Fecundity Figures
Egyptian Personification and the Iconology of a Genre
By (author) J. Baines
Formerly known as ‘Nile gods’, fecundity figures – personifications of aspects of non-sexual fertility – have a significant role in the sophisticated iconography of ancient Egypt. In his pioneering study, first published in 1985, John Baines introduces new approaches to Egyptian art and symbolic classification through a study of this distinctive genre. Part 1 analyses the definition of Egyptian personifications, whose role has parallels in many cultures. The focus is on ‘formal’ personifications – abstractions in language that are names of deities, such as ‘Order’ or ‘Food’. Emblematic personifications are their visual counterparts, signs in the script for concepts like ‘Life’ that become actors with added human limbs. Part 2 investigates fecundity figures. Their form and its meaning are analysed, as well as the range of their names. The two principal scene types in which they occur, bringing offerings and the heraldic ‘uniting of the Two Lands’, are reviewed separately. An excursus studies the principle of artistic decorum through the distribution and compatibility of scene and figure types including emblematic personifications. This concept has been very influential in Egyptology since it was introduced in Fecundity figures. The concluding chapter reviews abnormal contexts for fecundity figures, bringing together and extending the findings of the two parts. An appendix presents and analyses the patterning of colour on fecundity figures in the context of cross-cultural issues in colour classification.
- By (author) J. Baines
"I recommend this book highly to all others as well; for, the insightful comments that Baines presents challenge us with a method of interpretation that can only lead to much fruitful discussion of Egyptian iconographic forms." JARCE
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Other Titles in this Series
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. Volume III: Memphis. Part I: Abû Rawâsh to Abûsîr
Second Edition, Revised and Augmented
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings IV
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Volume 4, 4
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. Volume II: Theban Temples
Second Edition, Revised and Augmented
Volume 2
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. Volume I: The Theban Necropolis. Part II: Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries
Second Edition, Revised and Augmented
Principles of Egyptian Art
Edited by Emma Brunner-Traut, Translated and Edited by John Baines with a Foreword by E.H. Gombrich
The Reconstruction of the Furniture of Queen Hetepheres I, the Mother of the Pharaoh Khufu
Completed and Edited by Geoffrey P. Killen with Contributions from Julie Dawson and Helen Farrar
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. Volume III: Memphis. Part II: Saqqâra to Dahshûr
Second Edition, Revised and Augmented
Studies in Egyptian Syntax
Second Edition including Previously Unpublished Chapters Edited by R.S. Simpson
A Citizen of Nowhere
Jaroslav Cerny, Egyptologist (1898-1970): A Journey through the Twentieth Century
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