Garden Scene, Tomb of Ipuy
ca. 1295–1213 B.C.
Medium
Tempera on paper
Dimensions
facsimile: h. 35 cm (13 3/4 in); w. 48 cm (18 7/8 in) scale 1:1 framed: h. 38.7 cm (15 1/4 in); w. 51.4 cm (20 1/4 in)
Classification
Facsimile, Ipuy (TT 217), garden, house, shadduf
Period
New Kingdom, Ramesside
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1930
Accession Number
30.4.115
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This tempera facsimile captures a vibrant garden scene from the Tomb of Ipuy, a New Kingdom official who lived during Egypt’s Ramesside period (Dynasty 19, ca. 1295–1213 B.C.). Created at a precise 1:1 scale by the renowned Egyptologist and artist Norman de Garis Davies, the copy preserves the lively details of the original wall painting—lush trees, flowering plants, and figures at work—that once adorned the tomb chapel. Such garden imagery was not merely decorative; it expressed the Egyptian ideal of eternal abundance and renewal in the afterlife, ensuring the deceased would enjoy fertile sur...
About the Artist
Norman de Garis Davies · 1865–1941
Norman de Garis Davies (1865–1941) was a British Egyptologist and archaeological artist whose meticulous copies of ancient Egyptian tomb paintings constitute one of the most important records of pharaonic art ever made. Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, he originally trained for the ministry before being drawn into Egyptology through his involvement with the Egypt Exploration Fund in the 1890...