Djed-Khonsu-iu-ef-ankh’s cartonnage, © 2003 Musée du Louvre / Georges Poncet, 3rd intermediate period, 22nd dynasty, Glued, plastered, and painted fabric, H.: 1.70 m; W.: 40 cm; D.: 33 cm, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, (N 2621).
Statue of a man presenting an effigy of Osiris, © 2003 Musˇe du Louvre / Georges Poncet, Mid 26th dynasty, 664-525 BC, Graywacke, H.: 25.1 cm; W.: 6.4 cm; D.: 8.7 cm, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musˇe du Louvre, (E 4299).
Mummy of a Cat, © 2000 Musée du Louvre / Georges Poncet, Organic materials, H.: 27 cm; W.: 6 cm; D.: 8 cm, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, (N 2678).
Statuette of Hathor Nebethetepet, © 2008 Musée du Louvre / Georges Poncet, Late period, 664-332 BC, Bronze, H.: 18.5 cm; W.: 3.5 cm; D.: 7 cm, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, (E 7979).
Hetepimen’s funerary chest, © 2001 Musée du Louvre / Georges Poncet, Ptolemaic period, 3rd-2m centuries BC, Plastered and painted wood, H.: 57 cm; W.: 27.5 cm; D.: 31 cm, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, (E 13321).
Door to the naos of Amasis, © 2006 Musée du Louvre / Georges Poncet, Late Period, 26th dynasty, reign of Amasis, 570-525 BC, Gilded wood inlaid with colored pâte-de-verre, H.: 31.5 cm; W.: 27.5 cm; D.: 4.5 cm, Department of Egyptian Antiquities, Musée du Louvre, (E 605). |
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The Louvre
quai du Louvre
+ 40 20 51 51 - 40 20 53 17
Paris
Napoleon Hall
The Gates of Heaven
Visions of the World
in Ancient Egypt
March 6-June 29, 2009
In the ancient Egyptian language, “gates of heaven” referred to the doors on a sacred shrine holding the statue of a god. Opening these doors brought the divine world into contact with the human one, an act that enabled the Universe to perpetuate itself by renewing the process of creation. It also allowed humans to glimpse an image of an ineffable reality. Closing the doors was merely the prelude to another, future rebirth; in the meantime, the god returned to the shadowy Beyond, withdrawing his image from human sight.
Egyptians felt that certain places acted, in a way, as replicas of these shrines containing divine statues. These places were therefore endowed with doors — actual or false — which represented the transition between physical and mental realities. This exhibition focuses on four of these realities: the ordered Universe, the Beyond, the tomb chapel, and the temple forecourt. Objects designed to depict these worlds or to be placed within them reflect a complex logic that reveals the intricacy of Egyptian philosophy, far removed from our own rational, Cartesian way of thinking.
Egyptian imagery thus developed a rich visual rhetoric: evocations of the whole through depiction of a part; visual transpositions; overlapping effects; virtual reality; interplay between sound, text, and image; accumulation or synthesis of elements; ellipses; complementarity between two- and three-dimensional figures; and internal dynamics that evoke the equivalent of perpetual motion. This exhibition, featuring masterpieces and other works in French and European collections, offers a new analysis of ancient Egyptians’ visual and mental representations through an exploration of their rhetoric and a few aspects of the civilization that generated it.
The Universe
as divine sanctuary
The Universe was conceived as an organized structure housing the gods and everything they created, reflecting a multi-faceted, complex creative process.
Nun, “father of the gods.” Nun existed before the world was created. It was a body of water that contained divine entities whose potential had not yet been realized. There was darkness, inertia, and chaos. Egyptian creation tales describe the transition from a formless state to a structured one, thanks the appearance of a solid area on the surface of Nun. This phenomenon triggered a dynamic that culminated in the construction of the Universe by one or several deities, at which point the primordial waters receded to the edge of perceptible reality. These waters continued to surround the created world, threatening to overwhelm it and return it to an inert state. The material and immaterial structure of the Universe thus served as a rampart to prevent this apocalyptic cataclysm.
