Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 102-103. (Budapest, 2005)

ZOLTÁN HORVÁTH: A unique servant statue in the Egyptian Collection

WRITING TABLET PERTAINING ORIGINAILY TO THE SCRIBE FIGURINE (FORESIDE). BUDAPEST, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS. INV. NO. 51.2197 body is ill-proportioned and the details are modelled only superficially. Relying on features like the easily recognisable rostriform profile, the large, wide-open eyes and the cubical base that comprises the legs and the lower body, Dobrovits dated the statue to the 11th Dynasty (ca. 2040-1989 B.C.)

8 and explained that it was once one of a group of figures connected with a wooden model.'' Furthermore, he claimed that both the dowel-hole in the statue's base (the drilling of which produced the splitting of the wood) and the deep chiselling near the belly should be considered secondary additions only serving to fix the board on the figure's knees at a later date, when the figure was converted into a scribe statuette only in modern times.

10 His theory sounds quite plausible, especially if one examines the reverse of the stuccoed writing board that is inscribed with several columns of clumsy, meaningless signs, most probably to imitate ancient Egyptian script, but undoubtedly of modern origin (fig. 4).

11 Seeing the vertical incision on the right hand, Dobrovits proposed alternatively that prior to