3. Making Egyptian art and architecture

‘Making Egyptian art and architecture’ looks at the evidence for how artists, craftspeople, and architects, such as Irtysen from around 2000 bc, learned their trades and carried out their work, providing insights into the meanings and relationships that art and architecture helped create in ancient Egyptian society. The natural world was exploited for materials to create a wide array of objects and buildings: the mould-made, fired faience for Horudja’s shabti; the carved sandstone and architectural design for the temple of Dendur; the highly polished granodiorite of the Sekhmet statues; the carved, joined, and painted wood of Djed-djehuty-iwef-ankh’s nested coffins; and the linen required to embalm bodies.