A reference list for interested students. (The department does not currently offer Near Eastern and Egyption Art and Archaeology as a Special Field.)
Historical survey - Egypt and Mesopotamia:
W.W. Hallo and W.K. Simpson, The Ancient Near East: A History (1971)
Handbooks and other cross-temporal surveys:
P. Amiet, The Art of the Ancient Near East (1980)
D. Collon, First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East (1987)
_______, Ancient Near Eastern Art (1995)
I.E.S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt (rev. edn.; 1988)
H. Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (4th edn.; 1970)
S. Lloyd, The Archaeology of Mesopotamia (1969)
J. Oates, Babylon (1986)
W.S. Smith, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt (rev edn. with W.K. Simpson; 1981)
Important food for thought:
E.W. Said, Orientalism (1978)Recommended specialized studies:
C. Aldred, Akhenaten - King of Egypt (1988)
W. Davis, The Canonical Tradition in Ancient Egyptian Art (1989)
M.B. Garrison, "Seals and the elite at Persepolis: some observations on Early Achaemenid Persian art." Ars Orientalis 21 (1991): 1-29.
M. Gibson and R.D. Biggs, eds., Seals and Sealings in the Ancient Near East (1977)
A.C. Gunter, ed., Investigating Artistic Environments in the Ancient Near East (1990)
C. Nylander, Ionians in Pasargadae (1970)
A. Perkins, "Narration in Babylonian art." AJA 61 (1957): 54-62.
J.N. Postgate, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History (1992)
M.C. Root, The King and Kingship in Achaemenid Art: Essays on the Creation of a Iconography of Empire (1979)
I.J. Winter, "After the battle is over: the stele of the vultures and the beginning of historical narrative in the art of the ancient Near East." Studies in the History of Art 16 (1985): 11-32.
N.B. 'Egyptian' = Proto-dynastic through Persian periods; 'Near Eastern' = Proto-literate through Persian periods, Mesopotamian traditions and legacy in Achaemenid Persia