An image of a king standing with his left foot advanced fills the smooth, creamy white surface of this ostracon. An ostracon (pl. ostraca) is a potsherd or flake of limestone utilized by ancient artists or scribes as a surface for writing, drawing, or both, as was the case for this example.1

The tall khepresh crown (also referred to as the Blue Crown) that the man wears identifies him as an Egyptian king. A broad streamer hangs down from the back of his crown and a uraeus on his forehead is poised to protect the king by spitting fire into the eyes of his enemies. The bare-chested king wears a kilt cinched by a wide belt and paired with another pleated garment wrapped around his hips, leaving a loop of fabric in front. A broad collar, armlets positioned high on his arms, and bracelets complete his ensemble.2

A tall standard (or staff) rests against the unidentified king’s left shoulder, secured in the crook of his arm. The standard is topped with a ram’s head that is crowned with a solar disk and uraeus. This iconography identifies the standard as belonging to Amun-Re, a version of the sun god who was the principal deity worshipped in Thebes (now Luxor), where this drawing was almost certainly made. The king’s right hand hangs down at his side, grasping what may be an abbreviated scepter or a document case.3

Because the image is not accompanied by a cartouche naming the king, his identity remains a mystery. Furthermore, the ostracon cannot be securely dated to a specific king’s reign. However, the style of the drawing places it in Dynasty 19 or 20, the era in which divine standards like the one depicted here are most commonly shown in relief and statuary.^[1] The height of the crown, as well as the shape of its back, suggest a date after Ramesses II, in whose reign the khepresh crown became exaggeratedly tall and vertical.4

The much rougher surface of the ostracon’s verso (back side) (fig. 1) bears three short texts written in hieratic (a cursive Egyptian script) and a faint image of a crocodile. The partially preserved inscriptions, which were added at different times, include a reference to the appearance of King Amenhotep.^[2] The inhabitants of the workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina recognized Amenhotep I, who reigned around 1525–1504 BCE, as the founder of their community. They established a cult of the king in the village, worshipping statues of him that were carried in processions on festival days. The text is likely an account of one such event.5

Sketches and Drawings in Ancient Egyptian Art

Drawings are the foundation of virtually all Egyptian art. Outline drawing—as opposed to painting, in which the interior of the figure is filled and detailed—had its origins in prehistoric petroglyphs (made before 3500 BCE) and later Predynastic pottery, types of which bear figurative drawings. From early in Egyptian history, relief work started with a preliminary sketch, usually in red pigment that was refined in black, that could then be painted, or carved and painted. Similarly, statues in the round originated as blocks of stone with outlines drawn on the front and two sides that acted as guides for sculptors when they reduced the stone outside those lines. Many drawings on papyrus or linen are known from the late New Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period, eras in which drawing came to be recognized as an artistic form that was distinct from painting (for an example of drawing from the Ptolemaic Period, see cat. 106).6

The limestone flakes that resulted from creating rock-cut tombs made a cheap and readily available substitute for papyrus. Many figured ostraca (as opposed to ostraca used solely for writing purposes) are judged to be preliminary designs that would later be transferred to a painted or carved wall (indeed, a few of them can be matched to their finished versions).^[3] Others are student works or studies that compare the proportions of different animals or parts of the human body.^[4] Some sketches of animals are thought to be mere doodles, while more elaborate drawings may depict events that the artist saw and for some reason decided to record.^[5] Figured ostraca with royal or divine imagery could even be used as inexpensive stelae that served as the focus of religious devotion.^[6]7

This drawing reflects the same method of execution as finished works. The artist first drew a preliminary sketch in red pigment, then traced over it in black. The red can be seen most clearly running down the length of the king’s back and right buttock. There is a great sureness in the line, suggesting that this is the work of a skilled artist rather than a student. Nonetheless the black linework has been refined in some areas, notably enlarging the uraeus on the ram’s headdress and shifting the position of the top of the king’s collar.8

Interpreting the Drawing

Kings were a popular subject for drawings on ostraca. Often, only their heads, or their heads and shoulders, were depicted, but occasionally they were fully represented, as with this example of the king with the divine standard of Amun-Re. Topped with an animal or human head, or with an object such as feathers, to identify the deity that each represents, divine standards were considered to be incarnations of the gods.^[7] Indeed, the ancient word for these emblems, medu, means “substitute [for the god or king].”^[8] The standards even had their own priests and they were given offerings.^[9]9

In New Kingdom representations, a group of these standards is sometimes shown standing below the portable boat of the god, where presumably they would join the boat as it was carried in procession from the sanctuary. Other temple reliefs depict the king presenting a divine standard to the god(s) (see fig. 2). In these scenes, the king holds the standard aloft in a gesture that does not match the more passive pose on this ostracon. Representations of standard bearers—both royal and nonroyal—resting divine standards on their shoulders are, however, commonly found in New Kingdom statuary (see fig. 3).^[10]10

On royal examples, the king usually wears the Blue Crown, as in this drawing, or a short, round wig, with either a kilt ornamented with a decorative apron with a row of uraei at the bottom or the pleated shendyt kilt.11

Although the content of the image is easily identifiable, its composition leaves some ambiguity as to its broader context. One possibility is that the drawing represents not a trial sketch but the record of a scene that the artist actually witnessed, specifically a festival procession of the king as he carried the standard of Amun-Re through the community.^[11] These religious processions publicly demonstrated the king’s links to the gods while also allowing the people to interact with their deities when they emerged from the temple. The focus of these processions was the statue of the god that was transported in a portable boat or on a chair supported on the shoulders of priests. Worshippers could address questions to the god, who acted as an oracle while in procession. Indeed, one of the inscriptions on the back side of this ostracon likely recounts such a procession of a divine king.12

Another possible interpretation is that the drawing depicts not a living monarch, but the statue of one. When drafted as preparatory drawings for larger artworks, sketches on ostraca are thought to be related to paintings and reliefs rather than functioning as outline studies for statues, so this image was probably not a study for a work in the round. However, statues were commonly depicted in relief on the walls of temples and tombs, where they were differentiated from living people by the presence of a rectangular statue base. Here a diagonal break removed the bottom of the image, and with it the king’s feet along with anything he might have been standing on, making it impossible to conclusively identify the representation as a depiction of a statue.13

Original Context

Most ostraca with images of the king have been found in Western Thebes (now Luxor), especially in the artists’ village at Deir el-Medina, in the Valley of the Kings, and in the tombs of the nobles. It is likely that Thebes was the original location of this example as well. Thebes was also the main cult center of Amun-Re, and its local calendar was studded with festivals of Amun-Re, making the subject matter of the king with the divine standard of that god a very appropriate theme.14

This ostracon was purchased in Cairo in 1919 for the Art Institute by James Henry Breasted, who described it to museum president Charles L. Hutchinson as “an exquisite sketch.”^[12]15

Provenance

Ralph Huntington Blanchard (1875–1936), Cairo; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago through James Henry Breasted as agent, 1919.16

Publication History

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of The Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 44 (ill.).17

Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2012), 28, fig. 12.18

Ashley F. Arico and Katherine E. Davis, “An Ostracon Depicting a King at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC 1920.255),” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 56 (2020): 35–46 (ill.).
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