Nebamun Ancient Egyptian tomb painting

(Left) Fragment from the banqueting scene. (Right) Servants bringing offerings. Both from the tomb of Nebamun, Egypt, New Kingdom period.

Fragment of sandstone bearing a painted representation of a female figure on a layer of gesso. Wall paintings from Egypt, New Kingdom period.

Limestone relief fragment of Kemsit. Kemsit sits on a wide, low-backed chair holding a vase of scented ointment to her nose. In front of her was the smaller figure of a male servant, of which only his hand remains, holding a small cup that is receiving the stream of liquid he was pouring into it with his other hand. In contrast to the meticulous carving of this relief, the painting seems to have been rather sloppily applied. It certainly was laid on very thickly; as a result, it has come off in some places - for example, on the brow, eyebrow, and cosmetic line, which were certainly painted black. Traces of red on the servant's hand show that he was a male Egyptian. Kemsit's skin colour is now pink, but so are her necklace and bracelets and other parts of the relief. The pink may have been an undercoat, and traces of a darker colour on her skin, a brown or dark red, may have been the actual colour of her skin when the relief was freshly painted. Egypt, 11th dynasty.

Top: (left to right) Small container holding blue pigment. Pigment grinder and stone (further information below). Thick paint-brush made from fine plant fibres held together by twists of a thin rope. The brush end is stained with red pigment. Second row down: Paint-brush formed from sticks bound together and frayed at one end; stained with red paint. Third row down: Wooden scribal palette of Meryra. Unusually, this palette has more than two ink pans. One might expect the fourteen hollows to have held different colours but the palette only has traces of black and red around the four lowest wells on the right side and in the pen slot. In the pen slot, the predominance of black at the top and red at the bottom suggests that two ends of a single pen were used for the two colours and replaced in the slot with the more frequently used black tip toward the top. Thutmose IV's name appears in a cartouche at the top of palette. Along the sides, with his name and title, are funerary prayers addressed to the god Amun and to Thoth, the god of writing and patron of scribes. These were inscribed by Meryra's own scribe. Bottom: Rectangular wooden scribal palette (further information below)

Pigment blocks Bottom left: 2 lumps of deep Egyptian blue and 1 lump of Egyptian blue pigment. The other pieces of pigment include white limestone, red ochre and yellow ochre. In Nebamun’s tomb the artists used a standard colour palette - soot for black, calcium sulphate for creamy white, ochres for red and yellow, and ‘frit’ – a synthetic glassy material ground into powder - for blue and green.

Pigment blocks on grinder Pigment grinder and stone: a rectangular basalt slab with an oval depression for grinding pigment. The oval is surrounded by a lightly incised cartouche.

Three brushes Top: Fibre brush held together with bitumen at one end and bound with cord. Middle: Paint-brush made from fine palm fibres bound with string fibres. The palm fibres have been cut at one end to create a brushing tip. Traces of red pigment are preserved on the brush end. Bottom: Paint-brush formed from sticks bound together and frayed at one end; stained with red paint.

Limestone ostracon with ink drawing on one side Limestone ostracon with ink drawing on one side. The drawing depicts a goose on her nest, with four eggs shown beneath the bird. In the upper left corner are two very faint drawings of goslings in red. Possibly painted black over a red draft. Egypt, New Kingdom period.

Tomb painting made of plaster, grid pattern visible, with polychrome painted representation of man seated with hieroglyphs above. Egypt, New Kingdom period.

Fragment of a polychrome tomb-painting representing Nebamun seated (probably associated with the goose census scene from the same tomb) with remains of five vertical registers of polychrome-painted hieroglyphs.

This fragment is part of a wall showing Nebamun inspecting flocks of geese and herds of cattle. Hieroglyphs describe the scene and record what the farmers say as they squabble in the queue. The alternating colours and patterns of cattle create a sense of animal movement. The artists have left out some of the cattle’s legs to preserve the clarity of the design. The herdsman is telling the farmer in front of him in the queue: 'Come on! Get away! Don’t speak in the presence of the praised one! He detests people talking …. Pass on in quiet and in order … He knows all affairs, does the scribe and counter of grain of [Amun], Neb[amun]’. The name of the god Amun has been hacked out in this caption where it appears in Nebamun’s name and title. Shortly after Nebamun died, King Akhenaten (1352–1336 BC) had Amun’s name erased from monuments as part of his religious reforms.

Nebamun and family Scene which shows how depth of colour is created. The tone of Nebamun’s skin is brighter than for the other figures. This is because when the artist painted skin they mixed red and white and painted a flat single layer, but when he painted Nebamun, they applied a layer of white, then added the red separately on top.

Details These show how detail is created by applying layers of visual information such as the duck’s feathers.

Find out more about ancient Egypt tomb paintings Visit the main Museum website www.britishmuseum.org Use Explore to look at objects from ancient Egypt www.britishmuseum.org/explore/introduction.aspx Learn more about ancient Egypt www.ancientegypt.co.uk