Open palms

Journal article

Most representations of open hands in Egyptian art show the divisions of the four fingers and not the lines of the palm, and can thus be described as representing the “back” of the hand. Some exceptions to this rule were collected by Riefstahl (1951). Many of these date to the late 18th–19th dynasties, but examples are found in all periods and total in the hundreds. There are relatively few standard poses in Egyptian art in which the rendering of palm lines is appropriate. It is desirable to explore why this form was relatively uncommon and what meanings were attached to it and whether it correlates with other relatively unusual details changes in anatomical representation. As with the rendering of the near foot studied by Russmann (1980), answers to these questions are not likely to lie simply in representational experiment, but probably also encompass symbolic domains.

Authors: Baines, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Not peer reviewed
• Publication date: 1992-01-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• Language: English
• Keywords: Egyptian art; palms; open hands
• Subjects: Oriental Studies