<em>Scribe's Exercise Board with Hieratic Text</em>, ca. 1514–1493 B.C.E. Wood, ink, 6 3/16 x 10 15/16 x 3/16 in. (15.7 x 27.8 x 0.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.119. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 16.119_front_PS11.jpg)

Scribe's Exercise Board with Hieratic Text, ca. 1514–1493 B.C.E. Wood, ink, 6 3/16 x 10 15/16 x 3/16 in. (15.7 x 27.8 x 0.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.119. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 16.119_front_PS11.jpg)

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Scribe's Exercise Board with Hieratic Text

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

Hieratic, the cursive form of hieroglyphs, was used most commonly for writing literature, business and personal letters, and record keeping. The text is an extract from “The Instructions of King Amunemhat,” composed nearly four hundred years earlier. The king urges his son: “Be on your guard against all who are subordinate to you . . . trust no brother, know no friend, make no intimates.” This “teaching” belonged to a common literary genre of classic texts often used to practice writing.

MEDIUM Wood, ink

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 1514–1493 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 6 3/16 x 10 15/16 x 3/16 in. (15.7 x 27.8 x 0.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 16.119

CREDIT LINE Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Oblong wooden scribe’s exercise board, gesso coated, with obverse and reverse inscribed in Hieratic with portion of “Instructions of Amenemmes I” (Text in black, dots in red). The board is a typical exercise board of the New Kingdom and has the customary hole for suspension on the right edge. There are faint traces of other inscriptions presumably erased by the scribe. Condition: Extremely fragile. Fragments missing from upper edge and left side; small portion of gesso coating missing. Entire object assembled from many fragments.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Scribe's Exercise Board with Hieratic Text, ca. 1514–1493 B.C.E. Wood, ink, 6 3/16 x 10 15/16 x 3/16 in. (15.7 x 27.8 x 0.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.119. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 16.119_front_PS11.jpg)

IMAGE front, 16.119_front_PS11.jpg., 2019

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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.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What kind of ink was used for these writings?

Great question. Black ink was often made of soot mixed with water and reed brushes were used to write with.