Displaying Tools. On the Named Artists Depicted with a Palette

[en] This paper aims to offer an overview of ancient Egyptian artists’ representations with a palette in two-dimensional scenes that occurred in eight tombs during a limited time window, i.e., from mid-Dynasty 18 to the Ramesside Period. By connecting these “(auto)portraits à la palette” via a chronological analysis, the article paves the way for a comprehensive study of this specific iconographic shorthand to signal a sš-ḳdw.t’s identity, closely related to an artist’s definition of themselves within their own social world. In so doing, they blurred the line of our modern distinction between “scribes” and “draftsmen.”

Disciplines :

Art & art history

Author, co-author :

Devillers, Alisée ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > Histoire de l'art et archéologie de l'Egypte pharaonique ; B.A.E.F. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, University of California https://dx.doi.org/4496 Los Angeles USA

Language :

English

Title :

Displaying Tools. On the Named Artists Depicted with a Palette

Publication date :

20 March 2025

Journal title :

Journal of Egyptian History

ISSN :

1874-1657

eISSN :

1874-1665

Publisher :

De Gruyter

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

155-202

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://brill.com/view/journals/jeh/17/2/article-p155_2.xml

Funders :

BAEF - Belgian American Educational Foundation

Available on ORBi :

since 29 April 2025

Statistics

Number of views

70 (0 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

20 (0 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Allen, J.P. Middle Egyptian Literature: Eight Literary Works of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Allon, N. and H. Navratilova. Ancient Egyptian scribes: a cultural exploration. Bloomsbury Egyptology. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Allon, N. and H. Navratilova. Scribal Culture in ancient Egypt. Cambridge Elements: Elements in Ancient Egypt in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.
Bacs, T. “‘… like heaven in its interior’: Late Ramesside Painters in Theban Tombs 65.” In Proceedings of the Colloquium on Theban Archaeology at the Supreme Council of Antiquities. November 5, 2009, Z. Hawass, T. Bacs, and G. Schreiber, eds., 33–41. Cairo: Conseil Suprême des antiquités de l’Égypte, 2011.
Baines, J. and Ch. Eyre. “Four notes on literacy.” In Visual and Written Culture in Ancient Egypt, J. Baines, ed., 63–94. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Balis, A. “‘Fatto da un mio discepolo’: Rubens’s studio practices reviewed.” In Rubens and his Workshop. The Flight of Lot and his Family from Sodom, T. Nakamura, ed., 97–127. Tokyo: The National Museum of Western Art, 1994.
Balis, A. “Many hands in Rubens’s workshop: an exploration.” In Many Antwerp Hands. Collaborations in Netherlandish Art, A.D. Newman and L. Nijkamp, eds., 129–150. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2021.
Barta, W. “Bemerkungen zur Darstellung der Jahreszeiten im Grabe des Mrr-wj-k3.j.” ZÄS 97 (1971): 1–7.
Burford, A. Craftsmen in Greek and Roman Society. London: Cornell University Press, 1972.
Claridge, A. “Marble Carving Techniques, Workshops, and Artisans.” In The Oxford HandbookofRomanSculpture,E.A.Fridland,M.GrunowSobocinski,andE.K.Gazda, eds., 107–122. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Chauvet, V. “Who did what and why: the dynamics of tomb preparation,” In Joyful in Thebes: Egyptological studies in honor of Betsy M. Bryan, R. Jasnow and K.M. Cooney, eds., 63–78. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2015.
Cooney, K.M. “Apprenticeship and Figured Ostraca from the Ancient Egyptian Village of Deir el-Medina.” In Archaeology and Apprenticeship: body knowledge, identity, and community of practice, W. Wendrich, ed., 145–170. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2012.
Cooney, K.M. The Cost of Death. The Social and Economic Value of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art in the Ramesside Period. Egyptologische Uitgaven 22. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2007.
