Ostracon

Ostraca (plural for ostracon) are potsherds used as surfaces for writing or drawing. By extension, the term is applied to chips of limestone which were employed for similar purposes. Figural ostraca vary from sketches of a single feature to polychrome painted compositions. They were used to practice drawing, draft compositions, and copy scenes. However, some ostraca were created for more durable functions, used as cult images in religious practice and deposited at tombs or shrines as sites of access to the divine. Ostraca on which animals appear acting as humans have been variously interpreted as playful jokes, political satire, or illustrations to fables or myths in the oral tradition.


This sketch depicts a standing royal figure wearing a close fitting kilt, uraeus and broad collar, carrying a seated child. Both figures have shaved heads and a side lock of hair, which is associated with youth and young age. Traces of red ink show how the artist did a preliminary sketch and then altered the position of the child’s head. Traces of a hand on the right suggest a larger scene. At the bottom, a pattern was sketched in red ink.