The style scribe
The identity of the person represented remains unknown. The precise location remains unknown, as the document describing these excavations was published posthumously and the original excavation journal has been lost. The sculpture of the seated scribe was discovered in Saqqara on 19 November 1850, to the north of the Serapeum's line of sphinxes by French archeologist Auguste Mariette. He stares calmly at the viewer with his black outlined eyes. His right hand is pointing towards the paper as if he has already started to write while watching others speak. Both his hands are positioned on his lap. He has a ready-made papyrus scroll laid out on his lap but the reed-brush used to write is missing. His facial expression is alert and attentive, gazing out to the viewer as though he is waiting for them to start speaking. He sits in a cross-legged position that would have been his normal posture at work. The scribe has a soft and slightly overweight body, suggesting he is well off and does not need to do any sort of physical labor. The eyebrows are marked with fine lines of dark organic paint. The back side of the crystal was covered with a layer of organic material which at the same time gives the blue colour to the iris and serves as an adhesive.
They are modeled in rich detail out of pieces of red-veined white magnesite which were elaborately inlaid with pieces of polished truncated rock crystal. Special attention was devoted to the eyes of the sculpture.