Picture Day Friday: Plaster Painting from Ancient Egypt

Plaster Painting
Tomb of Nebamun
Thebes, Upper Egypt
18th Dynasty
c.1350BC
H 58.5cm x W 106cm

From the British Museum:

"Painting from the tomb chapel of Nebamen: fragment of polychrome tomb-painting divided into two registers. In the upper register a herd of cattle is brought to Nebamen; in front of the cattle the herdsmen bow down to a standing scribe who records the produce. The vertical hieroglyphic caption is damaged, and only a few-phrases can be read. In the lower register a man drives cattle towards some seated scribes. Two horizontal registers of hieroglyphs survive above."

Translation of the Hieroglyphs:
"Come on! Move off! Don't speak in front of this favoured one (Nebamen). People who talk are his horror! He does what is true; he will not pass over any complaint. Pass on (?) quietly, truly! He will not just do the bidding of people - he knows everything, does the Scribe and Counter of Grain of [Amun] Neb[amen]!"


[Image copyrighted by the British Museum.]