Cooney, K.M. “The New Kingdom of Egypt under the Ramesside Dynasty.” In The OxfordHistoryoftheAncientNearEast.VolumeIII:fromtheHyksostothelatesecond millennium BC, K. Radner, N. Moeller, and D.T. Potts, eds., 251–366. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Davies, N. de Garis. The Rock Tombs of el Amarna. Part 3: The tombs of Huya and Ahmes. ASE 15. London: EEF, 1905.
Davies, N. de Garis. The Tomb of Two Sculptors in Thebes. Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition; Robb de Peyster Tytus memorial series 4. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925.
Davies, N. de Garis. The Tombs of Two Officials of Thutmosis the Fourth (nos. 75 and 90). Theban Tombs Series 3. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1923.
Davies, W.V. “The Tomb of Ahmose son-of-Ibana at Elkab. Documenting the family and the other observations.” In Elkab and Beyond. Studies in Honour of Luc Limme, W. Claes, H. de Meulenaere, and St. Hendrickx, eds., 139–175. Leuven: Peeters, 2009.
Davies, W.V. “A view from Elkab: the tomb and statues of Ahmose-Pennekhbet.” In Creativity and Innovation in the Reign of Hatshepsut: Papers from the Theban Workshop 2010, J.M. Galán, B.M. Bryan, and P.F. Dorman, eds., 381–409. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 2014.
Davies, W.V., L. Prada, and S. Woodhouse. “Monuments of Elkab: taking a closer look.” JEA 53 (2018), 4–12.
Den Doncker, A. “Identifying copies in the private Theban necropolis: tradition as reception under the influence of self-fashioning processes.” In (Re)productive Traditions in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Liège, 6th–8th February 2013, Todd Gillen, ed., 333–370. Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège, 2017.
Devillers, A. Les (auto)representations des praticiens de la Hmw.t. Pour une approche iconographique des artistes de l’Égypte antique. PhD Dissertation. University of Liège, 2021.
Devillers, A. Pahéry d’Elkab. Monographies Reine Élisabeth. Brussels: Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth. Forthcoming.
Devillers, A. and Sykora, T. “Enhancing Visibility: Djehutihotep’s Painter Horamenyankhu.” BIFAO 123 (2023): 53–81.
Dunham, D. and W.K. Simpson. The Mastaba of Queen Mersyankh III G 7530–7540: based upon the excavations and recordings of the late George Andrew Reisner and William Stevenson Smith. Giza Mastabas. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1974.
Eyre, Ch. The Use of Documents in Pharaonic Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Eyre, Ch. “Work and the Organisation of Work in the New Kingdom.” In Labor in the Ancient Near East, M.A. Powell, ed., 167–221. New Haven, CN: American Oriental Society, 1987.
Feucht, E. Die Gräber des Nedjemger (TT 138) und des Hori (TT 259). Theben 15. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 2006.
Fischer-Elfert, H.-W. Die Vision von der Statue im Stein: Studien zum altägyptischen Mundöffnungsritual. Schriften der Philosophisch-historischen Klasse der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften 5. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 1998.
Gabolde, M. “Baketaton fille de Kiya?” BSEG 16 (1992): 27–40.
Gabolde, M. “La postérité d’Amenhotep III.” In Akhénaton et l’époque amarnienne, Th.-L. Bergerot, ed., 13–33. Paris: Khéops, 2005.
Galán, J.M. “An Apprentice’s Board from Dra Abu El-Naga.” JEA 93 (2007): 95–116.
Goffman, E. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1959.
Habachi, L. “The Graffito of Bak and Men at Aswan and a Second Graffito Close by Showing Akhenaten Before the Hawk-Headed Aten.” MDAIK 20 (1965): 85–92.
Haring, B. “Saqqara: a place of truth?” In Imaging and imagining the Memphite necropolis: Liber Amicorum René van Walsem, V. Verschoor, A.J. Stuart, and C. Demarée, eds., 147–153. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2017.
Hartwig, M.K. “Scribal Captions and Painting in the Tomb Chapel of Neferrenpet (TT 43).” In Mural Decoration in the Theban Necropolis, B.M. Bryan and P.F. Dorman, eds., 87–98. Chicago: ISAC, 2023.
