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Women at a Banquet

Twentieth Century; original New Kingdom

Nina de Garis Davies

A.D. 1925; original ca. 1479–1425 B.C.

Not on view

This detail of a banquet scene shows two female guests and a girl serving a liquid from a small flask. She is shown in an unusual pose with her back turned toward the viewer. The consumption of alcoholic beverages was a key element in many celebrations. In addition to social drinking, the participants of some festivals, such as the Beautiful Festival of the Valley, drank in excess to achieve an altered state of inebriation, disorientation, and sleepiness that was thought to enable communication with a deity or the dead. For this purpose, drugs might have also been served. Small flasks, such as the ones held by the servant on the left, might have held herbal concentrates that were added to wine to increase its effect. The accompanying inscription reads, "Make a happy day!"

Women at a Banquet, Nina de Garis Davies (1881–1965), Tempera on paper — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Women at a Banquet

Artist: Nina de Garis Davies (1881–1965)

Period: Twentieth Century; original New Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 18

Reign: reign of Thutmose III–early Amenhotep II

Date: A.D. 1925; original ca. 1479–1425 B.C.

Geography: Original from Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100)

Medium: Tempera on paper

Dimensions: Image: H. 47.5 × W. 66.5 cm (18 11/16 × 26 3/16 in.), scale 1:1; Framed: 51.1 × 70.2 cm (20 1/8 × 27 5/8 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1930

Accession Number: 30.4.78

Chronology

Egypt, 2000-1000 B.C.

Egyptian Wall Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection of Facsimiles [adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 36, no. 4 (Spring, 1979)]

Egyptian Wall Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection of Facsimiles
[adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 36, no. 4 (Spring, 1979)]

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The Met's collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period.