"Seated Scribe"

Title: "Seated Scribe"
Artist: Unknown
Medium: Painted limestone sculpture, rock crystals, magnesite, copper-arsenic alloy, wood
Era: Old Kingdom Egypt
2620-2500 BCE
Location: Saqqara, Egypt

This sculpture was discovered in 1850 CE by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette. One of the pharaoh's scribes is depicted here, although generally sculptures depicted the royal family. An interesting thing to know about the scribe is that his hands and his face are the most detailed part of the sculpture. This is because the scribe uses his face, with his eyes and mouth, and his hands the most in his line of work. The eyes of this sculpture are shown with slightly off-centered pupils, to create the illusion that his eyes are moving. The scribe's hands are shown in the writing position, and it appears that his right hand originally held a brush.

The sculpture's semicircular base indicates that it originally fit into a larger piece of rock, which likely carried its title and name.

This sculpture is unusually realistic for its time, with a less than ideal figure and without an idealized face. This may be partly because it is not a royal figure depicted, but a worker.