Existing comment:
The First Intermediate Period:
The objects in this case all date to the First Intermediate Period (ca 2150-2030 BC), which saw the breakdown of a centralized state in Egypt and the establishment of competing dynasties based in different capitals (Thebes in the south and Herakliopolis in the north). The period was brought to an end by the reunification of Egypt under Theban rule by Mentuhotep II in the middle of Dynasty 11.
Famine, civil war, and economic decline deprived artists of many of the raw materials that were available in the Old Kingdom as well as the centralized patronage that had maintained consistent stylistic standards. The burial practices of this period were much less lavish than those of the other times and the mummification techniques less accomplished. |