Drilling a Stone Vase, Tomb of Rekhmire

Art Historical Context

Step into the bustling workshops of ancient Egypt with *Drilling a Stone V, Tomb of Rekhm*, a vivid facsimile capturing a scene from the New Kingdom tomb Rekhmire (ca. 1504–1425 B.C.), a powerful vizier under pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenep II. This Eighteenth Dynasty artwork depicts skilled artisans at work, meticulously drilling a stone vase using a drill—a clever tool powered by a bowstring wrapped around a drill bit, demonstrating the precision craftsmanship that produced Egypt's iconic luxury vessels. Created by Nina de Garis Davies in the early 20th century, this 1:1 scale watercolor facsimile on paper with tempera paint and ink faithfully reproduces the original tomb painting's bright colors and dynamic figures. Davies, renowned for her meticulous copies of Theban tomb art, preserved these fragile scenes for posterity, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Art department (Rogers Fund, 1931). These tomb depictions weren't mere decoration; they magically ensured the deceased's eternal prosperity by showcasing idealized daily trades. They offer us rare glimpses into ancient Egyptian society—its division of labor, technological ingenuity, and reverence for skilled work—bridging millennia to reveal a civilization where even stone vases embodied divine order and elite status.

About the Artist

Nina de Garis Davies · 1881–1965

Nina de Garis Davies, born Anna Macpherson Cummings on January 6, 1881, in Salonika, Greece, to English-Scottish parents Cecil J. Cummings and Sarah Macintosh Tannoch, showed early artistic talent as the eldest of three daughters. After her father's death in 1894, the family relocated to Scotland and then London, where she trained at the Slade School of Art. In 1906, at age 25, a holiday trip to E...