Yaritza Espinal World Art History

Yaritza EspinalWorld Art History100-018Professor AmiriSeptember 29, 2019The Block Statue of Ay(New Kingdom)On my trip to the Brooklyn Museum I observed the Block Statue of Ay. The statue is made from limestone. Made in the New Kingdom, late dynasty XVIII, reign of Tutankhamun (circa 1336-1327a.c). It is presumably from Sumenu. Was assembled by Charles Edwin Willbour(1833-1896) in Egypt between 1830 and 1896. Art of the highest quality was available for sale and export from Egypt at this time.

The statue arrived in Brooklyn in 1937.

Upon my visit to the museum I observed that the nose on the statues face is broken. Its eyes are damaged as well.The feet and legs are not carved out. Instead there is a cloak over her legs and feet where Egyptian texts are written over.There is no writing on his back nor on the sides of his legs. His arms and hands are crossed one over the other. It seems he is sitting on the ground or on a platform with his legs up against his chest with his bodyfolded.

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In Egypt, the noses were broken to deprive the figures of their superpowers. It was believed that ancient statues allowed supernatural beings to act in this world; which would give them a physical body. Peoples souls or god's spirits entered statuesthrough the nose or eyes. So broken noses disabled the statue. I think that the main purpose of this statue is to use for rituals or burials. Since these statues can be used to take offerings to the dead.

The statue depicts a man named Aywho achieved religious positions of the second prophet of Amun and the high priest of the Goddess Mut at Thebes. His career flourished during Tutankhamun's reign. The cartouches of King Ay, Tutankhamun's successor appeared on the statue. This was an attempt by an artisan to "update" the sculpture.This statue was most common for non-royal yet important individuals. They were used in temples typically as funerary monuments. It has also been said that this type of statue was possibly intended to resemble a guardian seated in the gateway of a temple. To add on, their simple shape would provide ample flat surfaces for inscriptions or offerings and invocations.Inconclusion, I enjoyed this trip to the Brooklyn Museum. I found that this Was a good way to interact with the book text we learn from in class and to find out that these things actually exist. Alsoto see how we can relate our lives to ancient history. The Egyptians were very creative and created beautiful artpieces and many innovations which we now use in our everyday lives. Every statue created by the artists were very detailed and has its own unique purpose.