APAH Interactive Worksheet – Last Judgment of Hunefer
CA 2 Ancient Mediterranean 3500BCE - 300 CE
Assignment Three - Due Date: August 15, 2016 Please answer directly on this worksheet and email to me at (75 points)
Student and Date:
24. Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, from his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead). New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty. c. 1275 B.C.E. Painted papyrus scroll.
Form: What does the work look like and why? Advantages of a particular medium? Techniques used?
Function: What was the intended and later use, which may change according to the context of audience, time, location and culture.
Content: (INSIDE the Artwork.) What is the subject or narrative that you see? What symbolic elements exist within the work?
Context: (What factors OUTSIDE of the Artwork impacted it?) Audience, time, location, and culture.
Notes:
What resources did you use?
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/egypt-art/new-kingdom/v/judgement-in-the-presence-of-osiris-hunefer-s-book-of-the-dead
https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/british-museum/africa1/ancient-egypt-bm/a/hunefer-book-of-the-dead
http://learner.org/courses/globalart/theme/8/index.html
What do you want to remember from this image?
Themes: Text/Narrative/Death
“Images and words are symbols that both denote actual things, like people, objects, and places, and connote more abstract ideas, feelings, concepts, and theories. Given this shared function, it makes sense that the boundaries between words and images often overlap and that the two are so frequently juxtaposed. Since the dawn of civilization the relationship between written words and pictures has been manipulated to communicate ideas. It has also inspired countless artists around the globe, whose works demonstrate how text and image can enhance, supplement, complicate, or even undermine each other’s meanings.”
What is the relationship between word and image?
Both Chinese and ancient Egyptian writing systems were based on visual signs. What’s more, in both traditions, images were almost always accompanied by text of some sort. These two objects demonstrate the rich dialogue that can occur between visual and textual elements placed in proximity.
--Learner.org
Short Essay 1:
Why do you think that this text would have been accompanied by images? What might the images have been able to do that the text could not do alone? Are the images able to communicate their messages without the text?
How has art been used as a guide to death and dying?
The Book of the Dead has functioned to a degree as an instructional manual meant to ensure eternal life in the Underworld. This text used illustrations both to clarify the steps one must take to achieve this goal and to help the individual visualize carrying out those steps. Like many works dealing with death and dying, it is deeply rooted in the religious practices, spiritual beliefs, and cosmologies of the culture that produced it.
Short Essay 2
This illustration comes from a book that was written for the benefit of the deceased. What kinds of instruction does this image provide its intended audience? How do these instructions fit into the respective belief systems of its audience?
Short Essay 3 The Book of the Dead was a collection of traditional texts, but each scroll was individualized based on the identity of the deceased. How do you think this affected the images included in this work? Keeping that in mind, do you think that this illustration would have been equally effective in fulfilling its intended function?