Effects of Ancient Egyptian Lenses from the IV/V Dynasties: Lenses Fabricated ca. 2620-2400 BCE or ca. 4500 BP”, Ophthalmic Physiol. Optics 20(2): pp. 126-130, 2000

Compiled by Diane Allan May 2005

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Articule - Crystal Eyes in Ancient Egypt - Allan Diane

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