• DOI:10.1086/sou.30.3.23208555
• Corpus ID: 191369829

ENLIVENING THE BODY: COLOR AND STONE STATUES IN OLD KINGDOM EGYPT

@article{Morgan2011ENLIVENINGTB,
  title={ENLIVENING THE BODY: COLOR AND STONE STATUES IN OLD KINGDOM EGYPT},
  author={Lyvia Morgan},
  journal={Source: Notes in the History of Art},
  year={2011},
  volume={30},
  pages={4 - 11}
}

• L. Morgan
• Published 1 April 2011
• Sociology
• Source: Notes in the History of Art

alive with a supernatural presence, the statue was a body to house the vital essence of an individual (ka), as the focus of cult and the recipient of offerings. The ka was a "double," a life force, born with the body.1 It had no independent physicality outside the corporeal form or statue. Brought to life through ani mation rites known as the Opening of the Mouth, the statue's agency was activated and periodically renewed through ritual action.2 Visibility of statues in the Old Kingdom was limited. In tomb chapels, the ka statue received offerings enveloped in darkness; in temples, royal and cult statues were seen only by purified priests. Yet, hidden or visi ble, statues needed color. Paint, inlays, gild ing, and the natural hues of materials all en liven Egyptian statues. This paper explores hard-stone statuary of the Old Kingdom (c. 2675-2170 b.c.e.) and suggests that color was a vital element of embodiment.