Stringing and Drilling Beads, Tomb of Rekhmire

About this artwork

This facsimile painting replicates a scene from the tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes, depicting craftsmen stringing and drilling beads during the New Kingdom period, circa 1504-1425 B.C. Nina de Garis Davies created this watercolor reproduction during the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1923-1924, employing the same hues and painting techniques as the ancient artists to achieve maximum fidelity to the original tomb decoration. The scene captures the meticulous work of artisans...

Art Historical Context

Step into the bustling workshops of ancient Egypt with *Stringing and Drilling Be*, a vivid facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies a scene from the tomb of Rekhmire,ier to pharaohs Thutmose III and Amenhotep IIca. 1504–1425 B.C.). This New Kingdom Dynasty 18 artwork depicts skilled craftsmen meticulously drilling and stringing beads, revealing the intricate jewelry-making processes fueled Egypt's opulent. Such tomb scenes offer rare glimpses into daily labor, social hierarchies, and technical prowess, where artisans transformed raw materials like faience and semiprecious stones into treasures for t...

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...