The Decorations of the Royal Statues in the New Kingdom

Abstract

Conclusion he research contains about two hundred documents of the royal statues of the New Kingdom that have been dealt with headdresses and crowns, the costumes and accessories, the attitudes and decorations elements, and the scenes and ornaments. I. Headdress and crowns  The headdresses and crowns studies reveal that the Nemes is the most used headdress until the middle of the 18the dynasty.  The form of the nemes, its thickness and its decorations identified every era.  The nemes is associated with the sun-god Re, Re-Horakhty and Horus.  In the Old Kingdom, the Nemes was voluminous. Then, in the Middle Kingdoms, the thickness of "nemes" became less with broad sides and lappets. However, in the New Kingdom the thickness became lesser.  In the nineteenth and twentieth Dynasties, the nemes is still used but with crowns or other complex elements. However, from the reign of Merenptah, the use of the nemes became lesser and it is distinguished by its small size with narrow sides.  The sculpture of the statues during the early 18th Dynasty influenced with that of the Middle Kingdom. Thus, at the early part of this period, Nemes is wide and it is highly convex on shoulders.  The Nemes’s outline at the top of the head is different from king to the other since it takes the shape of the skull.  The most complex elements over the nemes appeared on the statue of king Ramesses II of Memphis as they form Ramesses II’s name "wsr-mAat-Ra". T 406 Conclusion  The Khat was used in a narrow scale during the New Kingdom.  The khat headdress was used only by the kings but from the New Kingdom, it is worn by deities.  The khat is associated with the earth gods and the funerary goddesses as well as its association with the funerary context of the resurrection in the Netherworld.  From the eighteenth Dynasty, The khat is closely connected with the nemes headdress as they represent the two images of the king as a living one and its ka (deceased king) respectively.  The Khat headdress is the nocturnal side of the sun cycle.  The crowns are most important Iconography of royalty. The term "xaw" is explained as the crowns, referring to the rising of the celestial images and the ascending of the king to the throne.  The white and red crowns are scarcely depicted on the statues of the New Kingdom while the double crown is used in a large scale.  During the eighteenth Dynasty, the double crown is worn with other headdress like the nemes and khat and rarely depicted alone.  The first time to find the double crown combined with short curly wig in the time of Amenhotep III.  The most striking double crown is that topped the nemes on the statue of king Ramesses II of Memphis as it form Ramesses II’s name. In the same way the name of king Ramesses III is also depicted.  From the reign of Akhenaten, The blue crown is replaced the nemes headdress as a main iconography of kingship.  The blue crown is called also the "crown of war" as it was seen in military or battle scenes but it was also worn in other situation like adoration, the coronation scenes. 407 Conclusion  The Atef crown has two forms; one has a bundle of plant stems flanked by two curved plums, two ram horns and two sun disks. The Osiris crown is a second form for the Atef.  The significance of the Atef is similar to that of the double crown.  The Atef crown is the kingship crown over Egypt in the Netherworld while the double crown represents the union of Egypt in the real world.  From the 18th Dynasty, Kings started to wear a short curly wig, specifically in the reign of Thutmosis IV.  The short wig is described as military wig.  In the 19th and 20th Dynasties, the use of short wig increased and all the kings of this period are represented with this short wig. However, the taller wig started also to be used by the kings of the twentieth Dynasty.  The Queens's headdress is one of their distinctive insignia. The tripartite wig is their main headdress that is always covered by the vulture cap.  From the 13th Dynasty, two tall feathers attached to a diadem is one of the common headdresses of queens in the New kingdom.  Queen Nefertiti is the only queen that is depicted wearing a crown. She is famous for wearing the cap-crown  Concerning Uraeus, its form has several types according to the kind of headdress or crowns and also its forms changed from period to another.  From the reign of king Amenhotep I to Tuthmosis IV, it is distinguished by upraised head and hood attached at the forehead 408 Conclusion while and the body is extended on the head winding in several curves either take open or compressed form.  From the reign of king Amenhotep III, Uraeus