Fragment of painting from the tomb of Kynebu:
Ahmose-Nefertari
Thebes, Egypt
20th
Dynasty, around 1145 BC
Kynebu was a priest 'over the secrets
of the estate of Amun'. He held office during the reign of
Ramesses VIII towards the end of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC).
Three painted fragments from the tomb decoration are now in the
British Museum, depicting the god
Osiris,
and two royal figures who lived almost 400 years before Kynebu:
king Amenhotep I and his mother, Ahmose-Nefertari. Ahmose-Nefertari
was venerated as a god, alongside Amenhotep I, throughout the New
Kingdom. In particular, the inhabitants of the workmen's
village of Deir el-Medina displayed reverence for the royal pair,
attested on stelae, small statuary and in the decoration of their
tombs.
Ahmose-Nefertari is
here shown in a flowing, pleated dress, typical in representations
of elite women of the Ramesside period (about 1295-1069 BC) rather
than the period during which the Queen was alive. She wears the
vulture head-dress of the goddess
Mut,
consort of
Amun
of Thebes, surmounted by a sun-disc and ostrich plumes. The cobra
on her crown and the flail in one hand indicate her royal status.
The lotus bloom was often held by deceased women, representing
rebirth. The black colour of her skin does not reflect her true
coloration, but may symbolize regeneration.
T.G.H. James, An introduction to ancient Egy (London, 1979)