Artwork
Queen Nefertari Playing Senet
Queen Nefertari Playing Senet is an unspecified painting by the Australian Aboriginal Painting artist Nina M. Davies. It dates from 1290 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This painting depicts Queen Nefertari engaged in a game of Senet, an ancient Egyptian board game.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The depiction combines a hieroglyphic reference to the game with the queen’s recognizable regalia, emphasizing her status and role as a ritually potent figure.
The painting shows Queen Nefertari engaged in a game of Senet, a board game frequently associated with elite women in New Kingdom tomb art. The depiction combines a hieroglyphic reference to the game with the queen’s recognizable regalia, emphasizing her status and role as a ritually potent figure. Senet was linked to concepts of chance, strategy, and the journey of the soul after death, suggesting that the scene may symbolize Nefertari’s participation in a divine or funerary context. The work’s iconography thus merges leisure activity with symbolic representation of eternity and divine favor.
History & Provenance
The facsimile is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, with accession number 30.4.145. It was first exhibited at the museum as part of the permanent collection; no further exhibition history is recorded in the provided sources.
Context
The work, identified as a facsimile painting created by Nina M. Davies, depicts Queen Nefertari engaged in the game of Senet. Dated to approximately 1279, the piece originates from the tomb of QV 66. It is currently held within the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a documented reproduction of the ancient Egyptian funerary context.
While the original scene dates to the late 13th century BCE, the specific artifact analyzed here represents the scholarly efforts of the early 20th century to preserve and record the iconography of the queen's burial chamber. The painting captures Nefertari, hieroglyphs, and the game board, functioning as a critical visual record for understanding the religious and recreational symbolism associated with the queen's journey in the afterlife.
Legacy
The painting Queen Nefertari Playing Senet, created by Nina M. Davies in 1279, is catalogued as a work that portrays the queen engaged in the ancient board game Senet. It is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and exists as a facsimile (QV 66), which has made it a recurring reference in scholarship on Nefertari’s iconography and on the cultural significance of Senet. Its depiction of the queen in a leisure context contributes to the broader legacy of representing ancient Egyptian games in modern artistic discourse.
Overview
This painting depicts Queen Nefertari engaged in a game of Senet, an ancient Egyptian board game. The artwork portrays the queen seated, adorned in a white gown and an elaborate black and gold headdress. Her right hand holds a game piece, positioned before a table where the game is laid out. Hieroglyphs adorn the background, contributing to the scene's historical context.
Technique & Style
The painting exemplifies the characteristic artistic conventions of ancient Egypt. It features a rich palette of colors and meticulous attention to detail, evident in the queen's attire, the game board, and the background hieroglyphs. The style adheres to the established visual language of the period, emphasizing clarity and symbolic representation rather than naturalistic perspective.
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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