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ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN PAINTINGS

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Internet publication of this work was made possible with the
generous support of Misty and Lewis Gruber

ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN PAINTINGS
SELECTED, COPIED, AND DESCRIBED BY

NINA M. DAVIES
WITH THE EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE OF

ALAN H. GARDINER
VOLUME III
DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
MCMXXXVI

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PRINTED AND BOUND

IN GREAT BRITAIN
AT THE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD

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SPECIAL PUBLICATION
OF

THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE

OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

JAMES HENRY BREASTED
EDITOR

THOMAS GEORGE ALLEN

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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PREFACE

To

By ALAN H. GARDINER

trace the history of the enterprise which has culminated

in the present work it is necessary to go back twenty-five
years and more, when Nina M. Cummings married Norman de Garis Davies and took up her abode in Kurna, where her
husband was engaged in copying the tombs of the Theban nobles
on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Endowed
with a gift for copying, Mrs. Davies immediately set about making
coloured facsimiles of the more interesting subjects on the tombwalls, some of which were incorporated in the New York series,
while a few were disposed of elsewhere. It so happened that about
the same time A. E. P. Weigall, then Inspector-General of the
Service des Antiquitis at Thebes, had engaged my own interest in
the tombs under his supervision, and together we determined to
draw up a catalogue of those precious, but until then much
neglected, monuments. I have related in another places how our
task found its accomplishment. In connexion therewith it seemed
to me a thousand pities that the results of Mrs. Davies's labours
should not be kept together to form a permanent archive, and
thanks to her generous acceptance of my offer it was arranged
that I should acquire the integral output of her work. A few years
later, however, we agreed that half of each season should be devoted by Mrs. Davies to assisting her husband. Through their
combined efforts, supplemented by those of others, the Metropolitan Museum has amassed a collection of coloured facsimiles of
Egyptian painting with which my own cannot compare. None
the less the latter, being continued year by year down to 1929

x Gardiner and Weigall, A Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes,

London, 1913.
vii

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PREFACE

(with a gap of two years during the war), has eventuated in well
over a hundred pictures, which have evoked great admiration
wherever they have been exhibited.' Of these, twenty-two have
been presented to the British Museum, where they can now be seen
in the Third Egyptian Room, excellently exhibited through the skill
of the present Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian collections.
A further outcome of Mrs. Davies's work was the inauguration
of the Theban Tombs Series, a publication of complete tombs
edited by Norman de Garis Davies and myself conjointly and
issued under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society. In
these volumes the Plates had perforce mostly to be in line, reproduction in colour proving too costly. None the less, the five
volumes contain in all nineteen colour Plates of great fidelity, if
not of outstandingly artistic appearance. Meanwhile, however,
the Metropolitan Museum had embarked, thanks to the liberality
of Mrs. Tytus, upon a series of tomb-publications conceived on
a more sumptuous scale. The Tytus Memorial Series, embodying
the work of Norman de Garis Davies and his assistants, contains
in its impressive folios no less than sixty-three high-class coloured
facsimiles from the specific tombs treated. There remained,
however, room for another work of a yet more opulent kind in
which the paintings should be selected from a wider field, and
should cover the entire range of dynastic history. Little could we
imagine that such a work would ever come within the sphere
of possibilities, the cost being prohibitive. It has now to be
recounted how our dream was realized.
In the year 1927 Professor Breasted, himself deeply interested
in Mrs. Davies's work, put me in touch with Mr. Welles Bosworth, Mr. John D. Rockefeller Junior's architect, and next year
' Selections were shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in i923, at Brussels in
1925, and at Oxford in 1929 and again in 1933.

viii

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PREFACE

I had the privilege of showing Mr. Bosworth at my own home

in London the treasures that Mrs. Davies's industry had accumulated for me. Despite the interest exhibited by my visitor, it
was not without extreme surprise that, in April 1929, I received
from Professor Breasted the intimation that Mr. Rockefeller, who
had already so handsomely financed the Abydos undertaking of
the Egypt Exploration Society and the Oriental Institute, might
also be willing, on certain conditions, to undertake the comprehensive publication of Mrs. Davies's life-work. At length the
negotiations were successfully completed and, thanks to Mr.
Rockefeller's munificence, Egyptology has become endowed with
a pair of volumes hardly to be equalled in the entire range of
ancient studies. A certain number of supplementary copies had to
be prepared, and these are in the possession of the Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago. The question as to where, and by
whom, Mrs. Davies's facsimiles were to be reproduced exercised
our minds for many a long day. At last it was decided to entrust
the work to the Chiswick Press (Messrs. Whittingham & Griggs)
and, arrived at the end of our task, we see no reason to regret our
decision. Those who have experience of the mysteries of colourreproduction are well aware of the technical difficulties which it
still presents. Superficially regarded, the results often seem wellnigh perfect-until examined side by side with the originals which
they reproduce. Then the inevitable differences become very apparent. Candour does not permit us to affirm that the Plates of
the present work are in every case absolute facsimiles of Mrs.
Davies's paintings. Yet a very high standard of faithfulness has
undoubtedly been reached, and for this we are deeply indebted
not only to the Chiswick Press corporately, but also to its manager
Mr. Butfield and to his highly skilled assistants. Of the latter, we
recall with gratitude the great devotion of the late Mr. R. Tyrer,
ix

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PREFACE

who in the early stages exerted all his enthusiasm and exceptional
technical ability to achieving results of the requisite quality. Since
his regretted death we have found in Mr. G. Jones a worthy
and no less painstaking successor to him. The coping-stone to
our labours has been set by the excellent typography and bookproduction of the Oxford University Press, where print and
binding have been executed.
The examples of Egyptian painting here displayed cover aperiod
of some sixteen hundred years, from the very beginning of the
Fourth Dynasty (circa 2700

B.c.).

B.c.) down to the end of the Twentieth

Outside these limits there is little of value to

Dynasty (iioo
record, for the very archaic painting discovered by F. W. Green
at Hierakonpolis (First Dynasty?) may be considered to belong to
Prehistory rather than to the genuine Egyptian tradition, while
the Graeco-Roman mummy-portraits belong to the art of Greece
rather than to that of Egypt. Within our period the scenes selected
for reproduction are very unevenly spaced out. Of the Old Kingdom we give but four examples, and of the Middle Kingdom but
seven. The reason lies in the unequal distribution of the material,
not in capricious preferences of our own. Most of the pictures
here reproduced have perforce been derived from tombs, which
in the Old Kingdom usually employed low relief. Such reliefs
were indeed coloured, but the colouring was subordinated to the
sculpture, and has, moreover, perished in the vast majority of
cases. The Middle Kingdom tombs contain much more flat painting, but the existing examples (with the exception of one magnificent tomb at Beni Hasan and perhaps another one at el-Bersheh)
are for the most part coarse and uninteresting. It is possible, however, that we might have added slightly to our Middle Kingdom
selection had the tombs of Meir been more accessible. Such not
being the case, fully four-fifths of the paintings shown in our Plates
x

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PREFACE

belong to the four hundred years separating the reign of Hatshepsut (1497-1475 B.c.) from the last of the Ramessides (Io9o B.c.),

and are taken from the tombs of Thebes.

The choice of a hundred and four specimens of Egyptian paintings has been far from easy. We hope to have included the outstanding masterpieces in this branch of Egyptian art, but these are
very few in number, nor could we confine ourselves to choosing
merely what was aesthetically best. Variety both of subject and
of treatment had to be borne in mind, and this necessitated the
inclusion of samples the reverse of beautiful. Difficulty was occasioned by the fact that to duplicate pictures recently well reproduced in model publications like those of the Metropolitan
Museum would have been unfair to their authors and also an
offence against the proper economy of our science. Some overlapping was inevitable, since we could not entirely eliminate
representatives from the tombs of KIenamin, Nakht, and others
edited by Mr. Norman de Garis Davies. We trust, however, that
if we have sinned at all we may be considered to have sinned with
discretion.
Yet another problem that confronted us was the extent to
which we should cater for mere archaeological interest. In some
instances, e.g. the scenes from the tombs of Senmut (Plate XIV)
and Menkheperrarsonb (Plates XXI-XXIV), we have admittedly
succumbed to this temptation. In our desire to illustrate all aspects
of Egyptian painting we have included some of the more attractive examples of ceiling patterns (Plates LXXXIII, LXXXIV, CI,
CIV). Nor could we completely exclude painted reliefs. The Old
and Middle Kingdoms offered nothing that seemed suitable, but
for the New Kingdom we have drawn upon both the temple of
Hatshepsut at Der el-Balhri and that of Sethos I at Abydos. It is
possible that if the reliefs of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty tombs
xi

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PREFACE

had retained their colours better some fine examples might have
called for inclusion here. But it seems also possible that after Egyptian colour-work had attained its highest perfection within little
more than a generation (end of Dynasty III and beginning of
Dynasty IV) it then for a while deserted the tombs and may have
flourished mainly in the decoration of houses and the ornamentation of articles of furniture. At all events fine painting is sometimes
to be found in the wooden coffins of the Eleventh Dynasty, and
from that source we have filled two Plates (V, VI). By the
generosity of Dr. Howard Carter we have been allowed to depict
two unique and wonderful miniature paintings on the casket from
the tomb of Tutrankhamiin (Plates LXXVII, LXXVIII).
In conclusion, we must express our deep gratitude for the help
received from many sides. Our debt to Mr. Rockefeller has been
mentioned already, and we cannot sufficiently laud his enlightened
generosity. To Professor Breasted, who mediated the preliminary
negotiations and has met us more than half-way in every wish we
have expressed, our indebtedness is very great. Professor Junker
has most courteously allowed us to include two scenes from his excavations (Plates II and III), and Sir Robert Mond and M. Bruyere
have similarly enriched us with a Plate apiece (Plates C and
CII). At the British Museum Mr. Sidney Smith secured to us permission to reproduce the splendid series of fragments that have
been in its possession for nearly a century, and the authorities of
the Cairo Museum have rendered every assistance to facilitate the
copying of the pictures under their care. Professor Schifer most
kindly arranged that Mrs. Davies's copy of the fishing scene from
the tomb of Menna (Plate LIV) should be sent over from the Neues
Museum in Berlin for reproduction in England. Lastly, I have to
thank my personal assistant, Mr. R. O. Faulkner, for valuable help
afforded at all stages of the work.
xii

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CONTENTS

PREFACE by

ALAN H. GARDINER

INTRODUCTION

vii

Scope of the work, p. xvii.-- 2. The historical setting, p.xix.

-- 3. Technical notes on the various periods, p. xxii.- 4. The
i.

subjects depicted, p. xxvi.-- S. The mode of drawing, p. xxix. 6. The nature ofEgyptian painting, p. xxxi.- 7. Materials and
implements used, p. xxxii.-- 8. Method of procedure, p. xxxiii. 9. Outlines, p. xxxv.-- io. Colouring, p. xxxvii.- ii. Backgrounds, p. xxxix.-- 12. Transparent garments and shading,
p. xl.-- 13. Combination of relief and painting, p. xli.- 1.
Varnishes, p. iii.--i. Difficulties that beset the ancient artist,
p. xliii.-- i6. The painters of the pictures, p. xlv.- 17. Dura.
bility of pigments and changes of colour, p. xlv.-- 8. Causes
of destruction in the Theban tombs, p. xlvi.
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES

IV-VI

OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTIES

I.

The Medium Geese

II. Ship under full sail

Cattle-boats
.

in.

Iv.

Fragment from a scene of spearing Fish

6
8
10
i

MIDDLE KINGDOM, DYNASTIES XI-XII

v. A Granary, Tools, Weapons, &c..
.
Hieroglyphs from Middle Kingdom Coffins

vi.

vui. Men gathering Figs

yin.
Ix.

Feeding the Oryxes

Birds in an Acacia Tree

x. Group of SemiteWomen

xi. Semite with his Donkey

i6

18.

21

22

24

26

.
.

14.

.
.

.
.

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CONTENTS

NEW KINGDOM, EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY

xii. King Tuthmosis I
xii. A Decorative Lion

xx. Hippopotamus at bay

40

42

44
.46

48

53

.54

56

.58

A Piece of Goldsmith'sWork
From a Row of Offering-bearers
The Daily Meal within the Tomb
A Lady Guest and Serving-maids
Musicians at a Banquet
.

68

70
72

xiv

74
76

78

xxxviii. Tribute of the Desert.

xxxix. NubianWomen and Children.
xL. A Negro Dancer
.
xii. Trapper with Pelicans.
xiii. Syrian Tribute-bearrers.
.
xLii. Decorative Gold Vases.
.

.
.

81

82.

62
64
66
67

..

xxxi. Details &roma Hunting Scene.

xxxii.
xxxiv.
xxxv.
xxxvi.
xxxvii.

38

xxx. Ibex and Hunting Dog.

.

36

.
xxvi. Vintagers and Rope-makers at work
xxx. King Amenophis II on his Nurse's Lap.

xxxii. Catdle.

35

xxv. Funerary Rites in a Garden

xxvi. Music at a Party

Chair

30
32

xxi. Foreign Princes pay Homage to the King

xxi. Two Cretan Tribute-bearers .
.
xxi. Four Cretan Tribute-bearers
.

xxvii. Cat under a

28

xiv. Minoan Tribute-bearers

.
xv. A Pet Bitch
xvi. Scribe registering Nubian Tribute
xvi. Musicians at a Banquet
xvmz. Inscription in Ornamental Hieroglyphs
xx. Birds in flight
.

xxiv. Syrian Tribute-bearers

83
84
86

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CONTENTS

xuv. Officers of the Household of Sebklotpe.

XLV. Nubian Soldiers with Standard-bearer .
xivi. A Nubian Drummer

XLVI. Fowling in the Marshes

88
g9
93
94

XLVIII. Vintagers and Bird-catchers

xux. Butchers and Bringers of Offerings

Lu. Girls bringing Fruit and Flowers

.0.

L Harvest Scene

Fishing

Lw.)

and Fowling in the

Marshes

98

99

Royal Favourites

LIlT.

96

104

io6

108

LV.

LVI. A Nile Boat with its Crew

LVII. King Amenophis III

.Ho

..

Lvm. Foreigners beneath the Royal Throne

LIX. Bull decked out for Sacrifice

.11

Lx. Syrians grovelling at the feet of Amenophis III.

LXI. Guests at a Feast

..

.n6

LXII. Craftsmen at work.118

120

I~I. Mourners crossing the Nile

uciv. The Final Rites before the Tomb-door .

LXVI.) Fowling

in the Marshes

The Pool in the Garden

Lxx. Singers

and Dancers

Farmers deliver their Quota of Geese

LXVII. Horses and Mules at the Harvest Field
LXVII.

LXIX.

Lxxiv. Infant Daughters of Akhenaten

='Birds

amid the

.18

xv

13

.
.

Papyrus Marshes

LXXVI. Tutrankhamiin hunting Lions

13

The Procession to the Tomb and Mourners

122

114

.14

134

136

14

146

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CONTENTS

LxxvI. Tutrankhamiin slaying Syrian Foes

Tribute-bearers
.
LXXXI. A Nubian Princess in her Ox-chariot
SNubian

LXXXII. The Viceroy of Nubia's State Barge

LxxxII. Ceiling Pattern with Name and Title.
LxxxIV.

Ceiling Pattern with Bucrania and Grasshoppers

148

15o

152

154

158

16

NEW KINGDOM, NINETEENTH DYNASTY

Lxxxv.

in Procession

The Cult-image of Amenophis I carried

LxxxvI. Sethos I with Rer-Harakhti and

Ptah

LxxxVII. Userhet enjoys the cool of his Garden

LXXXVIII.

The High-priest Userhet

.
.

xcII. Queen Nefretere worshipping

xcuI. Three Vignettes

xcIV. Kenro and his Wife in their Garden

Fishmongers

Vintage

Scene.

.
.

178

18o

184

8
186
.

188

Ig0

191

192

.
.

.19

194

TWENTIETH DYNASTY

Isis greets Ramesses III and his Son

CIV.

Cedling Patterns

174
176

Ceiling Pattern

cmI.

INDEXES

Amennakhte worships beneath a Dum Palm

NEW KINGDOM,

xcix. Young Girl with a Duck

cii.

172

C. King Ramesses II

167

ci. Ducks and Pigeons in a

Kenro plays a Game of Hazard

XCVI. Fishing with a Draw-net

XCVII.

164

170

The Mother of Userhet

xc. From a Row of Deities bringing Offenngs
xci. Isis conducts Queen Nefretere to her Tomb

xcvII.

162

..

LXXXIX.

XCV.

xvi

.
.

.19

200

201

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IT

INTRODUCTION

I. Scope of the work

is barely necessary to point out that the greater emphasis

of these volumes rests upon the Plates. They are the outcome
of many years' copying in the Theban necropolis and on other
sites, and, without giving a complete conspectus of the history of
Egyptian painting, embrace all its periods and illustrate a large
variety of subjects and of different styles. Dr. Gardiner has described in his Preface how Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jnr. came
forward to make my facsimiles accessible to a wider public, and
also what principles guided us in selecting the examples best calculated to do justice to such great generosity. It remains for me
to explain the purpose that has underlain my work. I have been
at pains to reproduce these ancient pictures exactly as they are
at the present day, with all the defects due to time or to the
destructive agency of man and other living creatures. So far as
I was able, I have rendered the colours precisely as I found them
upon the walls of tombs and temples. Only in a very few
cases, and then for particular reasons, have I introduced restorations (Plates XXXIV, XXXVII, LXXXI, LXXXVII) or renovated
faded tints (Plates VII, IX-XI, LXXXIII, LXXXIV). Thus the
value of my contribution depends wholly upon the degree of its
faithfulness to the originals, and it is by that standard that I wish
my results to be judged.
The accompanying text-volume requires considerably more
explanation and perhaps even excuse, and I will endeavour to state,
not only what it is, but also what it is not. It has been far from
my intention to write a comprehensive treatise on ancient Egyptian painting, or a complete scientific commentary on the pictures
here displayed. For the former, students will turn to the books by
xvi

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INTRODUCTION

Professor Schifer,' Mrs. Grant Williams,z and others, and for the
latter to the detailed investigations contained in the publications
devoted to individual tombs or in the late Professor Wreszinski's
valuable Atlas zur altiigyptischen Kulturgeschichte.3 It was, however,
obviously desirable to offer at least a plain, unvarnished account
of the settings in which the various pictures occurred, besides
pointing out the meaning or the special interest of details which
might not at once disclose their message to the uninformed spectator. To this end I collected a number of notes, leaving it to Dr.
Gardiner, with his greater experience of writing, to work them up
into the descriptions on the individual Plates. At the same time
I reserved for this Introduction a number of observations which
had accumulated throughout the years given to this work, and
these Dr. Gardiner has supplemented to some extent with comments derived from his special Egyptological knowledge. The
text-volume is our combined effort, but Dr. Gardiner must not
be made responsible for statements lying outside his own proper
sphere, just as I myself can claim no part in his translations or
archaeological interpretations. Frequent cross-references from
Plate to Plate have been given so as to make the work a selfcontained subject for study, but we have refrained almost entirely from quoting parallels in pictures not here reproduced.
To sum up, we have endeavoured to produce a brief, undocumented, descriptive companion to the Plates, and we expressly
disclaim the ambition to have added anything of importance to
the technical conclusions of specialists in Ancient Egyptian art
and archaeology.
SVon Agyptischer Kunst, 3rd edition, Leipzig, 1930.
The Decoration of the Tomb of Per-ntb, New York, 1932. See, too, A. Lucas, Ancient

Egyptian Materialsand Industries, and edition, 1934.

3 Ist part, Leipzig, 1923.

xviii

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INTRODUCTION

2. The historicalsetting
The formative period of Egyptian art lay between the century
immediately preceding the union of the Upper and Lower countries by Menes (First Dynasty, perhaps about 3200 B.c.) and the
age of the Pyramid-builders. From this stretch of five hundred
years and more we have nothing to show, and our oldest picture,
the superb Medim geese (Plate I), dates from the reign of Snofru,
the first king of the Fourth Dynasty (after 2720
Z
.C.). His successors were Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus, famous as the
builders of the mighty pyramids of Giza. Under them figured
representations in the tomb-chapels of the nobles are still scanty and
limited in subject, but become more extensive and elaborate during
the Fifth Dynasty. In the Sixth Dynasty, of which the principal
rulers are Phiops I, Merenr&r, and Phiops II, many large and finely
adorned mastabas or platform tombs were constructed near the
Memphite capital, as well as rock-cut tombs in the provinces, but
in them painted reliefs are far commoner than paintings pure and

simple, and the colours have mostly faded through lapse of time.
The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Dynasties constitute what is known to
Egyptologists as the Old Kingdom, and it is only the beginning and
the end of this period which have contributed to our Plates (I-IV).
Towards the end of the Sixth Dynasty a great disaster befell the

monarchy. Foreign invasion added to the confusion into which

the land was plunged. The Memphite kings appear to have continued their line, but with much diminished power, and in Middle
Egypt a Herakleopolite Dynasty soon took their place, supported
by some of the feudal princes farther south, though these often
preferred to regard themselves as independent rulers, and adorned

and equipped their sepulchres with great pomp and magnificence.

To this date belong the detailed coloured hieroglyphs and representations of weapons, &c., found on the insides of wooden coffins
xix

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INTRODUCTION

(Plates V, VI). These are classed by us as belonging to the early

Middle Kingdom, which was of Theban origin (Dynasty XI, about
200-Ig980 B.c.). With Amenemmes I (about 1980-1950 B.C.), the
founder of the Twelfth Dynasty, the capital returned northward
to Lisht, not so far distant from the old Pharaonic centre at Memphis. Now follows a succession of powerful kings named alternately Amenemmes and Sesostris. Order takes the place of
anarchy, great building works and foreign enterprises are undertaken, and art flourishes, though not attaining (except in some
sculptures in the round) the same exalted level as in the Old Kingdom. From the Twelfth Dynasty we are able to present only five
Plates (VII-XI), all derived from the tomb of a single great feudal
prince of the Oryx nome at Beni Hasan.
After Amenemmes IV, who died about 179O B.c., the prosperity
of Egypt again suffered eclipse. What is known as the Second Intermediate Period includes some warring local dynasties, whilst a succession of foreign invaders, probably of Semitic stock, established
themselves at Avaris, i.e. Tanis in the Delta, and there maintained
their rule until dislodged by Kamose and Amosis I of Thebes.
To have expelled the hated invaders, who were known as the
Hyksos, conferred great glory on thenew Theban princes, and their
prestige went on increasing throughout the Eighteenth Dynasty,
which indeed marks the culmination of the Pharaonic power. The
line comprised four monarchs of the name of Amenophis and four
of the name of Tuthmosis, besides a remarkable woman to whom
further reference will be made immediately. Chronology at last

becomes relatively secure and, though there is still little history in

the modern sense of the term, a good deal is known about the
buildings undertaken, about the wars waged, and about the individual dignitaries to whom the administration was entrusted.

The Theban art of tomb-painting as practised at this period is

xx

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INTRODUCTION

represented in our work by no less than sixty Plates (XIVLXXIII), excluding those in which the revolutionary changes due
to the heretic king Amenophis IV, better known as Akhenaten,
become manifest. From the beginning of the Dynasty down to
the death of Tuthmosis II (I555-1497 .c.) no painting could be
found sufficiently noteworthy or sufficiently colourful to merit
inclusion. Work of the finest quality begins under Queen Hkatshepsut, who was a half-sister of Tuthmosis II, and arrogated to
herself the throne during the childhood of Tuthmosis III. The
beautiful temple of Der el-Balri was built by her architect Senmut, and its painted reliefs have yielded Plates XII and XIII. When
Tuthmosis III came of age he assumed the sole power after a brief
co-regency, and proceeded to persecute the memory of Hatshepsut
with the utmost severity. The remaining twenty-seven years of
his reign constitute an epoch of restless activity, in which the
Egyptian armies penetrated even into Mesopotamia and great
wealth came to swell the coffers of the Pharaoh and of the temple
of Amiin. All this is reflected in the tomb-pictures. The same
prosperity marks the reigns of Amenophis II (448-I42o B.c.),
Tuthmosis IV (I420-411 B.C.), and Amenophis III (1411-1375
B.C.), but in the following reign occurred that revolution which set

the civilization of the Pharaohs definitely on the downward path.

Despite all that has been written about Akhenaten (I375-1358
B.c.) and his times, the causes and exact trend of events involved
in his breach with tradition still remain obscure. Certain it is at

least that he cast off the irksome tyranny of the power of the
Theban god Amein, transferred his capital to El-Amarna, and there
established a relatively pure monotheism in honour of the Aten,
or disk of the sun. The movement was doubtless intended as a
complete revolution and renaissance in every respect, and it deeply
affected contemporary art and language. Three pictures from Elxxi

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INTRODUCTION

Amarna here illustrate his artistic innovations (LXXIV-LXXVI).

The heresy was short-lived, and the youthful Tutrankhamin
(1357-1349 B.c.), having returned to the allegiance of his fathers,

was buried, like them, in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at
Thebes. The painting of his reign bears the unmistakable imprint
of the changes wrought by Akhenaten (Plates LXXVII-LXXXII)
and ushers in the art of the Nineteenth Dynasty, which differs
markedly from that of the Eighteenth.
Under H aremhab (1348-1315 B.C.) and Sethos I (3 13-1292B.C.)
fine workmanship is still the rule (Plates LXXXIII-LXXXIX),
and the painted reliefs of the temple of Sethos at Abydos (Plate
LXXXVI) can compete with the best artistic products of earlier
times. The long and relatively peaceful reign of Ramesses II
(1292-1225 B.c.) formerly misled Egyptologists into according to

him the epithet of 'the Great', but this conception is now universally rejected. Artistically, the work of his reign is at a far lower
level than before the Aten revolution, though displaying certain
redeeming features of freedom and originality which have made
it well worth illustrating (Plates XC-CII). From the Twentieth
Dynasty, comprising Ramesses III (1198-1167 B.c.) and his ephe-

meral descendants, we show but two pictures (Plates CIII, CIV), the
second of which comes from a tomb usurped from a nearly contemporary owner in the time of Herilh6r, that high-priest of Amiin
who was destined to inaugurate the line of priestly Theban rulers
known as the Twenty-first Dynasty.

Technical notes on the various periods

3.

It is a commonplace of Egyptology that the finest products of

the Pharaonic civilization are also among the oldest. The Fourth
Dynasty certainly reached a pinnacle of technical achievement
which was never afterwards surpassed. But in the Old Kingdom,
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as later, there are great contrasts of very fine painting and large,
coarse work. This can be seen by comparing the Medfum geese
(Plate I) and the Nile fishes from Dahshdr (Plate IV) with the
scenes from the tomb of Kaemronkh (Plates II, III). Blue-grey
backgrounds are common. Browns, greys, and purplish reds are
used in addition to the primary colours employed at all periods of
Egyptian art. Modelling of details in plaster is absent, and also any
attempt at true shading. Squaring-lines were ruled for the guidance
of the artist, and, as later, similar black lines are sometimes' found
over the paintings to aid in re-copying the originals elsewhere.
As regards the Middle Kingdom, we are called upon to consider
only the tombs of Beni Hasan. These, dating from the first half
of the Twelfth Dynasty, possess chambers of vast dimensions hewn
out of the limestone cliffs. The wall-surfaces are in places perfectly smooth, but elsewhere are marred by flints or by faults in
the rock. Architectural details, such as false-doors, architraves,
and the like, are adorned with incised hieroglyphs. The general
expanse of the walls is covered by paintings on the flat, with only
a thin wash of plaster between the paint and the stone. Sometimes
the colour is applied directly to the stone, as, for example, where
red granite is imitated, but a priming must have been used to prevent the colours from sinking in. The prevailing tint of the background is a deep, neutral cream, but in the tomb of Khnemhotpe
(no. 3), whence all our examples are taken, a bluish-grey background appears; see Plate IX, where the original tint is still preserved. This tomb contains by far the most careful work;
elsewhere the drawing is careless and the painting coarse. Animals
and birds are treated much more satisfactorily than human beings;
in the latter we find representations of a grotesqueness and crudity
not found in the Theban tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The
Se.g. in the painted reliefs from the temple of Saur&er in the Cairo Museum.

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colours also are somewhat different. Black outlines are common,

though not universal, and are everywhere well preserved. The
blues and greens are more finely ground than later, and are often
mixed with other colours and with white, so that a soft blue and
a yellowish green are obtained (Plate IX). Maroons and purplebrowns are frequent, as is also a deep orange. In the tomb of
Amenemlet (no. 2) there is a bright vermilion not produced, as
in the Theban tombs, by stippling over white. The white of the
dresses is never very brilliant, and the transparent effects and
modelling of details found in the Eighteenth Dynasty are entirely
absent. The general tone of the walls is more sombre than in the
Theban tombs, and the impression given, except in some outstanding examples, is that of a rather provincial art.
The characteristics of the Eighteenth Dynasty may be summed
up as follows: very careful preparation of the surfaces, with clear
and brilliant colouring accompanying delicate and precise linework. In the first half of the Dynasty the outlines are sometimes
so fine that they are comparable only to pen-work, for example
in the tomb of Ineni (no. 81). Together with this goes a mannered
stiffness that gradually disappears as the end of the period is
approached. The tombs of the reigns of Tuthmosis IV and Amenophis III have an appearance of youthful gaiety, the faces showing
charming features and delightfully tip-tilted noses (see Plate LII).
Careless work, however, sometimes occurs. A group of tombs
dated to Tuthmosis IV displays very free and hasty execution, and
is doubtless attributable to a single artist or school of artists (Plates
XXXVIII-XLI, XLV, XLVI). Backgrounds are often blue-grey
in the earlier part of the period; later white becomes the rule.
Examples may be found where a whole tomb employs a background of a golden yellow (Plates XXIX-XXXIII, reign of Amenophis II). The plastered surfaces of Tuthmoside times were so
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hard and smooth that fine outlines and clear and even colouring
were easy to attain. Modelling of details in plaster is not rare.
Varnish, originally colourless but now changed to deep orange, is

14).

also known (see below,

The possibility of showing fleshcolour through a transparent garment was discovered and developed. Colours are harmonious and designs well arranged, and
there is none of that overcrowding and massing together of details
which signalizes Ramesside times.
With the advent of the Nineteenth Dynasty the precise rules of
the foregoing period were relaxed. The walls are carelessly prepared, with often only a thin wash over the coarse layer of mud
and straw applied to the stone. The combination of colours is
cruder and outlines lose their fine precision. An unpleasant effect
is produced by the impure tints used for flesh-colour, and by the
long stretches of bright yellow background on which lengthy and
badly-written inscriptions occur. The polychrome hieroglyphs no
longer receive the right forms or the appropriate colours. A black
outline is often used (Plate XCVII; so too the hieroglyphs in Plates
XCI, XCII) and many subsidiary inscriptions are black (Plates
XCIX, CII), not blue as in the Eighteenth Dynasty (Plates XVII,

XLIV, XLVII). More attractive characteristics are the transparency

of the flowing and pleated garments, and the shading employed
to give sofmness to the forms. Especially typical of the period are
long straight noses (Plates LXXXV, LXXXVI, XCI) and the
dashes of black accentuating the eyes, nostrils, and the corners of
the mouths (Plates LXXXV, LXXXVII, XCI). The examples
the

chosen for this publication are naturally taken from the best that
the Ramesside age can show, and they sometimes have a grace of
line and a vivacity of composition that are very attractive. The
sense of decadence makes itself felt, however, from the very beginning of the period, and it is all too apparent that by this time
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Egyptian art had already lost a large part of its dignity and
harmony.
From the Twentieth Dynasty our examples are so few that it
seems superfluous to attempt to characterize the period as a whole.
Reference must be made to the individual descriptions.

4.

The subjects depicted

The vast majority of the pictures reproduced in this work being
taken from tombs, it is but natural that the subjects should be in
some way correlated with the interests or aspirations of the tombowners. This fact is, however, often disguised in our Plates by the
impossibility of there reproducing scenes in their entirety, so that
in order to grasp the relevancy of a given picture to its place of
occurrence we must frequently study the nature of the context as
given in the descriptions. In the Old and Middle Kingdoms the
possessors of the finest tombs were for the most part nobles with
landed estates, whence the scenes that they caused to be executed
for the admiration of posterity not seldom display their fields and
cattle and workshops and attendants; compare the geese from
Medfium (Plate I) and the cattle-boats from the tomb of Kaemronkh (Plate III), as well as the pickers of figs from Beni IIasan
(Plate VII). In the Eighteenth Dynasty a centralized government
reduced the barons, with few exceptions (see Plate XLIV), to mere
officials, and it now became the pride of a man to emphasize those
aspects of his functions which brought him into contact with the
king. Thus we find the high-priest Menkheperrarsonb (Plates
XXI-XXIV) and others (Plates XIV, XVI, XLII) perpetuating the
foreign tribute which they introduced into the royal presence, and
Kenamin dwells with satisfaction upon his mother's post as nurse to
the young Pharaoh (Plate XXIX). A royal scribe who had particular connexions with the army naturally took delight in depicting
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the Nubian soldiers whom it was his duty to enrol (Plates XLV,
XLVI), and a scribe connected with the taxation of farm-produce
could hardly have failed to record the farmers bringing up their
geese to be counted (Plate LXVII).
It was the ambition of every Egyptian to receive a 'good burial',
and most tombs contain representations of funeral processions
(Plates LXXI, LXXIII), of mourners (Plates LXIII, LXXII), and
of the rites at the door of the tomb (Plate LXIV). But even more
important than such purely incidental occurrences were the enjoyments and the privileges which the wealthy hoped to retain in
the life to come. We are sometimes in doubt whether scenes
of banqueting and of musical entertainment were meant to be
retrospective or prospective; often they seem to combine both
intentions (Plates XVII, XXVI, XXXV-XXXVII, LXI, LXX).
In the Old Kingdom we may assume that most noblemen-Egypt
does not stand alone in this respect--plumed themselves upon their
prowess in the chase, and the depiction of fowling, fishing, and
hunting scenes (Plates XLVII, LIV, LXV; compare, too, XVIII,
XIX, XX, XXX, XXXI) became traditional and almost obligatory. It is hardly likely that the bureaucrats and high-priests of
Thebes would have much taste for harpooning and brandishing
the throw-stick, but at least they liked to be so portrayed. In the
hot summer months the wealthier classes looked forward to en-

joying the shade of their gardens, and it was hoped that this luxury
would be continued after death (Plates LXIX, LXXXVII, XCIV).
Nor did religious duties end with the cessation of earthly life.

