Writing board of an apprentice scribe

Writing board of an apprentice scribe

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is clear from the awkwardly formed hieroglyphs and their uneven spacing that this is the work of an apprentice scribe who was practicing his penmanship. The writing board could be used again and again by scraping or wiping off the ink and adding a new coat of whitewash. Another writing board in the collection shows corrections made in red ink.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Writing board of an apprentice scribeWriting board of an apprentice scribeWriting board of an apprentice scribeWriting board of an apprentice scribeWriting board of an apprentice scribe

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.