Hartwig, M.K. Tomb Painting and Identity in Ancient Thebes. Monumenta Aegyptiaca 10. Brussels: Fondation égyptologique Reine Élisabeth. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004.
Heinich, N. Ce que n’est pas l’identité. Le débat. Paris: Gallimard, 2018.
Heinich, N. Du peintre à l’artiste. Artisans et académiciens à l’âge classique. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1993.
Heinich, N. L’Élite artiste. Excellence et singularité en régime démocratique. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2005.
Heinich, N. Être artiste. Les transformations du statut des peintres et des sculpteurs. Paris: Klincksieck, 1996.
Helck, W. Zur Verwaltung des Mittleren und Neuen Reichs. PdÄ 3. Leiden/Köln: Brill, 1958.
Hofmann, E. Bilder im Wandel. Die Kunst der Ramessidischen Privatgräber. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2004.
Hofmann, E. Das Grab des Neferrenpet Gen. Kenro (TT 178). Theben 9. Mainz: Zabern, 1995.
Jäger, St. Altägyptische Berufstypologien. Lingua Aegyptia, Studia Monographica 4. Göttingen: Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, 2004.
Jiménez-Higueras, A. A Prosopographic Study of the New Kingdom Tomb Owners of Dra Abu el-Naga. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2022.
Jiménez-Higueras, A., The Sacred Landscape of Dra Abu el-Naga during the New Kingdom. People Making Landscape Making People. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 113. Leiden/Boston, 2021.
Jockey, Ph. “Les représentations d’artisans de la pierre dans le monde gréco-romain et leur éventuelle exploitation par l’historien.” Topoi 8/2 (1998): 641–645.
Jurjens, J. “The educational context of a literary text: some notes on marginalia and drawings as found on material containing The teaching of Khety.” JARCE 57 (2021): 189–190.
Kanawati, N. The Rock Tombs of El-Hawawish: the Cemetery of Akhmim. Vol. I. ACE. Sydney: Macquarie Ancient History Association/Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, 1980.
Katary, S.L.D. “Distinguishing subclasses in New Kingdom societies on evidence of the Wilbour Papyrus.” In Élites et pouvoir en Égypte ancienne. Actes du colloque Université Charles-de-Gaulle-Lille 3, 7 et 8 juillet 2006, J.C. Moreno García, ed., 263–319. Lille: Université Charles-de-Gaulle Lille 3, 2009–2010.
Kaufmann, J.-Cl. L’invention de soi. Une théorie de l’identité. Pluriel. Paris: Fayard, 2004.
Kozloff, A.P. “Tomb Decoration: Paintings and Relief Sculpture.” In Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his world, A.P. Kozloff and B.M. Bryan, eds., 261–283. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1992.
Krauss, R. “Der Oberbildhauer Bak und seine Denkstein in Berlin.” Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, Berlin 28 (1986): 5–46.
Kris, E. and O. Kurz. Legend, Myth, and Magic in the Image of the Artist. New Haven/ London: Yale University Press, 1979.
Kruchten, J.-M. Les annales des prêtres de Karnak (XXI–XXIIIèmes dynasties) et autres textes contemporains relatifs à l’initiation des prêtres d’Amon. OLA 32. Leuven: Peeters, 1989.
Kruchten, J.-M. “Un sculpteur des images divines ramesside.” In L’atelier de l’orfèvre: mélanges offerts à Ph. Derchain, M. Broze and Ph. Talon, eds., 107–118. Leuven: Peeters, 1992.
Kruchten, J.-M. and L. Delvaux. La tombe de Sétaou. Publications du Comité des fouilles belges en Égypte, Elkab VIII. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010.
Kuhlmann, K.P. and W. Schenkel. Das Grab des Ibi, Obergutsverwalters der Gottesgehamhlin des Amun. Thebanisches Grab Nr. 36. Band I. Beschreibung der unterirdischen Kult- und Bestattungsanlage. AV 15. Mainz: Zabern, 1983.
Laboury, D. Akhénaton. Les grands pharaons. Paris: Pygmalion, 2010.
Laboury, D. “Designers and makers of ancient Egyptian monumental epigraphy.” In The Oxford Handbook of Egyptian Epigraphy and Palaeography, V. Davies and D. Laboury, eds., 85–101. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Laboury, D. “… ou l’image comme signe.” In Guide des écritures de l’Égypte ancienne, St. Polis, ed., 150–153. Cairo: IFAO, 2022.