The Egyptians took pleasure in imagining themselves making

a pilgrimage to Abydos or some other sacred city, and the
journey thither by boat was often depicted (Plate LVI; compare
Plate II). Every morning a sacrifice had to be made to the rising
sun, and in connexion with this luscious fruits were brought by
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attendants and an ox might even be slaughtered (Plates XXXIV,

XLIX, LII). Life in the beyond held out promises of the most
varied kinds, one of them being that a man might while away his
leisure with games of chance (Plate XCV). Besides all the types
of scene that have been enumerated there remain parts of the
tombs which called for purely decorative treatment; hence we
have included in our Plates several ceiling patterns (Plates
LXXXIII, LXXXIV, CI, CIV). Hieroglyphic writing could,
moreover, be highly ornamental, and this fact is illustrated in
Plates VI and XVIII.
A few of our pictures do not come from tombs, and hence fall
into none of the categories hitherto mentioned. The Egyptian
temple was always conceived of as given to the god by Pharaoh
himself, and Pharaoh's priestly duties and the rewards accorded
him for their performance are the chief subject-matter of temple
scenes. At all events the king is usually in the foreground. From
Hatshepsut's temple at Der el-Bahri we reproduce a portrait of her
father Tuthmosis I (Plate XII), as well as a symbolical representation of a lion embodying the royal power (Plate XIII). From the
temple of Sethos I at Abydos we have chosen a fine relief showing
Rr-Harakhti putting on record the jubilees granted to the king
by Ptah (Plate LXXXVI). The provinces were conceived of as
deities conferring their produce upon the reigning sovereign, and
a sample of such a deity has been taken from the temple of
Ramesses II, likewise at Abydos (Plate XC). The tomb of Tutrankhamin has afforded us two wonderful miniatures of the king
hunting lions (Plate LXXVII) and slaying his Syrian foes (Plate
LXXVIII), both painted on a casket. Lastly, we have two decorative wall-paintings from one of the palaces at El-Amarna (Plates
LXXV, LXXVI) and a charming picture of Akhenaten's little
daughters from a house on the same site (Plate LXXIV).
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5. The mode of drawing

The peculiarities, advantages, and disadvantages of the Egyptian
methods of pictorial representation form a fascinating but almost
inexhaustible topic upon which we cannot here enter at any
length. The interest of this volume centres in the use of colour,
and those who wish to penetrate deeply into the mysteries of
Pharaonic draughtsmanship must seek help elsewhere. But at least
a few notes seem necessary in order not to leave the general reader
completely at sea. Of course it must be realized that Egyptian
paintings are in the first instance informative, and only secondarily
impressionistic in intention. The conception of art as the revelation of individual and inspired ways of seeing the world around
us was wholly alien to ancient thought. Its purpose was to show
things, not as the artist's eye saw them, but as they are in reality.
And this was achieved by delineating the separate parts one at a
time, each as accurately as possible, but not co-ordinated with one
another nor as seen from one and the same angle. In fact, Egyptian
drawing bears a close analogy to writing, in which each of the
more important elements in a complex situation is presented to
the reader in a separate word and in sequence, to him being left the
task of combining the whole in his mind, i.e. of understanding
the sense. It is significant that Egyptian figured representations are
always eked out by hieroglyphic legends, suggesting that both
methods of conveying information pursued a common aim.
Even within the limits of a single depicted object the piecemeal
method of delineation is very apparent. The stock example is the
full-face eye associated with the presentation of the rest of the
features in profile. The shoulders are again shown as in a frontal
view, but the legs as seen from the side. Not that the Egyptian
draughtsman was wholly ignorant of the laws of perspective, but,
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INTRODUCTION

perspective drawing being neither his aim nor his habit, he often
went absurdly astray when some unusual attitude had to be depicted (Plates X, XI). In course of time, however, these grotesque
results came to be avoided, less by solving the problem than by
suppressing it. This was the more easy since the Egyptians never
conceived it as an obligation to show everything within the field
of vision. Only what was immediately interesting entered into
their compositions, and distinct persons were not necessarily represented in their actual spatial relations to one another; thus in Plate
LIV one little lady isperched up in the left-hand top corner on her
separate mat, wholly out of connexion with the rest of her family
crowding the boats. The same picture illustrates an analogous fact:
the most important personage is shown of a size proportionate

to his importance, and subsidiary figures are correspondingly

dwarfed. Nowhere does the Egyptian artist display a sense of
servitude to reality. If it suited his convenience to depict a row
of men alternately with different coloured skins, he did so without
a qualm (Plates LXXI, LXXXI). If he elected to think of his
master at one moment as of human shape, and at the next in the
guise of a bird-like soul, he did not hesitate to include both images
in one and the same picture (Plate LXXXVII). Imagination and
reality were thus blended in the most charming way, and it is not
the least merit of Egyptian art that it transcends the visible world.
These last sentences are not to be read as meaning that the
Pharaonic artist was free to represent his subjects exactly as he
chose. The very reverse was true as regards the more essential
points. Egyptian art is strongly traditional, and its peculiar and
unmistakable style is betrayed, not only in the choice of subjects,
but in a hundred other ways. To quote but a single example, the
human countenance was only in the rarest possible cases rendered
in full-face. Among the many portraits of men, women, and
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INTRODUCTION

deities in this work the only examples of full-face representations

are the musicians in Plate LXX and the wounded Syrians in Plate
LXXVIII. Very little of the kind (an exception is the hieroglyph
,)is known before the Eighteenth Dynasty, when it was probably
introduced as a startling innovation that could be used only for
persons of comparatively low station or for foreigners.

6. The nature of Egyptian painting

Mural painting, as practised in Ancient Egypt, may be defined

as a method of applying powdered colours mixed with gum or
size to a surface of dry plaster, or less commonly to one of stone.
Water was probably used to thin the mixture sufficiently to enable
it to flow freely off the brush. The method in question is a distemper or a gouache technique. To speak of Egyptian wallpaintings as 'frescoes' is a misnomer, since true fresco-painting
consists of applying colours mixed with lime and water to a surface of damp plaster with which they become incorporated; thus
only the amount of wall space that could be kept damp during the
day's work was coloured at one time, and where fresh plaster was
added a join may be seen. In gouache painting, once the colours
have been prepared and mixed with gum, they will last for any
length of time, and when hardened need only softening with
water to become ready for use; one opaque colour can be painted
over another when the latter has dried, and then completely hides
it. The medieval Italian painters employed both methods, finishing with gouache frescoes that had become dry. They, however,
commonly made use of an egg medium as well as gum; of this
practice we have in Egypt no certain trace, and indeed the dry
climate would have made it unpractical, apart from the fact that
only eggs of ducks and geese were available, the domestic fowl
being unknown. Powdered gum arabic or size would be just as

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INTRODUCTION

effective a medium, but the chemists are still in doubt as to what

particular kind of gum was adopted. It is evident from Pompeii
and elsewhere that first the Greek and Roman artists, and later the
Italians, inherited their tempera technique from Ancient Egypt,
where it had been perfected already in the Fourth Dynasty in the
first half of the third millennium before the Christian era.

7. Materials and implements used

The crude mineral colours were finely ground with a stone

grinder upon a small slab of slate or stone. This done, they were
mixed with some kind of gum medium to make them adhere, and
with water to make them flow easily. The hieroglyph for 'write',
'paint', 'scribe' is
consisting of slate palette, pot, and a long
cylindrical receptacle for the brushes; the pot was doubtless used
for the water carried together with the colours. A case in the
Cairo Museum exhibits the various articles required for painting.

V,

Among them is a block of wood measuring I9 x6 5x2 "cm.,

the top of which is divided into six oval pans some 7 mm. deep
hollowed out to receive the paints; these pans are all nearly full
of solid and partly disintegrated colours-red, dark yellow, light
yellow, green, blue, and white. Such was doubtless the type of
palette used when larger quantities of paint were required. It contained no place for the brushes like the long scribe's palette, which
has usually a slot for the purpose, and in which the pans or wells
are smaller and shallower. The same exhibition case in the Cairo
Museum contains a bunch of different-sized brushes still tied together with the string dipped in red which was used for setting
out the design (see 8). One of these brushes is short and stumpy,
rather like a stencil brush; it is apparently made of grass fibres
doubled over and bound back. The rest are sticks of a fibrous
wood about 5.5 cm. long, one end of which has been soaked in
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INTRODUCTION

water, frayed out, and cut either round or into the shape of a
wedge. On these frayed ends are traces of red, green, yellow,
black, and white, each brush being evidently kept for its own
particular colour; traces of this colour were found on the unfrayed
ends as though they had been used to stir the paint in its pan when
it had become dry and lumpy. Such coarse brushes could have
been used only for applying large masses of colour or for laying

grounds. For the stippling effects seen in Egyptian painting a

smaller brush of the same fibrous wood may have been employed,
the end cut unevenly so that the fibres would leave tiny groups
of separate marks; a brush of this kind would be well suited to
produce a texture like the hairs on the ibex of Plate XXX, as
experiment has successfully shown. For outlining, pens or brushes
made from the rush called Juncus maritimus were used, the same
pens or brushes as are found attached to the long scribe's palettes
so often depicted in the tombs, e.g. Plate L; the gods Ptah and
Rr-Harakhti are seen employing them in Plate LXXXVI, where
Rer-Harakhti has a palette of the kind just mentioned, whereas
Ptah takes his paint from a shell.
8. Method of procedure

Most Theban tombs are left unfinished, and whether from lack
of time or for another reason differences are found in the degree of
care and completeness with which the separate walls are treated.
This fact makes it possible to ascertain the various stages through
which the decoration had to pass before the final effect was attained. Several tombs are especially instructive in this respect, and
we will here single out the little tomb of Neferronpe (no. 43),
from the reign of Amenophis II, to see what it can teach us with
regard to the method of procedure followed.
The tomb in question is a small chapel roughly excavated out
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INTRODUCTION

of poor-quality rock in the lower slopes of the north-eastern side

of the hill of Shekh 'Abd-el-Kurna. The inequalities of the limestone surface are compensated by a layer of mud or clay plaster
mixed with straw. Over this has been added a layer of fine buff
plaster made perfectly smooth so as to receive the painting. Next,
lines have been snapped across the walls by means of string dipped
in red paint so as to divide them into squares of various sizes and
to lay out the limits of the borders. Then the design was roughly
sketched in, likewise in red paint. Guiding-marks, both vertical
and horizontal, as well as dots, are used within the squaring lines
to space out the details of a frieze and a cornice of snakes above
the figure of the seated king. A thin wash of light blue-grey
extends over most of the ground, but there are large expanses that
have been left in the buff plaster. This holds good especially for

the deep-red bodies of men and for parts later to be painted blue
or green. The same method was adopted also for the interior of
the kiosk within which the king sits enthroned; here the yellow,
doubtless intended to imitate gold, has been applied directly upon
the buff, which has imparted to it a rich brownish tone. The
squaring lines are not always completely obliterated by the bluegrey wash. White masses such as skirts, and objects intended to
be ultimately a bright red or yellow, are painted in a dazzlingly

pure white. The deep pinks in this tomb were obtained by mixing
red and white and applying them upon the buff. The bright yellows were the outcome of glazing a thin transparent wash of
yellow over a brilliant white underlay; in other tombs a lighter
ochre may occasionally have been used. Bright vermilion red is

here achieved by stippling red over white. In this unfinished tomb

the outlines are generally lacking, and these seem to have been the
last thing that the Theban artists added. It must not, of course,
be supposed that in all tombs the colours were always built up in
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the same way, and different superimpositions could doubtless be

found. For example, a tomb with a yellow background throughout follows a quite differently arranged scheme, since there the
yellow underlies most of the colours.
The tomb of Suemne (no. 92), likewise of the reign of Amenophis II, is another tomb that affords much insight into methods of
painting. Here the fine plaster is laid directly on the stone, this

being of better quality than in that of Neferronpe. The division

of the walls into squares of different dimensions has been effected
throughout the tomb, and on some walls no further stage has been
reached. On others the designs have been boldly sketched in with
flowing red lines above the squares, whilst elsewhere masses of
colour have been applied as in Neferronpe. The bright reds, extensively used here for certain hieroglyphs and for details of meat
and offerings, have been dabbed on with a small brush cut either
square or wedge-shaped, giving a feathery stippled appearance.
The brush-marks vary in direction according to the shape of the
object. On the south wall the different coloured hieroglyphs are
merely blocked in, and one realizes from the absence of the outline
how essential this was to give unity and definiteness to the forms.
We will therefore deal with the topic of outlines next.

9. Outlines
The fine brushwork of the ancient Egyptians is astonishing
when we consider the means at their disposal. This must have
been attained by the frayed reed pens already mentioned, since the
larger brushes are totally inadequate to have achieved the sure,
beautiful lines of varying breadth drawn with such dexterity in
every direction. In a dry climate like Egypt the colour dries on
the brush and clogs it almost before the work has begun. How
the sustained lengths of even line in thick paint on an upright

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INTRODUCTION

surface were accomplished is a mystery to the modem copyist.

The first red sketch-lines of the designs ( 8), which were meant
to be hidden eventually, are much bolder and freer than the final
outlining. A good example is afforded by the children in Plate
XXXIX, where the partial disappearance of the black has allowed
the sketch-lines to reappear. The little sketches often found at
Thebes on flakes of limestone are evidence that the Egyptians
could and frequently did free themselves from the somewhat tight
outlines demanded in finished and conventional work, and that
they could treat their subjects in much the same untrammelled
manner as the artist of to-day, over whom they possibly had an
advantage in the fact that their sketch-lines, like those of the
Japanese, were in fluid paint rather than in charcoal or pencil. The
first outlines here alluded to are sometimes visible in the figures of
men, the colour being filled out to their limits and such details as
lips and nostrils being added afterwards; see the captain of the
ship in Plate LVI. Occasionally the background is found to have
encroached on a careful first outline.

Complete absence of outline occurs mainly in a few blue and

green hieroglyphs, where, however, the omission may be acci-

dental or due to subsequent fading. Where blue and green objects

show an outline it is usually black, whereas yellow and red objects
have their outline in red, or a darker red. Red flesh-colour is only
rarely outlined in black, though we can point to Middle Kingdom
examples at Beni Hasan (Plate VII) and rarer later ones at Thebes

(Plates XLV, XCVII). The Egyptians were evidently well aware

of the disharmony caused by giving red outlines to green and blue
objects. This is well seen in the hieroglyphs o and .. where
=,

the yellow bands have red markings, while black markings are

accorded to the green interstices. The same may be observed in

the long green mats placed under chairs (Plates XXVII, LXI,

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INTRODUCTION

XCV) and those upon which offerings are set (Plates XXVIII,
XXXV, XLIX). This general rule suffers exception, however,

when a column or stool has been divided up with red lines to be

later partly covered by a pattern of squares, feathers, or other blue,
green, and red devices. Here the blue and green tend to cover up
the red foundation lines, which show at the edges more by accident than by intent. White lines are commonly used to divide
the blue and green bands on necklaces, or to outline the feather
pattern on a throne; see Plate LXXXVI. So too elsewhere when
blue and green are juxtaposed. Details on the figures of negroes
are also sometimes picked out in white (Plate LXXIX).

Io. Colouring
The subject of colours and colouring has been mentioned incidentally in several previous sections, but must now be dealt with
more consecutively and comprehensively. The range of colours
employed was not large; the principal hues are yellow, red, blue,
and green, in addition to white and black. The reds and yellows
were at all periods natural earth colours. For blue and green,
powdered azurite (chessylite) and powdered malachite were employed in the Old Kingdom, but after the Eleventh Dynasty use
was made of powdered frits artificially obtained by heating together silica, some copper compound, calcium carbonate, and
natron. These latter are as a rule applied very thickly in the

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, though there are instances,

such as the petals of lotuses or the shading on birds, where the
blue and green are either transparently laid on or else stippled over
white. The green is usually of a very bright bluish variety, but

a deep yellowish sort is sometimes found, as on the tail of the

crocodile in Plate IV; a still browner shade occurs on the lotusleaves in Plates LIV, LXV. The blue is either a strong, deep, and
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pure kind, or else a grey-blue (often in backgrounds) produced by

the addition of white. The bright blue-green and the pure blue
are seen together in Plate CIII, and the two varieties of blue in
Plates LXXV, XCIII. Pink is obtained by mixing red and white,
or by painting a thin wash of white over red so that the undercolour shows through. The grey employed is a mixture of black

and white, and dark red results from adding a little black to bright
red ochre. In the Old Kingdom are found greys, browns, and
pinks due to the admixture of a little black; see Plate I. At Beni
Hasan one occasionally comes across secondary colours such as
deep orange, purplish brown, grass-green, and a soft blue. There
the blues and greens are more finely ground than in the New
Kingdom, when, moreover, secondary colours are far rarer than
in the earlier periods. For a grey-blue in the reign of Amenophis III
see, however, the mourning women from the tomb of Rarmose
(Plate LXXII), and for various shades of brown in the same reign
see the geese in the picture from the British Museum (Plate LXVII).
The Egyptian artists were much more concerned with a brilliant

colour-scheme than with the approximation of their tints to those

of nature. Certain objects are, of course, given their natural hues.
To name only two examples out of many, trees are always green
and corn is always yellow. That the Pharaonic painters had a deli-

cate colour-sense is shown by many facts. They were good imitators of materials, and copied admirably the graining of wooden

stools and caskets (Plate LXVII; see, too, the plank in Plate IV).
The markings of stones like alabaster, breccia, or granite were
counterfeited (Plates XXXV, LXXIII) with the skill of a modern
Italian imitating marbles. Here the Egyptian was helped by his
love of pattern, which manifests itself very early in his history.
In the paintings from El-Amarna (Plates LXXV, LXXVI) the
pigeons, palm-dove, and kingfisher are all very dclose to nature.
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INTRODUCTION

Contrast with these the highly conventional colours found in the

birds from the tomb of Amenemht (Plate XIX). Decorative

conventions had a distinct utility: the dark tombs invited cheerful
colouring. Hence it is not surprising to find a falcon rendered in
bright green and vultures of blue and red. Love of diversity and

the desire to keep adjacent objects of like colour distinct from one
another account for the alternating orange-red and darker red of
the men's skins in the funeral procession from the tomb of Ramose
(Plates LXXI, LXXIII; quoted already, p. xxx). The second of
these motives has clearly been operative in the wrestling scenes at
Beni Hasan, where the interlocked bodies are respectively maroon
and red. As regards the love of diversity, it seldom happened that

the Egyptian artist went so far as he has done in the tomb of Huy,
where the curls of the Nubian princes are alternately red and black,
and their side-locks a bright blue (Plate LXXXI).

A keen appreciation of colour-values is shown in the way in

which particular hieroglyphs were treated when they occur against

and 1 do not
different backgrounds. Thin signs like ra and
give the same impression of insignificance when painted on white

as they would if shown against a yellow or a bluish background.

In the latter cases an appearance of solidity is given to them (Plates
XVIII, XXIX, XXXV) by blocking in the open parts with white.
A strong decorative sense as regards both form and colour pervades Egyptian art at all periods, and the making of patterns
became second nature to the artist-craftsman. From the Nineteenth Dynasty onwards, however, there is an over-decoration
that destroys the balance maintained in earlier times.

lI.

Backgrounds

It will be convenient here to put together what information we

have to offer concerning backgrounds, though most of the facts
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INTRODUCTION

have been mentioned already in 3. In the Old Kingdom slate

grey or a lighter blue-grey is very common (Plates I-m). In the
Twelfth Dynasty at Beni H[asan a deep-cream priming is the prevailing choice, but in the tomb of Khnemhotpe a light blue-grey
appears (Plate IX). Similar backgrounds of a bluish grey are very
common in the early Eighteenth Dynasty (Plates XV, XVIII,
XIX). White backgrounds are, however, usual during the later
part of the same Dynasty and in that following it. These have

a certain tone owing to the wash being thin enough to show something of the plaster underlay, and are always distinguishable from
the brilliant whites of the dresses painted over them. In the middle
part of the Eighteenth Dynasty a rich yellow background sometimes occurs; the outstanding example is the tomb of Ienamin
(no. 93, Plates XXIX-XXXIII). In Ramesside times large areas
of the walls are yellow, perhaps with the notion of imitating

papyrus, and upon these polychrome inscriptions are painted. Or

else the entire wall-surface of a tomb-chamber may be yellow, as
in the tomb of Ipy (Plates XCVII-XCIX) and in various tombs
of the Theban village of Dr el-Medina (Plate CII).

12.

Transparentgarments and shading

An innovation of the Eighteenth Dynasty was the painting of

transparent garments. To obtain this result the limbs were first
completed in solid red or yellow, and then a thin streaky wash of
white was applied over them so that the flesh shows through
faintly (e.g. Plate LIV). Above such diaphanous white robes a
thicker white was often, especially in Ramesside times (Plates
LXXXVII, LXXXIX, XCI, C), painted in stripes over the entire
length, producing the effect of a pleated or goffered dress.
Shading as a means to express modelling is unknown in the Old
and Middle Kingdoms, and when it was at last introduced the

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INTRODUCTION

artist seems uncertain how to use it. From the Eighteenth Dynasty
we have an example in the scene of musicians and dancing girls
preserved in the British Museum (Plate LXX), where the soles of
the feet and the toes are distinctly shaded underneath. In the tomb
of Queen Nefretere, where the main features are in slight relief,
the cheeks, nose, chin, arms, hands, and feet are shaded in deeper
red (Plates XCI, XCII). The brush-marks follow the curve of the
cheek and nose and are also on the under side of the arms, but
the hands and feet have darker colour in places where it cannot
have any meaning (Plate XCII). In the scene of the fig-tree from
the tomb of Userhet the cheeks and chins show a delicate stippling
(Plate LXXXVII). Whereas here the device was intended to emphasize the darker parts of the flesh, a new plan is adopted for
showing the brighter portions in the tomb of the prince Amenkhopshef, where he and his father Ramesses III are many times

represented in slight relief en creux, with the high lights over the
red flesh-colour touched up with light yellow ochre (Plate CIII).

Brush-marks of this paint are found below the eyes, on the nostril,
at the corner of the mouth, on the chin, under the two lines
indicating the folds of the neck, on the upper side of the arms and
the fingers, at the point of the elbow, and upon the feet. But these
refinements are not extended to the figure of the goddess, reverence for tradition tolerating no such modernities in her case.

13.

Combination of reliefand painting

Tombs and temples with their scenes in low relief (reliefen creux)
are found at all periods, and in such cases the relief is almost always
enhanced with painting. In point of fact, the strong colours and
clean-cut outlines caused thereby obscure and detract from the
modelling, and where the colouring has faded one feels that the
sculpture has gained rather than lost. Many fine details were,
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INTRODUCTION

however, indicated solely by paint, so that the complete work is

in reality a combination of sculpture and painting. This is illustrated in the present work by the picture from the temple of
Sethos I at Abydos (Plate LXXXVI), where the decorated matting
behind Ptah has all its details in paint, while the rest of the scene

is, or once was, painted relief.

In Eighteenth Dynasty tombs otherwise entirely painted on the

flat, effects of low relief are sometimes obtained by the use of a fine
gypsum plaster resembling very thick paint and applied to the
surface in blobs or rings. This is employed only in the case of
principal figures, and serves to emphasize them. The relief projects from I to 6 mm. above the surrounding surface, and, when
dry, was painted over like the rest of the scene. Hair is very often

modelled in this way, the blobs being arranged thusV so as to

create the appearance of short curls; these break up the surface
pleasantly when the entire wig is painted black or grey. A similar
treatment is sometimes accorded to the beads on a necklace or to
more elaborate examples of the king's blue khepresh-helmet Q.
Somewhat analogous devices that may be quoted are seen in the
treatment of the trees in Plate LXVIII. In this the green was first
blocked in as a mass, and the individual leaves were then indicated
by a thicker application of the same colour.
The method of modelling on plaster employed in the Valley of
the Tombs of the Queens is akin to that used earlier when faulty
limestone had to be patched with plaster over which the lines of
the relief were carved. Entire scenes are here modelled in the
deep-cream plaster with which the walls are covered (Plates XCI,
XCII). A thick wash of white is spread over the relief and the

whole is then painted and outlined-the outlines not always following the modelling very closely. It is difficult to tell how this
modelling was achieved, whether small amounts were dealt with

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INTRODUCTION

whilst the plaster was still wet, or whether the latter was carved
after the entire surface of the chamber had dried, the defects being
subsequently mended and softened by the thick coating of white.
No fine details, however, were treated in this way, only the broad
forms on which the paint was to be applied.
I4. Varnishes

A curious orange varnish, very glossy and bright and of a resinous nature, isvisible in Plate XII from the temple of Der el-Bahri,
and in Plates XXX, XXXI from the tomb of Kenamiin. This
must have been colourless originally, since it now appears in
patches all over the scenes and is applied with little regard to the
shapes it covers. The Tutrankhamiin casket (Plates LXXVII,
LXXVIII) also shows traces of a similar varnish, especially along
the borders. It appears to be confined to the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Elsewhere a thin coating of bees-wax was employed either to
enhance or to preserve the colours, and this, too, was doubtless
transparent when first laid on. It can be seen on the hair of the
harpist in Plate XVII, and over the red coat of the hippopotamus
from the same tomb (Plate XX); also over some of the foreigners
in the tomb of Menkheperrarsonb (Plates XXI-XXIV).
There seems little doubt that these varnishes were added after
the scenes were painted, and had not been mixed with the colours
as a medium, though this appears to have been done in the case
of bees-wax for Egypto-Roman paintings upon wood.
5s.Difficulties that beset the ancient artist
How the Egyptian painter accomplished his work in the almost
total darkness of many tombs is a perplexing problem. So far as
our direct information goes-it isderived from inscribed potsherds
found in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings and elsewherexliii

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INTRODUCTION

only small oil lamps were used for the purpose. At the present
day several large mirrors and sheets of paper to reflect the sunlight
are sometimes needed in copying the scenes, but these aids were
not available in antiquity, when only small hand-mirrors existed.
Yet there is no sign that the ancient work suffered in proportion
to its distance from the door of the tomb; indeed the finest detail
is often to be found in the very darkest places. It is strange to find

the artist of the tomb of Amenkhopshef (Plate CIII) taking such

pains to produce subtle effects of modelling, when we reflect that
no light whatsoever penetrated to the part of the tomb in question.
The laying out of ceiling patterns, whether on a geometric basis
(Plates LXXXIII, LXXXIV, CIV) or of a freer kind (Plate CI),
can have been no easy task. We have no means of knowing
whether the craftsman lay on his back upon a scaffolding, or
whether he underwent the physical torture of achieving his results
standing; but no tomb is without evidence of this arduous and
patient work. We may take it as certain that the colours used in

these dark interiors were already mixed in bulk in the light of day.
The painter knew exactly what colour was to be assigned to the
different parts, and thus had none of the copyist's difficulties in

matching shades or in coping with changes of colour due to lapse

of time. He was also so skilled a draughtsman that with the

squared wall-surface before him he was not likely to err in his

proportions.
i6. The painters of the pictures
The artist-craftsman of Pharaonic times belonged to a large
fraternity which must have comprised many grades. We do not

know whether the same man who sketched out the preliminary
outlines carried the picture to a finish, or whether the work was
divided up among several hands. The latter view seems the more
likely for various reasons. In the first place, a division of labour is

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INTRODUCTION

almost inevitable when sculptured relief and painting were combined, since the two crafts are quite distinct, and it is most improbable that they were exercised by one and the same artist; the
inscriptions distinguish between the tai medja, 'chisel-holder' or

'sculptor', and the sesh ked, 'outline draughtsman' or simply

'draughtsman', but do not seem to offer a particular name for
the man who applied the colour. In the second place, it would
probably have been beyond the power of one man to cover all
the walls of a large tomb, unless indeed he spent a considerable
number of years over the task.
The names of many 'sculptors' and 'draughtsmen' have come
down to us-the Theban tomb no. 181, from which we have taken
Plates LXI-LXIV, was shared by two of the former. But most
actual paintings are anonymous. Exceptions are very rare, and it
may be said with some assurance that among the hundred and
more paintings in the present work the name of the painter is
unknown in every single case.

17.

Durability of pigments and changes of colour

Of the pigments used by the Egyptians the reds and the yellows
are the most permanent, and these are often found remaining
when other colours have disappeared. Blue is perhaps the next
best, while green and particularly black are very prone to disappear or to suffer change.
Many tombs have been subjected to the action of fire or smoke

( I8), and the effect of these must now be described. So far as

red and yellow are concerned, smoke has no worse influence than
to add a film-like coating, and this can often be removed. When,
however, fire actually reaches yellow ochre it changes this into red
ochre, as may be well seen in the Hathor chapel at Der el-Balhri.
Smoke changes blue into dark green, and green from a vivid
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INTRODUCTION

bluish shade into a strong deep colour almost the same as smokechanged blue. Fire transforms both blue and green into a slaty
grey. The effect of damp upon blue and green is to give them
a rusty appearance; see Plates LXXV, LXXVI, XCVIII. Green
is particularly liable to chemical change in connexion with the
plaster beneath it. This is by no means universal, however, and
it is difficult to explain why in some places the green has eaten
away the surface on which it has been painted, leaving only
a shape (Plates LII, CI), while in other places this has not
occurred. Both blue and green are much better preserved in the
Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan than at Thebes under the
Eighteenth Dynasty and later; but even at Beni Hasan the green
may have perished on one wall and be preserved on another.
Black is the most uncertain of the pigments. At Beni Hasan it
has proved more durable than at Thebes, but when mixed with
red it tends to disappear; see the tails of the birds in Plate IX. In
some Theban tombs there is hardly a trace of black left, except in
dark corners inaccessible to light. In others a good deal of black
remains, perhaps chiefly when it has been laid over a colour and
not immediately upon the plaster background; in Plate CIV note
that the black grapes have faded almost to invisibility where they
extend beyond the blue mass of the bunch.
In a general way it may be said that all the colours of a painting
are seldom preserved with their original values. Outstanding exceptions are the garden-scene from the tomb of Minnakht (Plate
XXV) and the picture of Ramesses Il with his son Amenkhopshef
(Plate CIII).

I8. Causes of destruction in the Theban tombs

It may be of interest to enumerate the principal causes to which
may be assigned the damage done to the paintings of the Theban
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INTRODUCTION

tombs, apart from natural deterioration or the collapse of the walls

where they occur. Few pictures have not suffered in one way or
another, and the bad preservation of what has survived is one of
the principal difficulties that confront the editors of a selection such
as the present.
(I) An Egyptian royalty or official who fell into disgrace or
excited the enmity of his fellows was liable to have his name and
face erased from the monument erected to perpetuate his memory.
Thus fragments of the expunged figure of Queen Hatshepsut
(p. xxi) are to be seen on Plate XII, and the destruction of the
faces of Menna and of some of his relatives throughout his tomb
(Plates L, LI, LIV) seems attributable to this cause.
(2) The agents of the heretic king Akhenaten (p. xxi) sought
out and obliterated the figure and name of Amin, the god of
Thebes, wherever it occurred on the monuments. This iconoclastic outburst affected personal names like Amenemht ('Amfinis-in-front', Plate XVIII; compare also Plate LIII), and was so
systematically carried out that the preservation of the name of
Amiin in a tomb makes its post-Akhenaten date, if not certain, at
least highly probable. A peculiar case of this type of destruction
is the deleted goose in front of the boat carrying the tomb-owner
with his throw-stick (Plates XLVII, LIV; see the descriptions of
those Plates; not deleted, Plate LXV).
(3) Early Christian anchorites lived in many of the Theban
tombs. They found paintings of women's figures distasteful and
scratched them out or covered them with mud, or both. This type
of destruction, of which we have no illustration in our Plates, is
vouched for by the presence on the tomb-walls of painted crosses
and rough Coptic inscriptions.
(4) At one time or another most Theban tombs have served as
dwelling-places or as places of refuge. Belzoni, who visited the
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INTRODUCTION

Theban necropolis early in the nineteenth century, relates that

robbers often took up their abode in the tombs, and that in order
to dislodge them broken coffins and other inflammable materials
were frequently heaped up in the entrances and set on fire. This
may account for some of the damage done by smoke ( 17), but
it seems certain also that the fellliin who occupied the tombs
were in the habit of lighting fires near the walls.
(5) These same fell1iin may likewise be responsible for some
destruction from superstitious motives and from the fear that eyes
looking at them from the walls would bring them bad luck. In
Plates LXI, LXII most of the noses are broken, and this defacement
may be due to the cause here suggested.
(6) In recent times the natives have cut pieces out of many
tomb-walls for sale to collectors, but this practice has been greatly
diminished of late by the safeguarding of the tombs with iron
doors. Instances coming under this head are Plates XIV and XXX.
(7) Extensive damage has been caused by bats and mason-wasps.
The former stain the walls with their droppings and score them
with the ends of their wings (Plate XIX), while the latter bore
holes in the plaster to make cells for their larvae and build superstructures of mud on the surface of the paintings (Plates XXII,
XXIV).

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DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES

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PRELIMINARY NOTES

following remarks seem requisite in order to explain certain details

of the information preceding the actual descriptions. The various heads
are taken in turn.
PROVENANCE. 'Front', 'back', 'right-hand', and 'left-hand' are all to be
understood from the standpoint of a visitor entering the tomb or temple.
The 'front wall' is that which adjoins the entrance-door, and what is here
called its 'left-hand portion' would be on the right from the standpoint of
a spectator examining the pictures.
DATE. The abbreviation 'Dyn.' stands for 'Dynasty'. Egyptian chronology is, as regards the earlier periods, by no means established with
certainty. The dates here given are, with only slight divergences, those of
E. Meyer as adopted in Baedeker's handbook to Egypt.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. The horizontal measurement is always given

before the vertical.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. Only one has been quoted as a rule, so far as
possible either the best or that which for some reason is the most instructive. Reference is, however, nearly always made also to B. Porter and
R. Moss, TopographicalBibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts,
Reliefs, and Paintings.

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OLD KINGDOM
DYNASTIES IV-VI

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PLATE I

THE MED (TM GEESE

PROVENANCE.

Medium, tomb of Itet. Now in the Cairo Museum,

no. 136 E.

DATE. Reign of Snofru, Dyn. IV, about 2700

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

I60 X 24

B.c.

cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a very thin layer of fine plaster

over a coarser coating of the same mixed with straw and applied
to the brick walls. The surface was covered, except where the
birds occur, with a wash of blue-grey serving as a background.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.
n111
various works, see Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. iv, pp. 93-4. A small-scale reproduction in
colour, R. Meinertzhagen, Nicoll's Birds of Egypt, vol. i, P.

III.

DIscovIRDl by Vassalli in I870, this painting was one of the first

objects to find a place in the Cairo collection. It is also the earliest
specimen of Egyptian pictorial art reproduced in the present work,
and such is the mastery of its execution, such the craftsman's command of his materials, that it might well stand at the apex of the
long centuries of achievement rather than at their base. The birds
are closer to nature in their colouring than those of the later golden
age of painting at Thebes, and for adequate comparison we must

turn to the naturalistic art of El-Amarna (Plates LXXV, LXXVI).

Similar processions of brown and grey geese, waddling along the
canal banks of black mud fringed by the same variety of flowering
rush, may be seen to-day by the wayfarer on the road from Giza
to Medtm; indeed, four of the geese might have been copied
directly from their modern descendants. Three species are depicted, the White-fronted goose (Anser albifrons or erythropus;
4

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PLATE I

compare Plate VI), the Bean goose (Anserfabalis), and the Redbreasted goose (Brantaruficollis). Such at least was Nicoll's opinion,
but it is not easy to follow his distinction of the former two. The

Red-breasted goose isno longer found in Egypt, though recorded

as having been seen there as recently as I874; the present habitat
is northern Siberia. The flowers of the rush are brownish-yellow

in reality, not bright red as in the picture. Subtler shades are used
than we find elsewhere in Egyptian painting. Black mixed with
white has produced grey, and mixed with red has produced a dull

pink. Black has also been combined with yellow and red to form
a dark brown, while shading with fine lines adds new tones to
the feathers. The stippling of light red on the legs has yielded a
far brighter tint than if the colour had been applied opaquely, as
upon the breasts. Though treated conventionally, the geese exhibit all essential details, and it is astonishing to fmd such fidelity
to nature in work anterior to the Pyramids and going back almost
five thousand years. Nothing so accomplished is known from the
same date beyond the borders of Egypt. That the Medfim geese
were not an entirely isolated tour deforce on the part of their author

is shown by the fragment of a gazelle from the same tomb; this

is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and is of extreme delicacy
in both drawing and colouring. But hardly any other Old
Kingdom site has produced paintings of comparable excellence.

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PLATE II
SHIP UNDER FULL SAIL
Giza, tomb of Kaemronkh; at 7 in the plan of the
sepulchral chamber given by Porter and Moss, Bibliography,

PROVENANCE.

vol. iii, p.

28.

DATE. Sixth Dynasty, about 2420-2270 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 97 X 67 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin wash of plaster applied to

the limestone walls of an underground chamber.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. A small photograph in Junker, Vorliiufiger

Bericht, in Anzeiger d. Akad. d. Wiss. in Wien, philos.-hist. Klasse,

1926, Nr. XII, P1. V, b.

