Sennefer was one of the first characters of the State under the reign of the Pharaoh Amenophis II, with, among others, the titles of "Prince of Thebes, Head of the fields of Amon, Head of the cattle of Amon, Head of the garden of Amon, first confidant in the king's heart, etc." But his wife was no less important because, as "Great royal Nurse", she very certainly nursed the future Pharaoh himself. This quality of second mother to the king was probably not foreign to her husband's social ascension. She herself was probably not buried in the tomb prepared by her husband in the private necropolis (TT 96), because the funeral material with her name has been recovered, at the beginning of the last century, in a vault of the royal style of the Valley of the Kings (KV 42).

This considerable social position certainly explains a series of characteristics which the vault of Sennefer presents, compared with the majority of those of his contemporaries: firstly, the presence, at the rear of the chapel, of a vast room with pillars, which reminds one of the architecture of the tomb of Amenophis II, then the considerable measurements of the rooms which compose it (more than 4 metres under ceiling), finally, the presence of his painted vault, well known by the tourists by the name of "Tomb to the Vines". An epigraphical survey is in progress on the inscriptions of the chapel, to tempt to refine genealogy and the character's domestic environment (D. Laboury, V. Angenot). But this study cannot be completed until the walls have been further refreshed.

Appropriate to his high office, present Sennefer in his chapel are several original scenes of grand dimensions, like an immense Garden of Amon, the offering to the King of the gifts for the New Year and a ceremony led by the King to celebrate the gathering of wheat. By their spatial disposition, these scenes manifestly balance each other, both in a directional sense as well as by their colour: to the south, the effect is green and blue, plant-life; to the north, it has the hot colour of wheat, yellow and orange. In the two cases, the symbolic connotation is Osirian, because Osiris is as much the cycle of vegetation both the grape and the grain, which are put to death by crushing them, so that they are born again, sublime, in the form of wine and bread.
If Senetnay was definitely the king's nurse, the couple had to have been born toward the middle of the reign of Tuthmosis III, father of Amenophis II, and should probably have begun the digging of the tomb right at the beginning of the reign of this one. A detailed stylistic study is in progress which, from sets of macro-photographs, should make it possible to study the affinities and the differences of "handiwork" between tombs in the close proximity and globally within the same time period. In any case, it already appears that the style of Sennefer presents, next to features which characterise the paintings of the reign of Amenophis II, an "antiquated" look which connects it with the creations of the time of Tuthmosis III.

If two chapels have been chosen, it is, among others things, so that two teams, having very different methods of working (archaeology and restoration) are not mutually inconvenienced. Thus, during the first 4 seasons, the effort of restoration was principally carried out on TT96 (Sennefer), while the archaeological effort was carried out on the very interesting court of TT 29 (Amenemope). Only a cleaning of the court of TT 96 has been undertaken, which revealed the existence of the intact sandstone doorstep of the chapel.

Putting aside a few exploratory tests made by the Egyptian restorer Lotfi Khaled Hassan, at the time of the first season, in October 1999. The works of conservation - restoration on the Chapel of Sennefer (TT 96) started truly in January 2001, which represents, to date, three seasons of a length of one month each.

Indeed, from the very start of researching the terrain, the Mission Director, Roland Tefnin, had wished to add to the team of archaeologists and epigraphists a team of expert restorers. Prof. Périer-d'Ieteren, art historian, specialist in the survey of the pictorial techniques and the conservation - restoration of the architectural heritage, was given the responsibility to constitute and co-ordinate this team, composed of graduates from recognised Belgian and French schools.

This type of collaboration is a relatively recent phenomenon in archaeology. But time is short, so this fortunately aids the preoccupied excavators, firstly for the meaningful registration of data and, secondarily, most of all, for the conservation of their support material...

support maintained by glass fibre rods during the operations of consolidation of the coatings of the ceiling

In good practice, the first stage of work had to consist in the development of precise documentation on the state of deterioration of the coatings (the base mud plaster and finishing plaster layers) and paintings, and in the establishment of a catalogue of the types of deterioration undergone by the monuments, while carrying out the essential effort, initially, on the chapel of Sennefer (TT 96A). It was soon apparent that the main factors of deterioration are bound to structural shortcomings of the rock (limestone of very uneven, generally mediocre quality), having involved a loss of adhesion of the coating on the wall and the different layers between them, and having produced many gaps of the pictorial layer (photo). On the other hand, important damage has been caused by the later occupants of the tomb: the soot from fires and the dust raised from the hard-packed surface, causing a blackening and a generalised dust contamination of paintings

During this preliminary survey phase, some tests also done in order to try to identify the method most adapted to the specific problems of the monument. As far as possible, one preferred the products nearest to the original materials, and in theory producing reversible effects, since reversibility is, as one is aware today, one of the first principles of restoration. In practice nevertheless, it is necessary to recognise that this theoretical requirement of reversibility must be moderate, as for example, when work must take place on porous materials such as base coatings already weakened under a layer of originally very thin paintings, and weakened again by centuries of wear. So the mixture used to re-establish the adhesion of the coatings to the rock inevitably filters through it in an intimate manner into the pictorial layer.

In parallel with these, "priority" actions of curative conservation were carried out in order to avoid this heritage continuing to deteriorate. A critical technique was developed to fix the type of cleaning intervention to be adopted and its degree. The technique was based on the report of state of the pictorial layer and the examination of the results obtained at the time as the first cleaning tests achieved by Lotfi Khaled Hassan in 1999. Tests were immediately started according to the type of fouling and the type of colours, the white raising particular problems.

