egypt

by Jaromir Malek

Beginning in the fifth millennium BC, the land that is now Egypt nurtured an extraordinary pioneering civilization whose art and architecture have never lost their power to amaze. This magnificent picture book presents a carefully chosen sequence of masterpieces, ranging in date from c.4000 BC to c.200 AD, by which time Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire.

All media are represented, from monumental architecture to exquisite jewellery and personal ornaments. At any scale, Egyptian art has an immediate appeal for its beauty and consummate craftsmanship, and the works illustrated in this book can all be enjoyed for both their aesthetic qualities and their artefactual rarity. But they are also products of a culture very different from ours, and in his concise introduction Jaromir Malek, a foremost authority, provides the essential background for understanding why Egyptian art and architecture took the forms they did. The explanations continue in the informative captions to each illustration, and the chronological chart, map, bibliography and index make quick reference a pleasure.

Embracing architecture, painting, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and jewellery, the illustrations are all masterpieces that can be enjoyed in their own right. Presented in chronological order, they form a succinct and easily digestible history. This is an astoundingly fresh, mesmerizing and accessible introduction to some of the most remarkable art ever produced in the history of humankind.

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Egypt

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Jaromir Málek is an Egyptologist, formerly archivist of the Griffith Institute of Sackler Library in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, and editor of Topographical Bibliography, 1968–2011.

Reviews

[Shanshan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful color pictures, very comprehensive. Hundreds of pages of Egyptian art.

[S.O.N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The annotations don't tell you nearly enough, but I can't find a better book when it comes to showing high quality pictures of a wide variety of Egyptian creations that aren't limited to one small period. Basically a beautiful book that needs to be coupled with another one that offers more insight on the history of Egypt and the evolution of its art, if you really want to have a good grasp on the topic.

[Jackie Carreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of fascinating images for those with more than a passing interest in Ancient Egypt.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book, bit overwhelming to try to plow through all at once, better for slow occasional flip throughs I think.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs with entertaining and illuminating little snippets of information accompanying them. A nice companion piece to a more serious work of ancient Egyptian history.

Read along with The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (highly recommended).

[Sara Sheehy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book of Egyptian art. Fantastic photography, thorough (and sometimes witty) captions. Not knowing much (ok, anything) about Egyptian history, I sometimes had a hard time envisioning the politics that accompanied the changes in art pieces.

Very well done.

[Ashleigh Oldfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning imagery from a fascinating period of time. A great 'coffee table' book to flick through every now and then.