Ts picture, like the next in Plate III, comes from a tomb of the
Sixth Dynasty discovered by Professor Junker at Giza. The owner
was a nobleman named Kaemronkh, whose official function was
that of an 'Overseer of the accounts of the Treasury'. So few mural

paintings, as distinguished from painted reliefs, have been preserved from this period that it was deemed advisable to include
these two, though of relatively poor workmanship. This defect
is, however, to some extent redeemed by the freshness of the
colours and the interest of the details. The excellent state of preservation is due to the pictures having been painted on the walls
of a sepulchral chamber deep underground, where no sunlight
penetrates and where there was little chance of deterioration from
natural causes. As the chamber is very small and much space is
occupied by the sarcophagus, the artist must have laboured under
difficulties. His style is coarse, but there is considerable movement
in his work.
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PLATE II

The ship here shown is one of three depicted as sailing to 'the

West', and the scene perhaps merely symbolizes in a poetic way
Kaemronkh's last journey to the tomb. It is a heavy-looking craft
of solid wood, without the decorations on hull and steering-oars
which were favoured at Thebes a thousand years later (see Plates
XXVIII, LVI, LXXXII). The sail, too, is of a shape unusual in
the Theban ships, though found in some foreign boats of the reign
of Tuthmosis III (tomb
in that later period a square sail
extends over the entire vessel. The mast is likewise different;
whereas at Thebes in the Eighteenth Dynasty we find a single post
amidships, here two stout poles are fastened together by crosspieces, and black instead of yellow is used for both mast and ropes.
An awning for the crew reaches from the stem to the mast, and
in the middle is a cabin having for its sides what looks like matting
lashed to the supports at the end. The owner, Kaemronkh, whose
name and title are written above him, supports his back against
the cabin on the right and leans on a staff. Two apparently nude
figures kneel in front of him. Eight oarsmen are in the attitude of
pulling, but are without oars, which indeed were unnecessary since
the ship is under sail. At the prow the pilot or captain steadies
himself by holding the fore-stay, while behind him a man is using
the sounding-pole. At the stemrn two steering-oars are being guided
(at Thebes there is usually only one), and a sailor manipulates the
sail by two ropes attached to each end of the yard. The coneshaped object near the prow is difficult to identify; it is hardly a
capstan, as has been suggested. The inscription over the prow is
the utterance of the captain: 'Keep a good look-out ahead! I should
like to reach the West like this. It is a good start!' The columns of
hieroglyphs at the rear belong to the following ship. In front of
them, to be thought of as upon the farther bank, is a man leading
a calf.

143);

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PLATE III

CATTLE-BOATS
Giza, tomb of Kaemronkh; at 7 in the plan of the
sepulchral chamber given by Porter and Moss, Bibliography,
vol. iii, p. 28.
DATE. Sixth Dynasty, about 2420-2270 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

I00 X

50 cm.

See under Plate II.

PUBLICATION. None.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.
PREVIOUS

THESE cattle-boats are immediately to the left of the three sailingships mentioned in the description of Plate II, but are being steered
in the opposite direction. They are clumsy craft, manned by four
sailors only, two plying the oars while one holds the soundingpole and one steers. There seems danger of a collision between
the boats, which have come so close to one another that the man
who should wield the pole in the hinder vessel has laid it down
and is pushing away the stern of the vessel in front. The masts,
resembling that seen in Plate II, are here laid across two forked
poles; sail and rigging are out of sight, and instead of two steeringoars there is only one. This is manipulated by hand, whereas in
the New Kingdom it is lashed to an upright support and guided
by a handle. The enclosure, perhaps made of matting attached to
a wooden platform, may have been intended as a shelter for the
cattle, and the animals shown above it may really have been inside,
in accordance with the Egyptian custom of depicting the contents
of a box upon its lid. The drovers squat in front of their animals,
stroking their foreheads whilst holding the cord attached to their
muzzles. The scene should be compared with one in the tomb of

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PLATE III

IHuy from the reign of Tutrankhamiin, where the cattle are seen
within an enclosure of lattice-work.'
Above, on the bank, two men are leading young bull-calves in
the same direction

as the boats are being propelled.

ISee Davies and Gardiner, The Tomb oflHuy (Theban Tombs Spries, vol. iv), PlXXXIII.

9C

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PLATE IV

FRAGMENT FROM A SCENE OF SPEARING FISH

PROVENANCE. Dahshir, said to come from the tomb of In-Snofru-

ishtef, for which see Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. iii,
p. 235. Now in the Cairo Museum, provisional no. 31
DATE. Sixth Dynasty, about 2420-2270 B.c.

45 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted over a background-wash of greyish
white, laid upon a plaster of mud and straw; the background
has now perished almost entirely. The parts in blue, green, light
red, and bright yellow were superimposed on a layer of white,
this being intended to prevent the mud from dulling the brilliancy of the colours above.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

75 X

None.

THOUGH assigned by the Cairo authorities to the tomb of In-

Snofru-ishtef, there are grave reasons for doubting whether this

picture really came thence. De Morgan depicts a much betterpreserved scene of fowling and harpooning fish from that tomb,'
and it would be a thing unheard of for two examples of the identical subject to occur in one and the same mataba. Possibly the
true source was a neighbouring tomb of the same period, style,
and technique. The hinder foot of a striding man is shown,
together with a squatting woman, upon a grained wooden deck
placed on a boat made of papyrus-reeds bound together at intervals
and with a rope along the top edge. Below is a water-plant of
which the leaves were once green; a frog sits on one leaf and a
grasshopper on another. In the water beneath the boat are three
I

Fouilles

Dahhour en 1894-1895, PL XXIV.

IO

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PLATE IV

varieties of Nile fish (from left to right Neobola argenta, Heterbranchus bidorsalis, and Tilapia nilotica respectively), together with
an eel-like creature and a conventionally treated crocodile's tail.
Below is a black border or ground-line, and then red to floorlevel. The line-work is sure and delicate, and the fish are true to
type, although nearly a thousand years older than those in Plates
LIV-LV, LXV-LXVI.
The remainder of the scene may be reconstructed from the Plate
in de Morgan's book above referred to. The subject is one met
with at all periods, and showed the noble owner of the tomb,

accompanied by wife or daughter, diverting himself with the sport

provided by the Goddess of the Marshes.

II

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MIDDLE KINGDOM
DYNASTIES XI-XII

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PLATE V
A GRANARY, TOOLS, WEAPONS, ETC.
PROVENANCE. Bersheh, inner coffin of Nofri. Now in the Cairo

Museum, no. 28087.

DATE.

Early Middle Kingdom, probably Dyn. XI, about

2100-

2000 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

Reproduced to full scale.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on the interior of a wooden coffin.

The body-colour was applied very thinly and no background

wash is visible. There was probably a priming to prevent the

colours sinking into the wood.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

None.

A CHARACTERISTIC of the massive wooden sarcophagi of the early

Middle Kingdom is the representation of household objects and
articles of personal adornment, painted on their interiors. The
deceased hoped to have these valuable possessions at his disposal
in the future life. In the upper part of the Plate, from the head
end of the coffin, we have five granaries and a number of other
things. Grey was the colour used for mud-brick buildings
generally, so that we may conjecture that this was intended to be
the material of which the granaries were built. Three steps lead
up to the entrance, or possibly to the first of the painted wooden
shutters, each of which is fastened with a sealed cord. To the right
are seen a scribe's materials-a palette, a writing-board, and a pot
for water. The palette was possibly of ebony and ivory, and is
complete with brushes, colour-wells, and loop to hang it by. The
writing-board doubtless depicts one of the usual kind, of wood
covered with stucco; it bears the inscription 'A happy day to Osirist!
I4

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PLATE V

May he give every pure thing to the revered StewardNofri.' The water-

pot is shown to be such by the neighbouring objects; it has here

the unusual form of an ointment-jar. The remainder of the panel
is occupied by a carpentering outfit. At the top is an axe lashed
by thongs to the haft and labelled 'twenty houses' in token of its
durability. The other tools are two chisels, an adze, two saws, a
bow-drill, and, in the right-hand corner, possibly a drill with
a wooden handle.
The lower row in the Plate is taken from the frieze on the back
wall of the same coffin. To the left is an rankh, the well-known
sign of life, black instead of blue as in the New Kingdom. Next
to it is a curious object elsewhere named nems, and determined in
hieroglyphic writing with the sign for wood or copper; evidently
it could be made of either material, and was bound up in white
linen bands, the outlines of which are always thus shown in red.
Beneath the nems is a knife of the razor type. Farther to the right
comes a sekhem-sceptre, a very common symbol of authority.

Next we find two bundles of feather-tipped arrows, a fan of oxhide with black and red markings, two daggers in their sheaths,
and lastly a mirror in an elaborate case of basket-work perhaps
framed in skin and with a handle of rope.

IS

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PLATE VI
HIEROGLYPHS FROM MIDDLE KINGDOM COFFINS
PROVENANCE. All from coffins now in the Cairo Museum; for the
numbers see the footnotes. The place of origin was Bersheh
except for the three signs to the right in the top row; these come
from a Theban coffin.
DATE. Early Middle Kingdom, probably Dyn. XI, about 21002000 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF THE ORIGINALS. The top and bottom rows are re-

produced to full scale, except the single sign top left (two-thirds

scale). The middle row is shown to three-quarters scale.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Written on panels of a coniferous wood with

no painted background. Size was doubtless used as a priming.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

None.

Tins

Plate shows the elaborate care which was bestowed on

decorative inscriptions of the period, birds and animals being depicted with considerable fidelity to nature, though the colours are
often fanciful.
Top row, from left to right.
i. An unusual form of the sign for the ancient palace of Upper
Egypt (per-wer) representing a shrine of wood and wattle on a
sled. From the inner coffin of Nofri.'
2. The symbol of the West (ament), a falcon on a perch with
a feather in front. From the coffin of Mentjl.otpe."
3. A quail chick representing the alphabetic value w. Source
as last.
i Cairo no. 28o87.

Z Cairo no. 28027, from Der el-Ba Iri (Thebes).

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PLATE VI

4. The bee used to spell the tide of the king of Lower Egypt.
Source as last.
Middle row.
I. Human head and stool of reed matting, spelling tep 'chief',
'first'. From the outer coffin of Sep.'
2. Eagle owl (Bubo ascalaphus) representing alphabetic m. Source

as last.
3. A man with bow and arrows, feather on head, wearing short

skirt and sporran, above three wooden dowels indicating plurality;

the group for meshar 'soldiers'. Source as last.
Lowest row.
Part of an inscription to be rendered '(Said by) GEb: my son (is
the steward Nofri)'. The signs are to be read from right to left.
First comes the White-fronted goose (Anser albifrons; compare
Plate I) bearing the Egyptian name gib. A conventionalized
human foot follows representing alphabetic b. The squatting god
swathed in white determines, or gives the generic character of, the
preceding group. Then comes the Pin-tailed duck (Dafila acuta)
used in writing sa, the word for 'son'. This word, as signifying
here a divine son, is determined with the squatting god already
mentioned. From the outer coffin of Nofri.Z
x

2 Cairo no. 28o88.

Cairo no. 28083.

I7

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PLATE VII
MEN GATHERING FIGS
PROVENANCE.

Beni Hasan, tomb of K nemhotpe (no. 3), main

chamber, front wall, left-hand portion.

DATE. Reign of Amenemmes II or Sesostris II, Dyn. XII, about
1920-1900 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 67 X 45 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

Only the thinnest of priming washes lies

between the paintings and the rock. A grey film is over the tree
and men through which the colours show dimly. They are here
restored to nearly their original brightness, which can be revived
by touching lightly with a brush. The baboons are still quite
clear and bright.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In line, Boussac in Recueil de Travaux,
vol. xxxiii, p. 58, fig. 2; the entire wall Newberry, Beni Hasan,

Pt. i, Pl. XXIX. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. iv,
p.

145.

Tins

and the four following pictures are taken from the tomb
of one of the great feudal princes of the Oryx nome or province
in Middle Egypt. His magnificent tomb, hewn out of the solid
limestone in the hills of the east bank, is one of the finest in Egypt.
An immense variety of subjects is illustrated upon the walls.
The present picture comes from a series representing the work
in Khnemhotpe's orchards and vineyards. The artist has here, as in
Plate VIII, produced sadly contorted forms in his endeavour to
show the men with both shoulders. The fig-tree and baboons are
much more satisfactorily rendered. It is unusual to find a genuine
fig-tree instead of the sycamore commonly pictured in Egyptian

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PLATE VII

paintings, but the artist has treated it as if it were quite familiar to

him. The baboons have been held to be Cynocephalus babuin, but
owing to the absence of the mane are possibly of the species Cynocephalus anubis, sometimes known from its colouring as the olive

baboon, though this is now confined to West Africa. The animals

are eating their fill, and were probably pets, as otherwise the men
would hardly have submitted to such plundering. Nor is it likely
that they then existed in Egypt in the wild state. The kneeling
man on the right is packing the ripe figs in a wooden box with
cords for suspension from a yoke to be slung over the shoulders.

i9

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PLATE VIII
FEEDING THE ORYXES
PROVENANCE. Beni Hasan, tomb of Khnemlotpe (no. 3), main
chamber, left-hand wall, left end.
DATE. Reign of Amenemmes II or Sesostris II, Dyn. XII, about
1920-1900 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.
PREVIOUS

69 X 53 cm.

See under Plate VII.

PUBLICATION.

In colour, Newberry, Beni Hasan, Pt. i,

P1. XXVII; the entire wall, op. cit., Pl. XXX.

Tins picture from the same tomb depicts one of several groups
of animals or birds being fed by hand to fatten them for the
prince's table. The standing man has been drawn with an attempt
at perspective that is not wholly at fault; he is trying to force the
oryx to lie down. His kneeling companion, whose name was
Netjernakhti, has been badly distorted in the endeavour to reconcile what the artist saw with what he knew must be there. The
animals, as usual, are far better drawn than the human beings,
the horns in particular showing close observation of nature. The
markings round the eyes, however, are rendered with a quaint
convention. Oryxes are often represented in hunting scenes and
sometimes figure with gazelles and ibexes in lists of provisions.
In modern times they have almost disappeared from the deserts
surrounding the Nile Valley, but in Ancient Egypt must have
been common.

21

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PLATE IX

BIRDS IN AN ACACIA TREE

PROVENANCE.

Beni Hasan, tomb of Khnemlotpe (no. 3), at the

top of the back wall of the main chamber.

DATE. Reign of Amenemmes II or Sesostris II, Dyn. XII, about
1920-1900 B.C.

46 X 56 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate VII. Here, however, the grey
film is not so thick, and damage has been avoided owing to the
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

great distance from the ground. The background is of a stronger

blue-grey than elsewhere in the tomb. The red on the tails of
two birds and on the tree-trunk has disintegrated as a result
of the admixture of black to give a deeper tone.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

The whole scene in crude colours,

Lepsius, Denkmidler, Pt. ii, P1. 130. See also Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. iv, p. 147.
PART of a very large scene in which the prince Khnemlhotpe was
represented, accompanied by his son and his treasurer, pulling in
a clap-net full of birds over a pool in the marshes (compare Plate
XLVIII). He is shown seated on the left and hidden by a screen
made of reeds and pierced with peep-holes at intervals. A portion
of this screen comes into our excerpt, as well as an angle of the
net (top right, enclosing two of the trapped ducks), and also the
left edge of the water. The acacia tree here given balances another
on the right side of the clap-net that has been reproduced in colour
elsewhere.
The tree in question is frequently seen in the villages and wayI

Griffith, Beni Hasan, Pt. iv, Frontispiece.

22

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PLATE IX

sides of Egypt; the modern Arabic name is sun.t, and it is popularly

called 'mimosa' by Europeans. Here it is painted much more
faithfully than in Plate XCVII (Dyn. XIX), and is shown flowering instead of seeding, the sweet-scented little yellow balls being
distributed amongst the delicate pale-green foliage decoratively
arranged around the brownish stems. The pale-yellow mid-rib of
the leaf adds to the light effect of the whole. The birds which
perch in the branches are such as are said to inhabit the sunt, and,
like this, show a fairly close resemblance to nature. The hoopoe
(Upupa epops major) is common in Egypt to-day, but its tail is
square and not forked as in the picture, and the crest is erect only
in flight. The bird with spread wings and the one above it are
both shrikes (Lanius nubicus). Next below is a Red-backed shrike
(Lanius colurio), and standing under the tree on the right is a redstart (Phoenicurusphoenicurus), but with blue substituted for grey.
These last species are rare at the present time, and are seldom
depicted in the ancient paintings. At the bottom on the right
ducks, still unsnared, swim about among the water-plants.
The whole composition is too large to admit of reproduction
in its entirety. Both colour and details are extraordinarily fine,
and the picture occupies a worthy place between the Medim geese
(Plate I) and the El-Amamrna wall decorations (Plates LXXV,
LXXVI).

23

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PLATE X

GROUP OF SEMITE WOMEN

PROVENANCE. Beni Hasan, tomb of Khnemhotpe (no. 3), left-hand
wall of the main chamber.
DATE. Reign of Amenemmes II or Sesostris II, Dyn. XII, about
1920-1900 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

76 X

SI cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate VII. The film-covered

portions of the dresses are matched up to the brightest parts.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. Newberry, Beni Hasan, Pt. i, P1. XXXI,
and for the entire wall op. cit., Pl. XXX. See, too, Porter and
Moss, Bibliography, vol. iv, p. 146.
THESE women belong, as the inscription accompanying the scene
tells us, to a party of 'thirty-seven Aamu-people' who 'came bringing
eye-paint' to the prince Khnemhotpe. Their appearance proclaims
their Semitic origin, and their home may have been in the south
of Palestine. Only fifteen are actually shown, including the prince
Ebsha and the children; the man and donkey in Plate XI immediately follow the women. These have curious bird-like faces
with very hooked noses and light eyes. Their irises, unlike those
of the Egyptians, are light grey outlined in black, and show
a small black pupil similar to those of the Syrians of Plate XLII.
They are more substantially dressed than Egyptian women, and
their garments suggest woven fabrics. The dress of the third
woman differs from that of the rest in having a rounded neck-line

instead of leaving one shoulder bare, and the key-pattern is very

unusual. The socks or boots are unlike the thonged sandals of the

men. The boy in front of the group is very badly drawn; the arm
24

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PLATE X

with the hand bearing the spear is in an absurd position, while the
other is entirely lacking.
No artistic merit can be ascribed to the picture, and its interest
lies in the exceptional subject and in the details.

25

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PLATE XI
SEMITE WITH HIS DONKEY
Beni Hasan, tomb of Khnemhotpe (no. 3), left-hand
wall of the main chamber.
DATE. Reign of Amenemmes II or Sesostris II, Dyn. XII, about
PROVENANCE.

1920-1900 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

76

X 5I cm.

See under Plate VII.

i, P1. XXXI,
and for the entire wall op. cit., P1. XXX. See, too, Porter and
Moss, Bibliography, vol. iv, p. 146.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. Newberry, Beni Hasan, Pt.

Tins black-bearded nomad, marching behind his donkey to the

sound of his own music, follows immediately upon the Semite
women of Plate X. The physiognomy and dress of himself and
his companions are utterly different from those of the Egyptians
depicted in the same tomb. He has a water-skin slung upon his
back, and uses a plectrum to play his lyre. The shoulders are even
more distorted than elsewhere in the tomb, whose artists always
had trouble with this feature (Plates VII, VIII, X). The sandals
seem to be made of thongs of leather.
The patient-looking donkey has a gay-looking saddle-cloth, to
which are tied a throw-stick, a spear, and at top some object not
easy to identify. The zebra-stripe on the shoulder, so characteristic
of the ass, has not been forgotten.
The awkward drawing of the man detracts little from the great
interest of the picture.

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NEW KINGDOM
EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY

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PLATE XII
KING TUTHMOSIS I
PROVENANCE. Thebes, temple of Dr el-Balri, chapel of Tuthmosis I, back wall.
DATE. Reign of Hatshepsut, Dyn. XVIII, 1497-1475 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

44 X

107 cm.

Low-relief sculpture on limestone blocks

patched with gypsum. The colour is applied over a thin priming, and the grey-blue background is typical of the period.
Orange varnish is seen on the skirt, head-dress, and some hieroglyphs.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. Naville, Deir el Bahari,vol. i, P1. IX. See,
under (120).
too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. ii, p.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

125,

WITH this picture we skip four centuries and embark upon the
paintings of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Plates XII and XIII illustrate
the best style of painted relief. The figure of the king is the only
one that has been spared in this small chapel, the hatred of Tuthmosis III having caused the portrait of his predecessor, Queen
Hatshepsut, to be expunged everywhere, and the iconoclastic zeal

of Akhenaten having removed the figures and names of the gods.

Tuthmosis I, the father of Hatshepsut, was here originally seen
behind his daughter 'making adorationfour times' to the sacred symbol of Anubis in a shrine. Above him are his names and titles:
'The good god, master of offerings, rOkheperkarer, the son of [Amen-]
rer, given life.' He wears the linen head-dress known as nems, in
front of which coils the uraeus serpent, and his false beard is of
the archaic type. Around his neck is a collar of beads and gold,
and bracelets are upon his wrists. The short simple skirt of the

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PLATE XII

period was stiffened so as to have triangular form when seen from

the front, as we know from statues. A sporran of gold and inlay
hangs down from the belt, which bears the king's name. The
bull's tail, part of the insignia of the Pharaoh, is represented in an
exceptional manner: it begins with a human finger, continues in
the leopard-tail pattern known from the decorative borders of
wall-paintings, and at last passes into the bull's tail proper. To the
left of the Plate are traces of the erased figure of Hatshepsut, the
chisel-marks closely following the lines of her body.
This picture of Tuthmosis I contrasts strikingly with that of
Ramesses II in Plate C, where magnificence has taken the place
of the simplicity here attained.

0%9f

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PLATE XIII

A DECORATIVE LION
Thebes, temple of Dr el-Balri, middle colonnade,
left-hand portion, right-hand wall.
DATE. Reign of Hatshepsut, Dyn. XVIII, 1497-1475 .c.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 62 X 42 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XII.
PROVENANCE.

Naville, Deir el Bahari, vol. iii, P1.

LXXXV. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography,vol. ii, p. I18,
under (18).

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

THIS Plate reproduces a portion of the decorative motifs from

the base of a royal baldachin under which Hatshepsut is shown
enthroned. The lion, in painted relief, is one of two on either side
the traditional
of, and facing away from, the central motif
symbol of the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. Though
heraldically rendered, the animal retains the character of an actual
lion, and may be compared with the naturalistic representations
on the casket of Tutrankhamn (Plate LXXVII), as well as with
a conventionalized type found in the tomb of Nefretere (Plate
XCIII). The three little spots in the ear, the wrinkles round the
mouth, and the circular tuft of hair on the shoulder are here not
forgotten, though very differently treated. The mane is embellished with blue, green, and red stripes, and the shoulder-tuft has
alternate bands of the same colours. The red pattern on the blue
ribbon binding the body has perished almost completely, but the
knotted red ribbon next it, which appears to have been meant as
a separate band, retains its original hue. The lines of the mane,
sculptured in one direction, have been altered and improved by the

M,

3o

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PLATE XIII

painter's brush. The beautifully cut hieroglyphs were originally

brightly coloured; they read 'The adoration of all subject peoples,
that they may live'. This refers to the homage done to the Pharaoh,

here symbolized as a lion, by the various tribes thought of as

prostrate beneath his feet; see Plate XXIX. At a rather later date
these foreigners will be actually depicted on the bases of baldachins, either recumbent as in Plate LX, or with arms upraised in
praise (Plate LVIII), or else as prisoners surmounting the names
of their tribes.

31

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PLATE XIV
MINOAN TRIBUTE-BEARERS
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Senmut, no. 71, back wall of hall,

right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Hatshepsut, Dyn. XVIII, 1497-1475 n.c.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

71 X 42 cm, under (2).

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on very hard and fine strawless plaster

now of a pinkish-yellow colour. A thin wash of white has been

applied to form the background.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. H. R. Hall, An addition to the Senmut-

Fresco, in Annual of the Brit. School at Athens, no. XVI, 1909-10,

pp. 254-7, with reproductions of a coloured photograph and of

R. Hay's early drawing. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography,
vol. i, p. 99, under (2).

THIS fragment from the tomb of Hatshepsut's Chief Steward,

who built her famous temple at Der el-Bahri, is of great historic
interest on account of its faithful representation of Cretan Minoans
and their tribute. At the death of the queen, Senmut fell from
power and his tomb seems to have been intentionally wrecked, so
that hardly anything is now left of its scenes. The Plate shows in
its present condition no small fraction of what remains. Much
damage has been done by exposure to the weather, and the black
locks, almost hanging to the waist, that were seen by the early
copyists, have completely disappeared. An unsuccessful attempt
by modem robbers to cut out some of the vases was fortunately
abandoned in time. The small separate fragment comes from
farther to the left, where the procession of tribute-bearers is continued under a frieze of Hathor-heads and a band of inscription.
32

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PLATE XIV

The beardless faces and red colour of the men are characteristic,
no less than the richly ornamented skirts with their peculiar codpieces, elsewhere misinterpreted as quivers. It is impossible to tell
whether these skirts were embroidered or woven in colours. The
vases, absurdly exaggerated in size, raise many problems. If the
two of the Vaphio type were of silver, as their colour seems to
imply, how was the ornamentation upon them achieved? The
purplish bands and scrolls on the one, and the bands and part of
the oxen's heads on the other, were originally black, as some few
remaining fragments show. For similar bucrania see Plate XXII.
An inlay upon silver of yellow, blue, red, and black seems improbable, and one is tempted to believe that these cups represent
painted pottery. But would painted pottery have been valuable
enough to be depicted as tribute? To this question it might, however, be answered that the two red vases certainly suggest earthen-

ware both by their form and by their colour. The ewer on the
right may well have been of silver and gold, since its rope pattern

is common in metal-work.

33

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PLATE XV
A PET BITCH

Thebes, tomb of Nebamin, no. 179, left-hand wall.

DATE. Reign of Hatshepsut, Dyn. XVIII, 1497-1475 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 28 x32 cm. (reproduced to full scale).

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin coating of fine plaster over
good limestone. The blue-grey background is characteristic of

this reign.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

None.

DETAIL of a scene in which the owner of the tomb, a 'Scribe and

Accountant ofgrain in the granary of the divine offerings of Amin', is
seen sitting with his wife before a pile of provisions. The pet
animal sits quietly under her mistress's chair on the usual mat of
green papyrus. A string is attached to the gay collar, but it has

evidently been found unnecessary to tie the animal to the leg of

the chair as was done to the cat of Plate XXVII. A similar collar
of coloured leather-work is preserved in the Cairo Museum, and
all dogs wore such. The breed is one commonly met with at
Thebes in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, and is always
painted with mottled or reddish markings over the white coat.
Dogs of this type are not, however, seen in the modemrn Egyptian

villages. Pet animals are frequently depicted under the chairs of

their owners, and the tombs contain examples of dogs, cats,
monkeys, gazelles, and even geese all shown in the same position.

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PLATE XVI

SCRIBE REGISTERING NUBIAN TRIBUTE

PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Rekhmirer, no. zoo, back wall of

hall, left-hand portion.

DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.c.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

81 X 44 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin, bluish priming-coat on

smooth limestone walls patched with plaster. The paintings are

much discoloured owing to the tomb having been inhabited
until recent times.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. On small scale and in line, Norman de G.

Davies, Paintingsfrom the Tomb of Rekh-mi-rer, P1. XXII. See

also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 129, under (s).
is the only picture selected by us from the tomb of the
Tis
famous Vizier, so as not to encroach on another publication. The
pile of Nubian produce here seen precedes a long line of tributebearers who carry more objects of the same kind or else lead living
animals, among them a giraffe. The scribe to the right makes an
inventory of the accumulation lying before him. In the upper
row are (right to left) ostrich feathers, logs of ebony, bags of gold
dust and rings of gold, a monkey on a high stool holding a nut (?),
more rings of gold over jars of what is thought to be 'ochre',
ostrich eggs in a basket of many colours, and more ebony with
yellow streaks that have no justification in nature. In the lower
row most of the items are accompanied by their names. First of
all there are again 'gold' rings and bags of 'gold' dust, then farther

to the left tusks of 'ivory' and 'leopard'-skins, and lastly baskets

containing lumps of red 'carnelian' and green 'malachite' respec36

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PLATE XVI

tively. All these things are mentioned or depicted elsewhere as

coming from Nubia, and the basket-work bears a striking resemblance to the Sudanese baskets of to-day.
The careful drawing and precise style of Rekhmirer's artist may
be compared with the very different treatment of the same subject
in the tomb of Huy, the Viceroy of Nubia under Tutrankhamiin
(Plate LXXX).

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PLATE XVII
MUSICIANS AT A BANQUET
Thebes, tomb of Amenemht, no. 82, right-hand
wall of passage.
DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 51 X 33 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on the fine smooth plaster usual at
this period. Behind the lute-player are faint traces of the squaring lines used by the artist in setting forth his design. Grey wax
varnish may be seen on the head of the harper.
PROVENANCE.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

In line, Davies and Gardiner, Tomb of

Amenemht (Theban Tombs Series, vol. i), P1. XV. See also
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. I 2, under (12).
FRoM the tomb of a 'Steward of the Vizier' showing the precise,
careful work of the reign of Tuthmosis III. Part of a banqueting
scene of which the setting is as follows: Amenemb.t and his wife
are seated on the left in front of a richly loaded table of provisions,
offered by a son who stands opposite them with arm raised in the
manner prescribed by the funerary ritual. Farther to the right,
the scene divides into three registers, in the topmost of which the
musicians occur. Behind them are male guests seated. The second
register contains the female guests with serving-maids waiting
upon them. The third register is devoted to attendants bearing
unguents.
There is little beauty in the present picture, which is reproduced
merely as a good specimen of its subject and for the interest of the
musical instruments. The harp played by the 'female singer Baket'
rests partly on the ground, and partly against her shoulder. Her
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PLATE XVII

foot is doubled under her, and on her head is the lump of ointment
for which the ancient Egyptians had so great a partiality. The
open mouth indicates that Baket is singing, and the beginning of
her song is written before her: 'Even as thou shinestforth, so shine
,forth the faces of Amen-Rer.' (Probably addressed to the sun-god;
'faces' is cryptic.) The lute-player does not handle his plectrum as
though he were actually playing. His name is Amenemlht, and he
sings, 'A happy day, spending a happy morn ... '. A girl Ruiuresti, in
the close-fitting dress of the period, plays the double pipes. Her
song begins, 'Thou remainest great for ever, thou art united with
eternity...'. Note that the black has almost disappeared from her

hair, leaving shadowy tresses and the original sketch-outline of

the head.
This picture should be compared with that in Plate XXXVII,
where the musicians are all female.

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PLATE XVIII
INSCRIPTION IN ORNAMENTAL HIEROGLYPHS
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Amenemht, no. 8z, right-hand
wall of hall.
8 B.C.
DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone

1475-144

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

70 x 3 8 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XVII.

In line, Davies and Gardiner, Tomb of

Amenemie't (Theban Tombs Series, vol. i), Pl. IX. See also

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p.

III,

under (7).

Tais is a good example of the way in which descriptive legends

accompanying wall-paintings were treated in Eighteenth Dynasty

tombs. Elaborately drawn and painted hieroglyphs are there
reserved for the principal inscriptions, subsidiary ones being less
carefully executed in blue or black; see Plate XVII. In other tombs
the individual signs are sometimes finer, but as a rule the black has
perished, upsetting the balance of the whole. The red sketch-lines
marking the limits of the block border at top and on the left, and
in places showing beyond the finished colouring of certain hieroglyphs, are deserving of notice. When such occur with green or
blue signs, they were not intended to be seen, since green and blue
signs were outlined with black, ifat all; the red here owes its appearance to the flaking away of the coarse colour above it. On the

left the large break is a defacement due to the agents of the heretic
king Akhenaten, whose orders were to destroy the hated name of
Amin wherever it occurred. The text reads in translation: 'Tra-

versing the valleys, exploring the mountains, taking recreation, shooting

the wild animals of the desert, by him, the beloved of his lord, the
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PLATE XVIII

Steward of the Vizier and Scribe-accountant of the grain of [Amiin,

Amenem Jt, the justified.'
The hieroglyphs of this Plate may be compared with those from
Middle Kingdom coffins in Plate VI.

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PLATE XIX
BIRDS IN
PROVENANCE.

FLIGHT

Thebes, tomb of Amenemhet, no. 82, back wall of

hall, right-hand portion.

Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.c.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 47 X 35 cm. (reproduced to full scale).
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XVII, but a much deeper
DATE.

grey-blue background is found in this part of the tomb.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. Davies and Gardiner, Tomb of Amenemht

(Theban Tombs Series, vol. i), Frontispiece, in colour. See also

Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. III, under (s).

Tims third picture from the same tomb is a mere fragment, and
evidently once formed part of a fowling and fishing scene like
those of Plates XLVII, LIV, LXV. Further damage has been done
by bats clustering about the brown mess that disfigures the border,
and the painting beneath is scored by the scratching of their wings.
The block border is that usually employed to frame wall-paintings
at top and sides. The birds are rising from the clump of papyrus
reeds in the centre of the scene. Two species do not occur again
in the Theban necropolis, at all events not in colour. These are
the golden-yellow bird with vestiges of green on its flight feathers,

and the green bird with white median wing-coverts and red beak
and legs. The latter suggests a quail, but this was usually painted
by the Egyptians in soft shades fairly close to nature. The yellow
and green bird has not been identified. Two lapwings (Vanellus
cristatus) are seen, and in the lower example, where the black of
the head is extant, the conventional markings around the eye are
identical with those used elsewhere for falcon or kite (Plate XCIII).
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PLATE XIX

The lapwing is not usual in Theban marsh scenes, but is familiar as

the hieroglyph and symbol for rekhyt'subject peoples' (Plate XIII).

In nature this species has very dark glossy green and deep purple
wing-coverts and back, with white tail broadly tipped with black.
The white bird to the right at top is possibly the Little egret (Egretta

garzetta), while the blue and white bird in the centre is a Grey
heron (Ardea cinerea). In the top left and bottom right corners are
specimens of a moth or butterfly.

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PLATE XX
HIPPOPOTAMUS AT BAY
Thebes, tomb of Amenemht, no. 82, back wall of
hall, right-hand portion.
DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

31 X 47 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XVII. The lighter spots on

the hide are due to bees-wax, as on the musicians of that Plate.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. Davies and Gardiner, Tomb of Amenemhit
(Theban Tombs Series, vol. i), P1. I A, in colour. See, too, Porter

and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. III, under (6).

AGAIN a fragment from the tomb of Amenemht, 'Steward of

the Vizier'. This belongs to a destroyed scene of a hippopotamushunt of which no good painted examples are still extant in the
Theban necropolis. The whole may be reconstructed from an
often reproduced picture, now destroyed, in the tomb of the Great
Herald Antef. This has been here redrawn, for purposes of comparison, from the copies of Hay and Wilkinson. The animal,
weakened through loss of blood by the many barbs with which
he is transfixed, has turned to face his pursuers. Soon he will be
dragged in by the cords attached to the barbs; after this he will
be dispatched. This method of hunting the hippopotamus is accurately described by Diodorus, and is said to have been practised
until quite recently in the Sudan. The drawing of the animal,
which crouches in the water bordered by flowering rushes and
papyrus-reeds, is as good as the conventions of Egyptian art will
allow, and brings out all essential features, including the stiff
hairs on the muzzle. Particularly well rendered are the pairs of
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PLATE XX

peg-like teeth on each side of the upper jaw; the inner row,
though not actually visible on a profile view, is equally true to
nature. The tusk in the lower jaw is also characteristic, though
here exaggerated in size. The bright red of the hide and the
blue eye testify, however, to the freedom claimed by the Egyptian
painters. They often sacrificed reality to a preference for bright
colouring which would lighten the dim interiors of the tombs.
This picture occupied the extreme right-hand portion of the
wall, and shows the usual block border. Behind the hippopotamus
are seen traces of the fountain of water which he has raised by
plunging about.

