Background:

Scribes were very important in ancient Egypt. They were educated individuals. Scribes held a very important political post thus they had to be honest and secretive. They job was to record events and he was entrusted with things that nobody else knew. There were different types of scribes; the royal scribe, the temple scribe, and the daily life scribe. Accordingly, scribes were usually royal relatives. Scribes were highly respected.

Scribal equipment: 

<!--A board containing two ink wells black and red known as sS

<!--A feather or a quill

<!--A papyrus roll

<!--A bag of accessories

There are two very important scribes’ statues one exhibited in Paris and the un known seated scribe in the Egyptian museum.

The statue:

 The identity of the owner of the statue is unknown. He is seated in a squatting position crossed legs. It is made out of painted limestone. It dates back to the Old Kingdom 5th dynasty. It was excavated by the Egyptian Antiquities in 1893 at Saqqara. He is wearing a straight hair wig exposing part of his ears as if he is listening. Facial features are very well represented. The eyes are inlaid and lined. The white part of the eye is made out of opaque quartz, the cornea with rock crystal and the eye pupil with black nail or resin. They are lined with rusted copper thus it turned green. The eye brows are depicted in high relief. The head is clinging towards the side as if he is listening to someone dictating him. His eyes are looking towards the right for the same reason also the wrinkles around the nose. The delicate nose and opened nostrils gives the impression of real breathing. His mouth is well represented as well as his high cheek bones. There used to be a false beard indicating his important post. He represents realism in art. There used to be a necklace around his neck but now it is missing. The details of the body are well represented. It was painted with reddish brown. He is wearing a kilt and holding a roll of papyrus on his lap. One hand is holding the roll and the other is in the position of writing. Most probably there was a feather in his hand. The artist was skillful to free the statue from a back pillar or from filling the gaps between the hands. The statue combines between idealism in the well representation of the body features and realism in the representation of the facial features.