Mesmerizing eyes

Creepy, huh? Yes it is. And the workmen ran away in terror as they found them. True story…

If you’re wondering where you’ve seen these statues before, there are 2 possible answers:

Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt
My previous post about Cairo

These mesmerizing eyes belong to Rahotep and Nefret‘s statues, dated 2575-2551 BCE.

They are made of crystal. This technique was used for a short period during the Old Kingdom and 12th / 13th Dynasties, and believe it or not, Egyptologists still haven’t solved the mystery of the technique used to create them.

Don’t they just look alive? Moreover, the statues are almost perfectly conserved. Can you believe they’ve been waiting for more than 4 millenniums before being discovered?

But this is not the only example of crystal eyes.

Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Above is a photo of the Seated Scribe (Musée du Louvre), another magnificent example of such technique.

And if the life-like feature isn’t enough, another amazing fact is the illusion of the following eyes. Yessir, they seem to follow you as you move around them. Even creepier!

Last but not least is the statue of King Hor (Egyptian Museum in Cairo, 2 photos in the slideshow)

[slideshow]

Dated around 1700 BCE (he’s young!), this is the last known piece with the crystal stone eyes. And to me it was love at first sight!

I can’t wait to go back to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to take some pictures, and once more feel that mix of fascination, excitement, uneasiness and respect that only ancient Egyptians give me every time.

Did you guys know about the crystal eyes technique? How do you like it? I think this is just another evidence of the ancient Egyptians’ genius.