Details
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 1956
A pair of "Tablets" from the Cecil B. deMille epic starring Charlton Heston. The Ten Commandments is arguably the ultimate Hollywood studio achievement. With a cast of thousands, including dozens of major stars and character actors, the four hour film was ten years in the planning and two years in actual production. The artistic design of The Ten Commandments was extravagant, even by Mr. deMille's exacting standards; instead of using the studio research department, respected egyptologist Henry Noerdlinger was hired. Based on his findings, thousands of drawings, sketches, costume designs, storyboards and, of course, the Tablets themselves were created. Their design was the focus of much pre-production attention. Traditional differences among the world's religions in the sequence of the Commandments were considered, as well as discrepancies in the number of Commandments on each Tablet. Research at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago suggests that the lettering would have been of early Canaanite style developed during the late Bronze Age, the era of Moses. In a key moment in the film, when Moses comes down from the mountain carrying the Ten Commandments, and finds his people worshipping the Golden Calf, he throws the Tablets into the den of iniquity, which is swallowed up by the opening earth. Fiberglass Tablets, as well as Tablets carved from Mt. Sinai red granite, were used in the making of The Ten Commandments.
The Tablets are made of thick, richly hewn fiberglass and are marked on the back Left side facing plaque and Right side facing plaque--24H x 11 3/4L x 1 1/4D in.
A pair of "Tablets" from the Cecil B. deMille epic starring Charlton Heston. The Ten Commandments is arguably the ultimate Hollywood studio achievement. With a cast of thousands, including dozens of major stars and character actors, the four hour film was ten years in the planning and two years in actual production. The artistic design of The Ten Commandments was extravagant, even by Mr. deMille's exacting standards; instead of using the studio research department, respected egyptologist Henry Noerdlinger was hired. Based on his findings, thousands of drawings, sketches, costume designs, storyboards and, of course, the Tablets themselves were created. Their design was the focus of much pre-production attention. Traditional differences among the world's religions in the sequence of the Commandments were considered, as well as discrepancies in the number of Commandments on each Tablet. Research at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago suggests that the lettering would have been of early Canaanite style developed during the late Bronze Age, the era of Moses. In a key moment in the film, when Moses comes down from the mountain carrying the Ten Commandments, and finds his people worshipping the Golden Calf, he throws the Tablets into the den of iniquity, which is swallowed up by the opening earth. Fiberglass Tablets, as well as Tablets carved from Mt. Sinai red granite, were used in the making of The Ten Commandments.
The Tablets are made of thick, richly hewn fiberglass and are marked on the back Left side facing plaque and Right side facing plaque--24H x 11 3/4L x 1 1/4D in.
Literature
Moses and Egypt, The Documentation to the Motion Picture The Ten Commandments, University of Southern California Press, Los Angeles, 1956.