Artwork: Goldsmiths at Work
Artist: Unknown
Created: 1411-1375 BCE
Medium: Wallpainting (detail)
Location: Tomb 181, Valley of the Nobles, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Egypt
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Goldsmiths at Work is a fragment of a wallpainting from the tomb of Ipuki and Nebamun who were craftsmen and sculptors who worked in the royal necropolis at Thebes during the region of Amenhotep II. The eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt – often combined with nineteenth and twentieth dynasties under the group title ‘’New Kingdom’’ – was a time of great artistic flowering in ancient Egypt. Ipuki and Nebamun were involved in the royal building project of the New Kingdom. Despite Nebamun’s modest title of ‘’scribe and counter of grain,’’ he artfully prepared his own burial tomb to be shared by Ipuki, combining their skills to make a tomb as equally well crafted as any of the nobles’ tombs surrounding it. A least one wall of these tomb chambers was reserved for celebrating the work of deceased. Goldsmiths at Work portrays eleven craft workers engaged in various activities from the initial weighing of gold to the creation of gold objects. Gold was used to decorate temples dedicated by the pharaoh, and was placed alongside the kings in their tombs for use in the afterlife. Goldsmiths at Work is an elegant portrayal of work, with many hands animated in diverse actions. It also provides important historical information about ancient Egyptian workshops, and the high degree of skill required by goldsmiths. Nebamun and Ipuki, who were possibly brothers, or related through marriage, are two artists who cannot resist providing an intimate portrait of their vocation, and of the artistic process at large.’’ (SWW)
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