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Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_SL1.jpg)
Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_SL1.jpg)
Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_SL1.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_SL1.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.52.129_erg2.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.52.129_erg2.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.52.129_1996_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.52.129_1996_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_negA_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_negA_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.52.129.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.52.129.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.52.129_1996_xrs_detail02.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.52.129_1996_xrs_detail02.jpg)

Egyptian. <em>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.52.129_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)

Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.52.129_1996_xrs_detail03.jpg)

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Goddess Seshat

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Seshat, whose name means “female scribe,” was the goddess of writing and record keeping. She was believed to have responsibility for recording regnal years and maintaining the House of Life, an archive containing Egypt’s sacred books. This fragment—found at the Pyramid Temple of Senwosret I—was copied from a relief carved at least three hundred years earlier for Pepy II, the last great ruler of the Old Kingdom.
CULTURE Egyptian
MEDIUM Limestone
  • Place Excavated: Lisht, Egypt
    • DATES ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 12
    PERIOD Middle Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 52.129
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Limestone relief. In sunk relief, at right the goddess Seshat seated, recording on papyrus the royal booty. Epithet of goddess incised to left. Upper edge of relief preserves portion of register of kneeling captives. At left, incomplete column of seated foreigners or captives. Condition: Incomplete. Lower left and upper right corner lost; Upper register badly cracked. Lower right area also cracked. Surface weathered. No remains of paint.
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Egyptian. Goddess Seshat, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 52.129_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "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>Goddess Seshat</em>, ca. 1919–1875 B.C.E. Limestone, 20 11/16 x 23 1/4 in. (52.5 x 59 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.129. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.129_SL1.jpg)

    TAGS

    limestone
    hieroglyphics
    stone
    narrative
    Egyptian
    Egypt
    Hieroglyphs
    Seshat
    godesses
    gods
    Sesostris I
    Senwosret I
    Lisht
    Middle Kingdom
    star
    relief
    temple
    pyramid
    Pepy II
    goddess
    Ancient
    12th Dynasty
    reign of Senwoseret I
    Female Scribe
    Record Keeping
    Pyramid Temple of Senwosret
    Sculpture Relief
    carved
    Deity
    Female
    Scribe
    Lisht, Egypt
    Sunk Relief
    Eptihet
    Papyrus
    Recording
    Seated

    TAGS

    limestone
    hieroglyphics
    stone
    narrative
    Egyptian
    Egypt
    Hieroglyphs
    Seshat
    godesses
    gods
    Sesostris I
    Senwosret I
    Lisht
    Middle Kingdom
    star
    relief
    temple
    pyramid
    Pepy II
    goddess
    Ancient
    12th Dynasty
    reign of Senwoseret I
    Female Scribe
    Record Keeping
    Pyramid Temple of Senwosret
    Sculpture Relief
    carved
    Deity
    Female
    Scribe
    Lisht, Egypt
    Sunk Relief
    Eptihet
    Papyrus
    Recording
    Seated

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