Thursday, October 29, 2009

Exhibitions

The Return of the King
The Mark News
Ron Lephrohon

I have spent close to 40 years learning about ancient Egypt, its history, language, religious beliefs, architecture, artistic conventions, and the multi-layered symbolism behind every object. But I never cease to marvel at the stunning beauty of the artifacts and the sheer magic of looking at a piece made by a human being over 33 centuries ago.

And here I am, in 2009, standing right in front of it, with that craftsman’s work reaching across time and space and talking to me. Every detail tells a little bit more of the story and every colour is meaningful. Yet it doesn’t even matter how much we know about these objects, simply because the craftsmanship is so exquisite. Any woodworker will marvel at the precision of the ancient craftsman, working patiently with his copper tools. Any jeweller will be absolutely stunned by the quality of execution of the pieces, from the soldering work to the inlaying of semi-precious stones.

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