Relief fragment showing fishing scene
Old Kingdom
Not on view
Fishing in the Nile river was a scene commonly depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs. In this relief, from the tomb of an Old Kingdom official, several men are shown pulling in a large fishing net that is mainly still in the water. The net itself is depicted below and features several trapezoidal floaters that kept the top close to the water’s surface. Caught in the net are many different types of fish. They are depicted in such detail that their species can be determined—see for example the so-called elephant-nose fish with their typical elongated and rounded snouts (at the bottom right and the fifth fish from the left).
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