Art Institute of Chicago

Trial Piece with Hieroglyphs

Egyptian

Date: Early Ptolemaic Period, about 300 BCE
Medium: Granite
Culture: Egypt
Department: Arts of Africa
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

Artists used stone remnants left over from larger works to practice carving hieroglyphic signs and decorative elements. Here, the profiles of a man and a feline deity may be studies for larger works. Two hieroglyphs also appear on the thin slab. First used around 3000 BCE, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs used images to convey sounds and meaning in writing. The undulating horned viper at the bottom of this piece represents the sound f, while the large owl in the center has the phonetic value m.

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