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PLATE XXI

FOREIGN PRINCES PAY HOMAGE TO THE KING

Thebes, tomb of Menkheperrarsonb, no. 86, back
wall of hall, right-hand portion, top register.
DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 78 X 47 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a surface of fine plaster. The tomb

has been inhabited, and the colours have suffered much from
smoke, which has changed the whites to a deep cream and has
almost obliterated the distinction between the blues and the
greens. There are traces of bees-wax, forming darker patches
above the colours.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. N. and N. de G. Davies, The Tombs of
Menkheperrasonb, Amenmos, and another (Theban Tombs Series,

vol. v), P1. IV. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,
p. I17, under (3).
T ms and the next three pictures are taken from a single large
scene in the tomb of the High-priest of Amuin, Menkheperrarsonb.
To the left was depicted the Pharaoh Tuthmosis III seated on his
throne under a gaily decorated canopy. Immediately in front of
him stood Menkheperrarsonb, extending in his hands a bouquet
intended, as the accompanying inscription tells us, to represent the
High-priest's homage on New Year's Day. The main purpose of
the scene, however, was to display the tribute brought by the
various northern peoples subject, or supposed to be subject, to
His Majesty. Behind a huge pile of ornamental vases, minerals in
baskets, and so forth the scene divides into five registers or files of
tribute-bearers, our excerpts in Plates XXI-XXIV being derived
from the two uppermost. The entire subject has a relevancy to
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PLATE XXI

the career of Menkheperrarsonb inasmuch as his priestly duties

involved the adornment of the temple of Amn and the enriching

of its treasury, acts in which he served as the agent of the king.
The picture in the present Plate gives the left-hand portion of
the top register, and an inscription in coloured hieroglyphs explains its topic: 'Giving praise to the lord of the Two Lands, doing
obeisance to the Good God, by the princes of every land. They extol the
victories of His Majesty, carrying their tribute upon their backs, namely
all thingsfrom the God's land, silver, gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and
allprecious stones, in the hope that the breath of life may be accorded to
them.' The foremost figures of the line are shown in attitudes of

homage, the first kissing the ground and the second kneeling with
arms upraised in adoration. These are the princes of Keftiu and
of Khatti respectively; Keftiu is probably the name for Crete, and
Khatti is better known to us as the land of the Hittites. Behind
them follows the prince of Tunep holding out an infant son who
is evidently to serve as a hostage. The appearance of these great
chieftains belies the hieroglyphic labels written above them, and
we can but conclude that the artist was a very poor ethnologist.
The prostrate Cretan is pictured as a Syrian, and to fit his name
he would have had to resemble the fourth figure of the row, who
exhibits the long parted locks and decorated skirt that were seen
in Plate XIV. This last tribute-bearer is further proclaimed a Cretan by the characteristically Minoan bull's head, perhaps of silver
with blue inlay, which he carries on a basket, though the folded
cloth with coloured borders and tassels borne on the arm is in close
agreement with the correctly shown cloak of the real Syrian prince
immediately preceding. As for the kneeling prince described as
a Hittite, his bearded face and fashion of wearing his hair are again
those of a Syrian, and not at all in harmony with the national traits
known from better, though later, sources.
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PLATE XXII
TWO CRETAN TRIBUTE-BEARERS
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Menkheperrarsonb, no. 86, back

wall of hall, right-hand portion, top register.

DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

40 X

46

1475-144 8 B.C.

cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XXI. The figure of the bull
has been damaged by the wasp-cells built over it. The black
tresses of the second man have faded out where they cross the
red flesh-colour, but a trace in red of the curl on the forehead
still remains.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. N. and N.

de G. Davies, The Tombs of

Menkheperrasonb, Amenmose, and another (Theban Tombs Series,

vol. v), P1. V. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,
p. I17, under (3).
THE two Cretans or Keftiu-men here shown closely resemble the
fourth figure in Plate XXI, which they immediately follow on
the tomb wall. The scale of reduction being less than in that Plate,
the details are the more easily discernible. The skirt of the first
man suggests a network of beads, but needlework or weaving are
more likely possibilities. The skirt of the second man recalls a
ceiling pattern with its scrolls and diamond-shaped space-fillers.
The bull borne shoulder-high on a rush platter is very Minoan in
appearance, though not unlike one carried by a Syrian in the tomb
of Sebkhotpe (no. 63). Here the bearer has a string of blue and
red beads hanging over his arm. The cup with the bucrania-this
again characteristically Minoan-is closely parallel to that from the
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PLATE XXII

tomb of Senmut (Plate XIV), but is taller, has a differendtly shaped

handle, and omits the rosettes and the bands of colour at the
bottom. In the same man's other hand is a deep cup, possibly of
gold, with a very small base.

49

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PLATE XXIII
FOUR CRETAN TRIBUTE-BEARERS
Thebes, tomb of Menkheperrarsonb, no. 86, back
wall of hall, right-hand portion, top register.
DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

86

47 cm.

See under Plate XXI. The colour has flaked

off in places, particularly on the skirts and footgear.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

N. and N. de G. Davies, The Tombs of

Menkheperrasonb, Amenmos, and another (Theban Tombs Series,

vol. v), P1. V. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,
p. I17, under (3).
THESE four men terminate the upper register of the scene described in the commentary on Plate XXI, and are separated from
the tribute-bearers of Plate XXII by two similar figures, to the
second of which belong the arm and the sword to be seen on
the left. The long tresses and the curls over the forehead are here
better exhibited than in the examples previously studied. A new
feature is the footgear of the two Cretans in the middle. The first
of them appears to have a combination of sandal and sock, while
his companion wears boots; in the boots all paint except the red
has gone, and there is visible a tie which may originally have had
connecting cords in a colour that has now vanished. The chief
interest of the picture centres in the objects carried. The first man
on the left bears a rhyton, once blue, in the shape of a dog's head,
and a tall vase with its pointed bottom uppermost (?); over the
front arm hangs a chain of beads. The next man, with a folded
cloth in place of the beads, holds in one hand a two-handled vase,
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PLATE XXIII

perhaps of gold, and in the other a handled jar of a hue suggesting

bronze. A large amphora, doubtless of silver, forms with a bead
chain the sole burden of the third tribute-bearer. The fourth and
last carries two objects: in one hand a ribbed vase having two
handles and a stopper with blue inlay shaped like a bull's head; in
the other hand a tusk of ivory.

SI

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PLATE XXIV
SYRIAN TRIBUTE-BEARERS
Thebes, tomb of Menkheperrarsonb, no. 86, back
wall of hall, right-hand portion, second register.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 71 X

43 cm.

See under Plate XXI.

PUBLICATION. N. and N. de G. Davies, The Tombs of

TECHNICAL DETAILS.
PREVIOUS

Menkheperrasonb, Amenmose, and another (Theban Tombs Series,

vol. v), P1. V. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,

p. 117, under (3).

THREE Syrians from a long row beneath the Cretans displayed

in the last three Plates and described in the text thereto. They are
headed by the 'Prince of Kadesh' (not shown here), and display
considerable differences of dress and colour of complexion. Note
the blue eye of the first man in our Plate; he carries a bow and
a rush platter bearing three plumed helmets such as are worn by
Syrians on the chariot of Tuthmosis IV in the Cairo Museum.
The second man, coloured pale yellow instead of red, has a shaven
head and wears a long white cloak contrasting with the short skirts
of his neighbours. His gifts are a fluted silver jug, a coil of leather
reins, a quiver and a bow. The last man resembles the first in type
and skin-colour, but has a strap across his shoulders and a long
pendant hanging from his neck. He brings as tribute a horn for
ointment and a large two-handled vessel of gold. The differences
of type here depicted were probably intended to represent different tribes.
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PLATE XXV
FUNERARY RITES IN A GARDEN
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Minnakht (no. 87), inner chamber,

front wall, left-hand portion.

DATE. Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475-1448 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

I14 X 68 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted with a blue-grey background on fine

cream-coloured plaster above coarser buff plaster mixed with

straw. Since the innermost chamber where this scene is painted
lies far back in the hill-side and is little accessible to light, the
colours are perfectly preserved. There has, however, been some
wanton damage.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. W.. Wreszinski, Atlas zur altiigyptischen
Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, Pl. 278. See also Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. i, p. 119, under (5); to which add Mitteil. d.
deutsch. Inst.f. g. Altertumsk. in Kairo, vol. iv, P1. VI, b.
PART of a large scene from the tomb of an 'Overseer of the
Granaries of Upper and Lower Egypt'. In this scene are depicted
some funerary rites performed before the deceased or an image of
him either in the garden belonging to his tomb or in front of a
small temple. Interpretation is difficult in the absence of inscriptions or of any quite similar pictures. There are five registers in
all, but of them only the three central rows are here shown, and
these without their right-hand portions. It seems useless to describe the complex details of the missing parts, since they throw
only uncertain light upon the whole. None the less, mention may
be made of the mourning women in the lowest register, since they
might possibly indicate that the moment represented was the
actual day of final interment.

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PLATE XXV

The interest ofthe spectator was obviously meant to centre upon

the pool and the building in the middle register. The pool is surrounded by green sedge and a low wall of stone, and lotuses
emerge from the water. On a light boat stands a wooden receptacle, elsewhere in the scene shown carried on the shoulders of
a pair of men; whether it was intended for a statue or was, after
all, the actual sarcophagus must be left undecided. A lector-priest
holding a papyrus-roll in his left hand recites spells for the welfare
of the tomb-owner. At the shore, in front of wine-jars kept cool
under greenery, are men presenting papyrus-stems; see portions
of a similar figure on a larger scale to the extreme right. The

nature of the building to the right of the pool is, in the lack of
texts, wholly problematic. It has too many chambers to be merely
a summer-house, and looks more like a small temple or shrine.
A stairway leads up to the corniced portal. The building itself is

depicted mainly in plan, but some parts are given in elevation.

There is a large courtyard in which two trees are growing. In the
main axis and projecting beyond the smaller chambers, two on
each side, we seem to be shown the wall-face of a central sanctuary.
The details of the other rows are subsidiary and incidental. Below are two identical depictions of a priest censing and pouring
libations before an offering-table with loaves; behind the priest is
a light covered booth with wine-jars. Huge piles of loaves of

different shapes rising above the pottery vessels containing them

insure the deceased against hunger. For the rest, our excerpt fills

out the available space with trees, among which date-palms and
a single diim palm are conspicuous.

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PLATE XXVI
MUSIC AT A PARTY
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Wah, no. 22, front wall of hall,

right-hand portion.
DATE. Probably Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 14751448 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

44 X 37 cm.

The smooth limestone

surface has been

covered with a very thin wash of plaster. The priming medium

has failed to make this coating adhere to the stone, so that much
has flaked off, bringing the colour with it.
The entire scene, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur
altiigyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, P1. 76 a. For position see

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 63, under (5).

FROM the top left corner of a banqueting-scene in four registers,
which show some further musicians and many guests. Facing
these sits the tomb-owner with his wife and his daughter, their
large figures nearly filling the height of the wall. The hieroglyphic
legend above gives the tomb-owner as Meryamiin, but the tomb
has been usurped, and it is probable that the picture really represents the original owner, a Royal Butler of the name of Wah. The

musicians here shown should be compared with those of Plate

XVII (tomb of Amenemht) and Plate XXXVII (tomb ofDjeserkararsonb); it is interesting to see how differently one and the same
subject could be handled by the Theban artists of a single period.
Here the treatment is very stiff and has the economy of detail
characteristic of the early Eighteenth Dynasty. The flesh-colour
of the women is everywhere a greenish yellow. The long trans-

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PLATE XXVI

parent dresses of the musicians allow their bead girdles to show

through; compare the lutist from Djeserkararsonb, who wears this
girdle, but is nude. Note the cone of ointment on each head and
on that of the lady guest; it has the low earlier form, and here is
white, though elsewhere in the tomb it is red, as in that of Amenemhat. The hair is adorned with a bloom or bud of lotus, attached
to a red ribbon instead of a fillet of petals as in Plate XXXVII. If
the flowers were real, they would have fallen over the faces instead
of standing out therefrom as shown. The double pipes and lyre
resemble those of Djeserkararsonb. Partly obliterated blue hieroglyphs belonging to the original owner are to be seen over the
first figure. A serving-maid offers a draught of wine to a primlooking guest. The white of the garments and background has
disappeared to such an extent that only traces remain. A block
border framing the top of the wall provides some bright colouring, but the black divisions have been continued only a part of
the way.

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PLATE XXVII
CAT UNDER A CHAIR
Thebes, tomb of May, no. 130, inner chamber,
right-hand wall.
DATE. Perhaps Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone
PROVENANCE.

1475-

1448 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

33 X 27 cm.

On a bluish-grey background over good

white plaster.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In line, V. Scheil, Le Tombeau de Mdi, in
Mdmoires de la mission arche'ologique francaise du Caire, vol. v,
p. 552.

Tins detail from the tomb of a 'Harbour-master in the Southern

City' shows a pet belonging to his wife, of whose chair, resting on
a mat of green reeds, the lion-footed legs are here seen. This cat
is not one of the best-drawn specimens in the Theban necropolis,
the famous example from the tomb of Nakht being far superior,
and that in Plate LXVI perhaps better still. Nevertheless it has a
certain feline wildness as it strains at its string to get at the bowl
of meat so tantalizingly out of its reach. Our feeling that the artist
was not quite happy about his drawing is confirmed by the red
sketch-line of the tail, which he altered to a lower position. The
outline of the lady's leg and the rippling line of her dress can be
seen to right of the chair.

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PLATE XXVIII
VINTAGERS AND ROPE-MAKERS AT WORK
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Kharemwese (?), no. 26I, back

wall of hall, right-hand portion.

DATE. Perhaps Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, reigned alone 1475I448 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

93 X 75 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin layer of fine white plaster

over a coarse underlay of mud and straw.

In photograph,Journal of EgyptianArchaeology, vol. iii, P1. XIV. Plan of the tomb, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. i60.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

T HE tomb from which this Plate is taken is ascribed to the 'Priest

of Amenophis I, Kharemwese' only on the strength of a pottery
cone found on the floor. The paintings, which show the fine precise style of the period, were never completed, and one of the two

decorated walls was destroyed by a native robber. The present

picture gives about half of what now remains, and from it we
obtain a vivid impression of the labours of vintagers. In the upper
register a superintendent, leaning on his staff, watches two Egyptians and a Nubian slave gathering the grapes. No knives are in
their hands, though it is hard to see how they could have been
dispensed with. In Plate XCVIII the men seem to be plucking
off individual berries, but here it is not so. An old man carrying
two pots slung from a yoke over his shoulders pours water
into the circular mud trenches out of which the vines grow.
This irrigation seems superfluous now that the grapes are ripe
for picking. One of the two men engaged in the latter task
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PLATE XXVIII

is shown by his beard and his Semitic features to have been a

foreigner.
In the second register six men, one again a Nubian, are treading
out the juice. In front of the wine-press, on an altar perhaps of
whitewashed brick, is Ernitet, the cobra-goddess always worshipped in this connexion. Her image is partly true picture, and
partly hieroglyphic writing, since below her are the signs U
meaning 'lady of good fortune' or 'of prosperity'. The man who

stands before the piled-up offerings (these appropriately including

a basket of grapes) seems to pour wine into a cup with one hand,
while with the other he holds aloft a flaming brazier. At his
back a servant empties some ingredient from a small vessel into
one of a number of large amphorae stacked against each other.
Two of these are placed upright on stands of rushes, and are being
sealed with mud seals doubdtless giving the date and particulars of
the vintage. The grey mud used for this purpose lies handy in
a shallow bowl, while below in another bowl is the wooden (?)
stamp ready to be impressed on the clay. Below is a ship laden
with the wine-jars. It has arrived at its destination, and a sailor is
carrying the jars ashore down a stepped plank. The gaudy decorations proclaim the ship a royal vessel. At the stern is a raised
structure showing the falcon-headed god Montju in warlike pose,
while on the hull we see the Pharaoh as a lion slaying his enemies
(compare Plate LXXXII). The bundles of reeds on the top of
the cabin are perhaps connected with the adjoining scene of ropemaking. Three men are engaged in this occupation between
clumps of papyrus such as provided them with their material. The
old man in the centre sits on a rush stool and holds upright a
wooden stick of which one end is fixed in the ground beside
a hooked peg like a modem tent-peg. To the
a youth twists
single strands with the help of the weighted tool again depicted

right

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PLATE XXVIII

above. A second old man, on the left, is perhaps twisting together

the single strands with a similar instrument. Above is a long
bundle of reeds, four coils of rope, the hooked peg, a mallet for
beating the reeds until they become flexible, two twisting tools,
another peg, and a knife. Lengths of apparently untwisted reeds
are stretched along the ground behind the men's feet.

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PLATE XXIX
KING AMENOPHIS II ON HIS NURSE'S LAP
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Kenamn, no. 93, back wall of

hall, right-hand portion.

DATE.

Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII, I448-I420 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 13 6 X195 cm.

Painted on good plaster above a foundation

of mud and straw. The yellow background prevails throughout
the tomb. This background has been blackened by bats, as also

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

the flesh-colour of the principal persons. Black squaring-lines

have been drawn over the scene to aid in recopying elsewhere.
In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The
Tomb of KCen-amiin, vol. ii, Pl. IX A. See, too, Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. i, p. 124, under (5).

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

THE five pictures which follow were reproduced in colour a few

years ago, but their great importance for Egyptian pictorial art,
besides the larger scale which the present publication makes possible, justifies their repetition here. All are taken from the great

tomb of Kenamin, the 'Chief Steward of the King'. This high

official gained added importance from the fact that his mother
Amenope (?)had been foster-mother to the young ruler, and she
is here depicted nursing him upon her knee. He is clad in his ceremonial robes, and to judge from the proportion of his size to that
of the lady, may have been from twelve to fourteen years of age.
From the fact that she supports his head with one hand some might
infer that he was thought of as an infant, but the absence of the
side-lock speaks against this view. He holds the crook emblematic of his kingly office, and beneath the board under his feet

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PLATE XXIX

are crouching figures of southern and northern enemies, their

necks tied with cords which he holds in his hands. A pet dog,
now destroyed except for the hind quarters and a front paw, reposed at the nurse's feet. Above the young king's head hovers the
goose of Amiin (see p. I26), here exceptionally replacing the usual
vulture or falcon. In front of the group is a table with offerings
of fruit and flowers, and behind this two fan-bearers, one of them
Kenamin himself, once stood bowing before their exalted master.
The whole scene takes place in an arbour of papyrus, from the top
of which hang lotus-blossoms alternating with mandrake-fruit.
The hieroglyphs on the left give the titles of Kenamin: 'The hereditaryprince, eyes of the king of Upper Egypt, ears of the kin2 of Lower
Egypt, whose fortune the lord of the Two Lands made, the fan-bearer
to the right of the king, the tail-bearer (?)of Horus, beloved of him, to
whom the great ones bowed down on account of the greatness of [his]
favour [with the king]...' Above the king are his cartouches, and
over the lady are her title 'Great Nurse' and the remains of her
name. Beside the foreigners who act as the king's footstool are
the words, 'All lands and all mysterious countries'.
The workmanship of this picture, as indeed throughout the
tomb, is most elaborate and delicate in its detail. The hieroglyphs
and the faces of the Syrians are particularly noticeable.

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PLATE XXX
IBEX AND HUNTING DOG
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Kenamiin, no.93, right-hand wall

of passage.
DATE.

Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII, 1448-142o B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

60 X 57 cm.

Plate XXIX. Patches of orange

varnish, originally colourless, can be noticed in places. Red
squaring-lines have been drawn over the two animals with a
view to recopying them.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

See under

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The

Tomb of Ken-amiin, vol. i, P1. L; the entire scene, op. cit., P1.
XLVIII. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 124,

under (Io).
EXCERPT from a much-damaged hunting scene of a not unusual
type. To the left stood KIenamiin and his son, their bows drawn
to the fullest extent. Facing them is the desert, the folds of which
are indicated by spaces bordered by pebble-strewn sand, with here
and there a plant. The yellow background has no relation to
reality, and exists only because the rest of the tomb was so
coloured, and because a spotted pink expanse would have been
unsuitable for the purpose. As a result each animal or group appears isolated in a special island of its own. It is perhaps worth
noting that only the Eastern desert, not the Western, can have
supplied the sustenance required for the larger species of animals;
here there are many wadys, and rainstorms are much less infrequent. There is no trace of the nets isolating the terrain that are
found elsewhere, nor does any animal appear to have been hit as yet.

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PLATE XXX

The ibex in this Plate is one of the finest achievements of Egyptian painting. The attempt of a tomb-robber to cut out the noble
head has resulted only in its partial destruction. The pose of the
beast, brought to bay by a hunting dog, iswholly admirable. The
details of the hair, obtained by the use of wedge-shaped brushes
cut so as to produce groups of fine lines, are impossible to render

with complete fidelity in a copy. The stippling is of extreme

delicacy. Above the ibex, in another fold of the desert, may be
seen part of the muzzle of a fox-like creature. At the bottom of
the picture are two oryx horns and what may be the tail of a dog.

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PLATE XXXI
DETAILS FROM A HUNTING SCENE
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Kenamin, no. 93, right-hand wall

of passage.
DATE.

Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII, 1448-142o B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

54 X 35 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plates XXIX and XXX.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The
Tomb of Ken-amiin, vol. ii, P1. XLVIII A; the entire scene, op. cit.,
vol. i, P1. XLVIII. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,
p. 124, under (io).

A FURTHER excerpt from the same hunting

scene,just overlapping
the portion shown in Plate XXX. The tail of a fox can be seen
at the top. In the rough oval below crouches a desert hare, and to
the right of this a calf sleeps in its hollow. Below both a wild ass
drops its young, only to have it seized by a jackal of which the
head alone remains. Drawing and brush-work are very sure, and
evidently the work of a master-hand.

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PLATE XXXII

CA TTLE
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of IKenamin, no. 93, front wall of

hall, right-hand portion.

DATE. Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII, 1448-1420
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

59

B.c.

47 cm.

See under Plate XXIX. Red squaring-lines

have been drawn over the original with a view to recopying.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The
Tomb of Kcen-amein, vol. i, P1. XXXIV; in line, showing context,
op. cit., P1. XXXIII; for isolated position on wall, see op. cit.,
P1. LXX.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

THOUGH this fragment, together with a little more in an upper

register, occupies an isolated place on an otherwise destroyed
stretch of wall, its purpose is not difficult to guess. Among his
many titles, Kenamin held that of 'Overseer of the cattle of Amiin'.
Part of a herd belonging to the god Amin is evidently here represented, and at no great distance will once have stood a large figure
of Kenamin in the act of making inspection. The great bull is
magnificent in its power and stature, well contrasting with the
docile cows facing the opposite way. These are accompanied by
their calves, one of which chews the cud. The hand and arm of
a herdsman are preserved on the left.
This picture is situated in a dark spot where the fine lines and
details are invisible from below. None the less, the artist has
spared no pains to achieve the utmost delicacy of drawing. The
colours of the animals are decoratively handled, and convention is
carried far in the calf beside the front feet of the bull.
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PLATE XXXIII

A PIECE OF GOLDSMITH'S WORK

PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of IKenamin, no. 93, back wall of

hall, left-hand portion.

DATE. Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII, 1448-I420
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

33

X 38

B.C.

cm.

See under Plate XXIX.

PUBLICATION. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The

TECHNICAL DETAILS.
PREVIOUS

Tomb of Ken-aman, vol. i, Pl. XIV. For the context, see op. cit.,

vol. i, Pls. XI-XIII, and vol. ii, Pl. XXII A.

FRoM a scene in which KIenamin is presenting New Year's gifts
to the enthroned king Amenophis II. The principal motif in this
elaborate piece of goldsmith's work is provided by two diim
palms (see Plates XXV, CII) of which the trunks, as in nature,
divide into several branches near the top. The foliage is conventionally treated, and is perhaps intended to suggest inlays of green
glaze or glass; the nuts may similarly have been inlays of red.
Monkeys climb about the branches and reach for the fruit in
realistic attitudes. They are not baboons as in Plate VII, but a small
African species (Lasiopygapygerythra), such as were often brought
north amid Nubian tribute, and such as may be seen in Theban
tomb-paintings eating dates under their owner's chair. In the
centre between the palms is a floral design consisting of a papyrushead and daisy-like flowers rising out of the lily-pattern familiar

from the capitals of the columns of royal kiosks. A monkey is

seated at the top, and the whole rests upon a shrine with grapes
hanging from the roof. In this shrine stood or sat a figure of the
king, of whom, however, only part of the blue khepresh-crown
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PLATE XXXIII

and the uraeus-ornament remain. On each side are variations and

elaborations of the central design described above, in the outer
examples resting upon leafy trees, and in the inner ones surmounted by stems with a lotus-blossom between two buds. How
this show-piece terminated at the bottom is unknown. Probably
it was intended more as a tour de force than to serve any useful
purpose.

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PLATE XXXIV

FROM A ROW OF OFFERING-BEARERS

PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Tjenro, no. ioi, back wall, left-

hand portion.
DATE.

Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL

DETAILS.

I448-1420

B.C.

47 X 70 cm.

On a thick layer of fine smooth plaster. A

small portion of the man's face, including the eye, has been
restored, and a large break above the head has been omitted.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

None.

THE tomb whence this picture is taken belonged to a priest whose

name has everywhere been intentionally erased; his identity has,
however, been recovered with great probability from the cones
which Mr. Davies found upon the floor. Some distance farther
to the right he was depicted performing his customary function
before his royal master, and behind him isa row of five men, colleagues or mere attendants, who bring food-offerings and the like
for some festal occasion. The man here shown was the last of the
row. His dress consists of a kilt perhaps worn under a shortsleeved diaphanous garment extending half-way down the legs
and allowing the dark flesh-colour to appear through it in a lighter
shade. A bunch of lotuses is slung around his neck, and more such
are held in his hand and decorate the diaper-patterned basket of
grapes which he carries. A half-open white bag suspended from
the other hand also contains grapes, and with it he holds a shallow dish of what must be conjectured to represent honeycombs.
Something sweet the contents of the dish must certainly be, for
upon them feed two insects which are probably meant for bees,
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PLATE XXXIV

though more like the mason-wasps to this day frequenting the

tombs and building their nests in holes bored into the plaster.
The animal led by the man in front better deserves to be called
a prize bull than any other of the several depicted in these Plates.
The head appears quite small when compared with the mountainous shoulders and massive thighs. Garlands on horns and neck
mark him out as the pick of his herd.
Note the purity and freshness of the colours used. The drawing
is clean and sure.

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PLATE XXXV
THE DAILY MEAL WITHIN THE TOMB
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Djeh5ut. no. 45, front wall of hall,
right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Amenophis II, Dyn. XVIII, 1448-1420 B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 75 X 63 cm.

Painted on a grey-blue background over
white plaster laid on a mixture of mud and straw. The hieroglyphs have never received their final outlines, and the black
parts have been entirely omitted.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In line, Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum

of Fine Art, pt. ii, March 1911, fig. 7. For position in tomb, see
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 74, tomb 45, at 6 in plan.

THE scene here represented has parallels in most tombs of all

periods, and shows the deceased with his nearest female relative partaking of a banquet such as he hoped to enjoy in the life hereafter.
Djelhut, who was the 'Steward of the High-priest of Amiin, Mery',
is clad in the same transparent robe and kilt which were seen in
the last Plate. Here, however, he has only one shoulder covered,
and a fold with its decorated hem hangs down behind his bare
arm. His companion, here not wife but mother, wears the usual
scanty garment which seems too tight to admit of movement.
Small cones of unguent, left uncoloured, are on their heads, and
both hold the much-favoured lotus-blossom in their hands. The
lady clasps her son by the shoulder, and they appear to sit on one
and the same chair. This has been placed on a mat of green reeds
similar to that, high up to the right of the picture, on which stand
three sealed oil-jars. The large red vessel on a stand immediately
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PLATE XXXV

in front of the pair may perhaps have contained beer; a lotus is

twisted round it. Among the many victuals heaped up before
Djehut are a basket of grapes, loaves of different shapes (note the
curious twisted kind near the top), the head, haunch, and heart of
an ox, a dish of corn (?), a cucumber, and a large bundle of onions.
On the other side of the leg of the offering-table is a stand con-

taining five tastefully decorated amphorae. The inscription overhead reads: 'Coming in peace after having done what is praised by
Amiin, in order that they may receivefood in the course of (every) day,

by the scribe Djeh ut,justified, and his beloved mother Djehut.' Thus

the scene, doubtless a much idealized version of what actually

occurred in the tomb-owner's lifetime, purports to show him returned home after performing his daily duties in the temple of
Amin.
This picture, in the precision and formality of its style, might

easily belong to a few reigns earlier. It contrasts strikingly with

the slovenly additions made to the tomb by a Ramesside usurper
little more than a hundred years later.

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PLATE XXXVI
A LADY GUEST AND SERVING-MAIDS
Thebes, tomb of Djeserkararsonb, no. 38, back wall
of hall, right-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, I420-I4I I.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

76 X 39 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on fine plaster over a coarser layer

containing straw. A wash of white, which formed the actual
painting surface, has become cream-coloured through the action
of smoke.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

The entire scene in line, V. Scheil, Le

Tombeau de Rat'eserkasenb, P1. II, in Memoires de la mission archdologique francaise du Caire, vol. v. See also Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. i, p. 72, under (5).

Tins

picture and the next are excerpts from one and the same
scene in the tomb of the steward Djeserkararsonb. He was a scribe
in the private employ of a 'Second Priest' of Amiin, who, as we
know from his own tomb, was named Amenlhotpe-sasi. To the
left of the tomb-wall whence our pictures have been taken the
large figures of Djeserkararsonb and his wife are seen. They are
seated, and before them stand two daughters waiting upon them
and wishing them a happy holiday. And such it ought indeed to
be, for they are providing their friends with a sumptuous banquet.
These, as befitting their lesser importance in the artist's eyes, are represented upon a smaller scale in three registers immediately to the
right of the main group. The handsome lady guest shown in the
present Plate is the foremost of five such in the top register. She
sits on a low chair nursing her knee, whilst a necklace is being tied

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PLATE XXXVI

around her neck by a pretty little handmaid nude save for a girdle
and string of beads. A second handmaid follows with a fillet of
petals and a lotus-bloom such as the lady is already wearing upon
her head. Both girls must be quite young, since they would hardly
otherwise have been represented without clothing. The hinder
one is probably a Nubian, to judge from the style of hair-dressing,
the ear-rings, the characteristic white beads, and the black outline
of her body. All three females have the floral fillets usual at ban-

quets, and the cones of scented ointment which were placed on

the participants' heads on such occasions. There is some reason to
think that the streaky yellow colour given to the lady's dress here
and elsewhere was intended to depict the effect of the melting of
the ointment as the entertainment proceeded and as the atmosphere grew hotter. The bowls on stands to the left contain two
varieties of unguent, while between them is a cup*on a similar
stand having the shape and ornamentation of a lotus. Below are
wine-jars decorated with the signs for life (-), youthful strength
(1), and prosperity (1), or else with bunches of grapes. These
four jars are garlanded with vine-trails, and dates on their stalks
hang from the table-like stands in which they rest.

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PLATE XXXVII
MUSICIANS AT A BANQUET
Thebes, tomb of Djeserkararsonb, no. 38, back wall
of hall, right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 .c.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

64

39 cm.

See under Plate XXXVI. Since the time of

the early copyists, wanton damage has been done to two of the
figures, which are here restored on the basis of a very dim photograph. The colours of the necklets are purely conjectural.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

The entire scene in line, V. Scheil, Le

Tombeau de Rat'eserkasenb, P1. II, in Mimoires de la mission archdologique frangaise du Caire, vol. v. See also Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. i, p. 72, under (5).
THE female orchestra here shown appears to have been copied
at the behest of the steward Djeserkararsonb from the tomb of
his master Amenlhotpe-sasi, though there are slight divergences.
These five figures occupy the front part of the middle register of
the scene described in the text to the preceding Plate, the subject
of which is situated immediately above. To their right, not included in our reproduction, are three women squatting on their
haunches and clapping their hands to mark the rhythm of their
song. This is written above their heads, and its somewhat obscure
and doubtful words read as follows: 'A holiday! One commemorates
the beauty of Amiin in pleasaunce of heart, lifting praise to the height of
heaven, even unto thy face, each saying, "Our desire is to see it!" Do
thou even so, 0 measurer of the corn of Amiin, every day!' Perhaps
this may mean that the picture, established for ever upon the
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PLATE XXXVII

tomb-wall, is to keep Djeserkararsonb, invoked in the final apostrophe, constantly renewing the festival of Ammn once celebrated
in a splendid banquet by him and his friends.
The leader of the band plays upon a harp, the lower part of
which is covered with the skin of a leopard; the black surrounding
the red spots has perished except in a few instances. This harp,
unlike that of Plate XVII, has no support connecting it with the
ground, and it must have been a feat of no small difficulty to keep
it steady by merely leaning it against the body. The lutist who
follows seems to move as she plays; her lute is adorned with tassels
and shows the sound-holes absent from the same instrument in
Plate XVII. She is nude except for her ornaments, which would
be strange if she were really the grown woman that, by comparison with the child beside her, she seems. The little girl is dancing

to the beat of her clenched fists. The player of the double pipesthese comparable to the zummdra of the modemrn Egyptians-sways
gently to her tune, and looks back towards the last figure of the
group. This woman plays upon a lyre of the type seen already in
Plates XI and XXVI, using a plectrum for the purpose. The cones
of unguent on the heads of the foremost and hindermost women
have been the subject of comment in dealing with the preceding

Plate, where also a possible explanation was given of the yellow

stains upon the dresses.

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PLATE XXXVIII
TRIBUTE OF THE DESERT
Thebes, tomb of Haremhab, no. 78, first chamber,
back wall, left-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.

44 X 77 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted with a white background on buff
plaster superimposed upon mud mixed with straw. As almost
all blacks have perished, more red outline is now visible than
was intended, e.g. on the man's head and on the horns and hoofs
of the ibex. The hoofs may once have been shaded in grey, and
the hare certainly had the usual black markings.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

In line, U. Bouriant, Le Tombeau de Harmhabi, P1. III, in Memoires de la mission arche'ologiquefrangaise du

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

Caire, vol. v. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,

p. Ios, under (2).

WE now come to a series of four pictures taken from the tomb

of Haremhab, a 'Royal Scribe' whose duties were particularly connected with military matters. Four reigns are mentioned, from
Tuthmosis III to Amenophis III, but in the present instance the
context shows that the date was the reign of Tuthmosis IV.
Haremhab is standing before that monarch, presenting him with
an elaborate bouquet. Three men with gifts follow, the last of
them leading an ox, beside which are two attendants. Then comes
the offering-bearer here reproduced, holding a desert hare in the
right hand, and in the left a dish containing ostrich eggs and
feathers. The execution is very summary, and the figures of the men
throughout the tomb are badly proportioned. The ibex is well
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PLATE XXXVIII

posed, however, and the very sketchiness of the work is not without its attractions. A far superior picture of the same animal
has been seen in Plate XXX. The game and other produce
of the desert here shown were of course intended as a present to
Pharaoh.

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PLATE XXXIX
NUBIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Haremhab, no. 78, first chamber,
back wall, right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 64 X 39 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XXXVIII. Here again the

blacks have perished, leaving mere smudges with red sketchlines. Thieves have tried to cut out a portion on the left.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

U. Bouriant, Le Tombeau de Harmhabi,

P1. IV, in Mimoires de la mission archdologiquefranfaise du Caire,

vol. v. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, pp. io5-6,
under (3).

FROM the lowest register but one of a very roughly executed

scene in which the northern and southern peoples make their submission to Tuthmosis IV. The chieftain at the head of the row
whence the women are taken is entitled 'the vile prince ofvile Cush'.
It is curious that these Nubian women, very negroid in type, are
red while their children, with the exception of three babies, were
once black. Note in the latter the tufts of hair, in some cases
almost completely faded out. The mothers' black curls are now
mere stains, and the squares on the first woman's skirt were also
originally black. The other skirts were of ox-hide with characteristic markings, and so were the panniers for the babies slung across
their mothers' backs by means of straps stretching across the foreheads. All the negresses have bead necklaces and ear-rings. The first
woman grasps by the leg a baby straddling over her shoulders

which turns to play with another baby in the pannier. These details
were better preserved when the earlier publication was made.
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PLATE XL
A NEGRO DANCER
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Haremhab, no. 78, first chamber,
back wall, right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

22 X 36 cm.

See under Plate XXXVIII.

In line, U. Bouriant, Le Tombeau de

Harmhabi, P1. IV, in Me'moires de la mission archdologiquefranfaise
du Caire, vol. v. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

pp. io5-6, under (3).

