Pyramids, mummies, ancient gods and obelisks — there is something about ancient Egypt that fascinates the Western world. For nearly three thousand years, the ancient Egyptians have inspired obsession and imitation, from ancient Greek structures inspired by temples of Isis to the scarab jewels of Cartier. Read on to learn more about how Egypt has influenced the arts over the ages.
Interest in ancient Egypt has existed for centuries, but it was not until the early 18th century and the Enlightenment when the fervor for all things Egyptian — also known as “Egyptomania” — really began to take off. The great neoclassical theorist Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) was one Enlightenment-era philosopher responsible for the fervor. Winckelmann is largely considered the father of modern archeology, and he was the first to produce scholarship on all ancient art — including the Etruscans and Egyptians. Thanks to the influence of his work, decorative motifs of Egyptian origin became more and more popular in both furniture and the decorative arts.
The famed potter Josiah Wedgwood was one of the first artisans to adopt the trend; he first introduced Egyptian-inspired designs in the mid-1700s. The firm's catalogue of 1773 presented sphinxes and other Egyptian motifs executed in black and red stoneware. Beyond the decorative arts, architects such as William Chambers and Robert Adam also experimented with Egyptian motifs beginning in the 1770s.
Yet, it was in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when Egyptomania went from a fad to an obsession. Interest in Egyptian-inspired motifs surged in the West following Napoléon’s successful campaign of the region. In addition to his military aims, Napoléon used the campaign in an unprecedented way - to mount the first comprehensive scientific expedition with the intention of studying both ancient and modern Egypt. For this purpose, he brought to Egypt a team of artists, historians and scientists to systematically study the region and its inhabitants, and the final result of their exhaustive research was the Description de l'Égypte.
These highly detailed volumes took over 20 years to complete, and remain among the most fascinating and influential relics of scientific study. Published between 1809 and 1826, the volumes stimulated the first large-scale wave of the Egyptian Revival style that permeated throughout Europe in the 19th century.
Adding to the fervor brought about by the Description de l'Égypte was Jean-Franƈois Champollion’s deciphering of hieroglyphs in 1822, proving once and for all that they were language rather than mystic symbols. Thanks to the scientific expeditions of the early 18th century, artifacts were obtained for new museum collections in Europe. Perhaps the largest was a 3000-year-old obelisk installed at the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris in 1936; it was a gift to France from Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Ottoman Egypt, in exchange for a French mechanical clock.
Enamored by the exotic and austere aesthetic of these artifacts, Western artisans and architects began to incorporate these Egyptian motifs into all aspects of their work. In the United States, the Washington Monument, begun in 1848, took the shape of an obelisk. London’s Crystal Palace Exposition in 1854 presented a number of reproductions of Egyptian buildings and artifacts in its “Egyptian Court.” Two other obelisks were installed in urban centers in the late 19th century: London in 1878 and New York in 1881.
Naturally, the influence of these large-scale monuments trickled down into the decorative arts. Obelisks carved from rare hardstones such as porphyry became remarkably popular, but other Egyptian monuments such as the sphinx and the pyramids were similarly mimicked.
By the turn of the century, the Egyptian Revival had somewhat waned, though it never entirely disappeared thanks to the popularity of plays and films based in Egypt. Sarah Bernhardt wowed theatre audiences in the 1891 melodrama Cleopatra by Sardou and Moreau, while the story also came to the big screen in 1917 with Theda Bara’s Cleopatra.
The 1920s saw another wave of Egyptian Revival following the discovery of the young King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. After the excavation, the Western world went mad for all things Egyptian, as images and news footage of archaeological digs in Egypt spread around the globe. More than 3,000 years after his death, the pharaoh helped to shape the modern world, creating a new craze for Egyptian exoticism. The archeological triumph inspired a new era of Egyptomania that influenced everything from fine art to jewelry to Hollywood films.
One of the major collectors of Egyptian artifacts was the legendary jeweler Louis Cartier, who had a particular fondness for small artifacts and faience figures made by the Egyptians thousands of years before. By the 1920s and 30s, Cartier sought to incorporate his own love for Egyptian design into his jewelry creations. Not only did he draw inspiration from antiquity, but he also used ancient artifacts and amulets culled from his personal collection to create unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.
While interest in Egyptian artifacts waned after World War II, every few decades the trend is revived. The 1963 Hollywood film Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor has gone down in history as one of the most popular films of all time, while a world tour of Tut artifacts in 1978 inspired a brief fervor in Egyptian motifs. Even Las Vegas’ Luxor Casino, built in 1993, represents a modern ode to the everlasting trend.
Over 3000-years later, Egyptian-inspired works remain highly coveted. Click here to shop our current collection.