The paintings, as mentioned, are sometimes covered with dust, soot, are also covered with mud applied by the Copts to hide the Pharaonic figures. Cleaning is made even more complex by the combination of these different elements and by the scrubbing of the pictorial surfaces perpetrated by the archaeologists of the past, who hurrying to see some of the scenes appear, cleaned the paintings extensively with a sponge. The consequences of these disastrous interventions were to encrust the "grime" in the original material, to cause wear of the pictorial layer by dissolution of the binder and displacement of the pigments. They constitute, with the iconoclastic hammerings, the irreversible deterioration of the pictorial layer.

Other changes are due to the environment and to the materials: black spots provoked by micro-organisms which seriously disrupt the reading of the shapes, with nests built by bees, with the excrement of flies, with holes and galleries by bugs, with scratches made by bats; as well as swellings, cracks and flaking, gaps and wear in the pictorial layers and, finally, an abrasion of the relief elements in the hair and the adornments.

Some cleaning tests have been done, sometimes dry, with a scalpel, sometimes with the aid of different miscellaneous solvents applied with a cotton bud, in the goal of identifying an efficient method of intervention and respectful to the original material.

cleaning off the mud with a scalpel to recover the paintings

Move over the image to see the result of the "treatment"

A first attempt of scratching with a scalpel after light moistening with a very dilute solvent had already been done at the time of the first true season of restoration, in 2001, on the kiosk of Amenophis II (shoulder of the king and a yellow base).

During the 2002 season, the figure of Senetnay, situated close to the entry of the tomb, was cleared almost entirely of the mud which covered it, thanks to the same technique. This meticulous clearing, which was carried out with a scalpel, while taking care never to encroach on the pictorial matter, required a great number of working hours, but revealed in exchange important formal and stylistic elements, such as the breast, neckline and neck, the necklace and the hair (incomplete) of the young woman. However, the cleaning of this figure is not yet finished, because a solution must be found to ease the grime which had penetrated, because of washing, into the material of the white dress.

Other tests have been carried out in the south part of the transverse room, on the mat motifs of the ceiling and the inscribed bands framing them, covered with a thick layer of soot which covered the view completely. The cleaning of this zone had to be undertaken with extreme care in order not to risk the loss of information.

limit of the zone cleaned in 2003 (long room, north wall): before cleaning on the left, cleaned on the right

The state of conservation of the currently treated wall paintings of the two rooms of TT 96 (transverse room and long room) appears extremely different. So, while, on the ceiling of the transverse room, cleaning with a dry Wishab sponge didn't give any results, it proved to be operational on that of the long room. An initial intervention could thus be carried out on the width of a bay and has been started on the kheker frieze, as well as on the three registers of the wall illustrating scenes of harvest. The prompt cleaning of black stains provoked by micro-organisms permitted recovery of contour lines of the forms and the intensity of the colours, thus returning to the wall its legibility and an internal rhythm to the scenes. Cleaning by the same method has been carried out on the scene of inspection, by Sennefer, of the products of the marshes, on the opposite wall.

An initial survey of the pictorial technique in the present state of conservation and legibility of the paintings has simultaneously led to the report of the current state and that of the first cleaning tests. This survey allowed the identification of the successive phases of execution of the paintings of the chapel TT 96, only confirming what other researchers had already observed. One or several coarse plaster layers, basically of mud and straw, had first been applied on the chalky rock to even out the surface. On this first layer was then applied a thin plaster, basically of gypsum, on which was spread a very thin layer of plaster distemper, serving as colourful preparatory layer or basic tone (often pink or grey). The pictorial composition was then organised using a basic grid, drawn with chalk lines, followed by the drawing of the contours of the shapes using the grid, using a brush loaded with red colour. The main range of colours were then added in flat tints, red and yellow ochres for the complexions of the characters, white background layers placed around the figures that get round the figures to separate them, levels of various tonality added to the coloured composition to obtain special effects to the stage of the execution of the detail (wheat, water, trees, etc.).

figure of Sennefer (long room, north wall)

Finally, after the adding of a red ochre ring specifying the shapes precisely, some graphic highlights are added to clarify the details of the clothes and faces. As for the wigs of important character, they were the object of a more luxurious treatment, the wicks made of drops of plaster aimed to create an effect of relief and therefore a particularly brilliant vibrancy, that draws the attention. The addition of the very delicate black, on the wigs, had to constitute the final stage of the work.

The objectives for the next seasons are to pursue the documentation, to look further into the study of the techniques of execution, to progress in the consolidation of the coatings and the fixing the pictorial layer and, only then, to undertake the restoration on a greater scale, while searching for a just balance between the historic dimension of the monument and its aesthetic value.

In accordance with the philosophy of the project, the cleaning undertaken in 2002 in the long room, on the harvest scene, the inspection of the products from the marshes and the ceiling, have been deliberately left wanting, in order to permit to subsequently adjust the degree of intervention, if it proves to be necessary, and possible. Evidence of the state before restoration should, in any case, be left in place, in order to allow the observer to visualise the extent of accomplished work. Finally, a pilot project of didactic presentation of the tomb will be developed for the visitors. The objective is to lead then to discern the ties which unite matter and history and to understand that the traces written down in material things by the time and the men who modified the original aspect of the paintings, an aspect which, from then on, could certainly never be entirely found by the restoration. But these very traces have their value, because the monuments, like men, have a personal history and age. Eternal youth is only a myth... [excerpts of an article published by Roland Tefnin and Catheline Périer-d'Ieteren in Bulletin de la Société française d'Égyptologie, n° 154, June 2002].

Original text from the "Université Libre de Bruxelles" site English translation by Jon J. Hirst