http://wonderfulworldofworldhistoryemrc.wikispaces.com

http://reachthehighest.in/images/AnthroBioMetricCosmicDrawing/ArtsAndCraftsOfAncientEgypt.jpg

By Isabel Kaufman

5/6/14

Table of Contents

Intro & Artists and Craftspeople- 2

Process and Supplies- 3

About Artwork & Conclusion- 4

Glossary- 5

Bibliography- 6

1

1

Do you like arts & crafts? If you do, you won’t believe how amazing and unique the ancient

Egyptians made them! You will learn about the artists, the supplies and process of making arts

and crafts, and about what the artists made. Come on, let’s go!

I think the artists and craftspeople in ancient Egypt were amazing, and you are about to

find out why. Without art, Egypt would be very different. Art was important to ancient

Egyptians’ religion. Ancient Egypt’s skillful artists were employed by the government or temples,

and were respected because of their talent. The artists’ jobs were quarrymen, scribes,

draftsmen, sculptors, painters and carpenters. They decorated temples and tombs and

produced royal grave god carvings. They worked in workshops that were observed by a

supervisor, where they worked together to make large, incredible paintings that were put all

over Egypt to beautify the land. Artists painted on temple walls and public buildings. Some

artwork was hidden away in the tombs of Pharaohs. In artists’ free time, they made artwork for

their homes or to trade for other useful things. Even though their creations were incredible,

there were no famous artists in ancient Egypt. They weren’t even allowed to sign their name by

the Pharaoh. Only men could become scribes. Women couldn’t work for the Pharaoh or read and

write. That wasn’t fair! Wait a minute, women still did get to do something: women did most of

the weaving in ancient Egypt. Now do you see how the artists and craftspeople were incredible?

www.egyking.info-

2

Now you are about to learn how they made their beautiful artwork, pottery & jewelry, and

what supplies they used. To make wall artwork, the wall was smoothed out, covered in plaster

and had a red grid drawn on it. Then, an outline of the drawing was painted on the grid in black

paint. Next, the outline was chipped out to make the painting look 3D. Finally, it was painted.

They used palettes and paint like we do, but they were different in many ways. Brushes were

made from reeds and paint was made by mixing plants and minerals with water. For example,

black paint was made from charcoal, red from iron oxide, white from chalk, and blue from lapis

lazuli or copper. They mostly used stone, bronze and copper tools to carve cool statues. Papyrus

was made from reeds that grew along the Nile. Ink for pens was made from charcoal or soot.

Artists used faïence to mold cups, amulets and animal pottery. Sometimes, Egyptians mixed

ground quartz, lime, ash or salt with water to make pottery as well. Craftsmen made mummy

cases from wood and a thin gold skin. They also crafted musical instruments such as cymbals,

pipes, trumpets, harps and lutes that were also made out of wood. When it comes to jewelry, it

was used to make official seals, lucky charms and simple decorations. Royal jewelry was made

out of gold. They put stones in them that were different colors such as turquoise and lapis

lazuli. Jewelry was also made from glass. They twisted glass strands together to make it. I wish

I could make artwork, pottery and jewelry that wonderful!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-SHEETS-GENUaINE-EGYPTIAN-BLANK-PLAIN-PAPYRUS-PAPER-HIEROGLYPHICS-INFO-SCROLL-/390511438912

3

If you want to know about the artwork, pottery and jewelry, you can find out about it

right here! Art was all over ancient Egypt, but there were barely any art galleries. Wall murals

were painted a lot, especially on buildings. Most people painted art as a form of communication

because they couldn’t read. Artists followed rules to make their artwork magical. If it was

sacred enough, it would’ve came alive in the afterlife. They painted animals partying to show

that they had a sense of humor. They always painted heads to the side and bodies to the front.

That’s what made their artwork unique. The paintings showed what ancient Egyptians lives would

be like in the afterlife, and to keep record of what happened in their time. One example of that

is that they painted musicians playing flutes, lutes, harps and trumpets. The paintings also

showed ancient Egyptians dancing to the beat of an old drum called the sisdrum. Painters

painted carvings and pottery as well. They used their art in religious rituals like mummification

ceremonies and funerals. Artists carved statues of Pharaohs to remember them by. For

example, some statues in Egypt are huge like the statues of Ramses ll built near the Nile River.

For jewelry, they wore falcon pectorals on their chests. They were made from glass and gems.

Pharaohs wore lots of jewelry. Pharaoh Horemheb used his ring to stamp official documents.

Wow, wasn’t the artwork, pottery and jewelry fantastic?

Now that you know about ancient Egyptian arts and crafts, don’t you think they’re

amazing? I’m glad you read my paper and learned a lot about the artists and craftspeople, the

supplies and process of the arts and crafts, and about what the artists made. I hope this

encouraged you to get crafty!

4

Glossary

Afterlife- What ancient Egyptians believed was a place of

paradise that they will have gone when they died, but only

if they had done good deeds on Earth.

Amulets- A good luck charm that was placed in mummies to

protect their soul in the afterlife.

Draftsmen-The men who made plans for buildings or

drawings.

Faïence- A ceramic made from crushed quartz.

Lapis Lazuli- A blue mineral used to make blue paint and

was placed on royal jewelry in ancient Egypt.

Palettes- What people use to put paint on.

Papyrus- What ancient Egyptians used for paper.

Quarrymen- The men who collected stone for carvings

from a quarry pit.

Reeds- A special plant that grew along the Nile that was

used to make brushes, papyrus and other supplies.

Scribes- The only people in ancient Egypt that could read

and write who were also official tax collectors for the

Pharaoh.

5

Bibliography

Boyer, C. (2012). Everything Ancient Egypt. New York: Scholastic Inc.

Chrisp, P. (2002). Ancient Egypt Revealed. New York: DK Publishing.

Houston, R. (2012). Ancient Egypt. New York: Andrew Macintyre.

Minnis, I. (2005). You are in Ancient Egypt. Chicago: Raintree.

Simpson, J. (2003). Ancient Egypt. San Francisco: Barnes & Noble Inc.

The Oriental Institute. (2014). Ancient Egyptian Art. Retrieved from

Ancient Egypt:

http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/EGYPT/art.html

6