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Stone and stone working in Ancient Egypt

Tomb scenes often show sculptors at work, but they never show statues in an unfinished state. However, important information on the work of sculptors is supplied by unfinished statues and their fragments. The general method seems to have been to take a block of stone with a preliminary drawing of the objects to be cut. Stone tools seem to have been used for cutting the block, while details were cut with copper and bronze tools. A last stage was to polish the work with rubbing stones and quartz sand. Finally statues were painted.

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Aston/Harrell/Shaw 2000: 65-66


 

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