The entrance to the connecting corridor/chamber is approx. 1.1m wide by 1.0m in length and like the main entry, it now has no decoration, although again it almost certainly did have originally. The corridor is about 2.0m in width (north-south), and about 10.0m in length. With its height of about 4m it appears extremely narrow.
The overall imagery is a continuation, to a greater or lesser degree, of that of the previous chamber. It still represents scenes from the life of the deceased, although progressing towards the scenes of his journey to the afterlife which are found in the final pillared hall. Like the previous chamber, the wall decoration of this one are also topped with a khekher frieze, with the Egyptian frieze being again present at the extremes of the walls and at the lower edge of the khekher frieze. The scene areas are also bordered at the bottom with the two coloured bands and a metre high blank dado area. As can be seen from the accompanying image, there is much restoration/conservation work to be done. But, the content of the south and north walls, eastern (entry) end can now be easily recognised. A photo of the cleaning of part of the ceiling shows the various stages undertaken, on the right is the final outcome, whilst the area in the middle shows its original state. East and west walls Currently nothing is available about the artistic decoration of the east (entry) and west (exit) walls, although with their narrow width and 4 metre height, there is still room for some original content, even if this consisted of only text and an iconic image. South wall This wall is divided into two sections. 1) The larger eastern end involves agriculture, which is overseen by Sennefer, has the activities on four registers showing all the stages: the land being cultivated by the peasants, reaping and winnowing, to the scribes recording the harvests, loading the harvest on to grain ships to be transported to the god's granaries. Throughout these activities, texts include the conversations of and between the workers. Some of these are well worth inclusion here: • A ploughman says to his oxen: "Walk on, walk on, move. Look the mayor wants the work". • A man who watches him says: "You speak harshly to them. The oxen, unharness them and allow them to drink". • In return the other says: "Cheer up oxen. Look we are unharnessing you so that you can spend the day working the damper land in the presence of the mayor". • A man who is binding something says: "How handsome the mayor is, the brave man of the king, whom the ruler loves". • The captain of a grain ship says, with regard to the loading of his ship: "Keep on filling up for Amun-Re, that he might cause us to favourably go forth". 2) The western end has a scene of Sennefer presenting an Amun bouquet to his cousin, Amenemopet, over the top of a pile of offerings. Sennefer and his wife (who sits behind him) faces west, his cousin faces him with his wife seated behind. The general descriptive text (which is located behind the text of Sennefer) states: "Sitting in a hall of amusement and spending a perfect day with his "brother" (actually "cousin")", whom he loves, one unique and serviceably minded to the good god, overseer of the city and vizier, Amenemopet, called Pairi, the prince and count, sole beloved friend, confidant of the lord of the Two Lands, praised one of the good god, to whom has been given the two hearts of silver and gold.". The two hearts referred to here are part of a double pendant, made of a gold and a silver heart. At the centre of each is a cartouche of Amenhotep II. The two hearts hang from a chain located under the broad necklace. In most representations of Sennefer, throughout the upper and lower chambers, he wears such a double pendant. It probably represents a honorary decoration, bestowed by the king to some of his subjects in recognition for services rendered or perhaps even an indication of affection. To the ancient Egyptians, the heart was accepted as the centre of emotions and feelings, also the seat of memory and wisdom. This honorary distinction was given to others of high status and also artists, at least until the Ramesside period. The text associated with Sennefer reads: "Coming carrying a bouquet of Amun, after having emerged from the granary of the divine offerings, after giving corn in order to perform the rite of the divine offering of Amun, together with that of the gods who are in his following; by the prince and count, overseer of the granaries of Amun and Mayor of the Southern City, Sennefer, justified.". The text for his wife is located behind her chair, but is now almost lost. The text relating to Sennefer's cousin, Amenemopet, is: "Prince and count, seal-bearer of the king of Lower Egypt, sole companion, counsellor of his lord, honoured by the king in his palace, steadfast in favour and firm in love, possessor of graciousness in the palace, who enters in quietly and goes out again with calm, who has attained the limits of excellence and integrity, overseer of the city, vizier, overseer of the six great mansions, Amenemopet justified, begotten by the steward of the domain of the divine wife, (Ahmose) Humay and born of the Mistress if the House, Nub.. For Amenemopet's wife, the text identifies her as: "His wife, his beloved, the royal favourite and mistress of the house, Weretma'etef, justified, possessor of the blessed state.". North wall This time divided into three scenes of totally different activities. The two outer ones has Sennefer as observer, whilst in the middle one he is the participant. 1) This scene, nearest to the entry doorway, showing Sennefer observing the produce from the meadows and marshes, is divided in two registers. At the left-hand side of each, Sennefer sits on a stool within a pavilion with blue uprights, roof and thick mat covering the floor. In his hands he holds his emblems of office, the sceptre and long staff. The lower, and more legible text reads: "Regarding the meadows, traversing the marshes and making arrangements at the Ways of Horus, by the Mayor of the Southern City, Sennefer, justified". The "Ways of Horus" is the name of a fortress and its surrounding area on the north-east frontier. In front of the pavilion of each register, the area is further divided into two sub-registers. In each of these, the produced brought to him is piled directly in front of the seated figure. 