Figural Proportions, Guiding Systems and the Drafting of Animals in Ancient Egyptian Tomb Imagery

Project Information

ANIMATE

Grant agreement ID: 101063350

DOI

10.3030/101063350

Project closed

EC signature date 10 August 2022

Start date 1 April 2023

End date 31 March 2025

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 199 440,96

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ANIMATE (Figural Proportions, Guiding Systems and the Drafting of Animals in Ancient Egyptian Tomb Imagery)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2025-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The use of guiding systems as utilitarian tools in the design and art-making process is that practice that transcend discipline, time and place. These systems can range from a single auxiliary line through to a complex network of geometric shapes. Their practicality and flexibility permits their use as technical aids, educational devices and/or tools for transferring information, acting as assistive tools for ensuring that a design appears and functions as desired. For those studying art and design, their use can offer valuable insights into artistic workflows, education, and the mechanics behind the creation and communication of visual knowledge.

Current evidence places some of the earliest (if not the earliest) known use of such guiding systems within ancient Egypt. While the general functions of guiding systems have been touched upon within Egyptology, thorough analyses of their application have privileged one role in particular. The so-called canon of proportion(s) is a system of visual measurements (commonly in the form of a squared grid) which assisted artists in ordering namely the height but also the width of the human body. The predominant focus on this function over others has arguably led to the misconception that it was the foremost or even sole purpose of these visual tools. On one hand, such scholarly attention has generated a firmer grasp on the “how” behind the representation of the human form. On the other, it has resulted in the drafting of non-human subjects using guides and potential other functions of the systems being comparatively overlooked.

It is based on this gap in the state of the field that the research project ANIMATE was developed. Its overarching aim was to examine the use of guiding systems connection with a previously understudied body of material, that being illustrations of animals in two-dimensional ancient Egyptian imagery. To achieve this goal, the project was driven by three key objectives*:

1. To determine what directed the design and construction of guiding systems used by ancient Egyptian artists when rendering animal figures via an analysis of surviving examples from private tombs and on associated visual supports.
2. To demonstrate that the drafting of non-human forms during scene composition may too be structured by investigating potential parallels or connections between the known techniques used for rendering the human form and those discovered for the drafting animal figures.
3. To explore connections and/or parallels between the ancient Egyptian use of guiding systems and those recorded in wider studies of art history and design theory, thus showcasing the benefits of conducting interdisciplinary research.

Through examining a new subject matter, the project intended to demonstrate that more can be learnt about guiding systems when focus is shifted beyond the previously favoured human form. By extension, it further aspired to deepen our understanding of the methods and techniques used by ancient Egyptian artists when composing two-dimensional imagery, along with their educational practices and means for transmitting visual knowledge on a wider scale.

*Note that the objectives listed here were updated where necessary as a result of data collation and research conducted in the early stages of the MSCA project.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The first phase of the study was to collect as many examples as possible where guides are preserved with illustrations of fauna. Much of the data consists of sections of incomplete or partially finished tomb decoration both painted or in carved relief, or in those painted scenes where the pigment used to create the guidelines has permeated the top layer of paint. Additional media was also collated due to their inherent connection to tomb decoration, artist training and/or knowledge transmission. Samples of these visual supports that display images of animal figures connected to guiding systems were found on ostraca, limestone tablets, papyri, and so-called “sculptors’ models” or “trial pieces”.

The collation of primary evidence from ancient Egypt resulted in close to 100 surviving examples of animal figures associated with guiding systems being identified. This number has the potential to continually grow as more data is discovered and made available by Egyptologists, archaeologists and in institutional collections. These samples were spread across 13 different animal species, with bovine figures (i.e. cattle) being the most highly represented. From this, the next step was to identify any possible patterns that appeared in by looking at the space that individual animal figures occupy in a guiding system and to see if there is any consistency (or even notable inconsistencies) among like has been done with the study of the human body. Next came a comparison and combining of what was already known regarding guide use from the study of human renderings with what knowledge was generated by examining the animal corpus, thus creating a more holistic understanding of these visual tools. The final, interdisciplinary investigation incorporated numerous examples or discussions of guiding system use from the 14th century and beyond. The corpus included the likes of artists’ manuals from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, proportional treatise from European and Tibetan contexts, and didactic texts on graphic design theory from contemporary practitioners.

Through examination of the dataset and in consultation with existing literature on artistic practice and design principles both within and outside of Egyptology, the project was able to objectively demonstrate that drafting of animal figures may have had more guidance than has been assumed. The observations and outcomes recorded seemingly oppose the previous belief that animals (and non-human imagery more generally) did not receive such careful treatment in terms of how the subject matter was composed, thus challenging existing preconceptions as was the intended aim of ANIMATE. More details on the overarching results can be found in the section below.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ANIMATE was an ambitious project in that it was the first of its kind to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the use of guiding systems by ancient Egyptian artists when drafting animal figures. Through its examination of a previously understudied body of material, the project can make unique contributions that can shift the current state of the art now and in the future.

The discovery of specific groups of drafted animal figures that share parallel bodily ratios over time and place proved to be a significant outcome as it directly meets the aim of the project. That figures can share the same proportions irrespective of when and where raises questions not only on the proportionate rendering of animals as it points beyond just sheer coincidence, but also on the transmission and training of such knowledge. It has therefore been proposed that the figural proportions of animals in two-dimensional art were learnt and transmitted with the assistance of guiding systems, highlighting that these systems have functions that go beyond initial scene composition. The finding clearly shows that much more can be learnt about the employment of guiding systems in ancient Egypt when our focus is expanded beyond the previously privileged human form.

What the analysis animal imagery in combination with existing literature also revealed is that guiding systems in ancient Egypt (as they do in other cultures) serve numerous functions that should not be seen as mutually exclusive but as coinciding and coexisting. A renewed focus on the role of guiding systems as additional assistive tools has been advocated as a result of their findings during the MSCA, as this is a facet of guiding system use that is not thoroughly discussed within existing literature. Additionally, the project brings cause to further investigating how the knowledge of how to render such figures was disseminated amongst the artistic profession, not only within a contemporary group of practitioners, but also across generations and place.

Overall, by examining guides preserved with animal figures in ancient Egypt, the project ANIMATE was able to not only examine the methods and techniques for drafting of fauna using guides, but also artist education, training and knowledge transmission. Expanding academic focus beyond the human form has proven to be a worthwhile endeavour in that assists in piecing together smaller pieces of a larger puzzle that may enable us to generate a more holistic and well-rounded understanding of the “how” and “why” behind the creation of ancient Egyptian imagery.

ANIMATE Booth at Science is Wonderful 2025