Louvre

The Seated Scribe

The seated scribe is one of the masterpieces of the art of the Ancient Egyptian Empire. It summarizes all the wonderfulness of this art and the symbols of the importance of the scribe.

It is a frontal statue, a common characteristic of the Egyptian statues. The position of the scribe, seated cross-legged on a base painted black, represents the very act of writing. Once he should have had an aromatic cane in his right hand that was used to write and we can still see the white papyri partially unrolled.

His position is unique mixing calm, rigidity and an incredible simplicity in the act of his craft. His face is sharp, his nose and mouth are well aligned and a mark of paint marks the eyebrows. The eyes, particularly admirable, are embedded in the orbits and consist of white magnesite and rock crystal, conferring a great presence to the eye. His body, especially the torso, is marked by a certain strength, with protuberances in the belly and hips, however, the hands are very thin, all fingers are subtly individualized showing how important they were to write.

Despite the general attitude is still a little stiff, the realism of the figure, with the quality of the modeling of the face, hands and torso, the bright appearance of the character and the beautiful polychrome, totally intact, make this scribe a fundamental work of Egyptian art.