Mysterious lute player in Rekhmire tomb the first bow
Mysterious Lute Player in Rekhmires Tomb (TT 100)
Dagmar Krej, Peter Zamarovsk,
Praha, Czech Republic
Abstract
Among the many scenes decorating the walls of Rekhmires tomb in
the Thebian necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, there is a figure of
a girl playing the lute with a bow. If our interpretation of the
painting is correct, this is the first (and till now the only
known) depiction of abowed musical instrument not only in Egypt,
but in whole Mediterranean area. Although the lute came perhaps
from Mesopotamia or Cappadocia, the oldest bowed musical instrument
the ravanastron has its cradle in Ceylon. In Europe the first bows
did not appear until the 7th 10th century A.D.
Key wordsAncient bowed musical instruments, lute, Rekhmires tomb
(TT 100)
Stringed musical instruments are known from many ancient
localities, including Egypt. Spectacular illustrations of musical
scenes with harps from the Old Kingdom have been found in Giza, in
Abusir, and in other places. The lute is younger instrument,
probably coming from Mesopotamia, or perhaps from Cappadocia. Many
depictions of lutes have been found in tombs from the New Kingdom.
All stringed instruments were played exclusively by strumming.
In our paper, we point to a rare occurrence. For this, we have
to visit the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire (TT 100) in the Thebian
necropolis in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. Its main 25-metre long chamber
(rather passage) begins with the ceiling, which is 2.7m in height,
but rises to 7.6m in the rear part. Nearly 300m2 of tombs walls are
richly decorated by numerous colour paintings depicting many
aspects of life at the time of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II.
Among other remarkable images, there are also three musical
scenes, which is quite unusual. They are painted on the northern
wall of the western end of the chamber.
Fig. 1
Two musical scenes from TT 100, with women playing
instruments
One scene depicts two men playing lute and harp. The two other
scenes show women player. The lover shows five women players. The
second womens scene, perhaps less conspicuous than the others,
consists only of a single figure a young girl. She is standing, but
we cannot recognise whether she is also singing, because her face
is hiden by hair (or wig). She is playing a stringed instrument
that looks like a lute. This would not be unusual, however our girl
is leaning her instrument on the ground and is playing with a bow!
Is this correct interpretation of the picture? All indicate that
our girl is really bowing her instrument: Her body is moderately
bent forward, holding the instrument correctly in her left hand,
setting the bow near the corpus. Even a present-day bassist would
not reproach her position.
The painting is more than 3300 years old, and is the first
preserved document of a bowed instrument not only in Egypt, but in
whole Mediterranean. (Bowed instruments are found neither in any
depiction from ancient Greece or Rome.)
The field for speculation is wide open: Where had the bowed
instrument come from? Could it have been imported from the East
together with its player? This hypothesis is supported by many
circumstances: Our lute player is dressed differently from the
ladies, who are highly-ranked members of the harem. The design and
colour of her tunic is typical for a maid. Her hairstyle (or wig)
also ranks her among the servants. It seems she must be a
foreigner. A forced slave? Yes, this is possible, as Thutmose III
made several great campaigns up beyond the Euphrates. As far as we
know, the oldest bowed instrument the ravanastron appeared in the
5th millennium B.C. in Ceylon. Is it therefore possible that our
bowed lute had its origin in Ceylon? We tend to reject this
possibility as our instrument is in all details reminiscent of a
real lute, not a ravanastron. There remain some other questions:
Why have no other bowed musical instruments been found in other
depictions in Egypt or in Mesopotamia? Was it premature invention
which was soon forgotten? Or was it rejected because, as Plato
wrote in his Laws, Egyptian music needs no improvements.? (As it
was perfect and came from the goddess Isis.)
Fig. 2 Detail of the lute player from the third register
Fig. 3
Egyptian lute with a long narrow Fig. 4
fretted neck, oblique body and two or three strings Ravanastron
with a bow (Ceylon)
(played by plectrum)And finally, the tomb was known to most
nineteenth century explorers, and scenes from Rekhmires tomb were
completely published in 1943. So why has our mysterious lute player
not been properly mentioned and discussed until now? To our
knowledge she has been mentioned only by Davis Norman de Garis, who
states that the girl is playing her instrument like a cello.
However, avioloncello is played in sitting position, while our girl
is standing!
We must hope that new research will cast more light on these
questions.
References
ern M., K., Hudba antickch kultur, (The Music of Ancient
Cultures), Academia, Praha 2006 (in Czech)
ern M., K., Nov poznatky o nejstar hudebn kultue svta, (New
Information about the Oldest Musical Culture in the World), Opus
Musicum XXV/1993, 5-6, p. 140-145, Praha (in Czech)
Davis Norman de Garis, The Tomb of Rekh-mi-re at Thebes, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1943
Hickmann H., Quelques prcurseurs gyptiens du luth court et du
luth chantr, Miscellanea Musicologica 6, in: ASAE 49, Kairo 1949,
437-444
Hickmann H., Les luths aux frettes du Nouvelle Empire,
Miscellanea Musicologica 11, in: ASAE 52, Kairo 1952, 161-183
Krah K., Die Harfe im Pharaonischen gypten, ihre Entwicklung und
Funktion, ed. Re. Orbis Musicarum 7, 1991
Sachs C., Die Musikinstrumente des alten gyptens, Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin, Mitteilungen aus der gyptischen Sammlung, Band
III., Berlin 1921
Sachs C., The History of Musical Instruments, London 1942
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in the first register from the bottom
third and fifth register
in the third register
located in the fifth register
This is probably the same girl which is in the lower register
depicted standing with her back to us in a three-quarter view
(unique in Egyptian iconography).
by Davis Norman de Garis