The Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt

This classic work is an indispensable handbook for understanding Egyptian art as the expression of a unique culture. Petrie, an early practitioner of the cultural approach to art, considers fifteen different art or craft forms, ranging from the splendid goods made for pharaohs to humble objects of everyday life, statuary, reliefs, paintings and drawings, architecture, stone-working, jewellery, metal work, glazed ware and glass, pottery, ivory-working, woodwork, plaster and stucco, and clothing. While touching on art history and archaeology, Petrie concentrates on the ways the social and metaphysical order of the Egyptian world are reproduced in its art forms.