- Detail of Geese in Frieze from Nefermaat’s tomb (ca. 2600-2550 BC)
Detail of Geese in Frieze from Nefermaat’s tomb (ca. 2600-2550 BC)
Today we have a special treat: a painting of six geese from the mastaba tomb of Nefermaat at Meidum. Nefermaat was the eldest son of the first wife of the pharaoh Sneferu (who founded the fourth dynasty– the greatest dynasty of Egypt’s Old Kingdom). As the pharaoh’s oldest son, Nefermaat acted as vizier of Egypt, the prophet of the goddess Bastet, and the bearer of the royal seal. Nefermaat’s own son Hemiunu was the architect of the great pyramids of Egypt!
Geese in Frieze from Nefermaat’s tomb (ca. 2600-2550 BC)
This extremely beautiful painting was crafted somewhere between 2600 and 2550 BC by an unknown artist or team of artists who carved out the shapes of the geese in a wall and then filled in the hollow outlines with colored paste. For four and a half thousand years, the group of geese has kept its lifelike vibrancy. Discovered by the great French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in 1871, the masterpiece is now in the Cairo museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a reproduction of the painting and their website explains the original context of the piece:
The geese were depicted below a scene showing men trapping birds in a clap net and offering them to the tomb’s owner. While it is not uncommon to find scenes of fowling in the marshes in Old Kingdom tombs, this example is one of the earliest and is notable for the extraordinary quality of the painting. The artist took great care in rendering the colors and textures of the birds’ feathers and even included serrated bills on the two geese bending to graze.
The geese in the painting are commonly known as Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus) which are members of the Tadorninae–the shelduck-sheldgoose subfamily (which means they are not exactly geese, taxonomically speaking). Egyptian Geese are 63–73 cm long (25-29 inches) and they range through most of sub-Saharan Africa and up the Nile valley. Domesticated by the ancient Egyptians in the depths of antiquity, the birds were also kept by the Greeks and Romans. There are feral populations in England and the United States (where Egyptophiles keep the fowl as ornamental birds!).
Detail of Geese in Frieze from Nefermaat’s tomb (ca. 2600-2550 BC)
Detail of Geese in Frieze from Nefermaat’s tomb (ca. 2600-2550 BC)
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August 22, 2013 at 7:33 PM
amancalleddada
Perhaps the Ancient Egyptians also used the same Mayan paint-making technique (or v.v.) where the pigments are boiled for two or three days, making them virtually time-proof; said technique is trying to be patented by the archaeologists who discovered it… which seems wrong to Da-da. All ancient knowledge, in Da-da’s humble opinion, should be inherently public domain.
August 23, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Jim Ann Howard
This is indeed a treat. I have spent many hours (yes) with the frieze at the Met studying the pigmentation and juxtaposition of colors. I agree Da-da. Having been passed beyond the infantile notion of ownership, wisdom of the past is a gift to the collective future.
August 25, 2013 at 9:39 AM
J.J. PRZYBYLSKI
The rhythms are different, but the backgrounds remind me of Chinese paintings. There’s a similar ether. A similar medium of transmission though I don’t know a friggin’ thing about Chinese passages to the afterlife.
But the ethereal background to the earthy browns make this painting absolutely beautiful. Which leads me to a question: The more beautiful the painting, the more powerful the lift into the afterlife? The gods must have rewarded quality.
August 28, 2013 at 11:57 AM
Wayne
Well, some Egyptian tomb appurtenances have a certain perfunctory quality–especially the diagrammatic offering tables with their stacks of lumpy goodies, but this painting is certainly a rare masterpiece! You’re right–it does remind me of the exquisite animal paintings from the Song dynasty. In case you are curious, here is a brief essay on (the most widespread conception of) the Chinese afterlife.
September 6, 2013 at 3:30 PM
texastom46
Really happy I accidentally stumbled across this article of yours as I was scouring the Internet for samples from the medieval bestieraries. Am also finding the rest of your blog interesting, so I just subscribed!
http://www.tomwebberartist.worpress.com
texastomruminationsmyblog.wordpress.com/
September 11, 2013 at 8:54 PM
Wayne
Thanks for subscribing. I’ll try to add more medieval beasties (or myths thereof).
August 21, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Dave Dunford
The birds are not Egyptian Geese, which are distinctive birds. The central pair facing left appear to be White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons), and the central pair facing right are indisputably Red-breasted Geese (Brant ruficollis). Interestingly, the latter is a rare vagrant in modern-day Egypt. The outer birds are somewhat trickier – they could also be White-fronted (which don’t always have the white face markings) but they could be Greylag Geese (Anser anser, also not found regularly in modern Egypt).
January 29, 2015 at 12:45 AM
Ann Marie Ackermann
I agree with Dave Dunford’s identifications. Those geese are definitely not Alopochen aegyptiacus.