Tins is the best-preserved figure among a group of Nubians, or
perhaps rather negroes, who dance to the sound of a drum of the
kind depicted in Plate XLVI. The tufts of hair upon the heads
of these men connect them racially with the babies seen in the
register above (Plate XXXIX). They all wear a necklace of white
beads round their necks, ear-rings in their ears, as well as the
animals' tails attached at the elbow and the bracelets characteristic

of Nubians; see below, Plates LVIII, LXXXI. They face a troop

of soldiers and were probably associated with them in some way.
They perform their dance beside the steps of Pharaoh's throne,
possibly for his delectation. There is a somewhat similar scene in
the Hathor Chapel at Der el-Bahri, where two men with feathers
on their heads dance to the beating of clappers in the hands of
three other men; but these are indicated in the accompanying
inscription as Libyans (Temehu).

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PLATE XLI

TRAPPER WITH PELICANS

PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Haremlab, no. 78, right-hand wall

of passage.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

49 X 21 cm.

See under Plate XXXVIII.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In line, U. Bouriant, Le Tombeau de
Harmhabi, Pl. VI, in Memoires de la mission archdologiquefrangaise
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

du Caire, vol. v. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,

p. Io6, under (7).

FROM a part of the tomb of Haremhab the date of which is less
certain than that of the pictures of the foregoing Plates. This lively

little picture stands in the midst of a scene comprising all the more
familiar types of fowling and fishing. The old trapper, whose
name is given as 'Ptahmose, chief of the fowlers', holds his hand to
his mouth as though to silence any one who might be frightening
the birds away. His features are thoroughly bucolic; note the
sparse hair and the once black whiskers. The pelicans have their
characteristically comical appearance. These birds were once common in the Nile Valley, but encroaching civilization has made
them rare. In Ancient Egypt they were apparently, like cranes,
used for food. To the left we see their eggs neatly stacked in
earthenware vessels with green grass above and below to keep
them fresh and secure.

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PLATE XLII
SYRIAN
PROVENANCE.

TRIBUTE-BEARERS

British Museum, no. 37991. From Thebes, tomb

of Sebkhotpe, no. 63, doubtless from the back wall of the hall,
right-hand portion.
DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn, XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

132 X 112 cm.

Painted on a thin layer of white plaster over

mud and straw.

In photograph, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur
altiigyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, P1. 56a [z]. See also
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 93, under (3).

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

THIs clean-coloured fragment, the subject of which is analogous

to that of Plates XIV and XXI-XXIV, is better preserved than
any scene of its kind now extant at Thebes. To the left, facing the
Syrians, we have to imagine a picture of the Pharaoh seated on his
throne upon a dais. In front of him will have stood Sebkhotpe,
among whose titles was that of 'Chief Treasurer'. It is in that capacity that he introduces the Syrian tribute-bearers to the king.
Before them are placed their choicest vessels of gold and silver,
and, as in the tomb of Menkheperrarsonb (Plate XXI), the foremost figures prostrate themselves or raise their arms in adoration
to their sovereign. The typically Semitic features and characteristic costumes are here seen at their best. The bearded faces are
mostly surmounted by masses of bushy hair bound with a white
fillet. Two of the men are, however, bald. Except in one case
tight sleeves are worn, and in every instance a white shawl edged
with red or blue is wound round the body from the waist down84

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PLATE XLII

wards. The first of the two standing men in the upper register
leads a little girl, who is nude and has long wisps of hair hanging
from her shaven head. The broken figure to the extreme right
appears to be that of a boy, to judge from the darker skin-colour.
Among the tribute itself, the chief point of interest in the top
register is a curious horn ending in a woman's head and an open
hand; a similar horn has been seen in Plate XXIV, and both were
probably used for holding ointment. In the second row the first
tribute-bearer behind the three suppliants has a bow-case slung
over his arm. The blue jars which he and the next man carry
might be of blue glaze or even of lapis lazuli. The last of these
Syrians bears on a dish a rhyton in the shape of a conventionalized
head of a bird. The group of vessels to the left is too much
damaged to require long comment, but we should note the two
with covers, as well as the golden bull or cow with blue markings
that may have been executed in inlay.

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PLATE XLIII
DECORATIVE GOLD VASES
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Sebkhotpe, no. 63, back wall of

hall, right-hand portion.

DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

1420-141I

B.C.

40 X 56 cm.

See under Plate XLII.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. None. For the position on the wall, see
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 93, under (4).
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

THE affinity of the gold vases here shown to those in the British
Museum fragment from the same tomb (Plate XLII) is apparent
at the first glance, and it is highly probable that that fragment once
occupied a position on the tomb-wall immediately above the present picture. However this may be, there can be no doubt that
we here have more samples of Syrian tribute. Since none of these
fantastic pieces of goldsmith's work has ever been discovered, it
is impossible to be sure what the elaborate superstructures on some

of the vessels looked like in reality. It is equally well possible, for

example, to interpret the object in the upper left part of the Plate
as two vessels one behind the other, or as a single vessel. In any
case it can have been of no use as a drinking-cup. If not merely
a show-piece, it may have contained unguents like some of the
alabaster vases from the tomb.ofTutrankhamiin. Indeed, the type
of vessel here shown has much in common with the said alabasters,
which, admirable as they are as exhibitions of the craftsman's skill,
are thoroughly bad in design. The middle vase in the lower
register has a couchant ibex as a cover. That to the left of it is
quite normal in its general shape, but carries upon it a curious
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PLATE XLIII

edifice on which a pigeon is perched. Can this have been a dovecote with three round openings for the birds to go in and out?
On each side, in front of conventional papyrus-blossoms, flying
pintail ducks are seen. It seems evident that all these vessels were
of gold, and the red lines probably mark the forms of the modelling. The blue parts may well have been inlays of faience or glass.

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PLATE XLIV
OFFICERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF SEBKHOTPE
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Sebkhotpe, no. 63, right-hand wall

of passage, inner end.

DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

79 X 60 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XLII.

None. For position, see Porter and Moss,

Bibliography, vol. i, p. 92, at 6 in plan.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

THE Chief Treasurer Sebkhotpe, from whose tomb this Plate,

like the last two, has been taken, was evidently a man of great
wealth and position. Among his other titles was that of 'Mayor

of the Southern lake and of the lake of Suchos', and his country mansion was probably situated in the Fayim. Here we see three of
the chief officers of his household, represented as bringing him
offerings of fruit and flowers just like ordinary servants. Indeed
we could not have distinguished them from such but for the
hieroglyphic legends above their heads. These inform us that they
were respectively 'the Major-domo of the Chief Treasurer,Nuu', 'the
Letter-writerof the Chief Treasurer, Sebkhotpe', and 'the Scribe of the
Chief Treasurer, Pesiiir'. The first carries a table bearing a crate
divided into four compartments for grapes and for some red
berries that are not easily identified. The grapes on the right seem
to rest on a black and yellow basket. More grapes in bunches,
together with pomegranates tied with string, hang from the same
man's two hands. His neighbour on the right has a table with
further pomegranates, on top of which sits a duck. In the left hand
he carries by its wings a second duck (a pintail), whilst also con88

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PLATE XLIV

triving to hold a young calf by a cord. The last officer of the three
contents himself with floral tribute, the chief item of which is an
elaborate structure of papyrus-stems and flowers comprising poppies, some blue flowers, and green leaves. The whole composition
is comparable to that of Plate LII from the nearly contemporary
tomb of Menna, where, however, the offering-bringers are girls.

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PLATE XLV
NUBIAN SOLDIERS WITH STANDARD-BEARER
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Tjanuny, no. 74, back wall of hall,

left-hand portion.
DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-141I B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 53 X 43 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on white plaster over coarser buff,

which in turn is above a layer of mud and straw.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In photograph, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur
altdgyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, Pl. 236. See also Porter
and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. Io1, under (7).

Tis Plate and the next belong

to the same reign, but illustrate

a totally different style of painting. The artist affects coarser outlines and a bolder manner of painting, which at times betrays a
decided leaning towards caricature. The tomb-owner was a military man holding the tides both of 'Commander' and of 'Scribe of the
army', and the wall from which these pictures were taken was
entirely devoted to subjects connected with a soldier's life. At the
end of the wall Tjanuny stands offering homage to his enthroned
sovereign. Then the scene divides into two halves, with Tjanuny
enrolling recruits. Farther on, the two registers become four, and
it is to the second row from the top that the group here shown
belongs. It consists of four privates accompanied by their standardbearer, who is corpulent like themselves. They are marching in
step, and evidently taking part in the same evolutions as a larger
group of Egyptian soldiers moving off in the opposite direction.
Here the studied grotesqueness combines with other details to
show that we are in the presence of a troop from Nubia. Their
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PLATE XLV

weapons are simple staves, but these might be loaded with metal,
and if so would be more dangerous than they appear. A network
of leather thongs hangs down at the back over a simple loin-cloth
folded in front, and the tails of some feline animal are attached
both to this and to garters at the knees. The hair is rough and
unkempt as in the tomb of Huy, where similar tails are visible;
see Plate LXXXI and perhaps even better Plate LVIII. The
standard shows a couple of soldiers wrestling.

9I

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PLATE XLVI
A NUBIAN DRUMMER
Thebes, tomb of Tjanuny, no. 74, back wall of hall,
left-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV, Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.

41 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XLV.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 21 X

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In photograph, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur

altigyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, Pl. 23. See also Porter

and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. IoI, under (7).
THIS drummer belongs to the same scene as the Nubian soldiers
of Plate XLV, but comes from two registers lower down. He
intervenes between a body of men with feathers in their hair and
a group of four marching towards the right. This is the direction
of the royal palace where the king is sitting, and it is doubtless on
that account that our drummer, though still at a considerable
distance from his sovereign, has uplifted his arms in praise. The
elongated drum on his back is of a type seen elsewhere in military
scenes, but never in the orchestras that played at banquets; it is
encased in a sort of network, and slung over the shoulder with the
help of a broad strap. The hair and features of the man are somewhat negroid, but he is coloured red like the Nubians seen in the
foregoing Plate. It is possible that his body was once outlined in
black that has now faded. Such a black outline is found in other
soldiers from the same wall, and would considerably have
improved the very rough drawing here.

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PLATE XLVII
FOWLING IN THE MARSHES
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Nakht, no. 52, back wall of hall,

right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII,
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

1420o-411 B.C.

52 X 69 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a white wash over fine plaster

above an underlay of mud and straw. The work has been left
unfinished, and lacks in many places the final outlines to the
painting.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The

Tomb of Nakht at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol. i), P1.

XXIV; the entire wall, op. cit., P1. XXII. See also Porter and
Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 85, under (6).
THE tomb of the scribe Nakht is justly celebrated for the brightness and freshness of its colours, but in workmanship its paintings
are little superior to those of other contemporary tombs. We have
therefore selected from it only two excerpts, of which the present
picture represents half of a complete double scene resembling that
reproduced below on a far smaller scale from the tomb of Menna
(Plate LIV). A finer treatment of the same subject will encounter
us in Plate LXV. Nakht is here engaged, according to the hieroglyphic description, in 'taking recreation, seeing pleasant things, and
occupying himself with the craft of the Marsh-goddess'. His entire
family accompanies him, and they are accommodated in a very
small boat of papyrus-reeds upon which a board has been laid.
Two women, perhaps Nakht's wife and daughter, support him as
though well aware of the insecurity of his posture. In one hand
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PLATE XLVII

he grasps a heron as a decoy-bird, and with the other he hurls a

throw-stick among the fowl arising from the thicket. An attendant brings a spare throw-stick, while yet another is handed to the
father by a little nude son with a side-lock, who grasps in the left
hand one of the captured ducks. A couple more throw-sticks that
have attained their aim are seen in the air striking the necks of
their victims. A dragon-fly is amidst the birds, and below these
are a butterfly and several birds'-nests. A goose of the kind sacred

to Amiin was once depicted in the prow, but has been destroyed
by the agents of Akhenaten (p. xlv). The most charming figure
in the group is that of the wife, if such she be; she clasps Nakht
by the waist and carries a fledgeling in the hand that is free.

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PLATE XLVIII

VINTAGERS AND BIRD-CATCHERS

Thebes, tomb of Nakht, no. 52, back wall of hall,
right-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

80 X

62

142O-1411

B.c.

cm.

As under Plate XLVII.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The

Tomb of Nakht at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol. i), P1.

XXVI; the entire wall, op. cit., P1. XXII. See also Porter and
Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 85, under (6).
T 1Is second scene from the tomb of Nakht has been chosen
chiefly on account of the lower row, which illustrates sides of
Egyptian life not otherwise represented in these volumes. Of the
plucking of grapes and the treading out of the wine we have
already given a fine example in Plate XXVIII, but for the catching
of wild fowl in the clap-net no close parallel has been provided;
the Middle Kingdom picture reproduced in Plate IX is the mere
fraction of such a scene. The net has been spread over a pool
in a corner of the marshes. Behind the papyrus-reeds a man is
hiding, and three others hold the end of the rope. The leader has
just raised his hand to bid them pull, and the net is filled with
flapping wings. The birds are evidently all ducks except a little
grey coot with red legs and eye. On the left we behold the sequel.
A man sits and plucks a duck with a dainty movement of his
fingers. Other ducks already plucked are piled up beside him.
Close at hand-shown as though they were above-are the jars
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PLATE XLVIII

destined to contain the birds as stored for later use. A second man
is cutting open a duck on a sloping board. When cleaned it will
go to join its companions that hang from a cross-piece held aloft
on two supports.

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PLATE XLIX
BUTCHERS AND BRINGERS OF OFFERINGS
Thebes, tomb of Nebseny, no. io8, front wall of
hall, left-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII, 1420o-411 B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 74 X 29 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a layer of white above fine buff

plaster mixed with straw. A grey-blue wash is used to form the
background.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. None. For the plan of the tomb, see
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 132.

TE

tomb of the 'High-priest of Onuiris' Nebseny can be dated

only by the style of its paintings, which are strongly reminiscent
of the famous tomb of Nakht (no. 52). The subject is commonplace, but the rendering attractive. Immediately above the excerpt
in the Plate, Nebseny and his wife are seen worshipping the sungod in the early morning, and the preparations for a meal here
shown are evidently connected with that matutinal ceremony.
The ox lies trussed on a mat of green reeds, and one of the
butchers, having already severed the head, is now cutting off a
foreleg that is being held up by his companion. The latter is supposed to be speaking the words written above: 'Take . . . and
sustain the health of the priest (Nebseny).' The man with the large
knife has his skirt splashed with the blood. To the right, the first
offering-bearer brings a cone of white incense or the like; the
second, what looks like a mass of aromatic fat on a table from
which hang four brace of pigeons; and the third, a table loaded with
grapes from which hangs a vine-trail resembling those of Plate LII.
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PLATES L AND LI
HARVEST SCENE
Thebes, tomb of Menna, no. 69, front wall of hall,
left-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII, I420-I41I B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINALS. 146 X 75 cm. and 159 x 75 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a layer of white plaster above an
underlay of mud and straw. In Plate L, upper register, the figure
of an overseer has been left in its original red outline, the actual
painter having doubtless considered it out of harmony with its
surroundings. The head and name of Menna have been destroyed in the same Plate, bottom left, as throughout the tomb,
probably at an early date and for malicious reasons.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In photograph, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur
PROVENANCE.

altiigyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, Pls. 233, 234. See also

Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 97 under (2).

next six Plates are taken from the tomb of Menna, one of
the best preserved and most brightly coloured in the entire Theban
necropolis. Though this tomb is neither one of the largest nor of
those exhibiting workmanship of superlative quality, its paintings
are very effective and extremely vivacious. There is no cartouche
on the walls, so that the date can only be guessed from the style.
The owner was a 'Scribe of the fields of the lord of the Two Lands in
Upper and Lower Egypt', and it is fitting that we should start with
the scene in which he is seen engaged in his official duties. These
are portrayed in four long registers occupying the full height of
the wall. Here it has been found possible to reproduce only the
two middle registers, which are those in which the actual harvesting operations are shown. Even so it has proved necessary to
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PLATES L AND

LI

devote to the purpose two Plates, the division between which is

ignored in our description.
In the lowest register (here omitted) ploughing and sowing are
in progress, these being succeeded by the flax-harvest. In due
course the corn has ripened and harvest approaches. Menna now
proceeds to the fields (Plate L, bottom left), and is shown seated
in a shelter of papyrus-reed, a long staff in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. His folding stool has a covering of ox-hide
with the tail hanging down. Just beyond the shelter but with one
hand inside it stands a servant with napkin and jar offering refreshment to his lord. Beyond the servant is a large sycamore tree
bearing bunches of figs, red and black. In this and two adjacent
trees birds'-nests are to be seen, mostly containing eggs, but in one
case with clamorous nestlings. Of the parent birds one is black
and looks like a raven, while the others suggest pigeons, but are
not to be identified more closely. At the foot of the sycamore are
two caskets, one showing its end and the other a side-view. Two
other trees, which owe their smaller size merely to lack of space,
have acacia-pods, though the foliage does not correspond. A
subordinate scribe, palette in one hand, extends the other towards
the reapers at work before him. A thirsty peasant has put his
sickle under his arm whilst drinking from ajar. A woman gleaner
turns in his direction, and a charming young girl, nude save for
a girdle of beads, bends down to pull up some ears of corn.'
Above, a countrywoman sits on a stool under an acacia and
helps herself to fruit from a bowl. She seems to have divested
herself of her dress to serve as a shawl to wrap her baby; the baby
reaches up to pull her hair. We now pass to Plate LI. Here men,
wearing a kind of leather network with a patch at the back to
protect their linen loin-cloths (compare Plate XLV), are bringing
'IHer head has been recently destroyed.
I00

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PLATES L AND

LI

home the harvest in large panniers of knotted cord suspended from

poles resting upon their shoulders. Arrived at the appointed spot,

the corn is emptied upon the ground for other men to fork up. An old
peasant leaning upon his staff looks on. Behind him is a tree under
which two men rest from their labours; one is asleep, and the other,
having slung his water-skin from a branch, pipes a tune upon a
long reed. Farther back among the reapers, two little girl gleaners
are quarrelling; the contents of their bags are spilt between them, and
they pull one another's hair, while one grips the other by the arm.
The upper of the two registers here shown starts on the right
(Plate LI) and proceeds towards the left. Two of the labourers
continue to fork up the corn, while oxen, driven round in a circle,
tread it out. Farther on the corn is being winnowed by men with
their heads bound in white kerchiefs (compare Plate XCVII), who
toss up the grain with their winnowing-fans. The chaff is shown
as showers of lighter yellow, and the grain, which falls vertically
on account of its greater weight, is swept together by other
workers. Menna is again shown in a papyrus shelter inspecting all
this, and again an attendant brings drink for his refreshment. At
his back (Plate L) scribes are registering the harvest. Four squat
on the ground as they write on their writing-boards. A blob of
black pigment is seen at the end of their rush pens, and their palettes
have the usual red and black wells. Three other scribes standing
opposite appear to be noting on the palettes themselves the amounts
as measured by the labourers in front of them. These employ for the
purpose corn-measures of standard size. Another scribe sits on top
of the heaped-up corn and keeps count with his fingers. The box to
hold the scribes' writing-materials stood on the ground hard by; it
is shown Egyptian-wise on a base-line of its own above the scene.
Last of all Menna's chariot, with its spirited horses, awaits him in
charge of a groom to take him home when the day's work is over.
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PLATE LII
GIRLS BRINGING FRUIT AND FLOWERS
Thebes, tomb of Menna, no. 69, front wall of hall,
right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII, 1420-141I B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

48 X 54 cm.

See under Plates L-LI. Traces of the red

squaring-lines used in setting out the picture are clearly visible.

Much of the green colour has perished in its lower part.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. None. For plan of the tomb, see Porter

and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 92.

THIS is a very characteristic picture. Such processions of offeringbearers are found in almost every Theban tomb, and here we have
a specimen in which the drawing is particularly crisp and the
depiction of the girls particularly charming. The first members
of the row (not here shown) are described in their hieroglyphic
legends as 'female singers of Amiin', and it is not unlikely that all
were daughters or at least relatives of the tomb-owner Menna.
Their large gold ear-rings, elaborate necklaces of different-shaped
beads, and three bracelets on each arm indicate their high station
in life. The scene in which they are taking part shows Menna and
his wife, depicted as usual on a larger scale, making the morning
sacrifice to the gods. The first of the girls reproduced in our Plate
carries the sistrum, the musical instrument symbolizing the goddess Hathor; this produced a tinkling sound when shaken, and was
used by all priestesses. A bunch of lotuses with coiled stems, and
a vine-trail, are in her other hand. The middle figure brings a
similar vine-trail with fruit and leaves displayed symmetrically on
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PLATE LII

either side; at the same time she holds aloft a bunch of lotuses.
The last girl of the three brings flowering papyrus-stems, as well
as a rather sophisticated cluster of pomegranates and grapes finished
off with lotus-blooms at the bottom.

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PLATE LIII
ROYAL FAVOURITES

Thebes, tomb of Menna, no. 69, front wall of hall,

left-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

45 X 53 cm.

See under

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

Plates L-LI.

Colin Campbell, Two Theban Princes,

second Plate facing p. 86. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, under (I).
THE two daughters of Menna are here shown standing before
him and diverting him with the tinkling music of their sistrums.
The foremost of the two also holds a half-destroyed bead collar
with counterpoise to hang over the back (see Plates LXXXIX,
XCI); this was another emblem of Hathor and her votaries, and
was known to the Egyptians under the name of menit. The scene
is chiefly noteworthy for the wonderful head-dresses worn by
the two ladies. There is evidence to show that such head-dresses
were worn only by princesses or others who had been specially
honoured by the king, and it is very well possible that Menna's
daughters both belonged to the royal harim. Their names and
positions are written in hieroglyphs above them; the first is 'His
beloved daughter,praisedofHathor, the royal ornament beloved of their'
lord, [Amen]emwaskhet'; the second is 'His beloved daughter, praised
of[Hathor (?)], Nahmetar,justified'. The epithet 'justified'appended

to the name of the second daughter probably indicates that she

was dead when the inscription was written. Crowns somewhat
SThe plural was not improbably intended to extend this designation to both ladies.
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PLATE LIII

similar to those here depicted have been actually found. One from
the Middle Kingdom with two tall feathers attached to the circlet
is in the Cairo Museum. Another with two gazelles' heads is in
the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

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PLATES LIV AND LV

FISHING AND FOWLING IN THE MARSHES
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Menna, no. 69, right-hand wall of

passage.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII,
DIMENSIONS

OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

1420-1411

B.C.

I88 X IOI cm.

See under Plates L-LI. The divisions for four

columns of hieroglyphs are drawn in red, but the inscription

itself was never written. For the various erasures see in the text
below.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In photography, Cohn Campbell, Two

Theban Princes, Plate opposite p. o104. See also Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. i, p. 97, under (8).
MENNA is here shown accompanied by his family and engaging

in his favourite sports in the marshes. On the left he is to be

thought of as hidden by the reeds, but holding two herons as
decoy-birds above them; from behind this cover he hurls snakeheaded throw-sticks at the pintail ducks and other birds. On the
right, again supported by his family, he spears fish that have ventured into a little bay bordered by the reddish spathes enfolding
the papyrus-stems. The same clump of papyrus serves to indicate
the environment for both activities, which were often combined
in this manner. On both sides the face of Menna and a daughter
have been intentionally mutilated, possibly by a contemporary
enemy who bore him a grudge. Another more radical erasure is
that of the goose at the stern of the skiff on the right; only a
shadow of it can now be seen. This particular goose was considered to be an embodiment of the god Amiin, and it is for that
mo6

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PLATES LIV AND

LV

reason that it was usually deleted by the followers of the heretic

king Akhenaten (p. xlv).
It is doubtful how far Menna or other Theban nobles will have
actually participated in the sports here shown. Their delineation
is a commonplace of the tombs. It was recalled how Horus had
once fowled and fished in this way,' and these traditional diversions were perhaps more of a pious hope than a reality. There can
be no doubt that the Theban artists included them in their tombdecorations with an eye to possibilities that might open out in the
life beyond the grave. The present example is larger and more
complete in the details than that in the tomb of Nakht (Plate
XLVII), but falls far short of the splendid rendering now in the
British Museum (Plates LXV-LXVI). The painting is uneven
within the bounds of the picture itself. The carelessness with
which the two girls on the extreme left are treated ill accords
with the masterly treatment of the portion which has been repeated on a larger scale in Plate LV. The lovely lines of the
bending child who pulls up a lotus-bud are particularly noticeable,
and the birds and fishes are depicted with great liveliness and skill.
So at least we must suppose, though in point of fact this mythological reminiscence
is attested only for the hippopotamus-hunt, see above, Plate XX.

I07

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PLATE LVI
A NILE BOAT WITH ITS CREW
Thebes, tomb of Pere, no. 139, right-hand end wall.
Reign of Tuthmosis IV (?), Dyn. XVIII, 1420-1411 B.C.

PROVENANCE.
DATE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

69 X 29 cm.

Painted with a blue-grey background on

white plaster over an underlay of mud and straw. The workmanship is rather coarse, and the outlines lack the clean precision
of the best work of the period.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. None. For description of the tomb, see

V. Scheil, Le Tombeau de Pdri, in Mmoires de la mission archeologique franfaise du Caire, vol. v; also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 144.

A LINTEL in the British Museum shows that the priest Pere, from
whose tomb this picture was taken, lived on into the reign of
Amenophis III. By that time, however, he had attained the exalted
rank of 'High-priest of Ptah' at Thebes, whereas throughout his
tomb he bears the far lowlier title of' Web-priest in front of Amiin'.

This fact, combined with the strong resemblance of his paintings

to those in the tomb of Menna, seems to justify us in dating
them to the reign of Tuthmosis IV. This gaily-coloured boat with
its animated crew is towing another boat, the prow of which,
ending in a papyrus-head and showing two red streamers fluttering
in the breeze, just comes into the picture on the left. In it are
seated the statuesque figures of Pere and his wife faced by a sempriest who extends his hand towards them. The legend above
reads: 'Faring downstream in peace to Upek, and seeing Onniphris in

<his>festival.' Upek isa district of Abydos, and Onnophris aname

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PLATE LVI

of Osiris. The reference is to a pilgrimage which every dead man

hoped to perform in fact or in fancy, and which is frequently
depicted on the tomb-walls from a very early period; compare
Plate II for the representation, though there the idea was almost
certainly different.
The boat shown in our Plate is steered by a very large oar

decorated with lotus-flowers and with the eyes that enabled the
vessel to find its way through the water. The seven oarsmen wear

over their white loin-cloths the short kilt of leatherwork with patch
on the seat which has encountered us already (Plates XLV, LI).
The oars have a fine rope twined about them and the blades are
under water. The first sketch placed the lines of these farther to
the left, but in the finishing the positions have been changed. An
ornate cabin with a large door forms a background to the sailors.
On its roof are three receptacles for loaves, the lids of which are
perhaps supposed to be half-open. At either end is an overseer

armed with a thonged club urging on the men to greater activity.

The captain stands at the prow in a compartment of his own,
sounding-pole in hand, and calls to the steersman: 'To larboard,that
we may reach the West!'

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PLATE LVII
KING AMENOPHIS III
Thebes, tomb of an unknown noble, no. 226, back
wall of hall, right-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 56 X 47 cm.
DATE.

1411-1375

B.c.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a layer of fine white plaster over

the mud mixed with straw that has been applied to a bad surface

of rock.
N. and N. de G. Davies, The Tombs of
Menkheperrasonb, &c. (Theban Tombs Series, vol. v), Pl. XLIII;
a restoration of the entire scene, op. cit., P1. XLI.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

THE noble from whose tomb this Plate and the next two are
taken has not been fortunate enough to have his name preserved
for posterity. The scanty inscriptions which remain prove him,
however, to have been a 'Royal scribe' and 'the Chief Nurse [of the
king's children]'. Hardly any painting is left upon the walls, and
the present fragment was found lying with many others face
downwards on the floor. It is part of the same scene as that to
which Plate LVIII belongs, and patient study has made it possible
to reconstruct the whole, which was a painting of great size and
magnificence. King Amenophis III was there shown seated upon a
throne within a baldachin carried by light ornamented columns.
His mild, unbearded countenance can hardly be taken as a portrait,
but expresses the ideal of manly beauty current in this reign. Behind him stood his mother Mutemuia clasping his right arm and
left shoulder. He was wearing the blue khepresh-helmet, in front
of which was coiled the uraeus-serpent, in the original doubtless
IIO

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PLATE LVII

of gold with red, blue, and green inlay. He wears a transparent

linen shirt, through which the dark skin shows up as of a lighter
red. A splendid collar of gold and faience surrounds his neck, and
bracelets are upon his arms. In his hands he holds the insignia of
royalty, the crook
the mace p, and the so-called flail A. In
front of him stood two fan-bearers keeping him cool with their
ostrich-feather fans, and behind these again was depicted the owner
of the tomb bringing costly jewels for his sovereign's delectation.
The coloured hieroglyphs of the royal cartouches show forth most
decoratively upon the intense orange background, which doubtless simulates gold leaf laid upon wood.

T,

III

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PLATE LVIII
FOREIGNERS BENEATH THE
ROYAL THRONE
Thebes, tomb of an unknown noble, no. 226, back
wall of hall, right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII, 141I-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 79 X 25 cm.
PROVENANCE.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

Plate LVII.

N. and N. de G. Davies, The Tombs oj

Menkheperrasonb, &c. (Theban Tombs Series, vol. v), Pl. XLIII;

a restoration of the entire scene, op. cit., Pl. XLI. See also Porter
and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. I58, under (I).
THE foreigners here shown form part of the decoration of the
platform upon which sits enthroned King Amenophis III as portrayed in the foregoing Plate. Just as in the tomb of IKenamiin
(Plate XXIX) the enemies of Pharaoh are actually made into his
footstool, in harmony with the words of the Psalmist (cx. I), so
here a number of foreigners, alternately negroes and Syrians, are
depicted at or under his feet in attitudes of adoration and submission. We have found the same idea suggested, though not
pictorially shown, already in Plate XIII, and in Plate LX we shall
see other Syrians in a similar position, not worshipping, but
grovelling. It was naturally wished to include representatives of
both the northern and the southern dominions, but whereas these
are elsewhere shown apart, here a Syrian intervenes between every
two negroes. The latter are represented in the usual way (see
Plate LXXXI) with ostrich-feathers in their hair, red sashes across

their bodies and around their waists, and cats' (?) tails hanging
II2

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PLATE LVIII

from their backs and elbows. Two types of Syrian are portrayed,
the shawled and bald-headed one having his racial characteristics
particularly well emphasized. The other, in a tight-sleeved garment, may be compared with his compatriots in the scene of
tribute-bearers of Plate XLII, or with those in Plate LXXVIII,
where Tutrankhamiin is shown slaying them amid their native
hills.

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PLATE LIX
BULL DECKED OUT FOR SACRIFICE
Thebes, tomb of an unknown noble, no. 226, front
wall of hall, right-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

141I-1375

B.C.

44 X 37 cm.

See under Plate LVII.

N. and N. de G. Davies, The Tombs of

Menkheperrasonb, &c. (Theban Tombs Series, vol. v), Pl. XLV;
for plan of the tomb, see op. cit., P1. XL.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

THE fragment here shown, reconstructed

out of several pieces,

belonged to a scene closely analogous to those from which Plates
XXXIV, XLIV, and XLIX, were taken. The great man and his
wife were depicted in the close vicinity of the entrance-door of the
tomb, offering adoration to the gods. Behind them were rows of
attendants, bringing fruit, flowers, and sacrificial victims. The
little bull in the present picture deserves a place in this volume,
not only on account of its excellent execution, but also because
it well illustrates the degree to which the skilful use of black-it
has perished in many tombs-could enhance the effect of bright
colouring. The garland around the animal's neck (compare the
bull somewhat similarly adorned in Plate XXXIV) is composed

of lotus-petals, cornflower-petals, poppies, and mandrake-fruit,

whilst a lotus-flower and buds hang down from it in front. These
are less conventional in colour than the blue eye of the bull and
the coil of lotus-stems which the man is holding.

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PLATE LX
SYRIANS GROVELLING AT THE FEET
OF AMENOPHIS III

Thebes, tomb of an unknown official, no. 58, back

wall of hall, right-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE.

Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII, '4"-1375 B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

67 X

i8 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on fine white plaster over coarser

buff mixed with straw.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. None. For plan of the tomb, see Porter

and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 88.

THE prostrate Syrians in this picture form part of the decoration
of a raised platform on which king Amenophis III sits enthroned
to receive homage from the unknown first owner of this muchusurped tomb. The notion underlying such representations has
been explained in the text to Plate LVIII. The negroes are on the
left, and in our reproduction nothing is seen of them except a
white garment, and the flowering reed, symbol of Upper Egypt
(p. 157), by which they are tied. The Syrians are similarly tied
with a papyrus-stem, this symbolizing that half of Egypt which
is nearest to their land. Their elaborately embroidered and fringed
dresses display patterns that can be paralleled elsewhere (e.g. Plate
LXXVIII). The eyes had blue and black pupils alternately, but
the black has almost entirely vanished thence, as also from the
beards and hair. The most unusual feature of all is the open
mouths showing the teeth, a trait which gives an expression of
pain well suited to the abject position of the recumbent bodies.

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PLATE LXI

GUESTS AT A FEAST
Thebes, tomb of Nebamiin and Ipuky, no. I8I,
front wall of hall, left-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE.

Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII, 141I1-375 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 43 X55 cm.

The rock being of poor quality was first

covered by fine buff plaster to fill in the inequalities. Over this

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

was laid mud mixed with straw, and to this a thin wash of white
was added as a background. The red dividing-lines of the
inscriptions are given, but the hieroglyphic legends themselves
have not been begun.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The
Tomb of Two Sculptors at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol.
iv), P1. VII. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 151,
under (I).

now come to a sequence of four exceptionally well-painted

pictures from the tomb of two sculptors named Nebamuin and
Ipuky. It may be supposed that professional pride played a part
in securing for them more artistic results than the owners of many
larger tombs. Here we have an opportunity of studying a very
detailed version of a common subject of which an example has
been given previously in this work (Plate XXXVI). The host and
hostess, son and mother, waited upon by the wife of the former,
are to the right outside our Plate. This contains only two of
the three registers in which the guests are depicted. The upper
of the registers here shown consists of male guests only, most of
whom are seated on light, white-painted, wooden stools. They
VIE

II6

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PLATE LXI

hold napkins in one hand, and in the other either a lotus-blossom

or else the sekhem-sceptre of papyrus indicative of high official
rank. Red earthenware bowls resting upon stands are seen on the
ground beside them, doubtless destined later to be filed with wine
like that of the lady guest below. The foremost man of the upper
row is in a freer attitude, his limbs relaxed and his hands empty.
He sits upon a more elaborate stool covered with a dappled cowhide and having legs ending in the heads of ducks that hold rosettes
in their beaks. Two attractive damsels attend upon him, the one
tying a necklace of petals around his neck, and the other preparing
to anoint him with perfumed unguent, although the lump of this
substance seen in a similar vase offered to one of the ladies is
missing here.
The women guests are waited upon by nude girls as in Plate
XXXVI, and, since the females attending upon the men are clothed,
it may be presumed that a separate room was reserved for the
ladies. These have upon their heads the cones of scented fat which
we have seen, though of different shape, in pictures of earlier
reigns (Plates XVII, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII). The trio in
front-they seem to occupy but two chairs between them-have
already been adorned in this way, and are ready to partake of the
wine that is being poured out for them. Their feet rest on a
wooden board. At the back a pair of ladies, napkin in hand,
are in course of receiving the unguent upon their wigs. Under
one of the chairs is a delightfully drawn little cat with its tongue
out expectantly awaiting a lick of some of the dainties to come.

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PLATE LXII
CRAFTSMEN AT WORK
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Nebamin and Ipuky, no. ISI,

front wall of hall, right-hand portion.

Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII, 1411-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 87 X 50 cm.

