DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4858#0096
THE GIFTS OF NATURE
saries. Their counterpart on the other side carries a spare harpoon
(faintly indicated). The long spear which should have been in Nakht's
hands was meant to be a doubly barbed one, and with the felicity
which hope and faith attribute to the sportsman, Nakht has transfixed
two fish at one blow, one of each species.1
There is a feature of special interest in this conventional scene.
As originally painted, the family party in each case included the pet
goose, and a genet-cat (?) ran up the stem to prey on the nestlings.2
But the iconoclasts who entered the tomb to erase the name of Amon
saw in this innocent bird the goose beloved of Amon and in the beast
of prey the favorite of some other deity, and so destroyed the figures of
both in that ignorant zeal which marked the movement at Thebes.
The lower scene, which shows Nakht and his wife "sitting in the
booth to amuse themselves by looking at the bounty of the papyrus-
swamps," really forms one picture with the upper; for the pile of pro-
visions before Nakht and his wife includes the fish and fowl whose
capture we have witnessed, as well as abundant supplies of grapes and
pomegranates. The men who are amassing these good things form
very decorative groups. Beyond them are scenes of vintage and
fowling which closely resemble those in other tombs. In the upper
register, two men are seen gathering grapes from vines growing in a
natural arch.3 The berries are then put into a trough where men
tread out the juice, keeping themselves from sinking in the mass too
1 It has been asked, "Does the water which surrounds the fish represent what is dripping from
them or a bay in the pool?" Rather it is neither, but a convenient way of showing that the fish were trans-
fixed in the middle of the water and then lifted out on the spear. Moreover, it served conveniently to
divide the scene into two groups and hint that they are separate in place and time. Compare the water
round the fowling-net in the scene below.
2 They were only roughly touched in in white and yellow. The genet (of which only the tip of the
tail is left) grasps the neck of a fledgling in his mouth. The red beak, white tail, and yellow breast of the
birds are still visible. The right-hand bird has something white and green before it, and to this the little
girl calls her father's attention. It is possibly an egg on a nest, as Wilkinson depicts an egg and speaks
of a nest in his Manners and Customs, II, p. 107, fig. 365. Geese as pets are fairly common and are shown
several times in similar pictures.
3 The leaves of the vine are drawn in a curiously inadequate way in Theban tombs (Tomb 5i being an
exception). First, they are sketched in as a circular outline. As an advance on this the circle is colored
green and edged with black spots to represent the serrations. In its complete form the circle is divided
into three or four segments, but at the best it has very little resemblance to a vine-leaf.
69
The scene
described
An erasure
The scene of
vintage
saries. Their counterpart on the other side carries a spare harpoon
(faintly indicated). The long spear which should have been in Nakht's
hands was meant to be a doubly barbed one, and with the felicity
which hope and faith attribute to the sportsman, Nakht has transfixed
two fish at one blow, one of each species.1
There is a feature of special interest in this conventional scene.
As originally painted, the family party in each case included the pet
goose, and a genet-cat (?) ran up the stem to prey on the nestlings.2
But the iconoclasts who entered the tomb to erase the name of Amon
saw in this innocent bird the goose beloved of Amon and in the beast
of prey the favorite of some other deity, and so destroyed the figures of
both in that ignorant zeal which marked the movement at Thebes.
The lower scene, which shows Nakht and his wife "sitting in the
booth to amuse themselves by looking at the bounty of the papyrus-
swamps," really forms one picture with the upper; for the pile of pro-
visions before Nakht and his wife includes the fish and fowl whose
capture we have witnessed, as well as abundant supplies of grapes and
pomegranates. The men who are amassing these good things form
very decorative groups. Beyond them are scenes of vintage and
fowling which closely resemble those in other tombs. In the upper
register, two men are seen gathering grapes from vines growing in a
natural arch.3 The berries are then put into a trough where men
tread out the juice, keeping themselves from sinking in the mass too
1 It has been asked, "Does the water which surrounds the fish represent what is dripping from
them or a bay in the pool?" Rather it is neither, but a convenient way of showing that the fish were trans-
fixed in the middle of the water and then lifted out on the spear. Moreover, it served conveniently to
divide the scene into two groups and hint that they are separate in place and time. Compare the water
round the fowling-net in the scene below.
2 They were only roughly touched in in white and yellow. The genet (of which only the tip of the
tail is left) grasps the neck of a fledgling in his mouth. The red beak, white tail, and yellow breast of the
birds are still visible. The right-hand bird has something white and green before it, and to this the little
girl calls her father's attention. It is possibly an egg on a nest, as Wilkinson depicts an egg and speaks
of a nest in his Manners and Customs, II, p. 107, fig. 365. Geese as pets are fairly common and are shown
several times in similar pictures.
3 The leaves of the vine are drawn in a curiously inadequate way in Theban tombs (Tomb 5i being an
exception). First, they are sketched in as a circular outline. As an advance on this the circle is colored
green and edged with black spots to represent the serrations. In its complete form the circle is divided
into three or four segments, but at the best it has very little resemblance to a vine-leaf.
69
The scene
described
An erasure
The scene of
vintage