History of Western Arts Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt C. 2400 B.C., Lime stone, height 21” The Louvre, Paris.

Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt Introduction: Egypt, in north-east Africa had one of the oldest great civilization which developed a magnificent art. The history of Egypt shows that it has been divided in to different periods Old Kingdom about 4000-2280 B.C., Pyramids Middle Kingdom 2065-1783 B.C., Rock-cut Tombs New Kingdom or Empire 1580-1085

Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt Egyptian sculptures, like its architecture, was also concerned with life after death. During Old Kingdome the sculptural remains can be divided in to two groups: statues in the round, and relief sculptures.

Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt The Egyptian artist, whether he represented figures in a standing, sitting or kneeling position, had to conform to the strictest geometrical rules, which meant a symmetrical arrangement of limbs and body on both sides of an imaginary vertical central line called the axis, neither of which bend or turn as in the case of moving figures in the real life.

Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt This rigid symmetrical facing forward is called Egyptian law of frontality. Standing and seated figures comprise the basic repertory of Egyptian large – scale sculpture in the round. At the end of the Fourth Dynasty, a third pose was added, as symmetrical and immobile as the first two: that of the scribe squatting cross – legged on the ground.

Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt The Seated scribe: The finest of these scribes dates from the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty (2565-2420). The name of the sitter (in whose tomb at Saqqara the statue was found) is unknown.

Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt But we must not think of him as a lowly secretary waiting to take dictation; rather, the figure represents a high court official, a “master of sacred – and secret – letters”, and the solid form bespeaks the dignity of his station (which in the beginning seems to have been restricted to the sons of Pharaohs).

This particular example stands out not only for the vividly alert expression of the face, but also individual handling of the torso, which records the somewhat flabby body of a man post middle age.