DATE.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate LXI. Water has damaged the

bottom of the scene, and its effects can be seen in the lower part
of the reproduction.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In line, Norman de G. Davies, The Tomb

of Two Sculptors at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol. iv),

P1. XI; the adjoining part to the right in colour, op. cit., Pl. XIII.
See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 152, under (5).
Tins picture of a busy workshop is one of the best preserved and
most brightly coloured now extant at Thebes. The Plate displays
only a portion of the entire scene. On the left one of the two
tomb-owners-it is impossible to say which, since hieroglyphic
legends are lacking-is shown inspecting the craftsmen under his
supervision. A corner of the mat on which his chair stands is seen
in our excerpt. The finished articles are being brought before him,
first a collar and bracelets of gold and inlay on a flat basket, and
secondly samples of the carved symbols of 'life' (I, perhaps a very
early equivalent of ) and of 'stability' (1) that are represented
on part of the same wall in course of being inserted as ornaments
into the open-work sides of a shrine. A stool, a chest, and a palette
are less pretentious products of the same workshop, likewise a gold
vase, another inlaid collar with counterpoise to hang at the back,
and a second chest all seen in the upper register. Close at hand is
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PLATE LXII

a man weighing gold rings on a balance against a weight shaped

like the head of an ox. Observe how he steadies the plummet
hanging from a tongue rigidly attached to the beam, this lastnamed suspended by a ring from the central post adorned with
the feather and head of Maret, the goddess of Truth. To the right,
in both registers, are the actual workmen, all busily engaged. At
the top we witness the fabrication with chisel and adze of the ornamental symbols above mentioned. Below are the skilled craftsmen entrusted with the more decorative sides of the work. One
is chiselling the uraeus on the forehead of a sphinx that rests on a
pedestal to raise it to a convenient level. Another, palette on knee,
is ornamenting a vase; his name is given as the 'Draughtsman of
Amin Psinsu, also called Prennife'. A third is holding the lid of a
box containing two cartouches of Amenophis III, and these give
us the date of the tomb. Exactly what is being done by the man
opposite him is problematic. A dish covered by a napkin seems
to carry lumps of coloured inlay ready for use. Vacant spaces in
the picture are filled by elaborately decorated vases, a winged
scarab holding the sign Qin front and back claws, and a necklace
ending in a lotus-blossom and buds.

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PLATE LXIII
MOURNERS CROSSING THE NILE
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Nebamin and Ipuky, no. I8I,

left-hand end wall of hall.

DATE. Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII, I4II-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

54 X

37 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate LXI. Water has seriously

damaged the lower parts of the picture, of which a large fragment is lost.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, a part only, Norman de G.
Davies, The Tomb of Two Sculptors at Thebes (Tytus Memorial
Series, vol. iv), Pl. XXVI. For the context, see op. cit., Pl. XXIV,
and for the continuation on the adjacent wall, see op. cit., Pl.

XIX.

Also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p.

IsI,

under (2).

ON the day when the mummy was transported to its last restingplace in the Theban necropolis, the Nile had to be crossed, and
in the tomb of the Two Sculptors the procession of boats used on
that occasion is depicted in elaborate detail. A first vessel carrying
a number of the male relatives is shown towing another bearing
some of the attendants with the funerary furniture. Then follows
an ornate barge with the main bulk of the mourners, which in its
turn tows the boat containing the deceased beneath his catafalque.
Only the third of the four vessels is here reproduced. It is constructed of wood with ends painted to imitate papyrus-heads. A
skin is wrapped round the post to which the steering-oar is lashed,
as we shall see again in Plate LXXXII. A man in a separate enclosure holds the tow-rope attached to the boat behind. The oars120

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PLATE LXIII

men are seen silhouetted against the brightly decorated cabin upon
which the mourners stand or squat, the men crouched in silent
grief, the women, more demonstrative, making as though to
scatter dust on their heads as they weep with loud-voiced lamentations. The expressions of violent grief on the faces of these women
are in strange contrast with the serene countenances portrayed
elsewhere, and show that, if the Egyptians usually refrained from
depicting emotion, it was not for lack of ability to do so. Men
and women alike are painted alternately red and yellow, clearly
for no other reason than to vary the colour-scheme. The grey
mourning-dresses of the ladies are tied below the breast, as usually
on such occasions. The white fillet around their heads seems also
to have been a sign of mourning. The drawing of these minute
faces is very fine and delicate, despite the fact that work so near
the level of the floor must have been extremely arduous.

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PLATE LXIV
THE FINAL RITES BEFORE THE TOMB-DOOR
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Nebamiin and Ipuky, no. I8I,
back wall of hall, left-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII, 1411-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 79 X 37 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate LXI.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, The

Tomb of Two Sculptors at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol.

iv), P1. XXI. For the entire wall, see op. cit., P1. XIX. See also
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 152, under (3).

Tm rites performed at the door of the tomb before the mummy

was consigned to its last resting-place are often depicted, but so
realistic a treatment of them as is given here is a departure from
the habit of the early Eighteenth Dynasty. There it was deemed
sufficient to depict only the deceased and the officiating priest, and
nothing served to indicate either place or time. The new style
persists throughout the Ramesside period, but later examples cannot compare with the one here reproduced either in wealth of
detail or in beauty of colouring. The chief puzzle is the presence
of two mummies instead of one. On a hasty view this might be
explained by the tomb being shared by two owners. Possibly that
is the true explanation, but the two mummies recur in other
tombs where a like argument cannot be upheld. The problem is
discussed in Mr. Davies's publication, and to this the reader can
safely be referred.
On the right stands the tomb, described in a hieroglyphic legend
as 'his mansion in the West, his place of eternity'. Beside it is the
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PLATE LXIV

symbol of the 'West', a falcon on a clod of earth in which a feather

is affixed, the whole being supported on a standard. This symbol
is the only entirely unreal thing in the picture, though the representation of the tomb but little resembles what is left to-day. A
panel showing the deceased worshipping Osiris is let into the
grained wooden door. Another little stela with a second adoring
figure is placed higher up, at no great distance from what we now
know to be a decorative wall-ornament constructed out of rows
of the cones so commonly found in the Theban necropolis. The
formal bouquet next the tomb (compare Plate XLIV) is stiffer
than the other two in front of the mummies. These last have upon
their heads the same cones of perfumed ointment as we have seen
used at banquets, and are each supported by a weeping male relative in grey mourning-garb. The woman weeping symmetrically
arranged tears in front of the first mummy seems younger than
the other. She, more vocal in her grief, is named Henutnofre, and
may have been the wife of both sculptors in succession. A priest
purifies the mummies with water from a bowl held in his hands;
the result which the artist has undertaken to portray involves the
appearance of an impossibly clever feat on the part of the pourer.
The hieroglyphs above refer to the ceremonies of 'Opening the
Mouth', of which this purification was the beginning.

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PLATES LXV AND LXVI

FOWLING IN THE MARSHES

PROVENANCE.

British Museum, no. 37977; from an unlocated

tomb at Thebes.
DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV or Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,

1420-1375

B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 97 X 83 cm.

TECHNICAL

DETAILS. Painted on white plaster above an underlay

of mud and straw.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In colour, Wall Decorations of Egyptian

Tombs (London, British Museum, 1914), Pl. 3.

TmH

superb quality of this fowling scene will best be appreciated

by comparing it with the similar representations from the tombs
of Nakht (Plate XLVII) and Menna (Plate LIV), themselves no
mean examples of Theban pictorial art. The entire series of pictures in the British Museum that follow are all derived from a
single destroyed tomb, that of a 'Scribe who keeps account of the
grain' whose name was Nebamin, still partly legible on the picture
of a herd of cattle not included in this volume. The drawing is
extremely skilful and true to life. Great attention is paid to detail,
yet without detracting from the excellence of the composition as
a whole. The tomb-owner stands, as elsewhere, upon a wooden
plank that has been laid across his light skiff of papyrus. This
presses back the lotuses and the water-weeds (compare Plate IV)
as it pushes on into the marshes. Besides the commoner type of
lotus (Nymphaea coerulea)is seen the pink-tipped variety (Lotus nymphaea) so much more rarely depicted. A little nude daughter with
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PLATES LXV AND

LXVI

side-lock, gold ear-rings, and gold collar holds her father by the
leg. Behind him stands his wife Hatshep[sut] clad in festal attire,
the cone of unguent upon her head, and sistrum and menitcounterpoise, both of them symbols of Hathor and of festal occasions (p. I72), in one of her hands. A serpent-headed throw-stick
is about to be launched at the covey arising from the clump of
papyrus, here much less stiffly designed than elsewhere. Three
herons as decoys are shown in lieu of the two in Menna and the
one in Nakht. A graceful detail is the bunch of lotuses which the
great man has thrown carelessly over his shoulder. The destined
prey is more varied than in other scenes of the kind. Beside pintail ducks we see geese, a wheatear, and a pair of wagtails. Nests
with eggs rest upon the papyrus-heads, and the gaiety of the
picture is enhanced with most delicately drawn butterflies. The
cat which sits precariously upon a few papyrus-stems and has captured no less than three birds is so indisputably a masterpiece that
a special Plate has been accorded to it (Plate LXVI). The goose
sacred to Amiin and usually erased by the Aten-heretics has for
once escaped destruction. The inscription above the scene reads:
'Taking recreation, seeing pleasant things, and occupying himself with
the craft of the Marsh-goddess, by him praised of the [Lady of Sport],
even by the Scribe who keeps account of the grain, [Nebamiin].' As if
this were not explanation enough, the scribe has later added in less
elaborate black hieroglyphs: 'Taking recreation and seeing pleasant
things in the place of eternity, even a long lifetime without any wish,
revered with [Amiin (?), Nebamiin.]' In these words, more explicitly than elsewhere, indication is given that the scene is less
a record of past reality than an aspiration for the eternal lifetime
about to begin.
Opposite the fowling scene, in accordance with immemorial
tradition (see Plate LIV), was another facing it and depicting the
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PLATES LXV AND

LXVI

harpooning of fish. To this latter scene are particularly relevant

the delightfully rendered fishes seen swimming in the river, all of
them species that can be identified. Part of the harpoon can be
seen striking through the papyrus-spathes on the left.

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PLATE LXVII
FARMERS DELIVER THEIR QUOTA OF GEESE
British Museum, no. 37978; from an unlocated
tomb at Thebes.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV or Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,
PROVENANCE.

1420-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

115 X 40 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate LXV.

In colour, Wall Decorations of Egyptian

Tombs (London, British Museum, I914), Pl. 2.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

CLOSE study of a whole series of paintings in the British Museum

of which this is one reveals the fact that they all came from a single
tomb, and its owner curiously bore the same name and title as the
contemporary of Queen HIatshepsut to whom we owe Plate XV.
The style of the present picture and many of its details speak for
a date fully fifty years later. Behind the table of offerings on the
left doubtless sat Nebamiin himself, and in that case the scribe who
presents an opened papyrus-roll and has his palette tucked under his
arm must have been a mere subordinate. The boxes a little distance
to the rear and the leather receptacle at his feet will have contained
further papyrus-rolls and additional writing-materials. The occasion is the day of reckoning when the farmers had to bring their
flocks of geese to be registered and taxed by the tomb-owner, who
was an official of the great temple of Amin. Three of the farmers
prostrate themselves upon the ground, while three others await
their turn to render account. An overseer admonishes the lastnamed, 'Sit and don't talk!'; and an injunction addressed to one or
other of the recumbent peasants (' Take your time (?) ...
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PLATE LXVII

spendgenerations . .. ') seems to hint darkly at the long dispute with

the tax-gatherers that is bound to ensue. Another overseer who

speaks to the man packing geese into crates implies, however, that
the coming argument will be very one-sided, and that he had
better take the chance of listening to his own voice while still he
may: 'Don't hurry your stumps with the birds, but hearken to yourselfyou won'tfind anotheroccasionfor what you have to say!' The execution of the geese is careful and spirited, the pose of the heads being
well caught. The artist has contrived to avoid monotony in depicting such large numbers. The young goslings are delightfully
rendered, though now nearly destroyed through the flaking away
of the paint, which has brought the red sketch-lines to light again.

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PLATE LXVIII
HORSES AND MULES AT THE HARVEST FIELD
PROVENANCE.

British Museum, no. 37982; from an unlocated

tomb at Thebes.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV or Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,
142o-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

71 X

41 cm.

As under Plate LXV.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Wall Decorations of Egyptian

Tombs (London, British Museum,

1914),

P. 7, fig. ii. In photo-

graph, with valuable discussion, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology,

vol. xx, p. 54.

SINCE this picture records a regular incident in the measuring
of the ripe crops for taxation purposes, there is no difficulty in
believing that it comes, like Plates LXV-LXVII, from the tomb of
Nebamin, who was a 'Scribe who keeps account of the grain'. On the

left an old peasant with sparse hair and bent back, carrying the
uas-sceptre I which betokens that he speaks with divine authority,
swears that the boundary-stela before him stands on the spot where
it has always stood:' 'As endures the great god who is in the heavens,

the stela is correct as it stands, 0 my father.' These words were probably addressed to 'the Chief of the measurers of the granary' who

walks behind him. 2 Traces of a ram's head, symbol of Amiin,

which surmounted the front end of the coil of rope being employed to measure the harvest, may be seen behind the peasant's
head; it may have been partly cut out, as elsewhere, by the deI

So Mile Suzanne Berger in the artidcle quoted above.

' The title is given on a fragment to be seen in the official publication above mentioned.

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PLATE LXVIII

votees of the heretic king Akhenaten, but what is visible in the

Plate is possibly due to a modern restorer.
The chariots with their steeds that occupy the rest of the Plate
not improbably belong to the tomb-owner and some son or subordinate of his who were portrayed superintending the harvesters
on the right beyond the break. The groom shown in the upper
register has some difficulty in controlling his spirited horses. Not
so the groom of the other chariot, who is able to rest peacefully
while his mules are feeding from a basket set under the tree. This
appears to be the sole representation of mules in the whole of
Egyptian art, and, as Mr. Davies points out, they show the characteristic ass's stripe on the shoulder, besides the equally characteristic
ass's tail.

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PLATE LXIX
THE POOL IN THE GARDEN
British Museum, no. 37983; from an unlocated
tomb at Thebes.

PROVENANCE.

DATE.

Reign of Tuthmosis IV or Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,

1420-1375 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

72 X 62 cm.

Plate LXV.
In colour, Wall Decorations of Egyptian

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

Tombs (London, British Museum, 1914), P1. 7, fig. i.

THE explanation of the present picture was originally to be found
in a group to the right of the break. To judge from the tomb
of Sebkhotpe (no. 63), where the representation of a much larger
garden still exists, the deceased and his wife were portrayed enjoying
the shade of the trees, and receiving cooling draughts of water,
cakes, and fruit from the goddess of the sycamore. Two Ramesside developments of this subject will be found below in Plates
LXXXVII and XCIV. The earlier examples bestow more attention
than the later on the garden itself, on the pond well stocked with
fish and water-fowl, and on the fruit-trees promising such refresh-

ment to their lord. In the rich mud at the margin of the pool are
seen clumps of papyrus, poppies, and other small bushes or plants.
Among the trees are date and dim palms, mandrakes, sycamores,
and perhaps acacias. There is a vine below on the left, and another,
now broken away, may well have balanced it on the right. The
goddess of the sycamore is seen with her offerings in the corresponding upper corner, with some scraps of her words of invitation beneath her. Opposite, top left, was a further speech by the
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PLATE LXIX

sycamore, which discloses the welcome information that the

tomb-owner was a 'Scribe keeping account of the corn of Amiin', and
consequendtly the same Nebamin from whose tomb the foregoing
Plates were derived.

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PLATE LXX
SINGERS AND DANCERS
British Museum, no. 37984; from an unlocated
tomb at Thebes.
DATE. Reign of Tuthmosis IV or Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII,
PROVENANCE.

1420-1375 B.c.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

69

X 30 cm.

See under Plate LXV.

colour, Wall Decorations of Egyptian

Tombs (London, British Museum, I914), Pl. 4. Also in various
earlier works, e.g. A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im
Altertum, I885, P1. facing p. 339.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In

V have already encountered several representations of musicians

at banquets (Plates XVII, XXVI, XXXVII), but that here to be
studied presents a remarkable feature absent from all the others.
The Theban tombs contain more than one example of full-faced
musicians; but, since wanton damage has in every single instance
been done to them, the well-preserved picture in the British Museum
must be accounted unique. An extraordinary resemblance to Indian
work is felt in the slanting eyes and tapering fingers, but there is
no reason to suspect foreign influence. The continuation of the
fillet around the heads shown en face seems to have presented difficulties to the artist, since he contents himself with giving the lotusblossom on the foreheads. The cones of unguent, like tall caps
upon the wigs, are likewise surrounded with fillets. The singers'
arms are loaded with bracelets, and the musician playing the pipes
has rings on her fingers. Two of the singers, whose mouths are
shown closed, clap their hands to mark the rhythm, while nude
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PLATE LXX

girls dance to the tune. It is interesting to note the attempt at

shading on the balls of the singers' feet and on their toes, a very
rare trait at this period. Liquid refreshment for the guests, and let
us hope also for the performers, is contained in the wine-jars, in
two tiers, festooned and garlanded with vine-tails and bunches of
leaves. Greenery serves as cool stoppers to these jars. The words
of the song are incomplete, but an idea of their tenor can be
gathered from what remains: '... (flowers of sweet) odour given

(?)by Ptah and planted by GEb. His beauty is in every body, and Ptah
hath made this with his hands to bring solace (?)to his heart. The pools
arefull of water, and earth is flooded with the love of him.'

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PLATES LXXI TO LXXIII

THE PROCESSION TO THE TOMB AND MOURNERS

PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Rarmose, no. 55, left-hand end

wall of hall.
DATE. Last years of Amenophis III, Dyn. XVIII; he reigned 1411I375 B.c.

76, and 166 X 79 cm. respectively.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin layer of white plaster over
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINALS. 185,

limestone walls. The faults in the stone are filled in with thicker
plaster to yield an even surface.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In photograph, Mitteilungen d. deutsch.
Inst.f. iig. Altertumskunde in Kairo, vol. iv, Pl. XXII. See, too,
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 86, under (3).
THE next three pictures are treated together, since they not only
adjoin one another on the same wall of the tomb of the Vizier

Rarmose, but also represent simultaneous actions by different

groups of persons on the day of the great man's burial. Starting
from the right (Plate LXXI) we see a procession of thirteen men,
some with wigs and some with clean-shaven heads, carrying
wooden yokes upon their shoulders, from one end of which is
suspended a jar in a net, and from the other a box covered with
bunches of leaves. The free hands bear stems of flowering papyrus,
sometimes with leaves of another plant entwined around them,
or else lotus-blossoms. The bodies are alternately a lighter and a
deeper red, partly to avoid monotony and partly to show up the
individual outlines. The leader of the procession is styled 'the
Lector-priestof every day, Hesnamin',and by virtue of his office there
are attached to the rather different box he carries a censer for
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PLATES LXXI TO LXXIII

burning incense and a vase for pouring libations. The boxes and
jars of all the men contained food and drink for the deceased, and
at least some of it had already been laid before the great god
of Thebes in his temple, thereby becoming imbued with special
sanctity and sustaining quality. This state of affairs is implied by
the words put in the mouth of the lector-priest: 'I have brought
thee all that has been presented in front of [Amen-R e],' that thy spirit
may have satisfaction of it.' The horizontal line at the top contains
an adjuration addressed to the lector-priest by one of his companions: 'Go forward, 0 leader, with the oblationsfor him approved
of Maret, daughter of Re.z Hasten thy footsteps,for the coffin has come
and has passed by us. What I say is good.' Lines have been drawn

for the names and titles of the various men, but the inscriptions
have never been written.
On either side of the procession just described is a group of
female mourners, but only the group on the left is here shown.
This is represented in Plate LXXII to a larger scale than has been
possible for the adjoining figures. The mourning relatives are perhaps to be thought of as lingering beside the road to the tomb, of
which the door is depicted at the extreme right end of the long
register. They comprise females both old and young, all clad,
except a little nude girl, in the soft grey linen dresses usual on such
occasions-unless indeed the colour is to be explained as due to
the dust they are liberally bestowing upon their heads. The chief
personage in the group, an old woman, is supported round the
waist by a younger member of the family. The breasts are left
bare, as though grief were too intense for this defect of toilet to be
noticed (compare Plate LXIII). The mouths are closed, though the
SThe name of the god has been cut out by the Aten-heretics.
SM ret isthe goddess of justice, and Rarmose is described as approved of her because
he had been in life the Lord ChiefJustice.
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PLATES LXXI TO LXXIII

mourners are to be thought of as uttering the piercing shrieks that

are heard from their descendants in the Egyptian villages down to
the present day. Symmetrical streams of tears pour from every
eye. It is to be noted that all the hands are depicted as right hands,
thumbs to the fore. This common convention gave greater harmony to the composition, and the ancient artist was not the man
to sacrifice a pleasing effect for a pedantic adherence to reality.
The accompanying legend reads: 'His own people say, "The great
shepherd is gone, he has slipped away from us. Come thou, and look
after us."'

To the left of this band of relatives is a second procession, of

which only the nine foremost figures are included in Plate LXXIII.
They all carry funerary furniture, and from the legends written
above their heads turn out to be very humble servants of the Vizier.
The leader brings a table bearing two shrines possibly containing
the ushebti-figures that relieved their lord of any duties he might
be called upon to perform in the netherworld as a field-labourer;
from the lower strut of the table hangs a pair of sandals. This man
is called 'the Goose-herdandreal Servant Mahu', and he is represented
as saying, 'O mountain of the West, open unto Rarmose, the justified,
that thou mayst hide him within thee.' The next offering-bearer is
'the Servant of the Vizier, Hasyebaknaf',who carries two tables with
a pair of alabaster jugs and a pair of sealed ointment-jars respectively. The man following him, 'the Servant of the Vizier Rarmose,
justified,Tjanife', supports a cushioned chair on his head, and at the
same time carries a palette and a writing-board. The next four
men all carry chests such as were used for clothing; one of them
also has a pair of sandals with the soles together, and another has
a walking-stick. These four apparently have to rest content with
three names between them; they are 'the real Barber, Kenemsau',
'his son the real Barber, [Amenem] 6ne', and 'the Servant of the Vizier
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PLATES LXXI TO LXXIII

Rarmose, justfied, PtahEes4keb'. Lastly come two men still more

heavily laden than the rest, 'the Servant of the Vizier Rarmose,
Tjaniufe, [born of (?)Mut(?)] tuy',

and

the Servant of the Vizier Ram'-

mose, the Butcher Peifemniife'; the latter says: Go on, hurry up.'
Between them they carry a bed, complete with bedding and headrest,
in their other hands they bring, the one a satchel,

and

the other a four-legged stool and a fan.

139

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PLATE LXXIV
INFANT DAUGHTERS OF AKHENATEN
PROVENANCE.

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

From a house at

El-Amarna.
DATE. Reign of Akhenaten, Dyn. XVIII,

1375-135 8 B.c.

36 X 30 cm.; reproduced to full size.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin coat of white plaster over
mud applied to the brick walls. The colour has been laid on the
bodies so sparingly that a transparent effect is obtained. The
queen's sash is stippled, and light brush-work has given a downy
appearance to the infants' hair. The outlines are very fine.
Whether shading was deliberately intended is doubtful, since
what appears to be such might be due to chance variation of
density in the colouring.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour,Journalof Egyptian Archaeology,
vol. vii, Pl. I; restoration of the scene, op. cit., P1. II; photograph,
Petrie, Tell el Amarna, P. I. See, too, Porter and Moss, Biblio..
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

graphy, vol. iv, p. 199.

Tm

pictures must suffice to illustrate the new direction given

to Egyptian painting by the artists of the heretic king at ElAmarna, for, though a greater number of Plates will be devoted
to products of the reign of Tutrankhamuin, in these there has been
a considerable, if in no way complete, reversion to the traditional
style of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The representation of the infant
daughters of Akhenaten not only is one of the very rare examples
of mural paintings from an actual Egyptian house, but it is actually
the only picture from such a source which preserves a complete

human figure. The remains of the great seated representation of

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PLATE LXXIV

Queen Nefertiti that forms a background to the children are none

too easy to interpret, and the following description owes much to
the detailed study by Norman de G. Davies to which reference is
made above. The queen is to be thought of as sitting on a large
red cushion with blue and yellow ornamentation placed upon a
painted wooden stool. Her besandalled feet are partly covered by
her transparent white robe. Besides the feet, the line of the thigh
can be seen. The long scarlet sash which tied her dress (compare
Plates XCI, XCII) flutters to the ground. Opposite her sat her
husband the heretic king himself, and between them stood three
older princesses.
The main interest of the Plate centres round the two little
princesses seated on smaller cushions by their mother's side. Their
names are known, though not their subsequent fate; one was called
Nefernefruaten-the-little and the other Nefrurer. The typical malformation of the heads in the family of Akhenaten is accentuated
here, as are also the thin unchildlike necks with the prominent
collar-bones showing from under the bead necklaces. The large
ear-rings may be compared with those of the Nubian princes of
Plate LXXXI. The feet are much better proportioned than the
hands, and the bodies are superior to the heads. In spite of the
curious treatment of the latter, however, there is about them an
undeniable charm of line and colour. The black touches at mouth
and nostril, often paralleled later (e.g. Plate LXXXVII) and sometimes earlier (see the boys in Plate LIV), give character to the faces,
as is done also by the blue in the corners of the eyes. One of the
infants chucks the other under the chin with a gesture of childish
playfulness, while her own shoulder is clasped by her little sister.
The two are so much alike in size that they might be thought to
be twins did not the evidence from elsewhere contradict this
notion.
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PLATES LXXV AND LXXVI

BIRDS AMID THE PAPYRUS MARSHES
El-Amarna, northern palace; respectively from the
eastern (LXXV) and the western (LXXVI) walls of the 'Green
Room'.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Akhenaten, Dyn. XVIII, 1375-1358 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF

ORIGINALS. (LXXV) 34 x3 7 cm.; (LXXVI) 49 x 64

cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a very thin coating of plaster over

brick walls.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

H. Frankfort and others, The Mural

Paintings of El-rAmarneh (F. G. Newton Memorial volume);

(LXXV) in colour, P1. III, and in line, with context, P1. II;
(LXXVI) in colour, P1. VI, and in line, with context, P1. IV.
Plan of the Palace, showing position of 'Green Room', op. cit.,
P1. XIV.

TxE unique paintings of these two Plates are taken from the
similarly decorated opposite walls of a small chamber in the
northern palace of El-Amarna. The copies were made not long
after the original discovery. Owing to the activities of white ants
the underlying mud bricks had become powder-like, and disintegrated at a touch. For this and other reasons it was deemed
necessary to remove the originals, so far as was practicable; despite
all care and skill employed, both colours and surface suffered
greatlyin the process. The fragments of the pigeon (PlateLXXV),
greatly deteriorated, are to be seen in the British Museum.
The Green Room, as it has been called on account of the
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PLATES LXXV AND

LXXVI

prevailing tone of its wall-paintings, is one of a suite of chambers

opening on to a large porticoed court with a water-garden in the
middle. The side adjoining the court was almost completely
occupied by a large aperture enabling the paintings to be seen from
the outside. The same scheme of decoration covers all the walls,
and save in so far as these are interrupted by narrow niches, of
which there are two rows, the effect given is that of a Chinese
wall-paper. Since the top of the walls has perished we do not
know how the artist completed his design. This represents a papyrus thicket growing along the edge of a canal. The blue water
with its lotus blossoms, buds, and leaves runs between narrow
margins of Nile mud prolific in weeds and small flowering
shrubs. Above this lower border rise papyrus-reeds, interspersed
with lotus-blooms and harbouring pigeons, kingfishers, and shrikes
all very naturalistically treated. The Blue rock pigeon seen in
Plate LXXV nestling down amid the red papyrus-spathes is quite
true to nature in its general colouring and red legs. The eye is
unfortunately lost, but from another example in the same room
this must also have had its correct red colour. The unnatural tints
used in Theban tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty (e.g. Plate XIX)
are here absent. The outline is conventional, but by the subtle and
skilful use of broad or delicately fine strokes of the brush it has
proved possible to bring out all the variety of curves in the feathering. We shall later encounter another example of the same bird
(Plate CI), the work of a Ramesside artist, far inferior in drawing,
though correct in colour. At right, left, and top of the Plate are
seen traces of the blue borders of the niches above alluded to, the
purpose of which is mysterious.
The Pied kingfisher of Plate LXXVI is equally true to nature.
This bird is very common in Egypt, and may often be seen, as
here, darting down to catch fish. Above it is a rectangle forming
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PLATES LXXV AND

LXXVI

the base of one of the niches. It is painted blue with zigzags

to represent water. The breast of a pigeon may be noted at the
top of the Plate on the left, and the tail of another in the corresponding position on the right. Both birds were perched on
bending papyrus-stems.

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PLATE LXXVII
TU TrANKHAMUN HUNTING LIONS
PROVENANCE. Cairo Museum, no. 324. On the lid of a casket
from the tomb of Tutrankhamin at Thebes.
DATE. Reign of Tutrankhamiin, Dyn. XVIII,
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

1357-1349

B.C.

54 X 21 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted upon gesso above wood and then

varnished. Some of the lines across the bodies of the lions mark
places where the gesso has cockled and cracked.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In photograph, Carter and Mace, The
Tomb of Tutankhamen, vol. i, P1. LI. Other views and details of

the casket, op. cit., Pls. XXI, L, LII, LIII, LIV.

BY the kindness of Dr. Howard Carter we are permitted to in-

clude in this work the first coloured reproductions of two scenes

on the painted casket discovered by him in the tomb of Tutrankh-

amiin. Amid the great wealth of beautiful and unique objects

which that discovery brought to light it is difficult to point to any
one as excelling all the rest in importance, but certain it is that this
casket must be ranked amongst the most attractive and the most
surprising. In the picture here shown-the reproduction is little
short of actual size-we find miniature painting equal to the best
products of Persian art. The lion-hunt is one of two hunting
scenes painted on the curved lid of the casket. As a record of fact
it must, of course, be viewed as wholly mendacious. Tutrankhamin died when he was still a youth after little more than eight
years upon the throne. Nor, indeed, is it to be believed that any
king, however brave or skilful a hunter, could successfully drive
his chariot into an assemblage of hungry lions, and vanquish them
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PLATE LXXVII

all with no better equipment than a bow and arrows. In this

picture we find the fancifulness of Egyptian art and its disregard
for sober reality more forcibly demonstrated than anywhere else.
But as an imaginative depiction of the might and magnificence of
the Pharaoh its equal would be hard to find. The gorgeously
caparisoned horses, the Nubian fan-bearers, the protecting vultures
overhead, the hastening escort, and the courtiers in their own
chariots combine to produce an impression of overwhelming
power. The scene appears to be laid in the eastern desert, and the
little desert shrubs dotted about everywhere, together with the
decorative borders, enhance the richness of the effect. Among
details to be specially noted are the three quiverfuls of arrows to
be seen in the chariot, and the archer's bracer that the king wears
upon his arm. The inscription reads: 'The good god, powerful of
strength, the sovereign in whom one glories,fightinglions and his victory
comes to pass: his power is like that of the son of Nut.'"
'

i.e. Seth, the strongest and most warlike of the gods.

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PLATE LXXVIII

TUTrANKHAMUN SLAYING SYRIAN FOES

PROVENANCE.

Cairo Museum, no. 324. On the side of a casket

from the tomb of Tutrankhamiin at Thebes.

DATE. Reign of Tutrankhamuin, Dyn. XVIII,
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 52 X 19 cm.

1357-1349

B.C.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate LXXVII.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

In photograph, Carter and Mace, The

Tomb of Tutankhamen, vol. i, P1. LIII. Other views and details

of the casket, op. cit., Pls. XXI, L, LI, LII, LIV.
JUST as the lion-hunt of Plate LXXVII was balanced on the curved

lid of the painted casket by a picture of the Pharaoh hunting

gazelles and other desert animals, so too upon the long sides are
corresponding scenes of battles against Nubians and Syrians. Between these latter there is little difference of composition, except
that in the battle against the Nubians, as in the lion-hunt, Tutrankhamin and his followers face towards the left instead of the right.
The artist has managed to crowd into a painting less than a couple
of feet in width all the detail which is elsewhere sculptured on
mighty pylon walls. Indeed, exactly similar representations are to
be found in the temple of Karnak and elsewhere, but from them
the colour has long since vanished, and with it many details of
dress and the like. The depiction of the monarch in his chariot
and of his courtiers and attendants is almost identical with that in
the lion-hunt. Only the inscription differs: 'The good god, son of
Amin, valiant and without his peer; a lord of might, trampling down
hundreds of thousands and laying them prostrate.' The battle is as little
veracious as the lion-hunt, and for the same reasons. It is a con148

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PLATE LXXVIII

fused medley of men, horses, and chariots. The Syrians, hampered

by their heavy clothing, are no match for the more lightly clad
Egyptians. These either thrust their long spears into them, or hack
off their hands with a short sword to be afterwards piled up as
trophies before the god of Thebes. The blood spurts from the
wounds of the enemy, and the gruesomeness of the scene is
heightened by the presence of dogs which spring upon the fallen,
even as they did upon the lions of Plate LXXVII. Some of the
vanquished are shown in full-face, always a rare trait in Egyptian
art, though less so in this type of representation than elsewhere.
The expressions of pain on the faces of the wounded are very
vivid. The dead have closed eyes, and one poor wretch is headless.
The Egyptians have slung upon their backs shields with rounded
tops, whereas the shields of the Syrians are rectangular. For the
costumes and physiognomy of these foreigners Plates LVIII and
LX may be compared.

I49

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PLATES LXXIX AND LXXX

NUBIAN TRIBUTE-BEARERS
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Huy, no. 40; back wall of hall,
left-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tutrankhamiin, Dyn. XVIII, 1357-1349 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINALS. (LXXIX) 71 X 38 cm.; (LXXX) 88 X 38
cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted rather coarsely over a thin wash of

white upon a plaster of mud and straw.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In line, Davies and Gardiner, The Tomb

of Huy (Theban Tombs Series, vol. iv), Pls. XXVII, XXX;

the context, op. cit., P1. XXIII. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 75, under (4).
THE art of the reign of Tutrankhamin is here further illustrated
by four pictures from the tomb of Huy, his Viceroy in Nubia.
Three of the four come from the same wail, and the two here
treated together are actually contiguous, though it has been found
necessary to reduce them to a different scale. They form part of
a representation, in three registers, of the chieftains of the South,
with children and followers, bringing to the Viceroy for presentation to Pharaoh tribute of gold, precious stones, and other products of Ethiopia. To the right of these registers the large figure
of Huy is to be seen, as he stands to receive the tribute-bearers,
and still farther to the right Huy is again depicted, now personally
presenting the various treasures at the throne of his sovereign.
In Plate LXXIX the procession is headed by three princes, who
kneel with hands outstretched in adoration. In the superscription

they are described as 'Chieftains of Cush (Ethiopia)', and they

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PLATES LXXIX AND

LXXX

address Huy as though he were Tutrankhamin himself: 'Homage

to thee, king of Egypt, sun of the Nine Bows! Give us the air that thou
grantest, that we may live at thy good pleasure.' Before them may

be seen parts of dishes heaped up with carnelian and gold. The

princes are distinguished from their followers only by bright red
sashes worked with black, white, and blue patterns. The garments
worn throughout are purely Egyptian, but the Nubian race of
their wearers is proclaimed by their negroid features, the distinctive cut of their hair, the ostrich-feathers sticking out from the
curls, and the ear-rings, necklets, and bracelets, these perhaps all
of ivory. The difference of colour in complexions and hair is
doubtless due mainly to the artist's craving for variety. The fol-

lowers carry rings of gold or linen bags of gold dust on platters,

and giraffes' tails and leopards' skins complete their equipment.

A fine male giraffe led by two men breaks the monotony of the
procession (Plate LXXX), and four powerful bulls bring up the
rear. Perhaps it was the Egyptians in Nubia, rather than the
Nubians themselves, who saw in the horns of bulls some similitude
to the traditional human attitude of adoration-arms upraised and
extended towards the object of worship. Anyhow it seemed a
pleasant fancy to fashion the horns of the bulls brought as tribute
into the semblance of worshippers, and with negro-heads planted
in the midst and black hands added to the tips these bulls became
Nubians proclaiming the might and soliciting the clemency of
Pharaoh. The two men in charge are probably Egyptians, since
their features suggest it and they lack the ostrich-feather worn by
Nubians in their hair. One of the two has a bald head, as often
in representations of old men.

