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
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)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase Fund