2) This next scene, the central one of the three, is one of bird hunting and fishing in the marsh lands. In the first part of this scene, spearing fish, he is positioned on the right-hand side, facing left; and for hunting birds he is on the left facing right. Sennefer stands in the usual pose for this type of scene. On the right, his legs are astride and he holds a spear in his right hand, which is raised behind his head. On the left, again with legs astride, he holds a throwing stick in his raised right hand, however, here he also holds a bird by the legs in his left hand. In both cases, the diminutive figure of his wife stands behind him. An even smaller image of his grandson stands behind Senetnay in the fishing sub-scene on the right (see the small image right, which also shows part of the cleaned scene next to it). In the bird-hunting scene, the grandson stands in front of Sennefer, however, only his arm has survived. Between the two standing figures of Sennefer is a representation of the marshes, the vegetation below with a large flock of birds above. In the lower reed area, birds can be seen taking flight to join those above. The texts for each scene not only adequately describe the scene, but as usual they end with some of his titles, stating that he is deceased ("justified", by the court of the gods, during which he was found to be "true of voice", the literal translation of "justified"). • Sennefer spearing fish: "Crossing the swamps and traversing the bird-pools, enjoying oneself spearing fish in the marshes by the beloved of the marsh goddess, the prince and count, well-beloved courtier, Mayor of the Southern City, overseer of the granaries of Amun and overseer of the arable lands of Amun, Sennefer, justified". • Sennefer hunting birds: "Enjoying oneself, beholding beautiful things, beholding the marshes, being a fowler in the artistry of the marsh goddess, by the beloved of the marsh goddess, and companion of the lord of bird-catching, by the prince and count, excellent confidant of the lord of the Two Lands, praised one of the good god, Mayor of the Southern City, overseer of the granaries of Amun and overseer of the prophets of Horus, lord of Qus, Sennefer, justified". 3) In this the final scene of this wall, Sennefer and his wife sit at the left-hand side. He is observing the funerary banquet being held for him, obviously by the magic of the afterlife. The banquet is best known as the "Beautiful Festival of the Valley". This is a yearly religious festival which unites the dead with the living, at the heart of the Theban mountain. The text relating to the couple states: "Enjoying oneself, beholding beautiful things and receiving the gifts which are given in the presence (of the god) from among the offerings of the lord of gods, Amun, lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, by the prince and count, well-beloved courtier, excellent confidant of the lord of the Two Lands, praised one of the good god, Mayor of the Southern City, overseer of the granaries of Amun and overseer of the arable lands of Amun, Sennefer, justified, (and) his wife, the mistress of the house and royal nurse, Senetnay, [justified]". The participants are shown in four registers, the men being displayed on different registers to the women. The men can easily be distinguished from the women by the colour used by the art for their skin tone: deep red-ochre for the men and yellow-ochre for the ladies. This tomb was created at a time of change in artistic conventions, shown by the fact that in the next chamber the skin tone used for female figures is the same as that used for the men. At first the characters all appear the same, but on closer inspection there are certainly differences between them. Parts of the north wall, as seen in the registers of the guests of the banquet, were left in an unfinished state by the tomb artists and still retain traces of the red squared grid lines used by the artist to organise the decorations (see image on the right). The grid was used to proportion the outlines of the guests at this banquet was made of squares measuring just less than 4cm, which equated to "two fingers" in the Egyptian measuring system. There are remains of these grids in other parts of the chambers. The images of Sennefer and his wife were produced in great detail, in contrast to those of the guests. Not only were they painted in detail, but parts were actually produced in relief (such as the wigs and necklaces), by applying additional mortar and chiselling the shapes when dry, in order to create the loops and curls. Although difficult to see, the bracelet on Sennefer's right wrist is of an open-work design comprised of alternating ankh signs and djed pillars, in yellow and blue, possibly gold and lapis lazuli. Sennefer has a transparent tunic to cover his torso, giving his flesh a rosy hue. This is overlaid with another painted in red and white wavy lines. This is edged at the top with a thin lace band, producing a fine artistic touch, and shows perhaps one of the styles of the day. Senetnay wears a plain white, low cut dress, which reveals her breasts. Around the neck of both hangs a heavy pectoral necklace painted in blue tones, which were then covered with the decoration in relief. From under the one worn by Sennefer hangs the double heart, already discussed above.
As in the previous chamber, the ceiling here also has three plain bands running along its length with the remainder filled by a simple geometric pattern. The text bands as before contain titles, etc. of Sennefer, but here (as mentioned on page 1), there is the autobiography of the deceased. This is well worth repeating here: "The well-beloved courtier, great of the great ones, the noble dignitary among the courtiers and (of) the Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, he says: 'I reached the state of venerable old age under the king, in that I was the confidant of the Lord of the Two Lands. The king knew of my excellence and he knew that I did useful things in the service in which he had placed me. He investigated everywhere, but could find nothing bad of me. I was praised because of this and my every need was catered for. He appointed me as chief administrator and Mayor of the Southern City, as overseer of the granary of Amun, overseer of the fields of Amun, as overseer of the gardens of Amun, high priest of Amun in the temple Men-isut (the mortuary temple of Ahmose-Nefertari) ', Mayor Sennefer, justified by the great god".
|
){kind=link}
){kind=link}