THE CORRIDOR OF ENTRY

NORTH WALL

(see )

A once painted bas-relief showed the entry to the tomb of Ankhtifi, the cane and the kherep sceptre in his hands. An inscription accompanies this picture: "The hereditary prince, the count, the chief of the prophets, the great chief of the nomes of the Throne of Horus and the farming, Ankhtifi"

SOUTH WALL

(see )

The traces of two characters superimposed in bas-relief are probably those of sons of Ankhtifi (not visible today). In front of one of them, can be read: "[His son] beloved, the chief of the nome of the Rural [in] its [entirety], Idy". Before them was, without doubt, Ankhtifi himself, entering his tomb.

EAST WALL OF THE CHAMBER

NORTH PART OF THE WALL

This part of the wall presents a decoration spread over four registers and a picture (see ). The three upper registers are occupied by a parade of archers, the lower register shows the transportation of the harvest on the back of donkeys. The picture presents mainly what we are in the habit of calling a "funeral meal".

1) - The parade of archers

(see and )

The representation in a tomb of a troop of armed soldiers is rare before the New Empire. This part of the wall has especially been damaged, but some archers are well preserved. The troop consists, in a very great majority, of Egyptians, but also some Nubians. The skin of the Egyptians is painted in red and that of the Nubians, in black; all have short hair decorated with a headband with double fringe, green or uncolored; a shoulder harness, and a girdle as well as archer's protection (alternately yellow and red bands) on the left wrist intended to protect them against the return of the string. The archers hold their bow in their left hand and a packet of arrows in their right hand. Most are accompanied by dogs, of the sloughis type (see ). The company of archers of Ankhtifi is often mentioned in his autobiography, under the name of "faithful and brave troop of Hefat".

2) - The transportation of the harvest by donkeys

(see , , and )

The agricultural scenes, ranging from the preparation of the land to the ensilage of grain, are dispersed on different walls. Here, the scene is reduced to a parade of twelve donkeys (seven remain visible) loaded with sheaves of corn, without any relationship to the rest of the decoration. The preparation of the ground is represented on the pillar 19. The other scenes of the harvest were without doubt grouped on the south half of the East wall, where are found traces of a second agricultural scene. With regard to the receipt of grain, it occupies the greater part of the northern wall.
The donkeys are grey with white belly, white chest and black mane. They follow each other quietly, holding the head very straight. They are carrying, as always in this kind of scene, a mesh bag filled with sheaves of corn. Here, the shape of the bags is that of a cylinder tightened in its middle; in reality, the narrow tightened part rested on the back of the donkey and the two cones, whose weight was balanced, hanging down on each side. This vertical projection is well into the habits of Egyptian draftsmen.

3) - Scenes of the funeral meal

(see and )

The left part of the scene is reserved to Nebi and Abkau, wife and daughter of Ankhtifi, shown in heroic size, sitting on a wide bench. Nebi is dressed in a white tunic with shoulder straps covering her chest and wears a wide necklace (see ). An inscription above her identifies her as "His beloved wife, Nebi". Her left hand is raised in order to support the cup offered by a cupbearer. The latter, is perhaps a son of Nebi, and is represented standing; today his image is disfigured. Next to Nebi, and on the same seat that her, is located therefore his daughter Abkau identified also by an inscription: "His beloved daughter, Abkau" (see ). She was probably dead at the time the tomb was decorated, which, according to Vandier, would merit, to him, this special place. Her left hand, open, is at the height of the arm of her mother and the right hand, closed, holds a lotus flower in bud.
In the centre of the scene is found a man, disfigured today, clothed with a long skirt with an apron. He offers to Nebi a duck which he holds by the wings. This man, biggest of the secondary characters of this scene, is probably the eldest son of Ankhtifi and Nebi (see ).

Under the group of Nebi and Abkau is a scene of butchery. The victim, a beast without horns and white skin mottled with black, is lying on his back; all four legs are tied. A butcher, leaning forward, is about to cut its throat with a knife, the red blade of which can see well.
Immediately behind the butcher is a seated harpist, turned towards the right, therefore toward Ankhtifi (see ). The harp is formed from a piece of curved wood, finished with a sounding box; the wood is yellow with black stains, therefore covered with leather or painted to imitate the leather. The strings have disappeared or have never been painted.
The right part of the scene was dominated by the representation in heroic size of Ankhtifi, seated on an armchair which has the feet of a lion of which there are still a few remnants. Behind him was a standing man, maybe a hairdresser. Between the two feet of the armchair are located three small squatting characters. There are so many lacunae that one can not specify the nature of their activity (see ).

CENTRAL PART OF THE WALL

(see )

This part of the wall, which is behind the shaft (see ) in the axis of the door, is almost completely lost. Only one section remains, at the bottom, a small carved picture of very mediocre quality (see ). It shows Ankhtifi and his wife seated on a chair with feet of a lion and a low backrest, covered with a cushion. The nomarch holds a stick with the right hand and the kherep sceptre with the left hand, symbols of his power. One can notice that the sceptre passes illogically behind the arm of Ankhtifi. The explanation is to be looked for in the Egyptian mode of representation, the "aspective", (a concept described by Emma Brunner-Traut) which we have already mentioned in our survey of in Saqqara. This uninscribed picture is surrounded, at the top and on the two sides, by a band of approximately five centimeters, formerly heightened with colours. Under the seat is a mirror, enclosed in a case decorated with a checkerboard pattern.

