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There are many guides to the complex system of hieroglyphic writing, but this is the only one I'm aware of that shows how hieroglyphic iconography shaped Egyptian art. Hieroglyphs were used as decorative motifs, and their forms were woven—often obviously, sometimes subtly—into innumerable scenes in representative art. This book is a sampler of the hieroglyphic forms that appear most often in art, with its organization based on Alan Gardiner's system for classifying hieroglyphic signs by the objects they represent. It only scratches the surface of the topic of symbolism, but it's useful as far as it goes. (Plus, I have fond memories of poring over this book years ago, when it was one of the few sources available to satisfy my nascent Egyptomania.)

The human poses, listed at the beginning of the catalogue of signs, are a case in point as to why a guide to this subject is needed. The meaning of the image of a nursing woman, for example, isn't hard to grasp. In contrast, the pose shown on the front cover looks like it might be some kind of Egyptian tai chi but represents an ancient Egyptian ritual act of beating the chest in praise of a god. Animal-shaped signs are easy to recognize, but some come with unexpected connotations, such as the use of the lapwing as a symbol of subjugated people. More abstract-looking signs, such as the renpet, nefer, and sema-tawy signs, are very widespread in art and carry meanings that no one unfamiliar with hieroglyphs would guess at. Even the familiar ankh sign, the only hieroglyph that has really been adopted into the modern vocabulary of symbols, can stand for water or air in addition to life.

As pointed out by Richard Parkinson in Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone and Decipherment, it is possible to overestimate how hieroglyph-like Egyptian art was, as if the art were rigidly based on the writing system. In every culture, including ours, art is profoundly shaped by symbolism; it's just that our system of symbolism is so familiar to us that it's often practically subconscious. Nevertheless, this book is a good introduction to the system of symbols that the Egyptians used. For the principles of that system, see Wilkinson's companion volume, Symbol & Magic in Egyptian Art. Wider-ranging guides to distinct symbols include An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt and Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt.