1-646-385 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Fragment of painted plaster from the tomb of Sebekhotep, from Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, c1400 BC. As a senior treasury official of the reign of Thutmose IV, one of Sebekhotep's responsibilities was to oversee craftsmen working for his department. Scenes showing the manufacture of valuable items, such as jewellery, on the walls of his tomb helped to indicate Sebekhotep's importance. These two registers show different stages and products of the jeweller's craft, in particular the broad collars so characteristic of festive scenes in tomb paintings. The men in the upper part of this painting are probably stringing beads, while one man in the lower part of the register is making them into the large collar shown on his lap. From the British Museum.