Two Fragments of Ceiling Patterns, Tomb of Senenmut

Art Historical Context

This exquisite facsimile captures ceiling patterns from the Tomb of Senenmut, a remarkable monument of Egypt’s New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1479–1458 B.C.). Created by the renowned artist and copyist Nina de Garis Davies, the work was painted in tempera on paper at full scale (1:1), faithfully reproducing the delicate colors and intricate designs that once adorned the tomb’s ceiling. Davies’s meticulous technique allows modern viewers to appreciate the original decoration’s vibrancy and precision without traveling to the site itself. Senenmut served as a high official and trusted advisor to the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, and his tomb reflects the artistic flowering of her reign. Ceiling motifs in such tombs often evoked the heavens, stars, and protective symbols, linking the deceased to cosmic order. By preserving these fragments, Davies’s copy safeguards an important record of royal craftsmanship and funerary beliefs from a pivotal era in Egyptian history. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1931 through the Rogers Fund, the piece exemplifies the museum’s long tradition of commissioning accurate facsimiles to share Egypt’s artistic heritage with the public. Its compact dimensions invite close study of the patterns’ geometry and palette, offering an intimate connection to the ancient artisans who first painted them more than 3,400 years ago.

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...