Lot 1815
Rare Old Kingdom Painted Geso Fragment. Egypt, 4th Dynasty, c. 2613-2494 BC. This very rare survival is from the Tomb of Aba, Tomb 8 from the rock tombs of Deir el Gebrawi, which was published by Davies, on behalf of the Egyptian Exploration Fund, resulting from explorations carried out by him in 1900, along with earlier work by Percy Newberry for the Archaeological Survey. The quadrangular piece seen here is from the east wall of the tomb's main shrine, and shows one of Aba's servants carrying food for the banquet table of the deceased -- "(the tribute) of his tomb estate for the Ka of Aba." The man walks left, his skin a dark red, contrasting sharply against the white of his kilt. He cradles in one arm a duck, and grasps another by the wing with his lower hand. The color of the upper duck rendered in a lighter red-brown, the struggling duck of similar color, but its wings of indigo blue. The man stands against a similarly colored background, with the hieroglyphs picked out in green. This section comprised of five large pieces, set in a white-plastered frame. The gesso very well preserved for its age, with likely some discreet paint touch up here and there. The dark background a bit mottled from spots of fading. Size: 12-3/4" x 6"; Framed size: 14" x 8". Surviving gesso paintings from this period are extremely rare, even more so for examples in private hands.
Estimated Value $25,000 - 30,000.
This piece published in de Garis Davies, Deir el Gebrawi I: Archaeological Survey of Egypt, Eleventh Memoir, The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrawi I; Part 1 - Tomb of Aba and Smaller tombs of the Southern Group, London, 1902, pp. 23-24, pl XIX, the extreme right figure in the second register from the top. A rare original copy of this book (de-accessioned from the library of the Bishopsgate Institute) accompanies this lot. As Davis noted on p. 4, "…. The tombs lie along the low cliff in which Aba and Zau had hewn their spacious chambers, and then range themselves around a natural amphitheatre to the west, a gathering ground for the waters of occasional deluges, which have cut a deep channel down the cliff from this point." Sadly, these words would prove only too prophetic. Some years after this publication another deluge coursed through this area, destroying much of the interior of Aba's tomb, and others. Besides this fragment, two other larger pieces, also Aba's, were once in the Brooklyn Museum.
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