Plate LVII

The noble from whose tomb this Plate and the next two are taken has not been fortunate enough to have his name preserved for posterity. The scanty inscriptions which remain prove him, however, to have been a 'Royal scribe' and 'the Chief Nurse[of the king's children]'. Hardly any painting is left upon the walls, and the present fragment was found lying with many others face downwards on the floor. It is part of the same scene as that to which Plate LVIII belongs, and patient study has made it possible to reconstruct the whole, which was a painting of great size and magnificence. King Amenophis III was there shown seated upon a throne within a baldachin carried by light ornamented columns. His mild, unbearded countenance can hardly be taken as a portrait, but expresses the ideal of manly beauty current in this reign. Be­ hind him stood his mother Mutemuia clasping his right arm and left shoulder. He was wearing the blue khepresh-helmet, in front of which was coiled the uraeus-serpent, in the original doubtless of gold with red, blue, and green inlay. He wears a transparent linen shirt, through which the dark skin shows up as of a lighter red. A splendid collar of gold and faience surrounds his neck, and bracelets are upon his arms. In his hands he holds the insignia of royalty, the crook T, the mace i, and the so-called flail ft.. In front of him stood two fan-bearers keeping him cool with their ostrich-feather fans, and behind these again was depicted the owner of the tomb bringing costly jewels for his sovereign's delectation. The coloured hieroglyphs of the royal cartouches show forth most decoratively upon the intense orange background, which doubt­ less simulates gold leaf laid upon wood