Imitation of the Lotus Flower in Architecture: its Use in the Decoration of Walls and Ceilings of Palaces, Houses, and Tombs in Ancient Egypt
PDF

Keywords

Antiguo Egipto
flor de loto
Decoración interior
friso de loto lotus flower
lotus frieze
Ancient Egypt
Interior decoration

How to Cite

Ahmed, A. M. (2022). Imitation of the Lotus Flower in Architecture: its Use in the Decoration of Walls and Ceilings of Palaces, Houses, and Tombs in Ancient Egypt. Res Mobilis, 11(14), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.17811/rm.11.14.2022.1-20

Abstract

Plant motifs were of great importance in the arts of ancient Egypt. It was very interested in decorative units and its aesthetic forms. The lotus flower is one of the most well-known plants in ancient Egyptian civilization due to its association with the religious and daily life of the ancient Egyptians. This fragrant flower in its colors white, blue, red, and as a sacred symbol in the life of the ancient Egyptian was not only an aesthetic decorative component that was depicted by the ancient Egyptians on walls of temples, or used in the manufacture of perfumes and cosmetics, but also used it in the decoration of palaces, houses and tombs in a specific decorative form.

This study investigates on how the ancient Egyptians imitated the lotus flower in architecture and used it in decorative decoration of walls and ceilings in naturalistic scenes on walls or ceiling decoration with floral composition, and also in the form of pattern border strip (frieze), both in civil and religious architecture.

https://doi.org/10.17811/rm.11.14.2022.1-20
PDF

References

Aldred, Cyril. Akhenaten King of Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 1988.

Bénédite, Georges. La Cueillette du Lis et le "Lirinon." in A Propos D'un bas-relief et d'un Frqgment de bas-relief au Musée du Louver. Paris, 1921-1922.

Boulos, Loutfy. Flora of Egypt. volume one. Egypt: Al Hadara Publishing, 1999.

Capart, Jean and Werbrouck, Marcelle. Thèbes: la gloire d'un grand passé. Bruxelles: Vromant, 1925.

Cherpion, Nadine, and Jean-Pierre. Corteggiani, La tombe d'Inherkhâouy (TT 359) à Deir el Medina. vol. I: texte. Le Cire: MIFAO 128, 2010.

Darby, William, Ghalioungui Paul and Grivetti, Louis. Food: The Gift of Osiris. vol.2. London: Academic Press, 1977.

Daressy, Georges. “Le Palais D’Aménophis III el le Birket Habou.” Annales du service des antiquités de l'égypte 4 (1903).

Davies, Nina Macpherson. Ancient Egyptian Paintings: Selected, Copied, and Described by Nina M. Davies; with the Editorial Assistance of Alan H. Gardiner. vol. II: plates LIII-CIV. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936.

Henry, Thomas Garnet. Egyptian Painting and Drawing in the British Museum. Harvard University Press, 1986.

Davies, Nina Macpherson. Ancient Egyptian Paintings: Selected, Copied, and Described by Nina M. Davies; with the Editorial Assistance of Alan H. Gardiner. vol. I: plates I-LII. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936.

Davies, Norman Garis. Seven Private Tombs at Kurnah. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1948.

Davies, Norman Garis. The Tomb of Ķen-amūn at Thebes. vol. II. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1930.

Erman, Adolf and Grapow, Herman. Wörterbuch der Aegyptischen Sprache. Band, IV. Berlin: JC Hinrichs, 1971.

Faulkner, Raymond. A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Friedman, Florence. Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian faïence. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998.

Gardiner, Alan. Egyptian Grammar: being in Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. Oxford: Griffith institute, Ashmolean Museum, 1957.

Germer, Renate. "Flowers", in The Oxford Encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, edited by Redford, Donald. vol .1. translated from German by Julia Harvey. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Germer, Renate. Flora des pharaonischen Ägypten. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern, 1985.

Hannig, Rayner. Großes Handwörterbuch: Ägyptisch-Deutsch. Lexica 1. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2005.

Hepper, Nigel. Pharaoh's Flowers. London: printed in the United Kingdom, 1990.

Kampp-Seyfried (ed.). In the Light of Amarna: 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery. Berlin: Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2012.

Kantor, Helene. Plant Ornament in the Ancient Near East. Doctoral Thesis, University of Chicago, 1945. Revised by the Oriental Institute, 1999.

Lacovara, Peter and Winkels, Alexandra. "Malqata – The Painted Palace." in Tracing Technoscapes: The Production of Bronze Age Wall Paintings in the Eastern Mediterranean. edited by Johannes Becker, Johannes Jungfleisch and Constance von Rüden. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2018.

Lesko, Leonard and Barbara, Susanne. A Dictionary of Late Egyptian. vol. 3. California: Scribe Publication, 1987.

Negmeldin, Mohsen. "Types of the Ceilings and Its Decorations at ancient Egyptian Architecture." Archi-Cultural Interactions through the Silk Road: 4th International Conference. Japan: Mukogawa Women’s Univ., Nishinomiya, July 16-18, 2016.

Noblecourt, Christiane Desroches. Lorsque La Nature Parlait aux Égyptiens. Éditions Pbilippe Rey. 2003.

Ossian, Clair. "The most Beautiful of Flowers: Water Lilies and Lotuses in ancient Egypt." KMT 10 (1) (1999).

Pommerening, Tanja, Marinova, Elena, and Hendrickx, Stan. "The Early Dynastic Origin of the Water-Lily motif." Chronique d’Égypte LXXXV (2010).

Porter, Bertha and Moss, Rosalind. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. vol. I: The Theban Necropolis. part 1: Private Tombs. Oxford, 1960.

Prisse d’Avennes. Atals of Egyptian Art. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2000.

Sewell, Barbara. Egypt under the Pharaohs. New York: Putnam, 1968.

Shaw, Ian and Nicholson, Paul. The British Museum Dictionary of ancient Egypt. Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press, 2002.

Tomashevska, Marija. Sacred Floral Garlands and Collars from the New Kingdom Period and Early Third Intermediate Period in Ancient Egypt. 1550 BC–943 BC. Master Thesis, University of Leiden, 2019.

Weatherhead, Fran. "Painted Pavements in the Great Palace at Amarna." The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 78 (1992).

Weatherhead, Fran. "Wall-Paintings from the King’s House at Amarna". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 81 (1995).

Wilkinson, Alex. The Garden in Ancient Egypt. London: Rubicon Press, 1998.

Wilkinson, Charles Kyrle. Egyptian Wall Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection of Facsimiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.

Arabic References:

عبد الحميد عزب. الأحراچ في مصر الفرعونية منذ عصر ما قبل الأسرات وحتى نهاية الدولة القديمة. رسالة ماجستير غير منشوره، كلية الآداب، جامعة طنطا، 1993.

Azab, Abd el-Hamid. Marshes in Pharaonic Egypt, from the Pre-dynastic Period until The End of The Old Kingdom. Master thesis, Tanta University, 1993.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.