NOTE FROM THE ARTIST:

This exceptionally detailed and beautiful painting of a man hunting birds with a throwing stick in the marshes is only the surviving right half of what was the typical Egyptian double picture found in numerous other examples of Egyptian tomb art.

Facing the man fowling would be another figure of the same man, also on a shallow boat, spear fishing. Only a part of the spear can be seen in the lower left part of this fragment.

Wherever possible, the damage to the original painting over the last 30 centuries has been restored to bring it to its original beauty. The hunter's wife, in elaborate costume, accompanies him, holding an arm full of flowers. His daughter kneels at his feet.

The amazing detail of the butterflies, the colorful birds, the bird decoys in his hand and the hunting cat make this a most unusual work of art. Interestingly enough, in spite of the other detail, the original artist neglected to add the fingers on either hand, so they both appear reversed in a most impossible contortion. Such an oversight is both understandable and forgivable when we consider that the painting originally was made in a dark tomb, probably by candlelight.

The figure of the hunter in the original painting is 55 cm high, approximately 1 foot 9-1/2 inches, and probably was painted during the reign of Thutmosis IV in the mid eighteenth Dynasty. The fragment which is said to be from the tomb of Nebanum at Thebes, is now located in the British Museum in London.

JIM BROWN

These lithographs are reproduced on heavy (100 lb. weight) quintessence cover paper with a white background to match the original plastered tomb walls.