Artwork Information

Alma-Tadema was famous for the architectural and archaeological accuracy of the backgrounds in his history paintings. Egyptians 3000 years ago is a replica of his second great success, (in the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, England) and shows Phtames entertaining a Nubian ambassador in the Royal Court of Egypt. The host was a scribe of the great house of the God Ptah at Memphis, and Phtames' name is inscribed on the furniture and wall, and derived from the column of his tomb in the Leiden Museum.