Sifting Meal, Tomb of Rekhmire

Nina M. Davies created Sifting Meal, Tomb of Rekhmire in 1504, a painting that records the routine activity of grain sifting within the Theban tomb of Rekhmire. The composition, documented in both the painting’s internal description and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s catalogue, highlights basket, food, and labor, reflecting ancient Egyptian everyday life. As part of Davies’s broader oeuvre of Egyptological illustration, the piece contributes to scholarly understandings of New Kingdom artistic documentation and is displayed in the Met’s collection, underscoring its significance in the study of tomb art.

Sifting Meal, Tomb of Rekhmire is a painting that captures a moment of daily life from ancient Egypt. It portrays an individual engaged in the task of preparing food, specifically sifting meal. This work is a meticulously rendered copy of an ancient wall painting, created by the British Egyptologist and illustrator Nina M. Davies.

It currently resides in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, offering insight into historical domestic practices.

The artistic rendering of "Sifting Meal" employs a distinct visual language characterized by its simplicity and clarity. The palette is dominated by flat, unshaded colors such as red, orange, and beige, which are delineated by sharp, bold outlines. This approach creates a direct and focused image, reminiscent of Byzantine iconography, where the emphasis is on the subject's form rather than atmospheric depth or complex light effects.