Overview of the Egyptian sculpture gallery at the British Museum

The Egyptian sculpture gallery at the British Museum

Overview of the Egyptian sculpture gallery at the British Museum Overview of the Egyptian sculpture gallery at the British Museum
The top half of the Rosetta Stone showing the hieroglyphic and demotic scripts The top half of the Rosetta Stone showing the hieroglyphic and demotic scripts
The Rosetta Stone, a granite stone with an ancient Egyptian text inscribed. The Rosetta Stone, a granite stone with an ancient Egyptian text inscribed.
A statue of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I as the god Osiris A statue of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep I as the god Osiris
Looking up at a colossal granite head of a pharaoh. Looking up at a colossal granite head of a pharaoh.
The arm from a colossal granite statue of an Egyptian pharaoh. The arm from a colossal granite statue of an Egyptian pharaoh.
A granite statue of a lion from ancient Egypt, in the British Museum, with visitors walking past. A granite statue of a lion from ancient Egypt, in the British Museum, with visitors walking past.
A granite statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep the Third, in the British Museum, with visitors milling around. A granite statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep the Third, in the British Museum, with visitors milling around.

 

I was down in London in November 2013 and was in the Bloomsbury area of London, so it’d have been rude not to stop in at the good ol’ BM. It was a lovely sunny day, and because of the time of year with the sun being low in the sky, the light was streaming in sideways through the windows atop the outer wall.

Adding in the rich, deep carving on the ancient Egyptian granite statues, it made perfect conditions for getting some lovely high-contrast black-and-white photos.

The museum is always buzzing, and I like getting people in on some of the shots. The lion, for example, sitting serenely, watching the millennia pass by whilst those around rush past in a blur.

Or the reflections of visitors on the glass casing of the Rosetta Stone. It’s virtually impossible to get a good clear shot of the Stone; it’s habitually surrounded by an adoring entourage, so I decided to make a feature of this with the reflections.

I decided to photograph the two colossal statues from right underneath; you often see pictures where the photographer has stood back to get a full-frontal, but in this case, I think standing right in front and looking up makes them look more imposing.

Oh, and as for that colossal arm … I was so tempted to Photoshop in a large KAPPOW! 🙂

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