Green Room" in the North Palace at Amarna,

Green Room" in the North Palace at Amarna, New Kingdom, Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1353–1336 b.c.
Egyptian; original from Amarna, North Palace
Color facsimile by Norman (1865–1941) or Nina de Garis Davies (1881–1965)
Tempera on paper

H. 41 9/16 in. (105.5 cm), W. 167 5/16 in. (425 cm), scale 1:1
Rogers Fund, 1930 (30.4.136)

This painting is a restoration of a scene of marsh life that formed a continuous frieze in the so-called Green Room in the North Palace at Amarna. The North Palace was a rather isolated structure on the Royal Road north of the Central City. In its final state, it was the palace of the king's eldest daughter and heir Meritaten; previously it may have been the palace of Kiya. From the entry at the west, courts, solar altars, and a window of appearance are succeeded by more reserved areas around what appears to have been a central well, including a throne room, formal and private apartments, kitchens and staff areas, and animal pens. At the northeast corner was a complex where a sunken garden was surrounded on three sides by small cubicles, some of which had windows onto the central garden. Scenes of feeding fowl or waterbank scenes were found in many places. In the Green Room, part of a double cubicle on the north side, a continuous scene of waterfowl and plants had been painted on four walls. This facsimile copies a long-preserved stretch on the west wall.
The blank yellow rectangles mark the place of niches in the original Green Room, all of them framed, and the upper ones with a small pool of water painted beneath. At the bottom, a water channel with lotus plants is bounded on either side by black silty stretches with brushy plants. Above is a tangle of marsh plants and papyrus populated by lively birds. The strikingly beautiful idyllic painting surrounding the small space in the cubicle would have created an encompassing experience.

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