Step into a well-preserved tomb in Luxor and you'll see exactly what types of artwork were contained in Egyptian tombs: painted walls, carved reliefs, statues, and small wooden models packed into every corner. None of it was decoration for its own sake — Egyptians believed these images kept the dead alive, fed, and protected in the next world. Here's a walk through the main categories, and where to still see them.
What Types of Artwork Were Contained in Egyptian Tombs?
Egyptian tomb art falls into a handful of recurring categories, repeated across dynasties and social classes:
Wall paintings and painted plaster scenes
Carved stone relief (raised and sunk)
Statues of the tomb owner and protective deities
Decorated coffins, sarcophagi, and canopic jars
Small wooden or faience funerary models
Illustrated Book of the Dead papyri
The mix depended on wealth. Royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings could encompass all six of these elements, while tombs for lesser officials near Saqqara utilized relief and a false painted door. Each of the following sections will discuss each one in turn.
Wall Paintings and Painted Scenes
The walls of the tombs were covered in scenes depicting agricultural activity, festivities, hunting, and the voyage into the other world. The figures strictly followed the conventional pose of the ancient Egyptians, where only the heads and legs would be in profile position, while the rest of the body faces forward.
Color carried meaning, too:
Red-brown skin for men, yellow for women
Green or black for Osiris, linked to rebirth
Gold for the flesh of the gods
Blue and turquoise for the Nile and sky
The New Kingdom tombs of nobles at Thebes, near modern Luxor, show this style at its peak. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has documented these paintings since 1907, when its Egyptian Expedition began copying the tomb walls of Western Thebes at full scale to preserve their color and detail before further decay set in.
Relief Carvings on Tomb Walls
If painting alone was insufficient, then the scene was carved into the stone, using two main techniques.
Raised relief - The background is carved away to make the figure stand out against the wall.
Sunk relief - The outline of the figure is carved away from the surface, leaving the figure lower than the surface of the stone.
Raised relief was popular in tomb chapels due to the softer lighting within.
Sunk relief held up better outdoors, on sun-exposed facades, which is why it shows up more on temple walls than deep inside tombs. Both were painted afterward — the carving was really just a guide for color, not the finished artwork on its own. Mastaba tombs at Saqqara and Giza used this technique for scenes of daily life going back to the Old Kingdom.
Statues, Coffins, and Funerary Models
Beyond the walls, Egyptian tombs were stocked with three-dimensional art meant to serve the dead directly:
Ka statues — stand-ins for the deceased's spirit if the mummy was ever destroyed
Nested coffins and sarcophagi — painted or carved with protective spells and the goddesses Isis and Nephthys
Canopic jars — held the internal organs, each topped with the head of a protective son of Horus
Shabti figures — small servant statues meant to work on the owner's behalf in the afterlife
Miniature wooden models of boats, granaries, and workshops, especially common in Middle Kingdom tombs
Materials tracked status. Wealthy owners got gilded wood, gold leaf, and inlaid glass; everyone else made do with painted limestone or simple pottery. Tutankhamun's tomb is still the clearest example of how far this could go when budget wasn't a concern.
Where to See This Artwork Today
West Bank of Luxor, which is listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis, has the most number of tombs with paintings and carvings in all of Egypt.
A few ways to see it in person:
The 7 Days, 6 Nights: Cairo, Aswan, Luxor & Abu Simbel tour covers Luxor's West Bank tombs in depth
The Epic Egypt 14-Day Tour pairs tomb visits with the museums holding the objects found inside them
The Grand Egyptian Museum Experience puts you face to face with coffins, statues, and treasures pulled straight from these tombs
Photography rules vary by tomb, so check current regulations before you go.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common type of artwork found in Egyptian tombs?
Painted wall scenes and carved relief are the most widespread, showing up in nearly every tomb regardless of the owner's wealth.
Why did Egyptians paint tomb walls instead of just carving them?
Paint added color symbolism that plain relief couldn't carry reds, greens, and golds each held specific religious meaning.
What were shabti figures used for?
They were small servant statues placed in the tomb to perform labor for the deceased in the afterlife, so the owner wouldn't have to.
Can tourists still visit tombs with their original artwork intact?
Yes many Valley of the Kings tombs remain open, though some rotate access to limit humidity damage from visitors' breath.
Did every ancient Egyptian get this kind of tomb art?
No elaborate painting and relief were reserved for royalty and officials; ordinary burials had far simpler decoration, or none at all.
Conclusion
And thus when you ask about what kinds of art were found in the tombs of Egypt, the true answer would be all of the above together in one unit of work created with the purpose of escorting the deceased into the afterlife. The best way to understand it is still to stand in front of it — Luxor's tombs put thousands of years of that intention on full display.