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Sculpture of the senior Kingdom of Ancient EgyptIntroduction Egypt is situated in the north-eastern corner of the African continent. It is composed of two very different regions-- speeding Egypt and Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt--the corrosive Land as it was also called by the ancient Egyptians--with its fertile poop strip along the Nile River makes up the northern p trick of the country. The Red Land--the Upper Egypt--is a desertous southern part with the red, sun-baked soil. The history of ancient Egypt starts around 3000 B.C. when, harmonise to the tradition, Menes Narmer unified the two lands and founded the first dynasty. That was the beginning of the Old Kingdom--the blockage of perceptual constancy of the state that lasted until 2263 B.C. and included the dynasties Ist to VIth. Old Kingdom is known as the luxurious Age of Egyptian art during this period the famous pyramids of Giza and the legendary Sphinx were create and the mandate that lasted for two millenniums was est ablished.Influences Even though Egyptians were the first to build a civilization they werent the first artists. Obviously the first artists on Earth were the cavemen who produced the delightful cave paintings found all over the world. However, the artworks that date tens of thousands of years tush had little influence--or at least little direct influence--on the Egyptian art. The character features of the art of the Old Kingdom were derived almost exclusively from the works of the dye Age (4500-3000 B.C.). Made in that period, there were sculptures of animals that were the predecessors of the statues of Egyptian gods and goddesses in the cast of animals. There were terra-cotta figures of women--probably the slaves from the African tribes--which probably were to represent the Mother Goddesses. However the art of the Old Kingdom had much more to borrow from that prehistoric period than just bits and pieces of ideas here and there. Probably the most important thing that the tan A ge should be noted for in this context is the development of the canon of Egyptian sculpture.Here is quite long, but very complete and fine definition of the word canon given by the Polish Egyptologist Kazimierz Michalowski in his sacred scripture called Great Sculpture of Ancient Egypt 1) The canon is a historically knowing element of indigenous character. 2) It is a result of a mass of observations and experiences that precede to the fixing in art of the most typical forms found in nature but brought down to specific and constant proportions.