Ostraca

A satirical scene

In ancient Egypt, when the artists who drew out the formal designs for tomb walls or sculptures had to try out ideas or just draw for fun, the most available surfaces to work on were the fragments of stone sliced off the reliefs and statues that were being carved all around them. We can forget sometimes that before carving could commence, drawings were made on the surfaces of the stone as guides for the carvers, but of course as soon as the carving work was underway, the drawings were lost. The people who made those drawings were artists and they would have wanted to make ideas visible far more interesting than the formal figures that they were having to draw for their day job, so I suspect that the satirical scene above, is just the tip of the iceberg of a body of images that have yet to be really explored.
These small, often insignificant drawings were called ostraca, and they were used for a variety of purposes at different times and by different cultures, all of which practiced stone carving as their main means of creating official forms of visual art.
As well as being used like small sketchbooks, sometimes these shards were used in the same way as note pads, places to jot down private thoughts, shopping lists or 'to do' notes.

Ostrakon scratched into a terracotta shard inscribed with 'Kimon [son] of Miltiades'

Shards of broken pottery were also used for the same purpose, (a single shard of pottery is called an ostrakon) and because these shards were so ubiquitous, sometimes they developed a more formal use, for instance in Greece, they were used like voting papers and there was a ceremony that took its name from their use, 'the ostrakismos', during which people could scratch into a shard of pottery, the name of anyone who deserved to be banished. If enough people voted for a particular person, they could be banished for ten years, thus giving rise to the concept we now call ostracism. I'm afraid as this blog is also concerned with embodied meaning, I ought to bring up the fact that broken pottery shards were also used for anal hygiene, whereby a curse was placed on the to be exiled individual by literally soiling their name. This is another example of what I have termed an 'externalised idea', a bringing out of the body, what was an embodied thought and creating an object to contain it. In doing this humans could communicate with other humans thoughts that originated invisibly inside them.

From the time of the Roman Empire, ostraka have been found that were used to document the activities of the Roman army, so they were also used as a recording device. 

I was fascinated by these things because I have always found notebooks and sketchbooks to be a vital part of my own practice, whether they are for working out ideas, documenting what I have seen, recording a thought or just jotting down a 'to do' list.

Limestone ostracon depicting a cat, a boy, and a mouse magistrate

Egyptian ostracon: Walters Art Museum

I think the stubble beard is a sign of mourning, and the hands are obviously try outs. There is something wonderful to be taken from the idea of a pharaoh needing a shave, it brings the god like figure right down to earth. These drawn on shards reminding us that all those marvellous structures of ancient times, were the product of people, who had everyday lives like us all. 

They enjoyed sex.

And the children the sex created were also allowed to draw on the same fragments of stone.

Children's ostracon drawings: Athribis, Egypt

Once you have children you need to tell them stories and it looks as if the ostracon below might have been an early attempt to illustrate one of those stories.

A cat herding geese

I was reminded that in my own sketchbooks I used to illustrate stories and songs for the children, such as the 'Frog he would a wooing go'.

Next to come in was Mrs. Cow, uh-huh

Next to come in was Mrs. Cow, uh-huh

Next to come in was Mrs. Cow

She tried to dance but she didn't know how, uh-huh

He took Miss Mousey on his knee, uh-huh

He took Miss Mousey on his knee, uh-huh

He took Miss Mousey on his knee

Said, "Please Miss Mousey, will you marry me ?" uh-huh

Things change but they stay the same.

See also:

Sketchbooks

Frances Alys uses a sketchbook: More on an artist and play