The Griffith Institute
University of Oxford
Bersha Watercolours

Griffith Institute w&d 161 | Captured Avocets and ducks


Griffith Institute Watercolour 161
Griffith Institute w&d 161
© Griffith Institute Watercolours & Drawings Project

Artist Howard Carter.

Date 1893.

Site
Deir el-Bersha.
Tomb of Djehutihotep. Temp. Sesostris II and Sesostris III.
Hall (Inner Room). North wall, lower part of wall with two registers.

Description
A group of Avocets tied together hanging from a roof pole, and a man removing a captured Duck from a crate.
From scene: Third register, three rows feeding, cooking and bringing cranes, geese and other birds and fish.

Technical data
Watercolour.
510 mm x 377 mm.
Annotations:
Signature on watercolour,
'Howard. Carter.'.
Mount, recto,
'Cf. El Bersheh I. Pl: XXIII'.
Mount, verso,
'No 56 El Bersheh I.'; 'Pl XXIII.'; '26. [encircled]'; 'Mr Carter'; 'Avocet'.
Mount, verso,
'El Bersheh 1893 Mr Carter.'; 'No 56 El Bersheh I. Plate XXIII.'; 'Avocet'; '26 [encircled]'; '26 [encircled]'.

Griffith Institute w&d
161

Publications
See PM iv.180(17)-(18) | TopBib 409-060-010-020; GI w&d Deir el-Bersha Project; Newberry, P. E. El Bersheh i [1894], 31 pls. xx, xxiii.


The left-hand side of the North wall of the Hall (Inner Room) to the left of the Shrine depicts the netting of both wildfowl and fish and their subsequent preparation for presentation to the Nomarch, Djehutihotep. Howard Carter's detail comes from the sixth register of this and shows a man handling unidentifiable birds (probably ducks) in a cage with a pot and at least a dozen Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) hanging by their wings from a frame above him. A Coptic Cross has subsequently been painted over the man.


Cataloguing John Wyatt & Lee Young | Commentary John Wyatt
Photography Jenni Navratil, assisted by Hana Navratilova
Editing and web pages Elizabeth Fleming, assisted by Francisco Bosch-Puche & Cat Warsi.