Practice question · Multiple choice
In an Egyptian relief the pharaoh towers over his soldiers, who tower over the enemy. What is the size recording?
Hints
- Ask what a viewer standing at any single spot would actually see.
- The scale varies with status, not position. What kind of statement is that?
Show the answer
A. Rank: hierarchical scale states social position
Why
No viewing position produces those relative sizes, so the image is not a record of seeing but an assertion about rank, which is why Egyptian art holds its conventions for three thousand years. Calling it a failure of perspective assumes it was aiming at appearance, and it was aiming at order.
Practise Art of the Ancient Near East and Egypt
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More questions on Art of the Ancient Near East and Egypt
- Order these works from earliest to latest.
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