The Seated Scribe​, c. 2620-2500 B.C.E.

The Seated Scribe​, c. 2620-2500 B.C.E., c. 4th Dynasty, Old Kingdom, painted limestone with rock crystal, magnesite, and copper/arsenic inlay for the eyes and wood for the nipples, found in Saqqara (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

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We're in the Louvre and we're looking at The Seated Scribe, which is an Old Kingdom sculpture that's not life-size

from about 2600 B.C.E. or let's say about 4600 years old.

Right, so it's from the Necropolis at Saqqara.

Where the the step pyramid is, the Djoser step pyramid.

So it's an important Old Kingdom site.

The sculpture is important for a whole bunch of reasons.

Not only what it tells us about Egyptian society, but also because it's a remarkably distinct sculpture in what is often a very rigid, pictorial tradition.

In that he looks very informal. He is cross-legged, seated on the ground. He's holding a papyrus scroll.

He would have been holding, of course, originally some sort of reed pen.

And he does look very human, very natural, compared to the more hieratic way that we usually see Egyptian figures.

And that has to do with the fact that he's not of kingly divine pharonic status.

He's a scribe. He's important, extremely important in the hierarchy of Egyptian society.

He can write, which was a very important skill.

And was obviously of a very high class because he had a sculpture made of him.

But still he's not a divine figure, and so he can be represented in this more naturalistic fashion.

You know it's interesting you said that he was very important, and I think that's expressed in a number of subtle ways.

Not only was he literate and entrusted in a sense with the writing of the state, presumably.

But there's a little bit of fat around his middle, and archaeologists believe that that's actually a signifier for his wealth.

You can also tell that he's middle aged because, you know not only from his fat, but he looks like he's lost some muscle tone in his arms and his chest.

And he has a sense of wisdom to him.

A little bit individualized, kind of thin lips and big ears and these inset eyes that make him look incredibly alive.

The iris is a rock crystal. It's been drilled and there's a bit of color behind them.

And they're really exceptional. There's some copper that actually surrounds the eye, which is really very beautiful.

And he's painted with red ochre and also a color black for his hair.

And if we think about the color, the inset eyes, his individuality, his relaxed informal pose, he's very natural.

And I say that, but at the same time he's really not right because he's meant only to be seen from the front.

He is a funerary sculpture and so there is also something meant to be transcendent here.

Well it's interesting you said meant to be seen from the front - yes, but since this is for the interior of a tomb - no one was meant to see it at all.

That's right it really is meant for the afterlife. And it's so interesting that here is sculpture that truly transcends human life

and that was meant for the afterlife, meant for this sort of eternal existence.

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This video was made possible by a generous gift from Kevin Bradshaw