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

Representations of the animal world are an intrinsic feature of ancient Egyptian visual culture.

Despite their frequent inclusion in Egyptian imagery, comprehensive analysis of the methods used by practitioners when drafting fauna is lacking, especially when compared to their human counterparts.

An example of the existing divide is seen with a central principle of Egyptian art known as the canon of proportion - a work process where guiding systems were used by practitioners to organise a scene and render the correct bodily ratios of a figure.

While the use of guides for human figures has been thoroughly investigated, a parallel study for animals has not yet been undertaken due to the untested belief that fauna were not regulated by the same proportional standards.

The overarching aim of ANIMATE is to challenge the prevailing perspective of a deregulated approach being in place when illustrating the animal world.

The project is driven by three objectives: 1) to determine the rules and ratios governing the design and construction of proportional guides for animal figures via the examination and digital reconstruction of surviving guiding systems from elite tombs of the early Middle Kingdom (c. 2030-1840 B.C.); 2) to demonstrate that the drafting of non-human forms was regulated by investigating parallels or connections between the known techniques used for human proportions and those discovered for drafting animals; and 3) to identify the impact of [external] factors such as biological considerations or scene context on proportional standards for animals and the subsequent design of guides via an incorporation of zoological and zooarchaeological data.

By being the first systematic investigation into the design, construction and application of proportional guides for non-human forms, ANIMATE will shift knowledge frontiers by shedding new light on the ‘missing animal’, bringing figures generally perceived as having a secondary status in art into the spotlight.