Fishing and Fowling, Tomb of Ipuy

This tempera facsimile by Norman de Garis Davies reproduces a fishing and fowling scene from the Tomb of Ipuy at Deir el-Medina, originally painted during Egypt's Ramesside period (19th Dynasty, c. 1279-1213 BCE). Davies and his wife Nina spent decades at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Expedition meticulously copying deteriorating tomb paintings to preserve their imagery for scholarship. The year associated with this work refers to the original ancient Egyptian date rather than Davies's 20th-century copy.

Davies executed this facsimile in tempera on paper, faithfully reproducing the flat, profile-based figural conventions of ancient Egyptian wall painting. The careful color matching and precise line work capture the original's registers of marsh life, fishing nets, and papyrus thickets.