Egyptian Decorative Art: A Course of Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781108065801)

Among the leading Egyptologists of his day, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. He published these carefully illustrated lectures in 1895. Exploring the ancient Egyptians' passion for decoration, he demonstrates his view that the elaborate use of hieroglyphs and design 'made the Egyptian the father of the world's ornament'. Petrie describes and illustrates the four main areas of decoration: the geometrical use of lines, spirals and curves; the representation of natural images such as feathers and flowers; the existence of structural patterns resulting from ancient techniques of building or manufacture; and the use of symbolic emblems such as the vulture, scarab and lion. Much modern-day design, Petrie argues, is influenced by ancient Egyptian aesthetics. Many of his other publications - for both Egyptologists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

Author: William Matthew Flinders Petrie
ISBN-10: 1108065805
ISBN-13: 9781108065801
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/05/2013
Pages: 144
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.42lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.34d