Pounding Meal, Tomb of Rekhmire
ca. 1504–1425 B.C.
Medium
Paper, tempera paint, ink
Dimensions
facsimile: h. 43.5 cm (17 1/8 in); w. 20 cm (7 7/8 in), scale 1:1, framed: h. 46.4 cm (18 1/4 in); w. 23.5 cm (9 1/4 in)
Classification
Facsimile, Rekhmire (TT 100), cooking
Period
New Kingdom
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1931
Accession Number
31.6.17
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of ancient Egypt with *Pounding Meal, Tomb Rekhmire*, a meticulous 1:1 scale facsimile created by Nina de Garis Davies. This scene captures men diligently working to prepare food—likely pounding grain into meal—in the tomb of Rekhmire, a powerful vizier who served under pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenhotep II during Egypt's New Kingdom (ca. 1504–1425 B.C.), Dynasty 18. Dating to the height of Egypt's imperial power, such tomb paintings from Thebes' necropolis immortalized everyday labors to magically sustain the deceased in the afterlife. Rendered in tempera paint a...
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...