Gebelein Painted Cloth

Found in a grave at Gebelein, south of Thebes, this fragmentary linen cloth is one of the oldest paintings known from Egypt, made centuries before the first pharaohs. Its scenes include boats with cabins and oarsmen, a hippopotamus hunt and figures that appear to be dancing.

Many themes that later became central to Egyptian funerary art, such as boats carrying the dead and ritual dances, can already be seen here, which makes the cloth a key document for the origins of Egyptian imagery.