Fishing with a Draw-net

• Main Author: Author: Davies, Nina M. (Nina Macpherson), 1881-1965 Alt Author: Gardiner, Alan H. (Alan Henderson), 1879-1963
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Ancient Egyptian Paintings; IPY
• Online Access: http://server15795.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/p15795coll44,95

The tomb of the sculptor Ipy, who lived in the reign of Ramesses II, has yielded us four Plates. Probably the artistic proclivities of the tomb-owner prompted him to secure for himself the ser­ vices of a painter of exceptional ability. Be this as it may, the pictures of his tomb are of remarkable liveliness of design, and the good preservation of the colours has made it a specially valuable source to draw upon for the illustration of Ramesside art. We begin with a fishing scene. A large net has been cast into the water between two boats. The catch has been good, and the fishermen have already begun to draw in the net. The papyrus bushes near the boat on the right, of which only a little is seen in our Plate, prove the scene to have been the shallow marshes, not the Nile itself The net is kept to the surface by means of floats. The boats are constructed, as usual, out of short planks. There are five men in each. In the boat here shown, two men paddle with oars and the rest are engaged each in his own special task. Besides the man manipulating the net, there is another who attends to the rudder, and in the stem the head fisherman gives instructions and signals to the boat opposite. Dealing with peasants, the artist felt himself less trammelled by conventions than when depicting his masters, and the men here and in the neighboring scenes have all the appearance of country-folk.