page_title: Nefermaat
section_title: Tomb
hierarchical_section_title: Nefermaat / Tomb
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Reconstitution du mastaba M16 de Néfermaât à Meidoum (Egypte)
context_page_description: Nefermaat I was an ancient Egyptian prince, a son of king Sneferu. He was a vizier possessing the titles of the king's eldest son, royal seal bearer, and prophet of Bastet. His name means "Maat is beautiful" or "With perfect justice".
context_section_description: Nefermaat was buried in mastaba 16 at Meidum. He was one of several relatives of Pharaoh Sneferu, who was buried in Meidum. The tomb is known for the special technique used for drawing the scenes. Sculptors carved deeply incised images that then were filled with colored paste. This method was labor-intensive because the paste tended to dry, crack, and then fall out. The technique results in vividly colored scenes. This tomb is the only one known to date showing this technique. The fact that later, the plaster cracked and resulted in the loss of the paste, likely led to craftsmen abandoning this type of decoration.
  Nefermaat's tomb is famous for the scene referred to as the "Meidum Geese" (now in the Egyptian Museum, JE 34571/ CG 1742). Discovered in 1871 by Auguste Mariette and Luigi Vassalli, the scene was executed in painted plaster. The painting was removed from the wall in order to be reassembled inside the Bulaq Museum. The full scene depicts six geese (greylag, greater white-fronted and red-breasted geese); three pointing to the left and three pointing to the right. Each group of three geese consists of one goose shown with head bowed down, eating, and two geese with heads held up. Each group of three animals represents many geese, as three represents the plural in Egyptian imagery. There are differences in the plumage of the birds that breaks the overall symmetry of the scene. This example of Egyptian painting is considered a masterpiece. A 2015 research paper by Francesco Tiradritti at the Kore University of Enna, published on LiveScience, suggested that the painting could be a nineteenth-century forgery, possibly made by Vassalli. Tiradritti's claims were promptly dismissed by Zahi Hawass and other Egyptian authorities.
caption: Tomb of Nefermaat in Meidum
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