Guests at a Banquet 1390 BC

This is a reproduction made by Nina de Garis Davies of an ancient Egyptian wall painting. Her choices as a copyist are key to our understanding. Davies' pigments are grounded in the same materials as the original, derived from minerals to achieve vivid colors like ochre, red, and black. The surface, likely prepared with a gesso-like ground, provides a smooth canvas that mimics the polished walls of Egyptian tombs. The process of copying these images was painstaking, requiring not only artistic skill but also a deep understanding of Egyptian artistic conventions. Davies meticulously recreated the stylized figures and hieroglyphs, preserving a record of ancient labor. Each brushstroke represents a connection across millennia, yet also highlights the distinction between the original artisans and Davies herself – an artist working in a modern context, preserving history through her craft. This act of reproduction invites us to consider the labor, materials, and cultural values embedded in both the original and the copy, challenging our understanding of fine art versus craft.