Not so Black and White

Use of colour in Eighteenth Dynasty Funerary Manuscripts

Abstract

Studies of hieroglyphic palaeography have o!en focused on the morphology of each token, less so on the use of colour as a determinant feature in their design. The current paper relates some preliminary observations on the author’s latest project, which revolves around the visual impact the use of colour has on defining a certain graphic register (in the sense of Albert & Ragazzoli 2025) in the case of New Kingdom manuscripts. One particular instance is that of the rare presence of polychrome text in Book of the Dead manuscripts, as polychrome hieroglyphs are commonly connected to a monumental, not to a manuscript context. Through a visual analysis of both morphology and colour use in writings of the name and an epithet of Osiris, it will become evident that scribes had at their disposal a broad spectrum of options for bringing certain inscriptions closer to their monumental counterparts. The study will thus expand the understanding of graphic registers used in funerary manuscripts, including the diversity of colour use, and challenge the understanding of these writing media as intrinsically connected to “cursive” or “linear” script varieties.