8/10/2019 An Egyptian Bestiary
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The
sobriquetMetropolitan
Zoo might eapplied
very
ppropriately
o the
galleries
f ourdepart-
ment
f Egyptianrt.
Thousandsf
birds,
nimals,nd eptiles
feath-
ered,urred,
nd caled from
nte-
lope o zebu,
rom/6 incheso
almost
four eet, nmediarom
labastero
obsidianepresenthousands
f years
of Egyptian
nimal rt.Throughout
theMuseum'sollections,an'sela-
tionship ith
reaturess seldom
o
sensitivelyortrayed.
Herbert .Winlock,
hebrilliant
Egyptologist
nddirector
f theMetro-
politanrom
932 to 939, wrote
n a
December923 Bulletin
hatEgyptian
* *
* e
artlsts
eemeco en]oy
Wrawlngnl-
mals, aking
farmorenterestn try-
ing
o drawuch ubjectshan
n
making
heslavish opies
heywere
hired
o produce, nd
in heiroff
times . . amused
hemselvesketch-
ing
snatchesf lifeon
flakes f the
paper-white
imestone
hich ittered
the ground.
Winlock itedour
horse
(no.
70) drawnubbing
ismuzzle
against
is outstretchedoreleg
s (in
WinlocEs
nderstanding)surely
pure xperiment,
orprobably
o scene
in thetombcontained
nysuch ig-
ure. Anda hippopotamusno.35),a
quintessential
gyptian
east ndrel-
ative
of our mascot, illiam
back
cover), aught
is eye: One
of the
mostcharming
its hathave
ver
comeout of Egypt s
on a flake f
whitest imestone
bout he bigness
of thepalm
of a man's and.
Some
templeculptor asbeen
asked owhe
woulddraw hippopotamus
nd,
picking p this
lake,he hasportraye
a sedate east
f a purplish rown
ue
withpinkeyes
andbellyand
an enor-
mous
owl ndicated
itha fewswift
strokes
f black.Weshare is
delight
The eader
f this
Bulletin safari
is Dorothea rnold,
uratorn charge
of the
Egyptian rt
Department,
whose
ascinationorthesubject
s
clearly vident
n her nspired
ext.To
ensure
oologicalccuracy,
hecalled
uponJamesG. Doherty, eneralura
tor
of mammalst the
WildlifeCon-
servationociety.
Wehope hat
heir
effortswill enhance our
enjoyment
of all
the Egyptianreatures
atarge
in ourgalleries.
Philippe
e Montebello
Director
The
MetropolitanMuseum
fArt Bulletin
Spring
995
VolumeLII,Number
(ISSN026-I52I)
PublisheduarterlyC)
995
byTheMetropolitanuseumf Art,
OOO
FifthAvenue, ewYork, .Y.
0028-OI98.
Second-classostage aidat New
York, .Y.,and
AdditionalMailing
Offices.The
MetropolitanMuseum
fArt Bulletin s providedsa benefit
o Museummembers
nd s availabley
subscription.
ubscriptions
25.00 a year. ingle
opies8.95. Fourweeks' otice
equiredorchange
f address.OSTMASTER:
endaddress
changes
o Membership
epartment,he Metropolitan
useum f Art,
OOO FifthAvenue, ew
York, .Y.
0028-OI98. Back ssues vailable
n
microfilmrom
UniversityMicrofilms,00N.
ZeebRoad,AnnArbor,
Mich.
8I06.
Volumes
-XEVII
(I905-I942) availablesdothbound
eprintet
or as ndividual
early olumesrom
AyerCompanyublishers
nc., 0 Northwestern
rive Io, Salem,N.H.
03079, or from he
Museum, ox 00,
Middle
Village, .Y. I379.
GeneralManagerf
Publicatzons:ohn P.O'Neill.
Editorn Chiefof
he
BULLETIN:
oanHolt.
Associate ditor:Tonia
.
Payne
Production:Matthew imm
ndJayReingold.
esign:Michaelhroyer.
llphotographs,
nless therwiseoted, yThe
Photographtudio f
The
Metropolitan
useum fArt.Newphotography
yJosephCoscia
r.Additionalhotographs
g3 ruceWhite:
ront over,itlepage,pages
7, 44, 6I
(hawk etail), 4.
Front over:Gazelle,Dynasty
8, ca. 400
B.C.
