This part of a wall painting was found in the Mastaba of Nefermaat and his wife, Itet, at Meidum where it decorated the lower part of one of the walls in the passage leading to Itet’s chapel.
The colors used here derived from natural materials: white from limestone, red from hematite and green from malachite. These materials were mixed with egg white. The panel shows three pairs of geese that are feeding on the grass. Three of them are looking to the right side, while the others are looking to the left side in a symmetrical arrangement.
The artist cleverly closed the scene off on both sides with two geese bending their heads down to pick up the grain from the grass.
Old Kingdom, 4th Dynasty, reign of Sneferu, around ca. 2600 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 34571