11/7/2023 0 Comments Egyptian scribe translatedWood or hard stone polishers were used to smooth the surfaces on which they worked (papyri or walls). There are drawings on virtually all the materials then available in Egypt : papyrus, fabric (linen), tanned hide, wood, terracotta, mouna (the earth, chalk and lime rendering used on walls of tombs) and, of course, stone, ranging from the monumental to the minute (ostracon ). He then mixed these colours with water from a small jug in pots or on fragments of curved pottery. He ground these pigments into powder using a mortar and pestle. In his palette he kept his brushes (slender reed stems chewed at one end) and cakes of colour in cupped recesses. THE EQUIPMENT OF THE ARTIST AND HIS ‘CANVASES’įrom the sketch to the finished work, the draughtsman used tools and materials specific to each successive stage of creation. The scribe ‘draws’ the written word, the draughtsman ‘writes’ the image, both roles often being executed by the same person, as in the Book of the Dead of Khonsumes (left photo). A scene on the wall of a temple or funerary chapel can be regarded as a monumental ‘determinative’ of the text accompanying it. The intricate relationship between writing and drawing is especially evident in some signs that were not made to be pronounced but remained pure drawings, acting as a ‘determinative’ supporting the understanding of the preceding word. These signs can be used in the same text, for both their sound value (phonogram) and for the idea they convey (ideogram). The hieroglyphic system with which the ancient Egyptians graphically encoded their language uses only symbols representing humanity, fauna, flora, landscape and the universe to describe both the tangible and the divine world. They had their directors, administrators, inspectors, commanders and, from the New Kingdom onwards, chiefs, whose sons were often their apprentices and succeeded them. As early as the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians’ talent for establishing professional hierarchies is apparent in the organisation of draughtsmen-painters’ workshops. Because drawing can be considered as the art of the line, sesh qedut is translated here as ‘scribe of outlines’, whereas many Egyptologists prefer ‘scribe of forms’. Based on the root 'qed', ‘to fashion, give form to or turn (as in pottery) ’, the word 'qedut' refers to the outline of a subject drawn by a 'sesh' (scribe) who, with his palette and brush, creates texts and drawings. Pronounced 'sesh qedut' and often translated as 'contour (or outline) scribe'. Hieroglyphic texts designate draughtsmen-painters by the composite expression One of the best examples of a Predynastic drawing (gazelles and a boat) can be found on painted pottery dating from the Nagada II period (). The petroglyphs show aurochs (Bos primigenius), antelopes, gazelles and hippopotami, as well as stylised images of female figures, and are between 17,000 and 19,000 years old ( and see articles in Ancient Egypt Magazine 77 and 78). Since 2004, Egyptologists from the Belgian Museums (directed by Dirk Huyge) have been exploring the sites of el-Hosh and Qurta (between Luxor and Aswan) in Upper Egypt, and have discovered the oldest animal and human drawings that are known in the country. 10.000 YEARS BEFORE THE "SCRIBES OF OUTLINES"Īs an introduction, visitors are given a glimpse of the first Predynastic drawings that appear in Egypt during the late Palaeolithic period (between 23,000 and 11,000 BC). The exhibition, which has been moved to Brussels from Paris, with some changes (210 artefacts instead of 186), is arranged in fifteen sections that we will illustrate below in order to give as complete an overview as possible. L’Art du Contour has given its organisers an opportunity to display the full range of drawing produced by the Egyptian civilisation the ancient scribes and artists, driven by an obsession for efficiency combined with a love of beauty, often created real works of art, and sometimes true masterpieces. The title L’Art du Contour – Le dessin dans l'Égypte ancienne (‘Scribes of Outlines – Drawing in Ancient Egypt’) defines the theme of this exhibition, which opened at the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) in Brussels in September 2013. As the very first European exhibition intended specifically to demonstrate the extraordinary dexterity of Ancient Egyptian scribes and artists, it is well worth a visit, as Raymond Betz reports. This major exhibition, which was on display in the Louvre in Paris during the summer, has now moved to Brussels, where it will remain until 19th January 2014.
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