RELIEFS FROM THE TOMB OF NEFER-MAAT
Identity: Nefer-Maat
Material: Limestone
Period: Old Kingdom, 4th Dynasty
Reign: Senefru
Dimensions:
Height: (2 Registers) 61.5 and 62 cm
Width: 138.5 and 124 cm
The mastaba tomb of Nefer-Maat, who was a son of king Senefru and hence a brother of Khufu, contained beautiful mural representations of sunk relief, filled with colored paste.
This new technique was invented by Nefer-Maat, but it was never used again because the paste inlays dried out, cracked and ultimately fell to the ground. These representations depict a desert hunting scene on one side, and fowling and agricultural work on the other. From the chapel of his wife Atet in the same tomb came the famous painting of the "Meidum Geese" scene which shows three pairs of geese feeding from grass in wonderful contrast of vivid mineral colors.