Facsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and Itet

Facsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and Itet

Charles K. Wilkinson

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This facsimile copies a painting from the early Dynasty 4 tomb of Nefermaat and Itet at Meidum, the original of which is now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo (Cairo CG 1742). The geese were once part of a larger scene found on the north wall in the tomb chapel of Itet, the wife of the vizier Nefermaat, and likely the daughter-in-law of King Snefru. As members of the royal family, the pair was granted a large mastaba tomb close to the pyramid of the king and could employ the most sought-after artists of the day to help in its decoration. The geese were depicted below a scene showing men trapping birds in a clap net and offering them to the tomb’s owner. While it is not uncommon to find scenes of fowling in the marshes in Old Kingdom tombs, this example is one of the earliest and is notable for the extraordinary quality of the painting. The artist took great care in rendering the colors and textures of the birds’ feathers and even included serrated bills on the two geese bending to graze.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Facsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and ItetFacsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and ItetFacsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and ItetFacsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and ItetFacsimile Painting of Geese, Tomb of Nefermaat and Itet

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.