SOUTH PART OF THE WALL

The south half of the wall is in a very bad state of conservation. Only the two lower registers allow a description (see ).

1) - The bottom register : the passage of the ford with the herd

To the left is the boat which guides the animals. It is occupied by five crew men, totally or partially in lacunae (see ). The man at the helm, standing at the back, maneuvers a large oar/rudder, painted red, as is the hull of the vessel.
After a lacuna of approximately two meters three magnificent pairs of horns, belonging to three cows, can be seen, from which the heads have disappeared. As for bodies, the artist did not have to draw them because the herd was supposed to be in the water. A fourth cow follows; it is white with black spots and has horns placed curiously, almost vertically, on the forehead (see ).

The parade of the cows is interrupted by a second boat which heads towards the right, i.e. in a direction opposite to that of the herd. There one can see spots of colour, probably belonging to a cow already standing in the water.
From here, the register gains in height at the expense of the one above it. A white cow with black spots descends into the water: the head is tilted, the back is rounded, the forelegs already half immersed, the hind legs are on dry land, the animal moves forward carefully, encouraged by the voice and the stick of a cattleman. It is followed by three cows which must be still on dry land.

2) - The lower register

This is occupied by a parade of cows and donkeys (see ). To the left stands a man (of which only some traces remain) who takes a calf by the forelegs with the intention of dragging the herd into the water. There follows a group of cows, in which is probably the mother of the calf (see ).
After a significant lacuna of about one meter, three magnificent cows bring up the rear of the herd (see ). The first is red with white spots; one can see under its neck five red "drops" which we do not know how to interpret. The second is white dotted with black (see ) ; one can find under its neck five white drops, which, here also, is the dominant colour of the skin. The last cow is red; it doesn't present any special detail (see ).

From this place, the register becomes narrower, containing a parade of donkeys (see , and ). There is no one responsible for them; they are usually turned to the right.

3) - The upper registers

These are nearly entirely lost. Traces of a ploughing scene have been found at the discovery of the tomb, but they have disappeared. One can suppose that this register carried the agricultural scenes that are missing elsewhere in the tomb.

NORTH WALL

The north wall is very mutilated (see ). It was almost completely occupied by scenes relating to the return of the grain; however, he left part is reserved for dancing scenes, and the upper register (almost completely destroyed) to a scene of husbandry or for the butcher's shop (?).
On the upper register, five women follow each other in graceful attitudes which can only suit that of dancers (see ) ; a sixth was present in the underlying register, behind a man, who probably couldn't fit in the register.

The scenes of evaluation of the harvest and the return of the grains into the granaries, unfortunately very damaged, occupied nearly all of the north wall. Today, there are only two partial registers, a register of granaries, at the bottom, and a register of small tables relating to the evaluation of the harvest (see , and ).

The granaries

They were originally ten in number. They are in the form of a series of arched, black buildings, probably made of silt from the Nile (see ). The Egyptian granaries had the roof pierced with a hole, through which one poured the harvests, and presented below, is an oblong opening, through which one took the grains or the fruits according to needs. This opening was treated like a window with a red frame and white shutters (see ).
Right and left of some large central granary is a small register of characters heading, on the left toward the left and on the right toward the right (see opposite). All are carrying bags of grain. The first two have suspended their bag on a long pole whose extremities rest on their left shoulder. The bag has the usual form of containers in the shape of baskets with grain: It is flared appreciably downward and it is provided, at the top, with two eyelets. To suspend the bag on a pole, the men passed a rope through the eyelets (see ).

The evaluation of the harvest

This is always done in the vicinity of the granaries, and of course in the presence of the master. It takes place here under a canopy whose roof is supported by small columns of which one sees the bottom parts only resting on a round support (see ). Ankhtifi, pictured standing in heroic size, the right leg straight, left leg advanced and a bent knee, presides over the operation. The nomarch, whose head is missing, leans on his cane in front of a heap of barley. Behind him, but of smaller size, is located a high commissioner, probably the steward of the granaries, of whom only the legs and the lower part of the costume remain. He holds in his left hand a white oblong object, maybe a scroll of papyrus, or a shelf of wood (see ). Behind him, between columns 1 and 2, a man (whose head has disappeared) is leaning forward, holding a red bag, edged with yellow, with both hands. Then one finds the remains of a standing man and finally a third character pours the content of his yellow basket on the ground (see ). The rest has disappeared.
Two very badly preserved scribes are placed on a small supplementary register on each side of Ankhtifi.
On the right of the pile of grain, a man, of which one only sees the head, the arms and a foot, fills a measure of grain. Except for a few traces, all the rest has disappeared.