Nebamun hunting in the marshes

Find the cat among the birds. Around it, wings spread, fish move through the water and plants rise from the marsh. Nebamun stands with his family in a scene crowded with life. The painters have given you many small things to recognise around the large human figure. This fragment dates to about 1350 BC and came from the decoration of Nebamun’s tomb. The hunting scene pictures abundance and the life he wished to continue after death. His family’s presence belongs to that hope. The image was made for a tomb, though much of its subject is the pleasure and energy of being alive. The Museum bought the fragment from Henry Salt. What you see in Room 61 is one surviving section of a painted wall, displayed with other paintings from the group. It is not an intact tomb you can enter. Look along the broken edges, then back into the busy marsh. A small area of painted plaster preserves a carefully arranged world.