Laboury, D. “On the master painter of the tomb of Amenhotep Sise, Second High Priest of Amun under the reign of Thutmose IV (TT 75).” In Joyful in Thebes: Egyptological studies in honor of Betsy M. Bryan, R. Jasnow and K.M. Cooney, eds., 327–337. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2015.
Laboury, D. “Une relecture de la tombe de Nakht (TT52, Cheikh’Abd el-Gourna).” In La peinture égyptienne ancienne: un monde de signes à preserver: actes du colloque international de Bruxelles, avril 1994, R. Tefnin, ed., 49–81. Brussels: Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1997.
Laboury, D. “Le scribe et le peintre. À propos d’un scribe qui ne voulait pas être pris pour un peintre.” In Aere Perennius. Mélanges égyptologiques en l’honneur de Pascal Vernus, Ph. Collombert, D. Lefèvre, St. Polis, and J. Winand, eds., 371–396. OLA 242. Leuven/Paris/Bristol: Peeters, 2016.
Laboury, D. “Le signe comme image …” In Guide des écritures de l’Égypte ancienne, St. Polis, ed., 144–149. Cairo: IFAO, 2022.
Laboury, D. “Tradition and creativity: toward a study of intericonicity in ancient Egyptian art.” In (Re)productive Traditions in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Liège, 6th–8th February 2013, Todd Gillen, ed., 229–258. Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège, 2017.
Laboury, D. and A. Devillers, “The ancient Egyptian artist: a non-existing category?” In Ancient Egyptian Society: challenging assumptions, exploring approaches, D. Candelora, N. Ben-Marzouk, and K.M. Cooney, eds., 163–181. New York/London: Routledge, 2022.
Laboury, D. and H. Tavier, “Painter Palette with Pigments.” In Book of the Dead. Becoming God in Ancient Egypt, Foy Scalf, ed., 353–355. Oriental Institute Museum Publications 39. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2017.
Lange, H.O. and H. Schäfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reich sim Museum von Kairo. Theil 2: Text zu No. 20400–20780. CGC 52. Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1908.
Lave, J. and E. Wenger, Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Madden, B. and H. Tavier. “Original painting techniques: methods and materials in 18th dynasty tombs, in the Valley of the Nobles, Egypt.” In Tracing technoscapes: the production of Bronze Age wall paintings in the eastern Mediterranean, C. von Rüden, J. Jungfleisch, and J. Beckers, eds., 119–148. Leiden: Sidestone, 2018.
Martin, G.T. The Tomb of Maya and Meryt. I: The Reliefs, Inscriptions, and Commentary. EES, Excavation Memoir 99. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 2012.
Mekhitarian, A. La peinture égyptienne. Les grands siècles de la peinture. Genève: Skira, 1954.
Mekhitarian, A. “La tombe de Nebamon et Ipouky (TT 181).” In La peinture égyptienne ancienne: un monde de signes à preserver: actes du colloque international de Bruxelles, avril 1994, R. Tefnin, ed., 21–28. Brussels: Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, 1997.
Meulenaere, H. de “Personnages représentés avec les attributs de leur function dans les sources de la Troisième Période Intermédiaire et de la Basse Époque.” In Aegyptiaca et Coptica: studi in onore di Sergio Pernigotti, P. Buzi, D. Picchi, and M. Zecchi, eds., 151–154. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2011.
Moreno García, J.C. “Social inequality, private accumulation of wealth, and new ideological values in late 3rd millennium BC Egypt.” In Arm und Reich – Zur Ressourcenverteilung in prähistorischen Gesellschaften. 8 Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 22. bis 24. Oktober 2015 in Halle (Saale), H. Meller, H.P. Hahn, R. Jung, and R. Risch, eds., 491–512. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt/Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, 2016.
Muller-Dufeu, M. “Créer du vivant”. Sculpteurs et artistes dans l’Antiquité grecque. Archaiologia. Villeneuve-d’Ascq: Presses Universitaires Septentrion, 2011.
