The Menena Tomb

Hey everybody! Thanks for coming back. At the end of my last post, I mentioned that I would be talking about the follow piece of artwork. So... let's do it...

As I am looking around the front office, Karyn (WL Meekins Sr.'s daughter) runs over to the wall and points to this piece of art. Then starts telling me a story about how this was obtained. The story goes that WL Meekins Sr. was touring one of the museums in DC sometime in the 60s when he saw this piece of artwork. As I mentioned last time, he loved the Egyptians because they surveyed. He immediately noticed the rope and if you look closely you can see at least one knot in the rope. This is an image of the Egyptians surveying! He had to have it. So believe it or not, he found somebody (or perhaps called somebody) at the Smithsonian and asked them to make him a replica. So they did, at least that's how the story goes. I needed to investigate.

I pulled this thing off the wall and find that it is a 10 pound piece of plaster of paris. When I flipped it over, this is what I found.

From
Egyptian
Wall Painting
The Manena Tomb
Dorothy Briggs 1967

1967, so far so good. I did what any average 21st century person would do and searched for said Dorothy Briggs. This is what I found.

A picture of Dorothy Briggs from the Smithsonian! How cool is that? She was "a museum specialist at the National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History, restoring the design on an early American Staffordshire pearlware bowl, c. 1790, excavated from the rear of Arrel's Tavern, in Alexandria, Virginia, where George Washington was a frequent visitor."

WL Meekins Sr. really did have the Smithsonian make him a replica of this piece of art!

I was able to find this painting online at a couple of websites, and the Egyptians are not actually surveying land, but grain. They are figuring how much grain they will be able to harvest.

I tried to look of the Manena tomb, which is actually spelled Menena, but I wasn't able to find out too much about it, except that it's really old and that Menena was a contemporary of Nakht. Fun fact.

I think WL Meekins Sr. obtaining this replica is an example of how he worked hard even in the most unlikely situation to make things happen. Whether it was growing the business, taking care of his family, or getting the Smithsonian to make him this piece, he was willing to do whatever it takes. 

Remember that pig over the door? I will talk about that next time.

Need a survey? www.meekins.net