Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - Tomb of Kings, Egypt - unknown - T-Shirt

This is a graphite study sheet by Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, a working record of ancient vessels, a carved column capital and an anatomical fragment drawn from the tombs he visited.

Visual Elements & Composition

Pencil and pen outlines sit on parchment-toned paper marked with faint ochre stains, and the greys of the graphite carry most of the image. A tall-necked ewer with a looped handle and spiral-striped body stands on a ground line in the upper left. At the centre, a footed vessel with a banded rim and flared base is drawn in plain outline. At the right, a leg and foot are set apart beneath the word "Anatomy," and along the lower edge a face-carved column capital with broad ears is labelled "Cap of Column." The studies are spaced loosely rather than arranged as a finished scene, and the handwritten "Jan 30" and "Tombs of Kings" anchor the lower left.

Meaning & Symbolism

The sheet works as a visual inventory of ancient material culture. The face-carved capital belongs to a type associated with Egyptian column design, while the vessels preserve the forms of domestic and funerary equipment. Kellogg, an American painter born in Manlius, New York, travelled in the Near East and Egypt in the 1840s, and this sheet is one of his studies from that journey, made directly from objects and architectural detail. Its inscriptions fix both the place and the date of the sketching, the kind of record travellers brought home from the sites they visited.

Built for the Tee

A sketchbook page suits a tee well because it is meant to be read up close, with each study given its own space and label. Across the chest, the drawings sit like a page turned open to the viewer, and the inscriptions remain legible as you move. The layout of separate studies translates naturally to the front of a shirt, where each vessel and carving reads as its own record from the tombs.