Towards a ‘Social Art History’
Ancient Egyptian Metalworkers in Context(s) and the Creation of Value
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21974787 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alisée Devillers (0000-0003-0461-9110, Leiden University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 37 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-27 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arts (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0752 • E-ISSN: 2076-0752 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/arts14020037 |
| OpenAlex | W4408923295 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
In this paper, I argue for a ‘social art history’ that embraces all protagonists of ancient Egyptian artistic production and integrates them into the global process of creating prestige through art. The raison d’être of artists is to translate their skills into material and immaterial media using culturally embedded codes and ideological trends of their time. In the process, artists—or at least top artists who accessed restricted knowledge—created value and prestige as a means of competition between rival elites (and the sub-elite emulating them). This paper aims to address the question of defining social value embedded in material artifacts, especially when owned by intermediary social categories such as the New Kingdom metalworkers. It will touch upon what was seen as valuable and prestigious from the Egyptians’ perspective by looking at the iconography of New Kingdom metalworkers. The paper will examine 18th–20th dynasty goldsmiths’ self-depictions as they were in charge of creating artifacts in gold, a metal connected with solar symbolism and intertwined with the divine, kingship, and membership in the high elite. Ultimately, the paper aims to tackle the question of self-presentation for people who were not part of the elite per se, i.e., the sub-elite illustrated here by the metalworkers. In so doing, it uses, in a preliminary attempt, some concepts inherited from the Chicago School of Sociology
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Economics · Value creation · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · History
The Oxford Handbook of Egyptian Epigraphy and Paleography
A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art
Travelling the Korosko Road
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
The Social Life of Things
Des valeurs
Untersuchungen zu den in der handwerklich-künstlerischen Produktion beschäftigten Personen und Berufsgruppen des Neuen Reichs
Work, Labour, and Professions in the Roman World
Patterns of Mobility among Ancient near Eastern Craftsmen
The Historical Dimension in Mortuary Expressions of Status and Sentiment [and Comments and Reply]
| Highly cited | No |
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