Sketches from the Tomb of Nespakashuty

These limestone ostraca were discovered amongst accumulated rubbish in the courtyard outside the Tomb of Nespakashuty (TT 312) at Deir el-Bahari. The deposit contained drawings from different periods, including a horse, leaping lion, calf, blind harpist, floral capitals and an incised crocodile.

Several pieces (notably the calf, harpist and floral studies) appear contemporary with Nespakashuty’s tomb. Their pale red preliminary lines, strengthened with darker red strokes, closely resemble unfinished drawings preserved upon the tomb walls and may represent discarded working studies by the artists themselves. The horse and lion, finished with a fine black line over a red sketch, are stylistically Ramesside, while the crocodile appears to be later, probably Ptolemaic.

Together, these humble scraps form a wonderfully intimate record of artistic life at Deir el-Bahari; not finished monuments, but practice, experiment and the discarded traces of the ancient draughtsman’s hand.

Ostracon of Animals: Crane, Vulture & Hound

Deir el-Bahari

Deir el-Bahari was a major sacred and funerary landscape, home to royal mortuary temples and numerous tombs, including the great complexes of Mentuhotep II and Hatshepsut.

The artists and craftsmen who worked across the Theban necropolis often came from Deir el-Medina, and the ostraka found around Deir el-Bahari preserve something of that working world, including; quick sketches, practice drawings and discarded studies left behind by the hands that decorated Egypt’s tombs and temples.