A division of worlds. The few surviving Egyptian depictions of the Universe divide it into realms that more or less correspond to the nature of their inhabitants: the earth for living beings; the heavens for divine beings; and Duat, the Beyond, for deceased gods and humans. These realms were structurally interdependent, linked by passageways described as gates whether or not they could be crossed. Gods, kings and men worked jointly to insure the perpetuity of these realms, of everything found in them, and of the dynamics uniting them. Egyptian imagery thus functioned as one vector of the necessary and sufficient task of perpetuating the Universe.
The celestial underworld,
or mysterious Beyond
The Beyond was an integral part of the ordered universe, representing an intermediate zone between the edge of the visible—or conceivable—world and the waters of Nun. Both its location and its organization were therefore simultaneously precise and vague.
Complex in nature. The western horizon marked the boundary where the Beyond began. The setting sun entered Duat, an underworld that was nevertheless celestial because the sun moved across it at night. This realm was simultaneously a counter-earth, a counter-heaven, and a counter-Nile—a reverse image of every component of visible human reality. Its structure was very complicated, for sky, waters, flames, land, and darkness were juxtaposed and overlapping. Not just a passage for the sun at night, it was also the sanctuary of Osiris, the dreaded god of the dead. Indeed, Duat was the abode of the dead, retaining their mortal remains yet allowing their immortal entities to return to the world of the living.
Multiple aspects. The multiple natures and functions of this realm explain its various depictions. It might be the sum of linked, partitioned spaces through which the sun travels to regenerate itself, or it might be a set of fortress-spaces nestling inside one another, guarding the residence of Osiris. Caverns, celestial spheres, and natural or contrived landscapes all reflect the many funerary concepts linked to survival and regeneration. The same is true of its inhabitants, whose appearance reflects the mystery associated with this netherworld.
Coming and going:
the tomb chapel
Erected at the edge of the desert, a tomb chapel provided the deceased with a counterpart to his or her former home on earth. An underground vault held the remains, shielding them from the world of the living and protecting them from aggression. In contrast, the chapel above the vault directly linked the deceased to people who remained “on earth.”
An indispensable building. A tomb chapel could be compared to a somewhat special temple. A dead person’s supernatural entities could leave the land of the dead and enter the chapel to avail themselves of real or pictured offerings. The chapel restrained these entities, preventing them from wandering further afield in the world of the living, where they might do harm. It served as a landmark and refuge that allowed an individual’s immortal entities to come and go between worlds, and to find their owner easily.
A system of survival. At first sight, the scenes decorating the chapel walls — and, more rarely, the burial vault — are striking testimony to the triumph of life. They provide precious information on many aspects of everyday life. Their sole goal, however, was the survival of the chapel’s owner, a way of sustaining the individual. Scenes of farming or craft activities, plus important events in the deceased’s life, were simply a permanent version, on a solid support, of the series of offerings and other acts made on behalf of the deceased (whose exemplary behavior merited them). Texts accompanying these scenes — as well as more specifically funerary images — were also part of the system of survival. Depending on social status, this system might be highly elaborate or fairly minimal — indeed, artificial.
At the Gates of Heaven:
The temple forecourt
The temple was the point of contact between the world of gods and the world of humans, there where earth and heaven intersected in a shrine that housed a statue of the deity.
The dwelling place of a god. The land of Egypt contained a multitude of temples dedicated to deities of varying importance within the Egyptian pantheon. However, within their own temples even minor deities were considered — at least, locally — as the creator of the world and the guarantor of its perpetuation. The temple was therefore perceived as the god’s abode, whether permanent or mere sleeping place. The statue was the object of a daily ritual: after the “gates of heaven” protecting the shrine were opened, the statue was brought forth, fed, dressed, and adorned. By being present in the real, created world, the deity contributed to its continued existence.
A human horizon. The temple was a sacred zone that called for purifying rituals. Access was usually forbidden to people who were not part of the personnel who performed the rites. The sanctuary was separated from the rest of the world by a wall with monumental gates; opening them was a human equivalent of the divine manifestation of the daily rising of the sun on the horizon. The gates of the temple were therefore a human version of the “gates of heaven” — being near them was a way of approaching divinity. |
