Nebamun

Who is Nebamun?

Nebamun was an Egyptian "scribe and counter of grain" during the New Kingdom. His tomb in Thebes, the location of which is now lost, featured the famous Pond in a Garden fresco, executed a secco.

Nebamun's name is translated as "My Lord is Amun" and he is thought to have lived c. 1350 BCE. The paintings were hacked from the tomb wall and purchased by a British collector who in turn sold them to the British Museum in 1821. The collector died in poverty without ever revealing the source location of the paintings. The depictions are highly symbolic and thematically related to a joyful afterlife.

In 2009 the British Museum opened up a new gallery dedicated to the display of the restored eleven wall fragments from Nebamun's tomb, described as one of the Museum's greatest treasures.

Fowling scene

Dancers and Musicians