girl in his cloak. The polished stone shape has
its own simple beauty, with the surfaces turning
subtly about smoothly rounded corners. The
work—one of many surviving statues depicting
Senmut with Hatshepsut’s daughter—is also a
reflection of the power of Egypt’s female ruler.
The frequent depiction of Senmut with Nefrura
was meant to enhance Senmut’s stature through his association with
the princess (he was her tutor) and, by implication, with Hatshepsut
herself.
TOMB OF NEBAMUN Some of the best-preserved mural
paintings of the New Kingdom come from the 18th Dynasty Theban
tomb of Nebamun, whose official titles were “scribe and counter of
grain.” On one wall (FIG. 3-28), the painter depicted Nebamun
standing in his boat, flushing birds from a papyrus swamp. The
hieroglyphic text beneath his left arm says that Nebamun is enjoying
recreation in his eternal afterlife. (Here, as elsewhere in Egyptian art,
the accompanying text amplifies the message of the picture—and
vice versa.) In contrast to the static pose of Ti watching others hunt
hippopotami (FIG. 3-15), the painter showed Nebamun striding for-
ward and vigorously swinging his throwing stick. In his right hand,
he holds three birds he has caught. A wild cat, impossibly perched on
a papyrus stem just in front of and below him, has caught two more
in its claws and is holding the wings of a third in its teeth. Neba-
mun’s wife and daughter accompany him on this hunt and hold the
lotuses they have gathered. The artist scaled down their figures in
proportion to their rank, as did Old Kingdom artists. And, as in Ti’s
tomb, the animals show a naturalism based on careful observation.
The painting technique, also employed in earlier Egyptian
tombs, is fresco secco (dry fresco), whereby artists let the plaster dry3-28Fowling scene, from the tomb of Nebamun,
Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1400–1350 bce.
Fresco on dry plaster, 2 8 high. British Museum,
London.
Nebamun’s wife and daughter—depicted smaller
than the deceased—accompany him on his hunt
for fowl. A painted inscription states that
Nebamun is enjoying recreation in his eternal
afterlife.
3-29Musicians and dancers, from the tomb of Nebamun, Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1400–1350 bce.Fresco on dry plaster, 1 2 3 .
British Museum, London.
A second fresco in Nebamun’s tomb represents a funerary banquet in which the artist experimented with frontal views of faces and bodies—
a relaxation of the Old Kingdom’s stiff rules of representation.
1 ft.1 in.72 Chapter 3 EGYPT UNDER THE PHARAOHS