Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire
ca. 1479–1425 B.C.
Medium
Tempera on Paper
Dimensions
facsimile: h. 33 cm (13 in); w. 43.5 cm (17 1/8 in), scale 1:1, framed: h. 36.2 cm (14 1/4 in); w. 46.7 cm (18 3/8 in)
Classification
Facsimile, Rekhmire (TT 100), beekeeping
Period
New Kingdom
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1930
Accession Number
30.4.88
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into ancient Egypt with *Gathering Honey* from the Tomb of Rekhmire, a vivid facsimile capturing a slice of New Kingdom life around 1479–1425 B.C. This scene, originally a wall painting in the Theban tomb of Rekhmire—a powerful vizier under pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenhot II—depicts men at work harvesting honey from hives. Such detailed vignettes of daily labor, from beekeeping to crafts, adorned elite tombs to magically ensure prosperity in the afterlife, reflecting the Egyptians' deep reverence for order (maat) and abundance. Rendered in tempera on paper at a precise 1:1 scale by ear...
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...