2020 Volume 63 Issue 1 Pages 1-20
This paper offers a new art-historical meaning regarding the grid reform of anthropomorphic representations that took place in Egypt around the mid-seventh century BC. The objective of this paper is two-fold. First, it is to demonstrate the problems with previous interpretations, which depended, on the one hand, upon the written record of Diodorus Siculus on the Egyptian method of statue production, and upon comparative analyses of the two-dimensional representation of human figures on the other. This paper offers a proportional analysis of three-dimensional objects, particularly the so-called “sculptor’s models,” and demonstrates that the clear discrepancies in the proportions between two- and three-dimensional art support a straightforward understanding of Diodorus’ account against the more “creative” interpretations suggested in recent studies.
Secondly, this paper is devoted to giving new meaning to the art-historical context of the grid reform. This reform—in which Late Period Egyptians abandoned the tradition that had functioned well for nearly 1,800 years and created a completely new system by uniting the Egyptian metrological system and the traditional method of grid projection—reflects less improvement in the appearance of the image than a metaphysical development that had never been seen or experienced before. It saw the creation of a module system based on anthropometry in a true sense, one that seems to have stimulated the Aegeans to refine the Egyptian system to suit their own cultural aesthetics in subsequent centuries. Thus, it is no exaggeration to state that anthropometry, which has been a core tenet in Western art throughout history, has its roots in Egyptian art.
