Nebamun’s garden, fragment of a scene from the
tomb-chapel of Nebamun
Thebes, Egypt
Late 18th Dynasty, around 1350 BC
A garden scene and a symbol of new life
Nebamun’s garden in the afterlife is not
unlike the earthly gardens of wealthy Egyptians. The pool is full
of birds and fish, and surrounded by borders of flowers and shady
rows of trees. The fruit trees include sycomore-figs, date-palms
and dom-palms – the dates are shown with different degrees of
ripeness.
On the right of the pool a goddess leans out
of a tree and offers fruit and drinks to Nebamun (now lost). The
artists accidentally painted her skin red at first but then
repainted it yellow, the correct colour for a goddess’ skin. On the
left, a sycomore-fig tree speaks and greets Nebamun as the owner of
the garden, its words are recorded in the hieroglyphs.
The pool is shown from above, with three rows
of trees arranged around its edges. The waves of the pool were
painted with a darker blue pigment; much of this has been lost,
like the green on the trees and bushes.
M. Hooper, The Tomb of Nebamun
(London, British Museum Press, 2007)
R. Parkinson, The painted Tomb-chapel of
Nebamun. (London, British Museum Press, 2008)
A. Middleton and K.
Uprichard, (eds.), The Nebamun Wall Paintings:
Conservation, Scientific Analysis and Display at the British
Museum (London, Archetype, 2008)