Artwork
Cooking Cakes with Fat, Tomb of Rekhmire
Cooking Cakes with Fat, Tomb of Rekhmire is an unspecified painting by Nina M. Davies. It dates from 1504 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This wall painting, titled "Cooking Cakes with Fat," originates from the Tomb of Rekhmire and dates to the fifteenth century BCE.
About this work
Technique & Style
The palette relies on earth ochres, Egyptian blue, and carbon black to render figures and utensils with flat, uniform color fields and crisp outlines.
The scene employs buon fresco technique with mineral-based pigments suspended in water applied to wet plaster, executed by Nina M. Davies during the 1920s–30s facsimile campaign in TT 100. The palette relies on earth ochres, Egyptian blue, and carbon black to render figures and utensils with flat, uniform color fields and crisp outlines. Stylistically, Davies adhered to the tomb’s original mid-fifteenth-century BCE conventions: figures are drawn in strict profile with standardized proportions, where the seated baker’s anatomy is reduced to simple contours and the cake forms are rendered as simplified cylinders and cones. Handling favors smooth, unmodulated washes with minimal modeling, prioritizing legibility over naturalism.
History & Provenance
The facsimile painting Cooking Cakes with Fat is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accessioned as 31.6.15. The work was created in 1504 and depicts a scene of cooking within the tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100). The facsimile is attributed to Nina de Garis Davies, who worked on tomb decorations in collaboration with her husband, Norman de Garis Davies. The piece is part of the museum's broader holdings of facsimile reproductions of ancient Egyptian tomb paintings.
Overview
This wall painting, titled "Cooking Cakes with Fat," originates from the Tomb of Rekhmire and dates to the fifteenth century BCE. It captures an everyday scene of food preparation in ancient Egypt. The artwork features two men diligently engaged in cooking, standing on either side of a large pot.
One figure holds a long stick, while the other grasps a round object, suggesting their roles in the baking process.
Subject & Meaning
The painting illustrates a specific aspect of ancient Egyptian domestic life: the preparation of baked goods. Two male figures are central to the composition, positioned around a substantial cooking vessel. Their focused expressions and the tools they hold, a long stick for stirring or tending, and a round item, possibly a cake or dough, emphasize their involvement in the culinary task. This depiction offers insight into the practicalities of sustenance in the New Kingdom period.
Artist & collection
Artist
The Egyptologists Nina M. Davies (6 January 1881 – 21 April 1965) and Norman de Garis Davies (1865–5 November 1941) were a married couple of illustrators and copyists who worked in the early and mid-twentieth century…
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