‘Egyptian Inscriptions’ at NMEC extols Egyptian sculpting tradition

The Egyptian monumental skill of sculpture goes way back to ancient Egypt. Despite the fact that this art dwindled and died during Islamic times on account of its being linked to idol worship, it saw a brilliant revival in the 20th century and is now among the well established arts in Egypt.

“Egyptian Inscriptions” was the theme title of a cultural event organised by the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in Fustat, Old Cairo, on 7 May 2022, with the aim of shedding light on ancient and modern sculpting techniques.

The activities included four live interactive workshops on different materials and in various techniques. One concerned metal sculpting which was performed by Safwat Sobeih, artist of metal-casting at the NMEC. Mr Sobeih explained to visitors the steps of sculpting copper metal. He used as a model the axe of King Ahmose who was Pharaoh in 1550 – 1525BC.

Another workshop focused on clay sculpture and was conducted by Farah Mustafa who carved a young woman’s head in clay. Visitors were also treated to sessions of sculpting granite and black basalt stones by sculptor Taha Mahdi.

The ‘pencil sculpting’ workshop was a different kind of sculpting performed by artist Ibrahim Bilal who managed to draw the attention and admiration of visitors by the intricacy of sculpting on very small objects, to the point of having to use magnifying lenses to see the sculptures on the tiny objects.