Sennefer's career developed during the reign of Amenhotep II (1439-1413 BC), when Egypt had entered an era of great prosperity. Every year tributes flowed towards Egypt, and the god Amun, to whom Pharaoh owed his brilliant victories, received a large share of this rich booty. Amun's vast wealth was administered by high officials appointed by the king. Several well-known names, particularly famous for the magnificent tombs they built on the west bank at Thebes, belong to this period, and Sennefer is one of them.
The originality of this 18th dynasty "abode of eternity" lies in the fact that it contains a decorated burial chamber, an exceptional feature for the period .

..."The originality of this 18th dynasty "abode of eternity" lies in the fact that it contains a decorated burial chamber, an exceptional feature for the period "

Six different wives' names appear in Sennefer's tomb, bearing the titles "Lady of the House", "Chantress of Amun" and "Royal Nurse" .
As regards Meryt, she is depicted only in the burial chamber (the holiest part of the tomb) and is called "beloved", the one designated by all the other names, the sublimated woman in her role of Great Goddess, who has power to ensure that her husband is reborn in the world of eternity. This case is unique, and there is no doubt that the use of different names throughout the tomb was intentional.

Sennefer's titles shown on the walls of his tomb are varied, but the main one attached to his name is that of Mayor of Thebes. Besides being in charge of the administration of the city, the ports on the Nile and the country districts, and of the collection of the taxes on grain and other goods, for which he was responsible to the vizier, he was also responsible for works in the necropolis and for the upkeep of Amun's temples, granaries, cattle, fields, gardens and orchards. To hold such a position meant being trusted and favoured by the king. Sennefer therefore proudly calls himself, in his tomb "Great Confidante of the Lord of the Two Lands", "praised by the living god", "of enduring favour", "beloved one", and "efficient and trustworthy servant of the Lord of the Two Lands". He was efficient and devoted to his lord, thus earning the king's high esteem, as reflected in his final resting-place.

The funerary concession of Sennefer is situated high on the southern hillside of Sheikh 'Abd El-Gurna, close to several other tombs of the time of Amenhotep II, and was allocated the number 96 by the Antiquities Service.

view 3

A sloping stairway of 44 irregular rock-cut steps takes the visitor to a depth of 12 metres, making him bend down between the badly cut walls It is quite clear that restoration was necessitated by a collapse at the level of the door to the burial chamber at the time it was fitted out : two enormous holes in the ceiling, disguised by the painters, are probably evidence of it. The walls were covered with a coat (nearly an inch thick in places) of mud and chopped straw, and were painted pale bluish grey, a typical feature of the period.

The staircase leads down to the burial chamber (view 48) , another world from which terrestrial preoccupations were banished and from which the living were admitted for the funeral only : the entrance to the burial chamber was then sealed off. But the solemnity of the place is not without charm : the decoration of this speos, freed from the academic style usually found in chapels, recreates the illusion of an open space, a large shady garden.
The burial comprises two rooms : an antechamber with a low ceiling (3,50m by 2,35 m) and a burial chamber cut askew with irregular walls, measuring 6,70m in width by 7,50m at its deepest, and containing four pillars.

East wall

View 52, courtesy B. Claus

View 6

View 53, courtesy B. Claus

The first two superimposed images of Sennefer on the right at the entrance of the antechamber take the visitor by surprise. One of the figures - very damaged - proceeds towards the exit, .The figure of Sennedjem immediately to the left, however, shows him "entering the necropolis in peace after reaching a venerable age to rest inpeace among the praised ones of Amun-Re"(view 52).
He is shown bare-chested, adorned with jewellery and wearing three superimposed kilts, and walks gravely, leaning on his dignitary's staff and with a white cloth folded in his left hand. He is barefoot, like all the characters portrayed in the tomb, and wears an amulet pendant consisting of two precious gold and silver hearts, an official gift from his king He is preceded by servants carrying his funerary equipment (view 6) .
The procession, divided between two registers, advances towards the west. Next to him his beloved daughter, the Chantress of Arnun, Mut-Tuy, places her arm round his shoulders in a tender gesture

On the opposite wall (view 8), a similar scene shows Sennefer "the Noble Dignitary, of Enduring Favour, the Beloved One, Mayor of the Southern City, Overseer of the Granaries of Amun and the cattle of Arnun", receiving from the hands of "his favourite beloved daughter, the Chantress of Amun, Mut-Tuy" an amulet in the shape of a lapis lazuli coloured heart, symbol of his own heart which will have to demonstrate its own purity on the day of judgement (view 53).

