Nefertari
These were in one of the tombs of officials and nobles at Qubbet el-Hawa. These tombs date mainly to the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Ancient Egyptian decoration was not monochromatic, as much of it looks today after thousands of years. These hieroglyphs are an example of what this decoration was supposed to look like. The vibrancy of the colours is astonishing. The red and yellow are ochre. The blue is Egyptian blue, which was the first man-made pigment. It is applied in greater thickness and with more resin to make it stick, because it does not do so as easily as natural pigments. It often fades and becomes green, or falls off altogether.
