Artwork
Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire
Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire is an unspecified painting by Nina M. Davies. It dates from 1490 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nina M.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The scene depicts two men harvesting honey from a row of upright hives set in a garden, illustrating an episode of agricultural labor in ancient Egypt.
The scene depicts two men harvesting honey from a row of upright hives set in a garden, illustrating an episode of agricultural labor in ancient Egypt. One figure climbs a ladder to reach the hives while the other stands below, possibly collecting drips of honey or wax. The orderly arrangement of hives and the workers’ focused activity suggest an idealized depiction of an organized apiary under elite patronage rather than a spontaneous observation of beekeeping.
The composition emphasizes order and productivity, aligning with elite tomb imagery that valorized agricultural and craft activities as signs of a well-ordered estate. By including such scenes, the tomb’s program asserts the tomb owner’s control over productive labor and the natural world, reinforcing themes of prosperity and cosmic balance.
History & Provenance
Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire is a facsimile painting by Nina M. Davies dated 1479. The work is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is identified by the accession reference 30.4.88. The painting reproduces a beekeeping scene from the tomb of Rekhmire (Theban Tomb 100), documenting the original Egyptian wall decoration through Davies's facsimile technique. Its inception is recorded as 1479, and it remains part of the Metropolitan Museum's holdings.
The piece was created by Nina de Garis Davies as a documentary reproduction of the ancient tomb scene, and it entered the Metropolitan Museum's collection, where it continues to be preserved.
The painting Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire, attributed to Nina M. Davies and dated 1479, is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its accession number is 30.4.88. The work has been part of the museum’s collection since its acquisition and has not been documented in major traveling exhibitions according to available records.
Context
Scholarship on Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire emphasizes its role in documenting New Kingdom artistic conventions within Theban tombs. The work is recognized as part of Nina M. Davies' corpus of facsimile paintings produced for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian expedition, reflecting mid-20th century scholarly engagement with Egyptian wall art. Its creation in 1479 BCE situates it within the late 18th Dynasty, specifically in the reign of Amenhotep III, providing critical insight into artistic practices preceding the Amarna period.
The painting's depiction of beekeeping activities contributes to understanding occupational hierarchies and economic practices in ancient Egyptian society, as analyzed in tomb context studies.
Overview
Nina M. Davies, an Egyptologist and illustrator active in the early‑to‑mid‑20th century, produced a copy of a wall scene from the tomb of the official Rekhmire. The drawing, titled Gathering Honey, Tomb of Rekhmire, records a domestic activity rendered in the tomb’s original palette of earthy reds, browns, and muted whites, outlined in black.
Technique & Style
Davies employed a careful, flat rendering that mirrors the original Egyptian wall painting’s emphasis on solid color fields and clear outlines. The drawing reproduces the tomb’s characteristic linear precision and limited tonal range, preserving the simplicity of the ancient visual language.
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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