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PLATE LXXXI
A NUBIAN PRINCESS IN HER OX-CHARIOT
Thebes, tomb of Huy, no. 40; back wall of hall,
left-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Tutrankhamiin, Dyn. XVIII, 1357-1349 B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 8I X 44 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plates LXXIX and LXXX. Part

of the nose of the charioteer, as well as the head and shoulders
of the groom, have been restored from an early tracing.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Davies and Gardiner, The
Tomb of Huy (Theban Tombs Series, vol. iv), P1. XXVIII; the
context, op. cit., P1. XXIII. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 75, under (4).
Tis picture from the register immediately above the subjects of
Plates LXXIX and LXXX contains some details in common with
the latter, and such will not require to be described again. Here,
however, we find the absolutely unique and justly celebrated
representation of a Nubian princess being drawn in her ox-chariot.
Whether or not she was identical with the noble lady whose arm
is visible to the ight of the picture in front of the four young

princes must remain uncertain, but that lady was probably the
wife of one of the two kneeling chieftains still farther to the right.
The princess in the chariot appears to have a large erection of
ostrich-plumes attached to her crown, but it may possibly be intended for a sunshade fixed to the other side of the chariot. No
other depiction of an ox-chariot is found in the Theban tombs,
though examples are occasionally found in the campaigning scenes
of the temples. In the picture of the Viceroy's state barge (Plate
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PLATE LXXXI

LXXXII) his horses are shown being transported to Nubia. From

this we may infer that horses were not indigenous to that country,
and at all events the conveyance here seen is simply an ordinary
Egyptian horse-chariot for once being drawn by oxen. The
charioteer and groom are clearly Egyptians. Two of the young
princes wear the side-lock affected by the young sons of Pharaoh,
and this fact, coupled with their masculine dress,justifies our attribution of male sex to them. Nevertheless they have rather
prominent breasts for boys, and the elaborate ear-rings and flat
crowns would rather suggest girls. The inscription 'the children of
the princes of all lands' does not permit a decision between the two
possibilities. Note the cats' (?)tails hanging from their elbows
as above in Plates XL, LVIII.

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PLATE LXXXII
THE VICEROY OF NUBIA'S STATE BARGE
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Huy, no. 40; front wall of hall,

left-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Tutrankhamin, Dyn. XVIII, 1357-1349 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

I IO X 51 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plates LXXIX and LXXX.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In colour, Davies and Gardiner, The

Tomb of Huy (Theban Tombs Series, vol. iv), P1. XII; the context, op. cit., P1l. X. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography,
vol. i, p. 75, under (I).

THIS ship is one of two shown one above the other. The ship
in the upper register is on the point of departure; it is already
under full sail, and the sailors are at their posts. Our Plate depicts
the same ship, but now to be thought of as moored, and empty
save for two horses in their stalls. A landing-plank is in position.
Since the prow of the vessel points northwards in the tomb, we
are evidendtly meant to recognize here the Viceroy's state barge on
its return from his province. The stable for the horses is roofed,
but the sides come up only to their shoulders. Adjoining is the
Viceroy's cabin with two doors. A bird perching on the top of
the mast is a device found elsewhere to indicate that a ship is
stationary. On other cabins fore and aft are painted representations of the falcon-headed god Montju, in characteristic warlike
attitude; compare Plate XXVIII. The hull is decorated with the
same god, or with the Pharaoh in the guise of a sphinx, stunning
or trampling under foot a Nubian enemy. Near the prow are
other images of Montju as a falcon, together with a ram's head per154

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PLATE LXXXII

haps to be identified as Amiin. Here, too, is the eye which enabled

the ship to find its way. Two such eyes are seen on the steeringoar, which is lashed to its post by a bull's hide as in Plate LXIII.
A standard bearing the figure of the sun-god Rf-Harakhti L is
fastened to the hinder cabin.

'55

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PLATE LXXXIII
CEILING PATTERN WITH NAME AND TITLE
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Neferhtep, no. 5o; ceiling of

right-hand bay.
DATE. Reign of Haremhab, late Dyn. XVIII, 1348-1315 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

57 x

51 cm.

Painted on a coat of plaster which is very thin

except where faults in the limestone have had to be patched.

The colours have been slightly restored where there was damage,
and the black of the spirals has been strengthened.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Prisse, L'Art gyptien, i. Architecture, P1. [30o], upper. In line, J6quier, Decoration 6gyptienne,
p. 17, fig. 8. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i,
p. 82, bottom.

FROM the tomb of a 'Divinefather' named Neferhtep, where the

walls are covered with incised scenes and inscriptions of a peculiarly decadent style. The painted ceilings, on the contrary, are
well executed and highly successful in design, so that two Plates
have been devoted to them. The present example reproduces the
corner of the panel adjoining the pseudo-architrave delimiting
the north bay. On the other side of this pseudo-architrave, in the
centre of the hall, is the pattern reproduced in Plate LXXXIV.
Running the entire length of the north bay next the wall is the
so-called 'lily' motif, of which two examples are here seen on the

left, ending, before the chequer-pattern is reached, in a clump of

papyrus-reeds. In point of fact the blue flower with red centre
and pendant leaves is probably not a lily at all, but belongs to a

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PLATE LXXXIII

flowering rush;' this is best known as the symbol of Upper Egypt

.. The entire pattern is, however, made up of heterogeneous and
highly conventionalized elements.
The ceiling pattern proper is devised so as to display the name
and the title of Neferhl.tep in rough squares with a white background. Similar attempts are to be seen in other tombs of this
period (nos. 40, Io6). The squares are enclosed within hexagons,
red for the title and blue for the name, above which, in the inter-

val between the yellow spirals, is a red floret with green centre
and black edge. The most prominent feature 'of all, however,
apart from the lotus blossoms and buds which fill every available
space, is a large conventional open flower showing the alternation
of colours, red, blue, green, blue, yellow, so much favoured by
the Egyptians. The whole pattern is arranged in such a way as to
leave no empty spaces and to eliminate all ugly lines.
I This view, independently adopted by Mr. Davies, seems due in the first place to
M.JEquier; see the Additions to the Sign-list, under M z6, in Mine. Gauthier-Laurent's
forthcoming Index to Gardiner'sEgyptian Grammar.

I57

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PLATE LXXXIV
CEILING PATTERN WITH BUCRANIA AND
GRASSHOPPERS
Thebes, tomb of Neferhtep, no. 50; ceiling of the
hall, in the central axis from entrance to inner door.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of IHaremhab, late Dyn. XVIII,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

134 8 -1315

B.C.

40X 38 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate LXXXIII. The colours have

in some places been restored in the copy, but only by repeating

what is still extant. The black, having faded, is shown in its

original strength.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Prisse, L'Art egyptien, i. Architecture, P1. [33], lower. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography,
vol. i, p. 82, bottom.
Tms ceiling pattern from the same tomb fills the entire central
axis between the outer and inner doors. A corner is here seen
bordered by the usual decorative bands. The design is very
effective, the ways in which the motifs are made to fill the spaces
being most ingenious. The grasshoppers, or locusts, exactly fit the
place for which they are chosen, and the bucrania provide a vertical
that aptly counterbalances the strong horizontal of the spirals.
Below these is a conventional column, its capital ending in volutes.
Grasshoppers, if such they be rather than locusts, are found elsewhere in the Theban tombs amidst birds and flowers, but not as
a rule arranged symmetrically. The term bucrania, which we have
employed for convenience, is strictly a misnomer, since we here
have ox-heads with eyes, ears, and skin-markings, not the mere
skulls known as bucrania in treatises on Greek and Roman decora-

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PLATE LXXXIV

tion. One or two more Theban ceilings in which ox-heads occur

are known (e.g. Tomb no. 65), and we have seen them already
on vases brought as the tribute of foreigners (Plates XIV, XXII).
Perhaps the Minoan vase from the tomb of Senmut (Plate XIV)
was the inspiration of the present example, though there only a
small rosette is seen between the horns, whereas here a large floret
completely fills them.

159

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NEW KINGDOM
NINETEENTH DYNASTY

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PLATE LXXXV
THE CULT-IMAGE OF AMENOPHIS I CARRIED
IN PROCESSION
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Amenmose, no. i9; back wall of

hall, right-hand portion.

DATE. Early Nineteenth Dynasty, about 1300 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

68 X 60 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Very finely painted on a smooth ground of

white plaster applied to a good limestone surface.

In photograph, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur

altiigyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, Pl. 119. See also Porter
and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 62, under (5).

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

FROM the tomb of a 'High-priest of Amenophis of the Forecourt'.

His exact date is unknown, but the cult he served and the subjects
chosen for depiction are characteristic of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
The flowing robes, long noses, and elongated skulls are all typically
Ramesside. On the other hand, the unusual fineness of the work
suggests that the dating should be pushed as far back as the other
evidence will allow.
The cult-image of Amenophis I is being borne in procession
from the pylon of his temple. This was a seated figure, and was
probably, like the throne and other appurtenances, ofwood covered
with gold leaf and inlaid with coloured faience. The white dress
may well have been a real linen garment in which the statue was
clothed, and the elaborate collar may also perhaps have been real.
A solar falcon protecting the king with outstretched wings provided the back and sides of the throne, and two others with folded
wings stood near his feet on either side. Smaller falcon-headed
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PLATE LXXXV

creatures in the attitude ofjubilation also form part of the decoration. These are the so-called 'Spirits ofPe' (Buto), and were doubt-

less balanced on the other side by similar jackal-headed figures,

the 'Spirits of Nekhen' (Hierakonpolis). The whole apparently
rested upon a richly ornamented gilt shrine bearing the names of
King Amenophis I, that Pharaoh of the early Eighteenth Dynasty
whose cult was most in vogue at Thebes throughout Ramesside
times. Gilt lions flanked the shrine, and behind them ran carryingpoles resting on the shoulders of two priests at the rear, who were

doubtless balanced, when the picture was intact, by another couple

of priests in front. A priest whose body is depicted as emerging
from behind the pylon, not from the gateway of which in reality
he is not yet quite free, holds over the image a conventionally
drawn and coloured ostrich-feather fan. The gracefully and freely
designed flowers and convolvulus leaves are not carried by the
priests, and perhaps merely rested on the carrying-pole. A second
fan of the same round type (compare Plates LXXVII, LXXVIII)
was perhaps attached to the back of the throne, and fragments of
a third are seen in front of the deified monarch. A single-feather
fan, extended towards the throne, is held by an ownerless hand

protruding from behind the pylon.

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PLATE LXXXVI
SETHOS I WITH REI-HARAKHTI AND PTAH
Abydos, temple of Sethos I; west wall of second
hypostyle court, between the chapels of Re'-Harakhti and Ptah.
DATE. Reign of Sethos I, Dyn. XIX, 1313-I292 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

375 X 260

cm.

Painted upon limestone bas-relief patched in

places with plaster and, in the top left corner, with a block of
sandstone. The only details depending on paint alone, without
relief, are the decorated matting behind Ptah, the coloured bands
of the pillars of his shrine, and the markings of the cobras on
the top of this. The green has faded badly, and in one place has
been darkened by fire. Lost portions of the scene have recently
been replaced by cement.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

None.

Tins picture exemplifies the best style of painted relief as practised

under the kings of the early Nineteenth Dynasty. The beautiful design contrives ingeniously to do honour, not only to the
Pharaoh who built the temple, but also to the two gods outside
whose adjoining chapels the scene is found. The king, kneeling
on the conventionalized alabaster basin , that represents festivals

in hieroglyphic writing, offers to Ptah a cunningly-wrought inlaid

jewel symbolizing millions of Jubilees to be accorded to himself.
This jewel shows the god Heeh, who impersonated 'millions' or
'infinite time', squatting upon the aforesaid alabaster basin and
holding erect in his hands the palm-branches signifying 'years'.
SThe sculptor had erroneously made this into a basket (the hieroglyph o neb), but
the painter subsequently changed it into the correct symbol.

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PLATE LXXXVI

These rest on the tadpole c' and seal o, signs that symbolize
very high numbers, whilst at the top the name of Menmarer
(Sethos I) is protected by the royal cobras or uraei respectively
embodying Upper Egypt, indicated by the flowering rush I
Ptah,
(p. I57), and Lower Egypt, indicated by the papyrus
described in the legend above as 'lord of truth, andfather of the gods
in the House 'of Menmarer', appears to be about to write his assent
to the wish thus offered to him. The pigment to be used for the
purpose is contained in a shell that he holds in his hand. He is
depicted mummy-like as usual, his green complexion suggesting
the pallor of death, and he sits upon a throne within a richly
adorned shrine. The pectoral suspended from his neck again commemorates Menmarer.
Upon the right the falcon-headed sun-god Rr-Harakhti accords
to Sethos I the identical desire, and is already engaged in writing
his assent upon the leaves of a tree, as numerous as the festivals
to which Sethos aspires. The Egyptian name of the tree in question
was ished, and it has been thought to be the lebbakh so common
in Egypt at the present day. Doubtless there was a famous specimen of this tree at Heliopolis, the city where Rr-Harakhti was
worshipped.
Since part ofthe tree passes behind the kneeling figure ofthe king,
the entire composition has acquired a unity which strictly does not
belong to the subject, seeing that two separate acts of two separate

1.

gods are involved.

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PLATE LXXXVII

USERHIET ENJOYS THE COOL OF HIS GARDEN

PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Userhet, no.

51; right-hand

end

wall of hall.
DATE.

Reign of Sethos I, Dyn. XIX, 1313-I292 B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. I60oX 134 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted upon a thin wash of white upon a

mud and straw coating; the rock below is badly disintegrated.

Small portions of the faces of Userhlt and of the goddess have
been restored. The lines for the hieroglyphic inscription have
been ruled, but the hieroglyphs have not been added. The birdlike souls above the two women are unfinished.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In colour, Norman de G. Davies, Two

Ramesside Tombs at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol. v), P1. I.

The entire wall in line, op. cit., P1. IX. See, too, Porter and Moss,
Bibliography, vol. i, p. 83, under (6).
OF the three pictures reproduced in this work from the tomb of
UserhEt, 'High-priestofthe spirit (ka) of Tuthmosis I', the present one
is far the finest. Unfortunately it loses much by the reduction it
has had to undergo. As seen extending across the entire breadth
ofthe wall, it impresses by the boldness of the design, the brilliancy
of the colouring, and the very individual treatment of a theme
popular at the time it was painted. For very different versions of
the same theme see Phlates LXIX and XCIV.
Fact and fancy are here interwoven in the most charming way.
Every Egyptian noble desired to have attached to his tomb-perhaps on the edge of the cultivation a few hundred yards belowa shady garden where he could find refreshment during the
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PLATE LXXXVII

summer heat. Whether Userhet actually possessed such a garden we

can never know, but in imagination he certainly did, and here he
is shown partaking of the luxuries which it offered. The artist's

caprice has depicted in twofold form the essential features of his

conception. Thus the sycamore-fig appears both as a real tree and
also as a goddess standing outside it; elsewhere an indwelling treegoddess is depicted arising out of the trunk (Plate LXIX). In
similar fashion the human beings are not only shown as such, but
also as the bird-like souls which the more fanciful among the Egyptians could see hovering about the tomb or haunting its orchard

in the valley. Here they both flutter in the branches of the fig-tree
and lap up water with human hands beside the T-shaped garden
pool. Contrast the far more prosaic treatment of the same subject
in Plate LXIX. The Eighteenth Dynasty is much more reticent than
the Nineteenth, which seeks to compensate for the decline of sheer
artistic ability by a superabundance of imaginative detail.
The tree-goddess stands at the margin of a small pond. She
wears the archaic close-fitting dress sown with beads that we shall
find again in Plate XCI. Her nature is indicated by a conventionalized tree growing out of her head. In one hand she proffers

for Userht's acceptance a dish of green foliage shaped like the

hieroglyph s- for 'peace-offering', and on this are piled grapes and
figs, a honeycomb, a pomegranate, two white cakes decorated

with seeds, and a bouquet of flowers crowning all. In the other

hand she holds forth a hes-vase on which Userht is drawn in
the act of adoring Osiris. Cooling draughts of water are cleverly

poured from this vase into the goblets to be quaffed by the highpriest and his female companions. These three are seated on inlaid
ebony chairs placed under a leafy fig-tree full of fruit; their feet rest
upon plain footstools ofa lighter wood of which the graining iscarefully rendered. The ladies, as we learn from inscriptions written
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PLATE LXXXVII

upon their arms, are respectively Userht's wife Hatshepsut and

his mother Tawosret. All three personages are elaborately clothed
and bejewelled, and carry the usual cones of ointment upon their
heads. The high-priest wears a pectoral consisting of the auspicious signs for 'stability' ~ and 'life' I which we found being
carved by craftsmen for decorative purposes in Plate LXII. The
slight shading on cheeks and chins is a rare trait that appears for
the first time in the second half of the Eighteenth Dynasty (p.
The dark line to indicate the dimple at the corner of the mouth
was an innovation of the same date. The fruit of the fig-tree is
grouped in clusters as in reality, and the bluish tinge on the trunks
is also true to nature. Three little birds that may be sparrows hop
about among the leaves and peck at the fruit. The larger birds
with human faces are, as previously indicated, the souls (bai) of
the persons depicted. The two above the ladies undoubtedly belong to them. More difficult to explain are the two standing at
the brink of the pool and drinking out of their hands, some of the
water falling back into the pool. One of them must be the soul
of Userhet; not improbably the other is that of his wife. A basket
of cakes and vegetables stands before them. It goes without saying
that the whole scene is funerary in intent, embodying Userhet's
hopes for the thousands of years to be spent in the beyond.

135).

I69

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PLATE LXXXVIII

THE HIGH-PRIEST USERHT

PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Userht, no.

51; back wall of hall,

right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Sethos I, Dyn. XIX, 1313-1292 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 43 X 95 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate LXXXVII.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In colour, with the adjacent figures,

Norman de G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes (Tytus

Memorial Series, vol. v), P1. VIII; the entire wall in line, op.
cit., P1. V. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 83,
under (4).

IT is well known that the kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty and

onwards possessed mortuary temples fringing the cultivation
where it joins the desert on the west side of Thebes. As 'Highpriest of the spirit (ka) of the king Tuthmosis I', Userl.hEt was periodically called upon to appear in ceremonial robes before the shrine
of that deified monarch, and to make offerings to him. It is precisely one of these occasions which is depicted upon the wall
whence the present figure is taken. To the left Tuthmosis I is
displayed under a canopy, his queen
behind him. Between Useryht and the object of his worship is a piled-up table of
offerings, of which a fragment appears to the left of the Plate.
The high-priest wears over his white pleated robe a magnificent
leopard-skin. The markings are so conventional that we may ask
whether the skin was a real one or merely an imitation in cloth.
The circles with five-pointed stars interspersed amidst the minor
markings would certainly be a very imaginative interpretation of

'Ahhotpe

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PLATE LXXXVIII

a real skin, and the cartouches of Sethos I near the right elbow
raise the same question. From Userhet's waist depends a strip of
yellow material, or perhaps of gold, upon which epithets and
names of the reigning king Sethos are inscribed at length. Around
the shoulders is a collar of flower-petals and of beads large enough
to form a cape, and down his back hang long red and yellow
ribbons. Both hands are uplifted in the attitude of praise, and in
one of them is a small altar bearing a duck. Under the frieze at
the top are written the name and office of Userht. The inscription behind his head belongs to his mother, the representation of
whom forms the subject of Plate LXXXIX.

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PLATE LXXXIX
THE MOTHER OF USERHET
Thebes, tomb of Userhet, no. 51; back wall of hall,
right-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Sethos I, Dyn. XIX, 1313-1292 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

45 X

89

cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate LXXXVII. For the various

unfinished details see below.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In colour, with the adjacent figures,

Norman de G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes (Tytus

Memorial Series, vol. v), P1. VIII; the entire wall in line, op.
cit., Pl. V. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 83,
under (4).
THE figure here shown immediately follows the figure ofUserh&
in Plate LXXXVIII. It represents his mother, described in the
hieroglyphic legend as 'the Musician of Amenrasonther, Henuttowe,
justified'. Why Userht's mother bears a different name in Plate
LXXXVII is an unfathomable mystery. In the present picture she
is seen accompanying her son into the temple of his god, to whom
she brings a personal offering of ducks. In the same hand she holds
also a sistrum of gold, together with a menit-counterpoise of which
the unfinished head was to have portrayed the king; for these
objects see above, pp. o102, 126. Henuttowe wears a voluminous
robe of transparent pleated linen, fringed on the one side. Around
her neck is a large collar of flower-petals, or faience imitations
thereof. A fillet of the same kind is attached to her hair by white
cords ending in tassels. Crowning the enormous wig of curls is
a lotus-flower of which the petals have been overlooked by the
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PLATE LXXXIX

painter. Further evidence of his carelessness is provided by the

papyrus-stem that extends upwards as far as her left hand and then
suddenly stops to reappear only above the shoulder. But possibly
in this case the artist may have felt that the stem would have interfered too much with the line of the collar. The swag around the
papyrus umbels bears witness to the over-elaboration characteristic
of the period, but the trail of convolvulus leaves connected with
the papyrus-stem, as well as the vast bouquet of flowers worked
into the shape of a great rankh , the sign of life, testifies to another
more attractive speciality of Ramesside taste, namely, the love of
flowers. Behind HIenuttowe follows, on the original wall, the
figure of Userhet's wife, and an unfinished legend describing her
as 'His sister, the mistress of a house, the Musician of...' is here seen
behind Henuttowe's head.

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PLATE XC
FROM A ROW OF DEITIES BRINGING OFFERINGS
Abydos, temple of Ramesses II; first hypostyle hall,
north wall, lowest register, third figure from right-hand corner.

PROVENANCE.

Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225 B.c.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 67 X 61 cm.
DATE.

Painted relief, partly low and partly sunken.

The outline of the god is deeply cut, but the features and offerings are in slight relief. The details, of which many are lost,
were merely in paint. The sculpture is executed upon limestone
blocks, the defects of which were patched with gypsum plaster.
The blues and greens were coarsely ground and thickly laid on.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

The black has everywhere disappeared, and now shows up as

white; thus on the snake-hieroglyphs of the column on the left,
the white spots now seen upon the yellow were originally black.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

None.

THE lower parts of the walls of Ramesside temples were frequently adorned with panels similar to the one reproduced here.
This comes from a long sequence of deities alternately male and
female, the former carrying cake, fruit, and ducks, and the latter
jars of water. They symbolize different districts or towns of
Egypt, the names of which are written in hieroglyphs over their
heads. Here we have the personification of the town of Dendereh
(called Iunet in Egyptian), and the column of writing to the left
gives the words with which that town is supposed to accompany
its gift: 'Recitation. I am come to the Lord of Diadems, Rarmesse-miamiin,andI bringhim all manneroffood.' The column of hieroglyphs
on the right, which reads: 'Recitation. I am come to the Lord of the
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PLATE XC

Two lands, Usimarer,and I bring him this refreshment', represents the

words of the water-bearing goddess in the adjoining panel.
Such personifications of localities are commonly designated as
'Nile-deities' by Egyptologists, and the name is justified to the
extent that the mode of depiction is that generally accorded to
Harpy, the inundation-god, himself. The flesh-tint isblue to recall
the colour of water, while the wig is green like the papyrus from
the marshes which our present 'Nile-deity' holds in one hand.
The rolls of fat upon the breast symbo ize the abundance produced
by the bounty of the Nile. The golden collar, bracelets, and armlets similarly betoken riches. The piled-up offerings rest upon the
sign .=. for a 'peace-offering'; see Plate LXXXVII. From the arm

that bears them hangs the emblem of 'life' - twice depicted for
reasons of symmetry, and through the centre of the gifts runs the
emblem of 'wealth' 1. The offerings themselves consist of loaves
of different sizes and shapes, ducks, pomegranates, and figs, besides
grapes that have lost their original black. All this was painted
upon a background of green grass or foliage from which the
colour has completely vanished, and as usual the whole is surmounted by a bunch of lotuses.

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PLATE XCI
ISIS CONDUCTS QUEEN NEFRETERE TO
HER TOMB
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Nefretere, no. 66 in the Valley of

the Queens; from the niche at the back of the first chamber,
to the right of the stairway.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-I225 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

120X

197 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. The bad stone of the roughly smoothed walls

was first covered with a layer of buff plaster. Upon this was
laid a coating of white gypsum, in which the scenes are modelled
in slight relief. The bright colours outlined in red or black completely negative the effect of the modelling, which is barely
noticeable until a light is cast upon the wall from the side.
In photograph, E. Schiaparelli, Relazione
sui lavori della missione archeologica italiana in Egitto (anni 1903-

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

1920), vol.i, p. 71, fig. 57. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography,

vol. i, p. 45, under (3).

Tm

gaily painted and well-preserved tomb of Nefretere, the

queen of Ramesses II, is here represented by three characteristic
pictures. In the present one Isis is seen conducting the queen to
her last resting-place; this is to be accorded to her by Khopri, the
beetle-headed god of the rising sun, on the wall immediately
adjoining to the right. The purpose of the scene is explained in
elaborately detailed, though coarsely drawn and coloured hieroglyphs: 'Words spoken by Isis: Come, great royal wife Nefretere, beloved of Mut,justified, that I may give thee a place in the Sacred Land.'
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PLATE XCI

The legend above the queen adds two more epithets-'Lady of the
Two Lands' and justified before Osiris, the greatgod'.
The goddess is clad in a sheath-like red dress covered with a network of beads. Her yellow complexion, contrasting markedly
with the rosy flesh-tint of the queen, is traditional; the appearance
of deities did not change with the times like that of mortals. The
heavy necklace of beads with its counterpoise at the back is the
specially associated with the goddess Hathor
menit-symbol
(p. 126); see above, Plates LIII, LXXXIX. The horns enclosing
the sun which Isis here carries on her head likewise identify her
with that cow-goddess, the daughter of Rr. Queen Nefretere
wears a flowing robe, the transparency of which is well indicated,
and the attractiveness of her face-is heightened by touches of black
in the nostril and at the corner of the mouth, as well as by the
darkened outline of the eye. Conventional shading has been added
to the face and neck and arms by stippling with a darker red; see
above, Plate LXXXVII. The same practice has been adopted for
the queen's figure throughout the entire tomb; another example
occurs in Plate XCII.

&

177

Aa

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PLATE XCII
QUEEN NEFRETERE WORSHIPPING
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Nefretere, no. 66 in the Valley of

the Queens; first chamber, front wall in the corner near the
left-hand wall.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 62 X

B.C.

74 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate XCI, where there is rather

less modelling in the plaster than here. The hieroglyphs are

carelessly executed, and the paint does not always coincide with
the sculptured outline which it should follow. The plaster
is suffering severely through the formation of salt crystals
behind it.
E. Schiaparelli, Relazione
sui lavori della missione archeologica italiana in Egitto (anni 19o3-

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In photograph,

192o), vol. i, p. 51, and again Pl. XIX. For position, see Porter

and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 42, at (I) in the plan.

THIS picture of Queen Nefretere kneeling and worshipping belongs

to the customary vignettes of Chapter XVII of the Book of the
Dead, the text of which is written in vertical columns below it.
The hieroglyphs seen in the Plate constitute one of the two
colunms written beside the Queen. These serve merely to declare
her name and position, and read: 'The Osiris, the great royal wife,
Lady of the Two Lands, Nefretere beloved of Mut,justified before Osiris,
the great god, lord of the West.' The hands upraised in adoration
conform to the gesture always employed in worshipping the sungod in the early morning. Nefretere here wears the same flowing
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PLATE XCII

and transparent white dress that was seen in Plate XCI, and the
same rosy flush heightens her flesh-colour. The two feathers are,
however, absent from her low crown, and the bracelets and earornament are different.

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PLATE XCIII
THREE VIGNETTES
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Nefretere, no. 66 in the Valley of

the Queens; first chamber, left-hand wall.

DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX,

1292-1225 B.C.

cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XCI.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In photograph, E. Schiaparelli, Relazione
sui lavori della missione archeologica italiana in Egitto (anni 19o3DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

I03 X 75

vol. i, PI. XX. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography,

vol. i, p. 45, under (2).
1920),

Tins Plate shows three separate vignettes, or parts of vignettes,

intended, like the picture in Plate XCII, as illustrations of Chapter
XVII of the Book of the Dead, the text of which is written in
vertical columns beneath them. Of the three, only the central
figure of the heron is complete in itself: In the treatment of this
finely painted bird the sculptor and the painter were at variance,
as may be seen from a careful examination of the details of our
reproduction. The heron here depicted was called Boinu by the
Egyptians, and from its name and legend the Greeks derived their
myth of the imperishable Phoenix. The actual words of the text
here illustrated are: 'I am that great Heron which is in Heliopolis,
supervisor of what is and what has been.'
The lion to the left is one of two heraldically disposed back to
back, having between them the sign rg representing the sun
arising from the eastern mountains. The entire group symbolizes
an earth-god named Aker, one of the lions being the emblem of
yesterday, and the other the emblem of to-morrow. Above their
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PLATE XCIII

heads the sky - is shown. The highly conventional rendering

of the mane and skin is extremely decorative, and the strength and
dignity of the animal are conveyed to a remarkable degree.
The bird to the right is drawn exactly like the falcon of Horus,
but is proved both by its colour and by the generic name edjret
usually given to it to be a kite. According to tradition two kites
stood and mourned at opposite ends of the bier on which lay the
murdered Osiris, and those who had power to read the truth
behind appearances knew that they were Isis and Nephthys respectively. In our Plate only Nephthys is shown, and the hieroglyphs Y giving this name are placed upon her head. The
rendering of the feathers, though conventional, shows what excellent work could still be done by the best artists of a decadent
period.

28I

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PLATE XCIV

KENRO AND HIS WIFE IN THEIR GARDEN

Thebes, tomb of Neferronpe, also called Kenro,
no. 178; front wall of hall, left-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-I225 B.c.

PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

6I X 46 cm.

Painted upon a very thin wash of plaster over

limestone walls. The colours have faded to a great extent,
especially the green and the black.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In photograph, W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur
TECHNICAL DETAILS.

altdgyptischen Kulturgeschichte, Ist part, P1. 170. For the position

in the tomb see Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. I51,
under (I).

THE subject of this painting is the same as that of Plate LXXXVII,

but the treatment is very different, being far inferior alike in conception and in execution. Whereas there the souls of the tombowner and his wife in bird-like form lap up water from the garden
pool out of their hands, here the same act is performed by Kenro
and his wife in person. Some of the water trickles back through
their fingers into the pool. Characteristically Ramesside is the
effect of the limbs showing through the folds of the long dresses.
Pigeons are nesting amid the branches of the date-palms, and one
bird pecks at the fruit. Of the three trees, one is a small one, but
the other two carry bunches of dates in various stages of maturity.
The curious device of interrupting the trunks in order to exhibit

the whole of the T-shaped pool is interesting; since the pool takes
precedence of the trees, perhaps the latter were intended to be in
the background. The fish merely shimmer through the ripples of

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PLATE XCIV

the water. The inscription written in red and blue hieroglyphs

on the usual papyrus-like yellow background of the period reads
as follows: 'O Osiris, Scribe of the treasury of the estate of Amien,
Kenro, justified, mayst thou drink water from the pool of thy digging.
His sister, the mistress of a house, the Musician of Amiin, Mutemuia.'

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PLATE XCV
KENRO PLAYS A GAME OF HAZARD
Thebes, tomb of Neferronpe, also called Kenro,
no. 178; left-hand wall of the hall.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 40 X 43 cm.
PROVENANCE.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under

Plate XCIV.

None. For plan of the tomb, see Porter

and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 15o.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

IN its general style, inferior workmanship, and defective state of

preservation this picture closely resembles Plate XCIV from the
same tomb. The subject is again connected with the life after
death, where the Egyptians hoped to enjoy the same diversions
and pleasures as when they were still alive. Here Kenro is seen indulging in a game which has distinct affinities with backgammon.
He sits within an arbour of papyrus-stems bound together, the
roof being supported in front by a wooden column. Below is a
mat of papyrus, upon which stand the chairs occupied by himself
and his wife. Their feet rest upon smaller mats. The lady Mutemuia seems content with a passive part and watches her husband's
play with affectionate interest. She has the usual fillet of flowers
and cone of unguent upon her head, and beneath her chair a cat
with a collar gnaws a bone. Kenro lacks his wife's adornments,
but perhaps only for want of space. The playing-board, of which
the upper surface is displayed to the spectator, stands on a high
table decorated with a garland. Five taller and four shorter pieces
stand on the board, and the former are exactly like those used in
the modern game of halma. Kenro balances on the top of his
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PLATE XCV

finger a knuckle-bone which he is about to toss into the air.' In

the left hand he holds the sekhem-sceptre (compare Plate LXI)
indicative of his official rank. The hieroglyphs appear to have
read: '[Mayst thou sit] in the arbour and play so as to pass; mayst thou
have enjoyment of wine and enjoyment of beer, [thou Scribe of the
treasury of the estate of Amin], Kenro.' Then follow the name and
titles of the wife.
' A game played with a board, tall and short pieces as here, and two knuckle-bones was
found in the tomb ofTutrankhamiin; see H. Carter, The Tomb of Tut-ankh-amen, vol. iii,
Pl. xlii, B.

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PLATE XCVI
FISHING WITH A DRAW-NET
Thebes, tomb of Ipy, no. 217; front wall of hall,
right-hand portion.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225 B.c.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

83 X 27 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted over a yellow wash applied to a

coarse plaster of mud and straw.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. The entire context in

line,

Norman de

G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes (Tytus Memorial

Series, vol. v), P1. XXX; the complementary boat on the right
in colour, op. cit., P1. XXXV. See also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 157, under (5).
THE tomb of the sculptor Ipy, who lived in the reign of Ramesses II, has yielded us four Plates. Probably the artistic proclivities
of the tomb-owner prompted him to secure for himself the services of a painter of exceptional ability. Be this as it may, the
pictures of his tomb are of remarkable liveliness of design, and the
good preservation of the colours has made it a specially valuable
source to draw upon for the illustration of Ramesside art.
We begin with a fishing scene. A large net has been cast into
the water between two boats. The catch has been good, and the
fishermen have already begun to draw in the net. The papyrus
bushes near the boat on the right, of which only a little is seen in
our Plate, prove the scene to have been the shallow marshes, not
the Nile itself. The net is kept to the surface by means of floats.
The boats are constructed, as usual, out of short planks. There are
five men in each. In the boat here shown, two men paddle with

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PLATE XCVI

oars and the rest are engaged each in his own special task. Besides
the man manipulating the net, there is another who attends to
the rudder, and in the stern the head fisherman gives instructions
and signals to the boat opposite. Dealing with peasants, the artist
felt himself less trammelled by conventions than when depicting
his masters, and the men here and in the neighbouring scenes have
all the appearance of country-folk.

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PLATE XCVII
FISHMONGERS
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Ipy, no. 217; right-hand wall of

hall.
DATE.

Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225 B.C.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

63 X 35 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate XCVI. The strong yellow

background is common at this period in the same locality. The

workmanship is rough, but original.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In line, with the entire context, Norman
de G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes (Tytus Memorial
Series, vol. v), Pl. XXXVII; the adjoining portion to the left in
colour, op. cit., P1. XXXIX. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 157, under (4).

THE tomb of Ipy is prolific in scenes

connected with fish. In

Plate XCVI we witnessed fishing in the marshes from boats. Here,
in a picture taken from the neighbouring wall, we find illustrated
fishing with the seine from the land, and this is accompanied on
the right by depictions of fishmongers preparing the catch for
domestic use or for the market. The young man at the head of
those drawing in the rope turns upon his companion, a meek old
man with sparse white hair, and throws in his face words more
likely to be objurgation than encouragement. A distinct tinge of
caricature pervades the entire scene. To the right, one person is
bringing a bag of fish, and another person emptying a second
such upon the ground. The head-dress of the latter might seem to
indicate a woman, but just such coifs are worn by the certainly
male winnowers in Plate LI. Farther to the right, 'the fisherman
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PLATE XCVII

Nia', of whom nothing is left but a hand with its knife, slits
open a fish on a sloping wooden board. Other fish that have been
similarly treated lie out in the sun to dry. The whole scene takes
place near or beneath a couple of acacias (see Plate IX), such as
are frequently seen nowadays on the banks of canals. The pods,
some green and others already turned to black, are well shown,
but the feather-like leaves have been conventionalized with thick
strokes of the brush.

