Does the Egyptian cannon of proportion use a grid?
Whenever the Ancient Egyptian artists sculptured, inscribed or painted figures, their proportions would be determined by a canon of proportions. Up until the end of the New Kingdom’s 26th Dynasty, the Ancient Egyptians used a grid that measured 18 units to the hairline, or 19 units to the top of the head. The height of the figure was usually measured to the hairline rather than the top of the head, this part of the head often being concealed by a crown or head piece making it difficult to base a canon of proportions on.1 This separation of the crown of the skull from the rest of the body reduces the height of the figure to 18 units and provides a consistent point upon which a figure’s proportions could be based. In the Old Kingdom a more simple canon was used, from which the later grid of 18 squares evolved. Also based on the height of the forehead or hairline, this canon had generally six lines, five of which form the basis of, and therefore corresponded to the later 18/19 canon. Occa
