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Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · architecture

Fragments from a Scribe's Writing Board

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Writing Board fragment, scribe's. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11, ca. 2130–1981 B.C. Sycomore wood, gesso. A: L. 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); W. 6 cm (2 3/8 in.); Th. 0.5 cm (3/16 in.) B: L. 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.); W. 4 cm (1 9/16 in.); Th. 0.5 cm (3/16 in.). From: Tomb MMA 515, Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1921–22. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1926.

The same text in other collections

Linked by shared inventory number (ORAEC-id oraec8984). Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Painted plaster-like fragments preserve multiple lines of dark ink hieroglyphic writing arranged in horizontal rows.

The image shows a small, weathered rectangular fragment with rounded edges, broken into at least two adjoining pieces. The surface is light-colored and appears matte and slightly cracked, consistent with a gesso/plaster coating rather than bare wood. Dark, brush-like marks form hieroglyphic signs in a structured layout across the fragment, including several recognizable wedge and line elements and a few larger sign groups; the signs run left-to-right in distinct horizontal rows. There are no clearly preserved royal cartouches, deity figures, or full sentences; only partial signs are visible due to damage. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible. The catalogue’s identification as fragments from a scribe’s writing board is broadly consistent with the presence of writing/hieroglyphic marks on a coated surface, though the exact board format cannot be confirmed from this single fragment alone.

hieroglyphic only Middle Kingdom (as catalogued) fragmentary
Materials gesso/plaster (surface coating)dark ink/paint (for hieroglyphs)
Signs Hieroglyphic signs in ink (partial wedges/lines; exact identification unclear) ×8
Visible text "Partial hieroglyphic signs only; no readable continuous excerpt preserved."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Partial hieroglyphic signs only; no readable continuous excerpt preserved.

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri

Cross-references (6)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116276786 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 26.3.277a, b tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 547557 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • ORAEC-id oraec8984 tier-2 (inventory-match)
  • ORAEC-id oraec9007 tier-2 (inventory-match)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.