#mutemwia

[treasuresfromthearchives]

Amenhotep III and his Mother, Mutemwia, in a Kiosk

Twentieth Century; original New Kingdom

Nina de Garis Davies

1914; original ca. 1390–1352 B.C.

"This facsimile painting copies the focal point of an offering scene in the tomb of an official (TT 226) at Thebes. It represents Amenhotep III enthroned beneath a kiosk. The king's mother Mutemwia stands behind him. Beneath the kiosk is a row of foreignors from Nubia and western Asia who praise the king with upraised arms. The name of the tomb owner is not preserved.

The facsimile was painted at the tomb in 1914 by Nina de Garis Davis for the Graphic Section of the Museum's Egyptian Expedition."

[dwellerinthelibrary]

At the Met, here’s a reproduction of a painting from the Theban tomb of Heqareshu, Overseer of the King’s Tutors. It shows Amenhotep III and his mother, Mutemwia (her cartouche is preceded by the phrase “King’s Mother”). Beneath them, kneeling with arms raised as if in prayer, are a set of cartoon foreigners, each with his own characteristic dress - Nubians, and the people Egyptologists call Libyans and Asiatics.

The whole picture gives a pretty good idea of the typical palette of skin colours used in Egyptian art: copper for Egyptian men, yellow for Egyptian women, dark brown for Nubians, and a light brown (lighter than Egyptians) for the foreigners from the west and the east.