Artwork
Women Preparing Food, Tomb of Djari
Women Preparing Food, Tomb of Djari is an unspecified painting by Nina M. Davies. It dates from -2059 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nina M.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Thus the work conveys meanings of abundance, stability, and the continuity of care beyond death.
The painting shows a woman engaged in food preparation alongside cattle, a man, and other laborers, illustrating a scene of domestic and agricultural activity within the Tomb of Djari. The depicted elements, cattle, food, and work, function as iconographic markers of sustenance and provision, reflecting the broader funerary intent of ensuring the deceased’s access to nourishment in the afterlife. By emphasizing the labor of women in producing food, the composition underscores societal roles related to household economy and the symbolic importance of material support for the dead. Thus the work conveys meanings of abundance, stability, and the continuity of care beyond death.
Technique & Style
The work "Women Preparing Food" from the Tomb of Djari (TT 366) is a painting created by Nina M. Davies. The piece serves as a facsimile of the original tomb artwork, capturing scenes of daily labor including women preparing food, as well as depictions of cattle and men. While the original context is ancient Egyptian, the specific object held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a modern reproduction executed by Davies.
The painting documents formal elements of the scene, focusing on figures engaged in work and the presence of food items. As a facsimile, it aims to preserve the visual style and subject matter of the tomb's interior decoration, translating the ancient medium into a new format for study and display.
History & Provenance
The work titled Women Preparing Food, Tomb of Djari is a painted facsimile of a wall scene from the ancient Egyptian tomb of Djari (TT 366). It was created by Nina M. Davies, who produced the copy for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been part of the collection since its acquisition; the museum records its inception as circa -2060 and assigns it the classification of painting with a dated attribution of -2059. The painting entered the museum's holdings as part of the institution's efforts to document and preserve Egyptian funerary art, and it remains on display in the museum's Egyptian galleries.
Overview
Nina M. Davies's illustration, "Women Preparing Food, Tomb of Djari," documents a scene from an ancient Egyptian tomb painting, originally created around 2059 BCE. This work, held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, faithfully reproduces a domestic activity from the tomb of an official named Djari. It represents a broader early to mid-twentieth-century initiative by Davies and her husband to record the fragile artworks of ancient Egypt for scholarly and public access.
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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