Artwork
Fragment of an Inscribed Architrave, Tomb of Amenemhat Surer
Fragment of an Inscribed Architrave, Tomb of Amenemhat Surer is an unspecified painting by Nina M. Davies. It dates from 1396 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The object is a painted fragment of an architectural architrave originally belonging to the tomb of the official Amenemhat Surer.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Davies rendered the inscription with meticulous accuracy, preserving the formal hieroglyphic script that underscores the text's ritual significance.
The fragment shows a hieroglyphic inscription that originally formed part of an architrave within the tomb of the official Amenemhat Surer. The scene conveys funerary and funerary-title symbolism typical of the late Middle Kingdom, emphasizing the deceased's role in the afterlife and his connection to the divine order. Nina M. Davies rendered the inscription with meticulous accuracy, preserving the formal hieroglyphic script that underscores the text's ritual significance.
The work thus represents a textual element rather than a figurative depiction, functioning as a symbolic conduit between the mortal and the divine in ancient Egyptian funerary practice.
History & Provenance
The fragment of an inscribed architrave from the Tomb of Amenemhat Surer is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its accession number is 48.105.14, and it was recorded in 1948.
The work has been part of exhibitions at the museum, including its inclusion in displays of Egyptian art within the American Wing and later in special exhibitions focused on Theban necropolis material. It was documented as part of the Metropolitan Museum's Egyptian Expedition records from the 1920s through the 1940s, with the facsimile inscription attributed to Nina M. Davies.
The fragment originates from Tomb TT48 in Thebes, Egypt, and bears an inscription dated to 1390 BCE. It is classified as a painted architectural fragment and is part of the museum's permanent collection of Ancient Near Eastern art.
Context
The work is a modern facsimile by Nina M. Davies, an artist renowned for her meticulous copies of Egyptian tomb paintings. Created in 1390, it reproduces an inscribed architrave from the tomb of Amenemhat Surer (TT 48), reflecting the scholarly practice of documenting ancient Egyptian monuments through precise artistic replication. The piece is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a scholarly record of the original hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Davies's work exemplifies the early 20th-century effort to preserve and study Egyptian archaeological sites through detailed visual documentation.
Overview
The object is a painted fragment of an architectural architrave originally belonging to the tomb of the official Amenemhat Surer. It now resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was documented in the early twentieth century by the Egyptologists Nina M. Davies and her husband Norman de Garis Davies, who specialized in recording tomb decoration.
Technique & Style
Executed in flat, vivid pigments, the fragment displays a limited palette of reds, blues, yellows and an orange background typical of New Kingdom tomb decoration. The figures are rendered in a simplified, stick‑like manner, while the decorative motifs such as the zigzag pattern on the jar are painted in precise, linear strokes, reflecting the conventional Egyptian approach to architectural relief painting.
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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