The ‘Mona Lisa’ Of Ancient Egyptian Art Depicts Extinct Goose

A 4600 year old painting from a tomb in Egypt depicts an extinct and previously unknown species of goose

Meidum Geese (Detail), Tomb of Nefermaat and Itet. Is this an extinct goose species? (Credit: Anthony Romilio)

An extinct and previously unknown species of goose has been identified from an ancient Egyptian painting that once adorned the walls of a mastaba, or tomb, according to a recently published analysis. This mudbrick tomb was the final resting place of Nefermaat, a prince in Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty (c. 2600 BCE), and his wife, Itet (Figure 1).

The oldest son of king Sneferu, Nefermaat ruled Egypt from 2610 to 2590 B.C. According to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nefermaat and Itet were a powerful couple who could commission works from the most sought-after artists of the day (more here).

F I G U R E 1 : A, Locality of Meidum, Egypt, Africa; B, Satellite image of the Ancient Egyptian structures of Meidum, © Google 2019; C, Schematic of Mastaba of Nefermaat that contains the Chapel of Itet where the Meidum Geese were located (adapted from Petrie, 1892:Pl. V). (doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102834)

Although many of the walls in the tomb’s Chapel of Itet were decorated with paintings applied onto mud plaster, some of these paintings were quite innovative, involving applications of colored paste inlayed into deeply incised images carved into the chapel’s outer limestone walls. This, the finest paste-inlay painting of the age, is an exquisite depiction of…