Looking to the River Nile for Inspiration (part I)

I have yet to follow one resolution I set for 2009. Oh, I had such good intentions. Is it lack of discipline? Is it because this month has become so busy? Should I have taken a right at the end of the street the other day instead of mistakenly left? Have lost control? Is it because as soon as I carefully plan for something it always seems to fall through? I wrote out just a few attainable small goals I would like to see come to fruition this year. Really, within reason. I must have jinxed something. Yesterday, I found a penny heads-up on the ground. Before I knew it, I had already picked it up and made a wish, then carefully tucked it deep inside my shoe. I need answers and I certainly do not have them. I can’t be alone with this feeling. People have always felt this way. They have needed assurance. What have they done for guidance?

So I researched. I don’t understand tea leaves. Or the stars in the sky. And I certainly want do not want any part of the entrails of a bird. Surely, there is something a little less complicated. Were there ever any answers?

The ancient Egyptians prayed to the river Nile. As the levels rose and fell leaving black silky soil behind, they could portend periods of famine or great fortune. But ultimately, everything revolved around the sun. Ra was their sun god and everything was insignificant compared to the enormity of the sun. It provided light, order, growth, and even structure. It was seen to grant revelation, knowledge, wholeness and harmony. Most of us today, love to bask in the sun for a little color. We forget how it crinkles our skin and leaves strange spots as time passes that we need to get cut out from time to time. (Or is it just me with pasty freckly skin?)

Ancient Egypt was also rigidly hierarchical with the pharaoh at the top and many nobles, workers and slaved below. Architecture and decorative arts followed this rigid order. Everything had a strict path, or axis, which organized compositions. There were also strong contrasts – light/dark, sun/shadow, open/close, solid/void, river/desert. Life seemed to black and white back then. Not many shades of grey as we have today.

All of that is quite interesting, but then thought soon turn to how did these ancient Egyptians live? What did their houses look like and most certainly their furnishings? Would we want to incorporate their design solutions in our homes today?

What about a simple stool? A pair at the end of the bed. Or a few scattered about a living room. Why don’t we see more of an Egyptian influence in design today? Napoleon and Josephine liked it. The Aesthetic Movement appreciated it. Art Deco style was inspired by it. In ancient Egypt the stool was the most common form of furniture which was easily moved from place to place. They were made of a variety of materials and styles – from wood, with a wicker or leather seat. (Above is a simple lattice stool).

The legs of the stool could either be carved to replicate animal legs, or they used the real deal.



A Liberty & Co. Thebes Stool from the late 1880s.
Madeline Stuart Thebes Stool -- now this has possibilities....