Nakamura, T. “The Flight of Lot and His Family from Sodom: Rubens and his studio.” In Rubens and his Workshop. The Flight of Lot and his Family from Sodom, T. Nakamura, ed., 25–45. Tokyo: The National Museum of Western Art, 1994.
Naville, Ed., J.J. Tylor and Fr. Ll. Griffith. Ahnas el Medineh (Heracleopolis Magna): with chapters on Mendes, the nome of Thoth, and Leontopolis / The Tomb of Paheri at El Kab. Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund 11. London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1894.
Pieke, G. “‘Der Blick zurück nach vorn’: Anmerkungen zur Grabdekoration des Mes in Saqqara.” In Mit archäologischen Schichten Geschichte schreiben: Festschrift für Edgar B. Pusch zum 70. Geburtstag, H. Franzmeier, Th. Rehren, and R. Schulz, eds., 219–243. Hildesheim: Gebrüder Gerstenberg, 2016.
Pinarello, M.S. An Archaeological Discussion of Writing Practice. Deconstruction of the Ancient Egyptian Scribe. GHP Egyptology 23. London: Golden House, 2015.
Pliny the Elder, NaturalHistory, Book XXXV.
Quirke, St. Titles and Bureaux of Egypt, 1850–1700 BC. GHP 1. London: Golden House, 2004.
Ragazzoli, Ch. Scribes: les artisans du texte en Égypte ancienne. Paris: Belles Lettres, 2019.
Ragazzoli, Ch., Kh. Hassan, and Ch. Salvador. Graffiti and Rock Inscriptions from ancient Egypt: a Companion to Secondary Epigraphy. BdÉ 182. Le Caire: IFAO, 2023.
Richards, J.E. Society and Death in Ancient Egypt: Mortuary Landscapes of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Rizzo, J. “À propos de sanx, ‘faire vivre’, et de ses dérivés.” ENiM 8 (2015): 73–101.
Romer, J. Ancient Lives: The Story of Pharaoh’s Tombmakers. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984.
Rummel, U. Iunmutef: Konzeption und Wirkungsbereich eines altägyptischen Gottes. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2010.
Sbriglio, A.M. “I saccheggi della TT 181 (Nebamun e Ipuky) negli archive Varille dell’Università degli Studi di Milano.” Aegyptus 92 (2012): 87–124.
Simpson, W.K., ed. The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. 3rd ed. London/New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
Slinger, K. Tomb families: private tomb distribution in the New Kingdom Theban necropolis. Archaeopress Egyptology 40. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2022.
Sohm, Ph. “Palettes as Signatures and Encoded Identities in Early-Modern Self-Portraits.” Art History 40 (2017): 994–1025.
Stefanović, D. “sš ḳdw.t: the attestations from the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period.” In Art and Society. Ancient and Modern Contexts of Egyptian Art, K.A. Kothay, ed., 185–198. Budapest: Museum of Fine Arts, 2012.
Stupko-Lubczynska, A. “The author takes a bow: a self-portrait in assistenza in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari.” In Ancient Egyptian Art Studies: Art in Motion, a Social Tool of Power and Resistance, A. Devillers and K.M. Cooney, eds., https://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special_issues/03RA9Q4X94, forthcoming.
Tavier, H. “Reconstituer la tombe. De la copie comme méthode d’apprentissage technique et scientifique.” In Toutankhamon. À la découverte du pharaon oublié, S. Connor and D. Laboury, 48–51. Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2019.
Tavier, H. “La reconstitution d’un atelier de sculpteur.” In Toutankhamon. À la découverte du pharaon oublié, S. Connor and D. Laboury, eds., 161. Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2019.
Tavier, H. “La reproduction d’une chamber de palais amarnien.” In Toutankhamon. À la découverte du pharaon oublié, S. Connor and D. Laboury, eds., 154–155. Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2019.
Vernus, P. “La grande mutation idéologique du Nouvel Empire: une nouvelle théorie du pouvoir politique. Du démiurge face à sa creation.” BSEG 19 (1995): 69–95.
Wittkower, M. and R. Wittkower. Les enfants de Saturne. Pyschologie et comportement des artistes, de l’Antiquité à la Révolution française. Histoire de l’art. Paris: Macula, 1985.
Zivie, A.-P. La tombe de Thoutmes, directeur des peintres dans la Place de Maât (BUB. I.19). Toulouse: Caracara, 2013.