See
pagesO-II.
Title age:Flying alcon.Hermopolis
agna, tolemaic eriod,
304-30
B.C.Polychrome
aiencenlay; . 1%8 in.
(zg cm).Purchase,dward .
Harkness ift,
9Z6 (Z6.7.991).
Page
i4:
Hounds ndJackals
ame.
Thebes,
omb2SX irabi,
ateDynasty
2,
ca.
800 B.C. Ivory nd
wood;h. 2/2 in. (6.3cm).Purchase,
dward . Harkness
ift,926
(26.7.I287). Back
cover:Hippopotamus. eir,
Dynasty
2,
ca.
900-I800
B.C.
Faience;
.43/8n. II.2 cm).
Giftof Edward. Harkness,
9I7 (I7.9.I)
Director s
o t e
8/10/2019 An Egyptian Bestiary
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existence
iththegods,
and hrough
themcontact
ouldbe
madewiththe
, . .
elvlne.
Oneway o express
everence
f the
divine
n animals
as hrough
he use
of
animalmages
n artandreligion.
New
Kingdom ymn
exclaims:
Hail oyou,Atenof daytime,
Creatorf all,
whomakes hem
ive
Great alcon,
rightly lumed.
Beetlewhoraised
imself.
In this ext he
characterf thesolar
deity
s described
irst hrough ssoci-
ationwith
a brightly olored
alcon
who triumphantly
oars
nto the sky,
then
by identificationith
a scarab
beetlewho
crawls n thefertile
arth
pushingtsmysteriousungball,
which
s the shape
f the sundisk.
n
eachcase
he mage alls
on common
human
bservation
f andexperience
with
a particular
nimal nd hereby
evokes
he propertiesf
a deity.
It is important
o realizehat
o
Egyptians,
hese
magesweremore
thanpurely
oeticmetaphors,
nd he
same s true
or he pictorial
epresen-
tations fthegod
Horus sa falcon
r
the
rising unasa beetle.
mages, c-
cordingo
Egyptian elief,
were nti-
ties
with ivesof
theirown,and he
picture
f a falcon,
beetle, r
other
animal otonlydescribedhegodbut
could tand
n for he
deityas a vis-
ibleand angible
manifestation
f the
invisible
nd ntangible.
his
under-
standing
f images
s closely elated
to
magic.Animals,ndeed,
layed
great ole
n Egyptianhaumaturgy,
andmany mulets
ndmagical
bjects
usedanimal
magery.
The perceived
ubstantialityf
divineanimal
mages otwithstand-
ing,no Egyptianhought hat he sun
god
actuallyooked
ikea falcon
r
beetle,
ndevery
worshipernew hat
no single
mage onveyedhe
totality
of
a deity.This s
why n texts uchas
the
one quoted
bove he mages
hift
fromone
animalO another,nd
n
* .
.
.
plctorlalrta delty
canappear
n a
single
ontext n
the formofvarious
animals
r as the
sameanimaln dif-
ferent
oses.
The knowledgehat
no one mage
can
ullyrepresenthe
essence f a
deityalso
contributed
o thatmost
puzzling
reation f Egyptian
rt, he
godwitha human odyandananima
head
nos.
4, 28). Again,Egyptians
unquestionably
id not
think hatany
of theirdeities
wereactuallyormed
that
way.The images
re onceptual
and
shouldbe "read"art
by part,
like
hieroglyphic
cript.The human
body
nformsheviewer
hatno ordi-
naryanimal
s depicted,
nd he
animal ead
ignalshe
superhuman
properties
f the
deity. t is solelydue
to the Egyptianrtists'maginative
abilities
hat uch heoretically
on-
ceivedpictograms
ecame
onvincin
creaturesf a third
kind.
Egyptian
epresentations
ifferen-
tiateclearly
etween he
combined
human-and-animal
mage f
a god
and
depictions
f persons earing
Fig.
1. A scribe otes he spoils
of thehunt.
Drawing ftera
paintingn the tombof
Rekhmiret Thebes,
Dynasty8,
ca. 425 B.C.
FromNorman
e GarisDavies,
TheTombf
Rekh-mi-Ret Thebes,
ublicationsf The
Metropolitan useum
f Art
Egyptian
xpedition,
ol. I (NewYork,
943), pL 44
4
