Nakht and his Wife Receiving Offerings
1909; original ca. 1410–1370 B.C.
Medium
Tempera on paper
Dimensions
H. 37 cm × W. 71 cm (14 9/16 × 27 15/16 in.) scale 1:2; Frame: H. 40.5 cm × W. 74 cm × D. 2 cm (15 15/16 × 29 1/8 × 13/16 in.)
Classification
Facsimile, TT 52, offering
Period
Twentieth Century; original New Kingdom
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1915
Accession Number
15.5.20
Art Historical Context
This tempera on paper facsimile, created in 1909 by Norman de Garis Davies, reproduces a vibrant wall painting from the tomb of Nakht, a New Kingdom official who lived during Dynasty 18 (ca. 1410–1370 B.C.). The scene shows Nakht and his wife receiving offerings, a classic motif in Egyptian funerary art meant to magically provide sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife. Davies, renowned for his meticulous copies of Theban tombs, worked at half-scale (1:2) to preserve the original’s lively colors and details before they could fade or suffer damage. As a 20th-century recreation in the Metr...
About the Artist
Norman de Garis Davies · 1865–1941
Norman de Garis Davies (1865–1941) was a British Egyptologist and archaeological artist whose meticulous copies of ancient Egyptian tomb paintings constitute one of the most important records of pharaonic art ever made. Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, he originally trained for the ministry before being drawn into Egyptology through his involvement with the Egypt Exploration Fund in the 1890...