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Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 49.18_PS9.jpg)
Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 49.18_PS9.jpg)
Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 49.18_PS9.jpg)

Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 49.18_PS9.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.18.jpg)

Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.18.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.49.18_wwg8.jpg)

Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.49.18_wwg8.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.18_negA_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.18_negA_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.18_negB_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.18_negB_bw_IMLS.jpg)

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Scribe and Official

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Scenes of daily life, many of which may actually have had religious significance, were a basic element of private-tomb decoration until the first part of Dynasty XVIII. Their renewed popularity in tombs of Dynasties XXV and XXVI reflects that era's penchant for the past. It is uncertain whether the unusual frontal depiction of the scribe shown here is an archaism or an innovation of the relief's own time.

CULTURE Egyptian
MEDIUM Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo)
  • Possible Place Collected: Thebes (El-Assasif), Egypt
    • DATES ca. 670–650 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY late Dynasty 25 to early Dynasty 26
    PERIOD Late Third Intermediate Period to early Late Period
    DIMENSIONS 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 49.18
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Fragment of limestone tomb relief. At left in raised relief, incomplete figure of seated man. In center, squatting scribe, body entirely frontal, facing left, holding in front of him a long palette. At right, large unidentified object (a misunderstood scribe's box?). Inscriptions in raised relief; left 'Steward of the land of Lower Egypt'; center, 'Scribe of the gang of Lower Egypt?' Register division at top and bottom. Companion piece of 48.74 and 49.17. Remains of color on body of scribe and on hieroglyphs. Condition: Poor. Lower left area missing. Entire stone cracked and split along many fissures.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Egyptian. Scribe and Official, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 49.18_PS9.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 49.18_PS9.jpg., 2019
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
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    Egyptian. <em>Scribe and Official</em>, ca. 670–650 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment (Egyptian blue, indigo), 7 1/4 × 1 1/2 × 10 1/2 in., 5.5 lb. (18.4 × 3.8 × 26.7 cm, 2.49kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.18. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 49.18_PS9.jpg)

    TAGS

    Fragment of Tomb Relief
    fragment
    tomb
    relief
    B.C.E.
    hieroglyphics
    limestone
    painted
    Thebes, Asasif, Egypt
    Late 25th-Early 26th Dynasty
    Late Third Intermediate Period- Early Late Period
    Sculpture Relief
    Egypt
    Egyptian
    25th Dynasty
    Third Intermediate Period
    Late Period
    Asasif
    670-650 B.C.E.

    TAGS

    Fragment of Tomb Relief
    fragment
    tomb
    relief
    B.C.E.
    hieroglyphics
    limestone
    painted
    Thebes, Asasif, Egypt
    Late 25th-Early 26th Dynasty
    Late Third Intermediate Period- Early Late Period
    Sculpture Relief
    Egypt
    Egyptian
    25th Dynasty
    Third Intermediate Period
    Late Period
    Asasif
    670-650 B.C.E.

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