Ibex, Tomb of Amenhotep

The ibex represented in this Amenhotep tomb scene belongs to the category of hunted or herded animals that appear across New Kingdom private tomb painting as evidence of the tomb owner's earthly prosperity and his claim to continued abundance in the afterlife. The specific tomb of Amenhotep in question was part of the Theban necropolis's documentation by the Metropolitan Museum's expedition, and Nina Davies's copy preserves the scene's delicate rendering of the animal in the tradition of Egyptian naturalistic observation that could, within the conventions of tomb painting, achieve considerable accuracy about the physical characteristics of depicted species.

Egyptian painting of animals often achieves its greatest naturalistic precision within the context of its otherwise highly conventionalized style, and Davies's facsimile captures the ibex's characteristic form — the swept-back horns, the coloring — with the careful attention she brought to every element of the originals she copied.