ostraca

Body sherd from a pottery vessel with cream slip on exterior, re-used as an ostracon, bearing parts of five lines of hieratic in black on the exterior, giving a passage from the Satire of Trades (corresponding to Papyrus Sallier II, 4,7-8). Stephen Quirke translated this in 2015 as '[I do not see a sculptor on a mission or a goldsmith on the task of] being despatched (?) [but I do see the coppersmith] at [his] toil [at the mouth of his fur]nace his fingers like crocodile skin his stench worse than fish eggs The word “fish” in the last line of the ostracon is followed by a year-month-day date in year 6 of an unidentified king.

- Cerny, Jaroslav, Hieratic Ostraca, pl XII.3

Ramessid Period

LDUCE-UC39675

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology