1-646-386 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

A garden pool: fragment of wall painting, Egyptian, 18th Dynasty, c1350 BC. Tomb painting of a pool full of ducks, lotus flowers and tilapia fish; papyrus grows along the edge. Around the pool are palms, dom-palms, sycomore fig, mandrakes, and other bushes. In one corner is a tree in which the tree-goddess Hathor presents offerings to whoever was at the right of the scene, most likely Nebamun and Hatshepset, his wife. This fragment appears to show a pool in a garden that might have belonged to Nebamun, in whose tomb at Thebes, (no. 9), it was found. But, like many other scenes from the tomb, it probably has a deeper significance; the fish, birds and plants also act as rich symbols of rebirth and new life. From the British Museum.