Artwork Page for Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes)

Details / Information for Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes)

Series Title: Égypte et Nubie, sites et monuments les plus intéressants pour l'étude de l'art et de l'histoire, pl. 68

Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes)

1851–52

Félix Teynard

(French, 1817–1892)
publisher

Goupil et Cie

Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
salted paper print from calotype negative
Measurements
Image: 23.8 x 31.1 cm (9 3/8 x 12 1/4 in.); Paper: 38 x 50 cm (14 15/16 x 19 11/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Betty and Max Ratner in honor of Arielle Kozloff 1992.331
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The monumental sphinx at Giza, which has the head of a man and the body of a lion, is one of the most iconic symbols of ancient Egypt. The country contains other, humbler versions of this mythical creature. The one here with the head of a ram is only nine feet long and held a statue of a human between its paws.
A horizontal salted paper print in warm brown tones depicts weathered stone sphinxes partially buried in a sandy hillside. In the foreground, a ram-headed sphinx sits amid dry scrub, its surface pitted and eroded. Another figure rests on the slope behind it, and chipped fragments lie scattered to our right. Patchy brush covers the rocky ground. Soft shadows and a grainy finish define the ancient landscape under a pale sky.

Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes)

1851–52

Félix Teynard, Goupil et Cie

(French, 1817–1892)
France, 19th century

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