ahsan786: Pieces of Greek, Roman, Egyptian Art and Islamic art

This week I went to the museum of art located in Manhattan and viewed different sections of art works, Greek, Roman, Egyptian Art and Islamic art. Every piece of the different sections depicted its own history and social beliefs. In addition, all the pieces of art works were reflecting the culture of its time.

The first section I viewed was the Greek Art and Roman Art. The art work that attracted me the most was the Marble stele (grave marker) of Phainippe. It was from the Greek, Attic culture which belonged to the late classical period (400-390 B.C). It was a stone sculpture which was completely made of marble. The art work was not so sharply defined and was not colored. It was grave marker and it had an image that was identifying the deceased as phainippe. The woman shown in the piece was sitting on some sort of wooden chair and was holding a mirror in her left hand and was accompanied by a servant girl beside her. The servant was carrying a small box in her left hand and had a casket in the right hand. The whole scene was presenting life women at home in those classical times. It depicted the old times when the women were always accompanied with several servants. According to the museum text the servant’s dress had sleeves but not belt and it was reflecting the eastern style that places her origins in Thrace or Asia.

Marble stele (grave marker) of Phainippe

Date: ca. 400–390 B.C.

The second section I viewed was the Egyptian Art. The piece I liked the most in this section was the Funeral boat sailing (T). It was from the Dynasty 12, early reign of Amenemhat I (ca. 1981-1975 B.C). The piece was made up of painted wood and was showing a wooden boat with some workers and sailors on it. It was equipped with some heavy tools and was presenting a scene of the Dynasty 12 when the coffins were transmitted to the cemetery using such boats. According to the museum text “Boats like this conveyed pilgrims to Abydos where they participated in rituals concerned with death and resurrection of the god Osiris”. Beside transporting coffins they also used these boats to move pilgrims to Abydos. The boat was made up of painted wood and was a mix up of green and brown color. The boat was not too large in size . It was presenting a capacity of twenty to thirty people. The hull and vertical prows were green in color. There was a person standing on the front end of the separate from the workers and was acting like a lead sailor. This piece of art gave an image of the old Egyptian times when the workers were overloaded with lots of work and burden.