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PLATE XCVIII
VINTAGE SCENE
PROVENANCE. Thebes, tomb of Ipy, no. 217; front wall of hall,

right-hand portion.
Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 66 X 45 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. See under Plate XCVI. The greens have been
DATE.

laid on very thickly, and have frequendy cracked and flaked

away, showing the underlay of yellow beneath.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS. In colour, Norman de G. Davies, Two
Ramesside Tombs at Thebes (Tytus Memorial Series, vol. v),
P1. XXXIII; the entire wall in line, op. cit., P1. XXX. See, too,
Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p.
under (5).

157,

PEASANTs are here busily gathering grapes and treading out the
juice in what appears to be a large stone trough. A line of berries
marks the top of the piled-up fruit, and the men keep their balance,
as they move their feet up and down, by holding cords suspended
from a wooden bar erected above the press. Beside the trough are
seven jars already filled; these are sealed with the mud stoppers
often found in excavations and bearing the year and the place of
the vintage. The men who are gathering the fruit appear to be
picking individual grapes rather than bunches, but this can hardly
have been intended. The baskets used for the purpose are doubtless of wickerwork. The leaves of the vine are much more
naturalistically rendered than in Eighteenth Dynasty examples of
the subject (Plates XXVIII, XLVIII). The names of the individual
workers were written beside them, but the black hieroglyphs have
become nearly invisible. One name, 'the servant Men', is alone
legible.
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PLATE XCIX
YOUNG GIRL WITH A DUCK
Thebes, tomb of Ipy, no. 217; left-hand wall of the
hall, in the corner near the back wall.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-I225 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL. 29 X 73 cm.
TECHNICAL DETAILS. As under Plate XCVI.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In a coloured reproduction of the entire
scene, Norman de G. Davies, Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes
(Tytus Memorial Series, vol. v), P1. XXIV; a photograph
showing the position, op. cit., P1. XXII, A.
PROVENANCE.

Tins is a detail of the scene in which Ipy and his wife are shown
making burnt-offering before Osiris, king of the dead, and Hathor,
lady of the West. The figure of Ipy's little daughter is outlined
against her mother's long white gown. She is clad in festal attire,
with a fillet of petals and the cone of unguent upon her head.
A collar of petals encircles her neck. The head is partly shaven,
but long tresses hang down over either shoulder. The little bead
bangles are drawn in more natural positions than is usual. In one
hand she holds a duck in the manner customary throughout the
Orient, and in ithe other a single stem of papyrus around which
are entwined the leaves of some other plant. Some awkwardness
is occasioned by the lower line of her dress coinciding with that
of her mother, and by the feet being on the same level. The hieroglyphs describe her as 'His daughter Imemhab, justified'. The epithet justified' usually signified that a person was dead, but seems
sometimes to have been used carelessly without any such intention.

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PLATE C
KING RAMESSES H
Thebes, tomb of Nakhtamiin, no. 341; back wall
of first chamber, right-hand side.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II, Dyn. XIX, 1292-I225 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

31 X

69 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted over a thin wash of white upon a

coarse layer of buff plaster covering a badly prepared surface of

mud and straw.

In photograph, Mitteilungen d. deutsch.
Institutsf. ig. Altertumskunde in Kairo, vol. iv, P1. XXVIII, a. See
also Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 182.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

FROM a not long since discovered tomb of a 'Chief of the Altar in

the House of Rarmesse', i.e. in the Ramesseum. The scene is one
in which Nakhtamiin presents offerings to Osiris, the green-clad
shoulder and usual insignia of whose seated figure are just descried
to the right. Behind Osiris stands king Ramesses II, and behind
him again are seen parts of the elaborately decorated column of
the shrine embracing both the god of the dead and the deified
king. Ramesses is in his full regalia with mace and crook, the blue
khepresh-crown upon his head and three red ribbons instead of the
usual two hanging from the crown. Over the long pleated and
fringed dress he wears a large collar, a belt, and an elaborate sporran, all depicted as though of gold and inlay. Unusual features
are the unshaven appearance of the face and the slightly reddened
lips. As a rule only peasants are shown with unshorn chins, but
a fragment in the British Museum of about the same period depicts
a noble obviously in course of growing a beard.
The style of the picture is crude, but it possesses vigour and
exhibits some unusual details.
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PLATE CI

DUCKS AND PIGEONS IN A CEILING PATTERN

Thebes, tomb of Raya, no. i59; ceiling of the hall.
DATE. Reign of Ramesses II (?), Dyn. XIX, 1292-1225 B.C.
PROVENANCE.

DIMENSIONS OP ORIGINAL. 72 X 38 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin layer of white plaster over

a coating of mud and straw filling up the inequalities of the

rock. The greens have eaten away the plaster beneath them,
leaving merely the contours.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION. In line, Marquis of Northampton, W.

Spiegelberg, and P. E. Newberry, Report on some Excavations in

the Theban Necropolis, p. 9.
Tins ceiling pattern is taken from the tomb of a 'Fourthpriest of
Amiin' whose exact date is unknown. The style of the paintings,
however, points unmistakably to the Nineteenth Dynasty. The
execution is bold and free, and the type of decoration is very
different from that of the other ceiling patterns reproduced in this
work (Plates LXXXIII, LXXXIV, CIV). Ceilings with flying
ducks are not uncommon in the Nineteenth Dynasty (see tombs
nos. 3I and 65), but elsewhere they are treated more conventionally. There are, indeed, but very few ceiling patterns that
show so free a treatment. Whereas the designs of the Eighteenth
Dynasty are usually repeating patterns based on geometrical
figures, here we have balance without monotony, though conceived on an unsymmetrical plan. The effect of the whole has lost
much through the perishing of the greens, of which there was also
a dark variety now faded to a mere stain.

193

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PLATE CII
AMENNAKHTE WORSHIPS BENEATH A DYM PALM
PROVENANCE.

Thebes, tomb of Amennakhte, no. 218; on front

wall of the vaulted chamber, right-hand portion.

DATE. Reign of Ramesses II (?), Dyn. XIX, 1292-I225 B.C.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

8I (at bottom) x145 cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin coat of white over a layer

of mud and straw. A fire has been lit in the tomb at some
period, and this has blackened the water at the top, as well as
the palm-leaves, and has changed the white of the garments into
cream.
PREVIOUS PUBLICATION.

None.

Tins remarkable picture well illustrates the style of the tombs at

Der el-Medina, that quarter of Western Thebes where the workmen of the Royal Tombs lived and were buried. The work is
large, bold, and careless, with no refinements of detail. The background of these tombs is almost invariably yellow.
Two similar representations occupy the entrance-wall of the
small vaulted tomb-chamber, corresponding closely to one another and almost heraldically conceived. Here, to the left from
the spectator's standpoint, Amennakhte kneels in humble attitude
face to the ground, embracing as he does so a dulm palm (called
by the Egyptians mama) with large bunches of fruit. The tree,
explicitly called a dulm in the inscription, lacks the bifurcated trunk
characteristic of that species. In nature the nuts are of an irregular
oval shape, and have a very hard shell; in fact they resemble nothing
so much as potatoes hanging in bunches. Below is a canal or pool
which continues, after the interruption of the doorway, below the
'94

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PLATE CII

pendant to this scene on the right. In that complementary scene

his wife prays in exactly the same attitude, but the tree towering
above her is a date-palm, not a dam. The pool of which a portion
appears at the top of the Plate is not really relevant to the present
picture. Of the descriptive text four short lines are not here visible.
The whole reads: 'A spellfor drinking water beside a dim palm beside
the feet of the god Min: Homage to thee, who comest forth from thy
shadow, thou sole god who growest from the soil of the earth, and at
whose root water is put! Moisten the heart of the Osiris Amennakhte.'
The little lady seen at the left is introduced to us as 'the great
favourite of Hathor Henutmelhyt, born of Tentniib'. She forms part of
the scene on the adjacent wall. Artists at this period were indifferent as to the boundaries of their pictures, these frequently
running on from wall to wall.'
SSuch was the case with the picture of which one figure is seen in Plate XCIX.

195

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NEW KINGDOM
TWENTIETH DYNASTY

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PLATE CIII
ISIS GREETS RAMESSES III AND HIS SON
Thebes, tomb of Amenkhopshef, no. 55 in the
Valley of the Queens; back wall of hall, left-hand portion.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of Ramesses III, Dyn. XX,

DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

TECHNICAL DETAILS.

I198-1167 B.C.

20I X 172 cm.

Painted on cream plaster. The outlines are

in slightly sunken relief and the further details are in relief.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

In photograph, E. Schiaparelli, Relazione

sui lavori della missione archeologica italiana in Egitto (anni 19o21930), vol. i, p. 148, fig. 108. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 44, under (5).
IN this picture we pass to the Twentieth Dynasty, when there still
existed careful painters who could do elaborate work, but not
without succumbing to the degenerate taste of the times. Here
the colours are crude, especially the unpleasant yellow complexion
of the goddess and the harsh blue throughout.
The tomb of Amenkhopshef was made by Ramesses III for his
son and heir, who, if we may judge from the relative proportions
of father and son in this picture, was twelve or thirteen years of
age when he died. The king occupies a more important position
in the tomb than the boy himself, who appears in the guise of a
fan-bearer attending upon his sovereign. Here the goddess 'Isis
the great, mistress of the West', leads Ramesses III to her western
domain, perhaps to find a tomb for his little son; she speaks the

words, 'I give to thee the lifetime of Rer and the years of Atum'.
Amenkhopshef is described as follows: 'The hereditaryprince, chieftain of the Two Lands, the king's son of his body beloved of him, born
198

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PLATE CIII

of the great royal wife, lady of the lands, the royal Scribe and Overseer
of the horses of the Place of Usimar&r-miamin, the royal son Amenkhopshef,justified.'
The king is magnificently clad in a corselet decorated with
swathing falcons' wings crossed over a transparent linen shirt. He
has a belt and sporran not unlike those seen in Plate C, and many
ribbons flow from his waist. His skirt appears to consist of faience
plaques sown on linen as in the garments found in the tomb of
Tutrankhamiin. These must have been very difficult to wear,
having the rigidity of a coat of mail coupled with far greater
fragility. His name is carved upon the belt. The prince has the
side-lock worn by youths of royal birth, and wears a simpler and
more attractive robe tied with four tasselled cords; four long ribbons flutter from beneath the belt. He carries the usual singlefeather ostrich fan mounted on a gold handle. Above the entire
picture is the decorative border of 0-ornaments known as the
kheker-pattern.
An unusual detail is the employment of yellow ochre to give
prominence to the brighter parts of the limbs and features of the
king and his son. For the goddess, having to be depicted in more
traditional fashion, no use is made of such an ultra-modern device.
In point of fact, the attempts to bring out the effect of modelling,
whether in plaster or in paint, are almost thrown away in the dark
recess where the picture was found.

199

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PLATE CIV
CEILING PATTERNS
Thebes, tomb of Nespneferhor, no. 68; right-hand
bay of hall, towards the back.

PROVENANCE.

DATE. Reign of the high-priest Herihr or not much earlier,

Dyn. XXI, about IIoo-o090o B.c.
DIMENSIONS OF ORIGINAL.

84X 64

cm.

TECHNICAL DETAILS. Painted on a thin wash of white above a layer

of coarse brown mud and straw.

PREVIOus PUBLICATIONS.

The border in colour, J quier, La Dicora-

tion 6gyptienne, Pl. XL; the repeating pattern in colour, op. cit.,
P1. XXX. See, too, Porter and Moss, Bibliography, vol. i, p. 97.
THE tomb whence this ceiling pattern with its border was taken
has been usurped from an unknown owner by the 'Chief of the
temple scribes of the estate ofAmiin', Nespneferhr, who appears to
have lived under the first ruler of the Priest-kings at Thebes. The
previous possessor can, from the style of his paintings, hardly have
been much earlier. The ceiling of each of the bays is bisected
longitudinally by a yellow band bearing a polychrome inscription
partly painted out. On either side of this yellow band are rectangles of different repeating patterns edged by borders set back to
back with an intervening shorter yellow band with blue margin.
Part of one of these rectangles is here illustrated. The repeating
pattern consists of bunches of grapes and vine-leaves alternately.
The brilliantly coloured border consists of lotus-blooms separated
by various fruits and flowers, amongst which pomegranates and
grapes are alone clearly recognizable.

200

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I. GENERAL INDEX
Technical details mentioned in the descriptions of the Plates are included
only where supplementary to the discussion in the Introduction.
Acacia, 22, 100, 132,
Adze, 15, 119.
Aker, god, i 8o.

Bitch, 35.
Black accentuating features, xxv.

189.

Alterations to first design, 30, 58,

109,

18o.

Amenrasonther, god, 172.

137.

Amen-Rey, god, 28,

Amphorae, 51, 60, 73.
Amiin, god, 40, 41, 67, 76, 77, 102,
126, 130, 148, 155; goose of, 63, 95,
106, 126.

rAnkh, 15, 173.

Anser albFons, 4, 17.
Anser erythropus, 4.
Anserfabalis, 5.
Anubis, god, 28.

Block border, 40, 42,45,57.

Boats, 10, 5 94,
125, 186.
Boundary-stela, 130.
Bouquet, 46, 123, 168, 173.
Bow, 17, 53, 147.
Bow-case,

io8,

85.

Bow-drill, 15.
Box for writing-materials, 1o1, 128.
Bracelets, 102, 111, ii8, 134, 151, 175,
'79.
Branta ruficollis, 5.
Brazier, 60.
Bronze, 5i.

Archer's bracer, 147.

Ardea cinerea, 43.
Aromatic fat, 98.

Brushes, xxxii, xxxiii.

Bubo ascalaphus, 17.
Bucrania, 33, 48,
Bull, 48, 67, 71, 859 114, 151.
Bull's head, Minoan, 47; as vase-

Arrows, 15, 17, 147.

Axe, 15.

Bull's tail worn

Arbour, 63, 184.

158.

stopper, 51.

Baboons, 18, 19.

Backgrounds, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xxxix,
xl.
Balance, 119.
Baldachin, 30, 31, 110.
Banquet,

38,

74, 76,

56,

116,

134.

Baskets, 36, 47, 70, 73, 88, 118, 131,

169, 190.

Basket-work,

15,

Beads, 48, 50, 51,

37.
57, 75, 81, 82, 100,

102, 141, 171, 177, 191.

by king, 29.

Butchers, 98.
Butterfly, 43, 95, 126.
Cabin of ship, 7, 109, 121, 154, 155.
Cakes, 168.
Calf, 7,9, 66, 67, 89.
Capstan, 7.
Caricature, 9o, 188.
Carnelian, 36, 151.
Ca enteig outfit, 15.

Caskets,
Cat, 58,

loo.

117, 126,

184.

(?)tails worn by Nubians,

112, 153.

Bean-goose, 5.

Cats'

Bed, 139.

829,919

Cattle, 67.
Cattle-boats, 8.

Bee, 17, 70.

Bees-wax, xliii
Bird-catchers, 96.
Birds' nests, 95,

100o,

Ceiling

patterns,

193,9 200.

126.

156, 157, 158, 159,

Rntl
20I

oi.uchicago.edu

GENERAL INDEX
Censer, 136.
Chairs, 58, 72, 74,
184.
Chariot, io,
153.

117,

138,

168,

131, 146, 147, 148, 152,

138.

Chests, ii8,
Chisels, 15, 119.
Clap-net, 22, 96.
Cloth, 47, 50.
Coffins, 14, 16.
Collars, III, 118, 126, 162, 171, 172,
175, 191, 192.

Colouring, xxiv; freedom of, xxx,

xxxix; schemes of, xxxiv, xxxv,
xxxviii, xxxix.
Colours, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xxxiv, xxxv,
xxxvii if.; application of, xxiii,
xxxiii; changes of, xlv, xlvi.
Cones from tombs, 123.
Convolvulus, 63, 173.
Coot, 96.
Corn, 73, 100, 101.

Cretans,

5o.

Crocodile, II.
Crowns worn by women,
Cucumber,
Cup, 48.
Cynocephalus anubis, 19.
Cynocephalus babuin, ig.

73.

Dates, 75,

Dress; of Egyptian men, 17, 70, 72,

109, 162, 170, i88; of women, 72,

126,

172,

of king, 28, 29, III,

191;

19;

162, 192, 199; of queen, 177, 179;

of prince,
of goddess, 177; of
Cretans,
47, 48, 50; of Nubians,

33,

81,

151, 153;

91, 112,

104, 105.

134.

55, 132, 182,9195.

182.

88,

95, 96,

mourn-

106, 126,

132,

Eagle owl, 17.

Ear-rings, 75, 81, 82, 102, 126, 151,
153, 179.

Ebony, 36, 168.

Egret (Egrettagarzetta), 43.
Eighteenth Dynasty, xx, xxiv, xxv.
Emotion, depiction of, 121.
Erasures, 28, 29, 40, 57, 70, 95, 99, 106.

Erniltet, goddess, 6o.

Falcon, 162.
False beard, 28.
Fan-bearers, 63,

Daughters of Akhenaten, 140.

Deck on papyrus boat, 10, 94, 125.
Desert, 64.

115,
Farmers,

Design, xxv, xxxiv, xxxv.

Figs, 19, 100, 168, 175.

Fig-tree, 18, 168, 169.

Destruction

of Semites,

24, 26, 47, 53, 84, 113, 115;

ug, 121, 123, 137.

55,

Daggers, 15.
Daily meal, 72.
Date-palm,

Dragon-fly, 95.
Drawing, xxix if.
Draw-net, 186.

171, 172, 175, 191, 193.

Dflm palm,
68,
194.

Dafila acuta, 17.

Dancers, 77,

Dowels, 17.

Drum, 93.
Ducks, 17, 23, 87,

119.

32, 47, 48,

18,

Drills, 15.

Cornflower, 114.
Corn-measures, 101.

Cows, 67, 85.

Craftsmen, i 8,

Difficulties of Egyptian painter, xli,

xliv.
Distemper, xxxi.
Distortion of human form,
21, 24,
z6.
Dog-collar, 35.
Dogs, 35, 63, 65, 149.
Donkey, 26.
Dovecote, 87.

in tombs, xliv if.

Fans,

III,

III, 147.
139, 163, 199.

128.

202

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GENERAL INDEX

Fishmongers,
Footstool, 168; foreigners as king's, 63.
Fourth Dynasty, xix, xxii.

Hieroglyphs, xxiii, xxv, xxxvi, xxxix,

16, 17, 31, 40, 57, 63, III, 176, 183.
High
marked, xli.
Hippopotamus,4.
Hittites, 47.
Honeycombs, 70, 168.

Fowling,

Hoopoe, 23.

57, 75, 121, 134,

Fish, ii, 106, 126, i82,
Fillet,

172,

184, 191.

8.

lights

Fishing, 10, Io6, 186.

188.
4

1o,

106,

125.

Fox, 65, 66.

Fresco, xxxi.
Frog, io.
Full-face representation, xxx, xxxi.
Funerary rites, 54, 122. 123.

Horses, 101, 131, 147, 153, 154.

Hull, 7,60, 154.

Hunting scene, 64, 66.

Game on board, 184.

Garden, 54 132, 167, i68, 182.
Gazelles, 21.
Gab, god, 17, 135.
Geese, 4, 5, 17, 63, 95, 106, 126, 128,
129.

Gesso,
Giraffe,

146.
15.

Gleaners, 100, 101.

Gold, 33, 36, 49, 51, 53, 68, 84, 85, 86,
102,

ii8,

119,

126,

151,

162,

171,

172, 175, 192.

Goldsmith's work, 68, 86.

Gouache, xxxi.
Granaries, 14.
Grapes, 59, 60, 68, 70, 75, 88, 98, 103,
168, 175, 200.
Grasshoppers, 10,

158.

Gypsum, 28, 176.

Hands all depicted as right hands,
HIarpy, god, 175.

13 8.

Ibex, 21, 65, 78, 86.

Incense, 98.
Inlay, 33, 47, 68, 85, 87, III, 118, 119,
162, 192.

Iris of eyes, 24.

Ished-tree, 165.
Isis, goddess, 176, 177, 181, 198.
Ivory, 36, $1, 151.

Jackal, 66.
Jugs, 53, 138.
Kheker-parern, 199.
Khepresh-crown, xlii,
Khopri, god, 176.
Kingfisher, 144.
Kite, 181.
Knife,

68, 10,

15 v

61.

Lanius colurio, 23.

Lanius nubicus, 23.

85.

Lapis lazuli,
Lapwing, 42, 43.

Hare, 66, 78.

Harp, 38, 77.

Lasiopyga pygerythra, 68.

Harvest, 99, 100, 101, 130.

Hathor, goddess, 102, 104, 126, 177,

reins, 53.
Lebbakh-tree, 165.

Leather network kilt, 91,

Lector-priest,

191.

192.

100, 109;

55, 136, 137.

Leopard-skin, 36, 77, 151, 170.

Life, symbol of, 15, 118, 169, 173,
Lily, 68, 156.
Linen bands, 15
Line-work, xxiv.
Lion-hunt, 146.

Head-rest, 13 9.

kHel, god, 164.

Helmets, 53.
Herakleopolite Dynasty, xix.
18o.
Herons, 43, 95, 106,
Heterbranchus bidorsalis, i i.

1126,

VDal

203

175.

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GENERAL INDEX
Nems, object wrapped in linen bands,

Lions, 30, 31, 163, 18o.

Lips, reddened, 192.
Loaves, 55, 73, 109, 17$Lotus, 55, 57, 63, 69, 70,

Is.

72, 73, 75,

102, 103, 107, 109, 114, 117, 119,

12$,

136, 144,

126, 134,

157, 172,

175, 200.

Lotus nymphaea,

ii.

Neobola argenta,
Nephthys, goddess, 181.
Nets, 22, 96, 186.
'Nile-deity' 175.
Nineteenth Dynasty, xxi, xxv.
Nubians, 81, 82, 90, 93, 147,

125.

Lute, 39, 77.

Maret, goddess, 119, 137.

125.

Malachite, 36.
Mallet, 6i.

Nyiphaea coerulea,

Mandrake, 63, 114, 132.

Marsh-goddess, II, 94, 126.
Mast, 7, 8, 154.
Mat, 58, 72, 98, 118, 184.
Matting, 8, 17.

Oarsmen, 7, 109, 120.

Ochre, 36.
Offering-bearers, 70, 78, 88, 98,
136,

Mimosa, 23.
Min, god, 195.
Minoan tribute, 32, 47, 48, 49, 50,
5I.
Mirror, i15.

36, 68.

Moth,

154.

43.

Ointment-jar,

121,

137.

Mud depicted, 4,

Mud seals, 60.

Mules, 131.

60, 132,

144.

128, 170.

138.

117, 123, 126, 134,

72,

75, 77,

4, 191.

Old Kingdom, xix, xxii, xxiii.

Onions, 73.
Onnophris, god, io8.
Opening the Mouth, 123.
Oryx, 21, 65.

Osiris,

Mud-brick buildings, 14.

Mud coating on walls, xxv, xxxiv.

15,

Ointment on head, 39, 57,

Mourners, 54,

120, 121, 137, 138.

Mourning dress,
123,

102,

174.

Oil-jars, 72.
Ointment-horn, 53, 85.

126, 172, 177.

Montju, god, 6o,

139,

88.

Middle Kingdom, xx, xxiii, xxiv.

Modelling, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xli..

138,

Offering-table,5, 63, 73,

Officers of household,

Meat, joints of, 73.

Monkeys,

152,

Nubian tribute, 36.

Nurse of king, 62, 63.
Nut, goddess, 147.

Lyre, 26, 57, 77.

Menit, 104,

150,

154.

god, 109, 123, 168, 178, 18i,

192.

Ostrich eggs, 36, 78; feathers, 36, 78,

III, 112, 151, 152, 163, 199.
Outlines, xxiv, xxv, xxxiv, xxxvff.
Owl, 17.
Ox, 98, 101, 152.
Ox-head weight, 1ig.

Mummies, 122, 123.

Musicians, 38, 569 57, 76, 134.

Necklaces, 102, 119.
Negro dancer, 82.
Negroes, 82, 112.
Nems head-dress, 28.

Painters, xliv, xlv.

Painting, materials and implements

for, xxxii; methods of, xxxiii; nature
of, xxxi.
Palettes, xxxii, 14, 100, 101, 119, 128,
138.

204

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GENERAL INDEX

137, 177.

Palm branches, 164.

Rer, god,

Panniers, 81, Io.

Reapers,

Papyrus-blossoms, 87.
Papyrus-head, 68.
Papyrus-reeds, 42, 44, 60, 61, 96, i06,
126, 132, 144, I86; arbour of, 63,
184; boats of, 10, 94, 125; shelters
of, 100, 101.
Papyrus-roll, 55, 128.

Red-breasted goose, 5.
Redstart, 23.
Reed symbolic of Upper Egypt, xis.

55,89,

Papyrus-stems,
103, 136, 173,
191; symbolic of Lower Egypt, 115,
165.

Poppies, 89,

168,

182, 194,

114, 132.

Procession to tomb,
Ptah~, god,

135,

136.

164, 165.

Pylon, 163.
Quail, 42.
Quail chick, 16.
Quiver, 53.
Rams head, 130, 154.
Raven, 100.
Razor, 15.

119, 151; on

Rushes, 4, 5, 44, 60,

182,

Pottery, 33.
Priests, 55,1io8, 123, 136, 137, 163, 170.
Priming, xxiii.

5o,85.

165.

fingers,

Rope, 61.
Rope-making, 60, 61.
Royal favourites, 104.

'93.
Pin-tailed duck, 17, 87, 88, 106, 126.
Pipes, double, 39, 57, 77.
Plaster, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xxxi, xxxiv,
xxxv, xlii, xliii.
Platter, 48, 53, 151.
Plectrum, 26, 39, 77.
Ploughing, I100.
Pomegranates, 88, 103, 168, 175, 200.
Poo1 in garden, 55, 13 2,
'95.

Reins, 53.
Relief, xxxix, xlii.
Restorations, xvii.
Rhyton,
134.

168,17

145,

R&-Harakhti, '5 5,164,

Rings of gold, 36,

Peace-offering, sign for,

Pegs for rope-making, 60, 61.
Pelicans, 83.
Perspective, xxix, xxx.
Per-wr, palace of Upper Egypt, 16.
Phoenicurusphoenicurus, 23.
Pigeons, 87, 98, 100, 144,

100, 101.

157, 165.

Saddle-cloth, 26.
Sail, 7, 8.
Sailors, 8.
Sand, 64.
Sandals,

26,

138.

Satchel,
Saws,

139.
iS.

Scarab,

119.

Screen, 22.

Scribes, 100,
Sedge, 55

128.

101,

Sekhem-sceptre, 15,
Semites, 24, 26;

'Syrians'.
Setn-priest, io8.
Serving-maids,
Seth, god, 147.

185.

117,

see also under

57, 75.

Shading, xxiii, xxv, xl, xli.

Shelters of papyrus, 100, 101.
Shields, 149.
Ships, 6, 7, 8, 60, i08, 120,
Shrikes, 23.
Shrines,
138, 163, 192.

16,

Sickle, 100.
Silver, 33, 47, 51, $3, 84.
Singers, 39,

134,

135.

Sistrum, 10o2, 104,

Soldiers, 90.

205

126,

172.

154.

oi.uchicago.edu

GENERAL INDEX
Songs, 39, 135.

Trapper, 83.

Souls, i68,

Tribute,

169.

33,

36, 46, 84, 86,

150,

151.

Sounding-pole, 7, 8, 10g.
Sowing, 100.

Tribute-bearers, 3 2, 46, 47, 48,A50

Sparrows, 169.

Twentieth Dynasty, xxii, xxvi.

53,

Spear, 2S, 26, 149.

Spearing fish, 10, 1o6, 127.
Sphinx, 119, 154.

xxxv.

Squaring-lines, xxii,x v,
Stability, symbol of, i18, i69.

Vanellus cristatus, 42.

Stable,

154.

Varnish, xxv, xliii.

Stamp,

6.0

Vases, 33, 50,

Standard-bearer, 9.
Statue, 162.
Staves, 91.
Steering-oar, 7, 8,

Vines, 59,

155.

Stone, SS.

Stools, 17, 60, 100, 116, 117, 118,

139.

goddess of, 132, 133, 168.

Syrians, 47, 53, 63, 84, 112,

115S, 148,

149.

95,

Tools,

15, 61,

190, 200.

Vultures,

147.

Wagtails,

126.

Walking-stick,

Sword, 50, 149.

Sycamore, 18, 1oo, 132, 168, 169;

Tilapia nilotica, ii.

Tomb, 122, 123.

119, 137,

135.

Vine-trails, 75, 98, 102,

Vintagers, 5,60, 96, 190.

Straw, xxv, xxxiv.

Subjects of pictures, xxvi ff.
Sunt-tree, 23.

Temple, SS.

86, 118,

190.

Vine-leaves,

Stippling, xxiv, xxxii, xxxiv.

Throw-stick, 26,

51,

x68.
109, 120,

151.

Uas-sceptre, 130.
Unshaven face, 192.
Upupa epops major, 23.
Uraeus, 28, 69, 110, 119, 165.

Spirits of Pe and of Nekhen, 163.

Sporran, 17, 29, 192, 199.

84, 150,

106, 126.

119.

Transparent effects in dress, xxiv, xxv,

xl.

138.

Washes of colour, xxxiv, xlii.

Wasps, 71.
Water--plants, 1o, 23, 125, 144.
Water-pot, 14, 15.
Water-skin, 26, 101.
Wealth, emblem of, 175.
West, symbol of, 16, 123.
Wheatear, 126.
White-fronted goose, 4, 17.
Wig, 172.
Wild ass, 66.
Wine-jams ,~60, 75, 13 5.
Winnowing, 101.
Writing-board, 14,

206

138.

oi.uchicago.edu

II. INDEX OF LOCALITIES

108,

Abydos, xxii,
Bern kasan,
Bersheh, 14,

Heliopolis, 165, 18o.

164, 174.

18,
16.

Hierakonpolis,

21, 22, 24, 26.

lunet,

174.

British Museum, 84, 125, 128, 130,

132, 134.
Buto, 163.

Kadesh, 53 .
Keftiu, 47, 48.

Cairo Museum, 4,

Medflm, 4.

10, 14, 16, 10$,

146,

163.

Khatti, 47.

148.

Crete, 47.
Gush, 81, i 5o.

Nekhen, 163.
New York, 105.

Dahshfir, i o.

Oryx nome,

Oxford,

Dendereh, 174.
Der el-Baliri, i6, 28, 30, 82.

18.

140.

Pe, 163.

Ei-Amarna, xxi, 140, 143.

Sudan, 37, 44.

Ethiopia, 15o.
Fayfim, 88.

Thebes, 16, 28,

Tunep, 47.

Giza, 6, 8.

Upe1k, 1o8.

3 0, 3 2,

3 5 and passim.

III. INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES

The following abbreviations have been employed:

kga.
for king; qu. for

queen; pr. for prince; prcs. for princess; t.o. ,for tomb-owner. European
names are printedin small capitals.
Amenophis I, kg., 162, 163.
Akhenaten, kg., xxi, xxii, 28, 40, 95, Amenophis II, kg., xxi, 62
Amenophis III, kg., xxi, 78,10o8, 110 if.
107, 131, 140, 143.
Antef, t.o., 44.
AmenemliEet,

ff.

39.

38,

Amenemhiet, t.0.,
40, 42, 44"
Amenemmes II, kg., 18, 21, 22, 24, 26.

Baket, 38, 39.

Amenemnone, 138.
Amenlhotpe-sari, t.0.,

CARTER, HOWARD,

74, 76.
Amenkhopshef, pr., 198.
Amenmose, t.0o., 162.
Amennakhte,

Amenope, 62.

to0.,

DAVIES,

194.

146.

NORMAN DEGC.,

141, 157.

DE
207

MORGAN, J.,

10, I I.

70, 122, 131,

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INDEX OF

PERSONAL

NAMES

Diodorus, 4.

Mutemuia,

Dje1iioilt, t.0., 72.

Djeserkararsonb, t.0., 57, 74, 76.

Mutemuia, qu., z110.

Ebsha, 24.

Nakht, t.o., 58, 94, 96, 107, 125,

Nakhtamiin, t.o., 192.

126.

Ilaremliab, kg., xxii, 156, 158.

klarelnbab, t.o., 78, 8i, 82, 83.
lasyebaknaf, 13 8.
U~atshepsur, 126, 169.
Ijatshepsut, qu., xxi, 28,
32, 35,

Nebamiin, t.0o.,

122,

Muttuy

30,

128.
IF. Y, R., 44.
Iklenutnielbyt, 195.

Uienuttowe, 172, 173.

kkeri1~r, kg., xxii, 200.
Ilesnamiin, 13 6.
kluy, t.0., 9, 37, 91, 150,

151, 152, 154.

183, 1 84.

(?),

139.

3596,6, 118,

120,

125, 126, 128, 130, 133.

Nebseny, t.0., 98.

Nefernefruaten, pres., 141.

Neferronpe, to., 182, 184.
Nefertiti, qu., 141.
Nefretere, qu., 176, 177, 178, 18o.
Nefrur&r, prcs., 141.
Nespneferl ,io, t.o., 200.
Netjernakhti, 21.
Nia, 189.
Nofri, t.0o., 14, 16, 17.

Imenilib,

Nuu,

191.

hn-Snofru..ishtef,
Ipuky, t.o., 116,

118,

120, 122.

Pe1hfemniife,

G.,

Pes

ifir, 88.

Prennufe, 119.
Psinsu, 119.

157.

Ptablhesl~eb,

Kaemronkh, to., 6, 8.

K.(enamiin, t.0.,

139.

Ptaimose, 83.

62, 64, 66, 67, 68,

112.

I.enexnsau, 13 8.

ff.

Ramesses II, kg., xxii, 174

Ramesses III, kg., xx11, 198, i99.

Kharemwese, t.o., 59.

KhnemIhotpe, t.0., 18,

Rarmose, t.0., 136.

Raya, t.0., 193.
Re r,
t.0., 36.

21, 22, 24, 26.

Maliu, 13 8.
Men,

139.

Pere, t.o., io8.

Itet, t.o., 4.
JAQUIER,

88.

t.0., 10.

Rocxream, JoHN D., Jnr., xvii.

Ruiuresti, 39.

Ig0.

53.

Menkheperrarsonb, t.o., 46, 48, 50,

Menmarer, kg.,
Menna, t.0., 99, 100, 101, 102, 104,

165.

106,L 125,x^126.

Mery, 72.
Meryamien, 56.
Minnakht, t.0., 54.

Sebkliotpe, 88.
Sebklroepe, t.o., 84, 86, 88, 132.
Senmut, t.0., 32.
Sep, t.0o., 17.
Sesostris II, kg., 18, 21, 22, 24, 26.

Sethos I, kg., xxii, 164, 165 167,

172.

Snofru, kg., xix, 4.

208

170,

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INDEX OP PERSONAL NAMES

Tawosret, 169.
Tenmiib, '95.

Tuthmosis III, kg., xxi, 36 ff., 78.

Tjaniife,

UserliEt, t.o., 167,

138,

Tuthmosis IV, kg., xxi, 5 3,74iff.,125 If.

139.

Tjanuny, t.o., 90, 93.

Tjenro, t.0., 70.
Tutrankhamiin, kg., xxi, 9,
146, 148, 150, 152,

154,

172.
113, 140,

185.

Tuthmosis I, kg., 28, 167, 170.

Tuthmosis II, kg., xxi.

Usimarr, kg.,
VASSALLI,

175.

4.

W4l, t.o., 56.

WILKINSON,

209

168,1i69,

Sir J. G., 44.

170, 171,

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