Schreiberpalette mit zwei Näpfen zum Anrühren der Tusche (Scribal equipment with two shallow bowls for mixing inks)

Description

L. Borchardt purchased the piece on site from a farmer in Abusir in 1905. On the long, rectangular palette, which was made of very fine sandstone, there are two small bowls sculptured outwards. The palette is pierced centrally on the upper end. While traces of red paint or pigments have still been preserved on the upper bowl, residues of a black pigment are found in the lower one. Though both have not been proven scientifically, it is assumed that it is ocher and galena – both important components for the production of paint and ink.Representations of these characteristic utensils of the Ancient-Egyptian scribe are already found at the end of the Early Dynastic Period to the transition to the Old Kingdom. However, archeological finds like this object are extremely rare. A very early example made of ivory originated for example from the excavation of G. Steindorff, near the Abusir-lake and is located today in the Leipzig collection. For the Leipzig piece, the exact finding-context in a tomb can be given, which isn’t the case for the Berlin object. However, notices accumulate in the excavation diary that, even during the excavation, farmers and villagers submitted finds from the Early Dynastic Period to the German archeologists, which they came across when working in fields in the surrounding area. The finds verify that there must have been a bigger Early-Dynastic necropolis, or maybe even a settlement in the area of the mortuary complexes of the 5th Dynasty.R. Kuhn