Wooden Writing Tablets in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2011

Wooden Writing Tablets

Date: 500–700

Geography: Made in, Byzantine Egypt

Culture: Coptic

Medium: Wood and wax

Dimensions:
Overall (with mount): 10 1/2 x 11 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. (26.7 x 30.2 x 14 cm)
Overall (together): 9 5/16 x 5 7/8 x 2 1/4 in. (23.7 x 14.9 x 5.7 cm)
Overall (each leaf): 9 5/16 x 5 7/8 x 7/16 in. (23.7 x 14.9 x 1.1 cm)

Classification: Woodwork-Miscellany

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1914

Accession Number: 14.2.4a-d

Description:

The recessed areas of these tablets were filled with wax and employed for writing and record keeping. A stylus, or pointed wooden pen, would have been used to write in the wax. Joined pairs of tablets such as these were made in many materials, including ivory.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1700...