Sandal Maker, Tomb of Rekhmire

Art Historical Context

Step into the bustling workshops of ancient Egypt with *Sandal Maker, Tomb of Rekhmire a meticulous facsimile capturing a craftsman at work from the New Kingdom 18th Dynasty (ca 1504–1425 B.C.). This vivid scene hails from the grand tomb of Rekhmire a powerful vizier and mayor of Thebes, located in Luxor's Sheikh Abd el-Q necropolis. Tomb paintings like this one served a profound purpose: to magically ensure the deceased's eternal comfort by depicting everyday trades and provisions, from food production to skilled artisanship. Here, the sandal maker bends over his tools, embodying the precision of Egyptian craftsmen who fashioned durable footwear from papyrus, leather, and reeds—essential for daily life in the Nile Valley. Created in the early 20th century by Nina de Garis Davies, a pioneering artist renowned for her watercolor copies of Egyptian tombs, this 1:1 scale reproduction uses tempera paint and ink on paper to faithfully revive the original wall frescoes. Davies's technique preserved the flat, stylized figures and vibrant colors typical of New Kingdom art, where hierarchy and function trumped realism. Acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art through the Rogers Fund in 1931, it offers museum visitors a tangible link to pharaonic society, highlighting the economy's reliance on specialized labor and the enduring cultural value of work in the afterlife. (198 words)

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...