The people who decorated tombs in Western Thebes practiced their drawing skills on flakes of limestone, which we now call 'figured ostraca'. They sometimes drew funny images and scenes of daily life. This flake of limestone (ostracon) shows a man chasing a baboon away from some figs that have been left to dry. Baboons were greedy and often stole fruit but some were trained to help with harvesting figs, dates and dom-palm fruit. The excavation/find-spot of this ostracon remains unrecorded and it is dated to the New Kingdom by comparison with other examples from this time. Ex Gayer-Anderson Collection.

CONDITION NOTE 1998: Adhesive on surface, surface dirt.

Figured Ostracon | National Museums Liverpool

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The people who decorated tombs in Western Thebes practiced their drawing skills on flakes of limestone, which we now call 'figured ostraca'. They sometimes drew funny images and scenes of daily life. This flake of limestone (ostracon) shows a man chasing a baboon away from some figs that have been left to dry. Baboons were greedy and often stole fruit but some were trained to help with harvesting figs, dates and dom-palm fruit. The excavation/find-spot of this ostracon remains unrecorded and it is dated to the New Kingdom by comparison with other examples from this time. Ex Gayer-Anderson Collection. CONDITION NOTE 1998: Adhesive on surface, surface dirt.

Figured Ostracon

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