Syrians Bringing an Elephant and a Bear, Tomb of Rekhmire

Art Historical Context

In the grand Tomb of Rekhmire Thebes, dating to Egypt's New Kingdom (ca. 1504–1425 B.C., Dynasty 18), vivid wall paintings celebrated the vizier's role in receiving tribute from foreign lands. This scene captures Syrians presenting an elephant and a bear—exotic rarities symbolizing the wealth and diplomatic reach of pharaohs like Thutm III and Amenhotep. Such depictions, rendered in the classic Egyptian style of flat profiles, hierarchical scale, and bold colors, underscored Egypt's imperial power and the exotic trade networks spanning the ancient Near East. This artwork is a meticulous watercolor facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies, created on paper with tempera paint and ink. Davies, a pioneering 20th-century artist, produced these copies to preserve fragile tomb paintings for scholars and the public, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Art department (acquired via Rogers Fund, 1931). Measuring about 45 x 51 cm, it faithfully reproduces the original's lively procession of men guiding the massive elephant and sturdy bear. These tribute scenes offer a window into ancient diplomacy and zoological wonder, where live animals served as living gifts to awe the court. Rekhmire's tomb remains a treasure trove of such vignettes, highlighting the New Kingdom's golden age of prosperity and cultural exchange.

About the Artist

Nina de Garis Davies · 1881–1965

Nina de Garis Davies, born Anna Macpherson Cummings on January 6, 1881, in Salonika, Greece, to English-Scottish parents Cecil J. Cummings and Sarah Macintosh Tannoch, showed early artistic talent as the eldest of three daughters. After her father's death in 1894, the family relocated to Scotland and then London, where she trained at the Slade School of Art. In 1906, at age 25, a holiday trip to E...