Answer: Sculptures of royalty were often placed in tombs where they were meant to protect and provide for the spirit, or ka, in the afterlife. Such sculptures acted as duplicates of mummified bodies, and so they had to last forever to house the spirit of the dead if the body decayed. Sculptors, therefore, gave figures compact, rigid poses with no projecting parts that might break. The frontal, symmetrical poses and solemn, confident expressions also created a timeless quality that connected one pharaoh to the next. Instead of sculpting lifelike proportions, artists followed a canon of proportions and gave figures broad shoulders and slim waists. The Egyptians considered those proportions ideal for representing nobles, royalty, and the gods. Egyptian artists also conventionalized skin tones, and painted sculptures of men reddish-brown and those of women a creamy color.
Explanation: According to Egyptian beliefs, some of the images, paintings, or carvings that were created in tombs were believed to come to life and accompany the mummified decedent into the afterlife as soon as they were buried.