Ostracon with a Drawing of a King

Description

Egyptian artists often made sketches on flakes of limestone, called ostraca. This example shows how the preliminary outline was done in red pigment, then corrected, and finished in black. Often these sketches were the work of two craftsmen, a draftsman and a master artist. This ostracon shows a king wearing a crown with streamers and a pleated kilt. He leans on a standard topped with the ram-headed emblem of the god Amun.

Provenance

Ralph Huntington Blanchard (1875-1936), Cairo; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago through James Henry Breasted as agent, 1919.

Ostracon with a Drawing of a King

Ancient Egyptian

New Kingdom, mid-Dynasty 19–Dynasty 20, about 1213–1069 BCE

Accession Number

121738

Medium

Limestone and pigment

Dimensions

24.1 × 15.2 × 3.2 cm (9 1/2 × 6 × 1 1/4 in.)

Classification

drawings (visual works)

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Museum Purchase Fund