![]() Both underground apartments contain chambers covered with blue-green faience tiles. A second royal underground palace (the Southern Tomb) lies below the center of the enclosure's south wall. These apartments reproduce elements of a royal palace. The central focus of the complex is a six-step mastaba usually called the Step Pyramid (although it is not a true pyramid), which rises over underground apartments. It has fifteen gates, but only one, at the south end of the east side, functions as a real entrance. The enclosure wall of the actual complex, measuring 277 by 544 meters, replicates in stone the paneled brick wall of the royal palace. The present model, which shows the complex of the Third Dynasty king Djoser in the necropolis of Memphis, is based on the results of excavations conducted by Jean-Philippe Lauer, beginning in 1927. 1Īrchitectural class project, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, 1990 completed by Georgia Guenther, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ca. The Step Pyramid of Djoser contained no fewer than thirty-six thousand of these tiles, and many examples of this type have been found in other monuments dating to the early dynasties, including royal tombs, the temple at Elephantine, and even non-royal mastabas. A brace was passed through them, holding a sequence of four to eight tiles in place until the plaster mortar dried. At regular intervals, small conduits were drilled into the stone moldings. Channels serve to house the tiles: a tenon on the back of each tile fits into a mortise in the side of the limestone channels. In this example, bands of molding represent the ties holding bundles of upright reeds. The limestone facing was prepared and sculpted to house the tiles. These are among the oldest examples of molded Egyptian faience. The slightly convex face is covered with blue glaze the flat back, which is white and unglazed, has a rectangular tenon with a hole through it to accept a string for attachment. Like most of the tiles discovered in the Blue Chambers, the examples in this exhibition are rectangular and are sometimes marked on the back with a hieroglyphic sign. ![]() 177) of a "field of reeds" located in the next world suggest that this decoration also alludes to the destiny of the deceased king. The symbolic value of the blue-green color (signifying regeneration) and the mention in the Pyramid Texts (cat. Yet it should perhaps be seen as more than an evocation of architecture. Probably the decoration on these walls depicts reed matting and captures the appearance of the lightweight constructions of the era. At the top, djed pillars, with their elongated shapes, curves, and representations of veins, evoke stylized plant elements, such as reed grass. Those surrounding the windows are much smaller than the others and form a tight grid. ![]() The tiles have different shapes and dimensions. The royal apartments of the Southern Tomb display the same decoration. Here, King Djoser is seen performing rites, most importantly, running the Heb Sed race. The backs of the niches are magnificently decorated in relief. In the Blue Chambers under the pyramid, one wall has four panels surmounted by djed pillars (the hieroglyph meaning "stability") supporting an arch another, probably representing the palace facade, is decorated with three niches and small windows sculpted in limestone, which stand out from the blue wall tiled with faience. The vivid color of this covering gave these apartments their name: the Blue Chambers of Djoser, which can no longer be visited. The rooms around the king's burial chamber-reserved for his use and located 28 meters (92 feet) belowground-and in the Southern Tomb include a series of chambers whose walls are faced with sculpted limestone blocks, into which thousands of small faience tiles were fitted. Within Djoser's funerary complex at Saqqara apartments were carved out beneath both the king's pyramid and a building called the Southern Tomb. ![]() The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, by exchange, 1948 48.160.1 Tiny timeline: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in a global context, 2nd–1st millennia B.C.E.H.Tiny timeline: ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in a global context, 5th–3rd millennia B.C.E.Elena FitzPatrick Sifford on casta paintings Reframing Art History, a new kind of textbook.Not your grandfather’s art history: a BIPOC Reader.With 503 contributors from 201 colleges, universities, museums, and researchĬenters, Smarthistory is the most-visited art history resource in the world. We believe that the brilliant histories of art belong to everyone, no matter their background. At Smarthistory, the Center for Public Art History, we believe art has the power to transform lives and to build understanding across cultures.
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