Thus equipped with all the prophylactic elements necessary to face the afterlife, Sennefer is about to take the big step.
Leaving his padded ebony chair, whose legs are shaped like lion's paws, and before going through the door to the sarcophagus chamber, he asks for a safe-contact from Osiris, still identifiable by his epithets: "....Great in Busiris, Great in Abydos, Prince of Eternity". "I come, he says, towards you to praise your perfection". He is followed by his wife, the Lady of the House Senet-Nofret, who plays an essential part, referred to as "Chantress of Arnun", and "Royal Nurse". Shaking the instruments of Hathor, the sistrum and the menat, she calls upon the great goddess who will welcome the postulant for survival

THE COLUMNAR HALL

view 50, passage ceiling

view 49

view 12

The passage (1,50m in height), originally fitted with a door-frame, invites the visitor to show respect when entering a vast pillared room symbolizing the divine bosom, the marshes. It is there, in the silence of the night, that the transformations of the dead will take place and will open the doors to eternity for him. Several symbols closely associated with the four cardinal points and with the sun's journey from east to west express this great mystery.

In the shadow of a luxurious trellis bending under the weight of bunches of black grapes ready to be gathered, and of cloths adorned with geometric patterns and polychrome stylized flowers loosely stretched on long beams supported by four square pillars cut in the rock, we witness, in an atmosphere of peace and serenity, the silent dialogue of a couple making their way slowly from west to east along the paths of light and life (view 12).
Once through the doorway, only the beloved Meryt, Lady of the House, Great Chantress of Arnun, favourite of the goddess Mut of Isheru, is busily looking after her husband in the secrecy of the tomb (like Isis, the magician tending Osiris) to help raise him out of his lethargy.

Three themes are prominent : progress towards the western necropolis, the reconstitution of the body of the deceased, and his rebirth. Each scene (not always easy to interpret) and each detail has Its importance ; the great mysteries of death and life are evoked by a disconcerting multiplicity of symbols.

On the south wall to the left, the solemn funerary procession, spread over 'two registers, proceeds towards the west, following the slow pace of the oxen pulling the funerary bier on a sledge. Progress is slow and difficult In the sun. In the second register small portable shelters covered by cool foliage, under which bread and water have been placed, mark out the way.
Four men pull the box of canopic jars, and are followed by a red sledge on which a small boat carries a black box protected by a canopy. A priest carries out a fumigation in front of a statue of Anubis.

THE RECONSTITUTION OF THE CORPSE

The procession reaches its destination. The mountain opens to the deceased, who is followed by his wife (known here as Meryt). He enters the domain of Osiris-Khentymentiu, Wennefer, Great In Abydos, Great God, Lord of the Sacred Land, Prince of Eternity-djet (view 17) and of "Hathor who reigns over the Western Necropolis, Lady of the Sky, Sovereign of the Sacred Land".
The frieze of Khekeru which dominates the upper part of the walls of the south half of the chamber indicates that we are indeed in the underworld.

view 19

While the funerary equipment is taken inside the tomb and placed at precise locations (as shown by the rare examples of intact burials discovered, particularly at Deir el-Medineh), the mummy receives the last rites and the farewells of his family.
Then the mummy is taken down to its last resting place, in the presence of the family and close relatives. The sarcophagus and several objects are covered with cloths, footprints are wiped out, the doors are closed and the seal of the necropolis affixed.

Chapter 151 of the Book Of The Dead, painted on the north wall (view 19), provides us with the ideal internal position of the burial. Sennefer's mummy is in the centre of the quadrangular space which follows the outline of the vault. Lying on a lion-shaped bed, on a sledge and protected by a canopy, it receives the care of Anubis.
Under the bed is the living soul of the deceased, while at the foot and head of the catafalque Isis and Nephthys protect the Osiris-Sennefer. The djed-pillar, the mummiform figure, the recumbent Anubis on his naos, with a brazier in the centre of each side of the square followed by a magical formula, represent the four amulets bricked up at the four cardinal points of the chamber to ward off evil from those four directions. One of these openings can be seen in the south wall .

The four mummified sons of Horus, guardians of the canopic jars, stand at the four corners of the central rectangle.

THE GESTATION OF THE DECEASED

The scenes represented on the four pillars, i.e. the four pillars of the sky (between which the mummy of Sennefer, prisoner of all its trappings was supposed to lie), allegorically evoke the main operations of ritual embalming and the reconstitution of the deceased's body.

The beloved wife Meryt, in her role as the great goddess Hathor, tends Sennefer, giving him all the attention he needs to overcome the obstacles which could hinder his gestation. Wearing a long white dress with straps, sometimes covered by a light transparent linen coat, the seductive Meryt varies her adornments and hairstyles, her beautiful black hair held by a floral diadema, her forehead adorned by a lotus bud which will only open on the day of her husband's rebirth.

view 20

Sennefer, in more traditional clothing, wears a shirt and long transparent kilt. He is always shown wearing the short beard fashionable at the time. The perfumed unguents such as frank incense and myrrh, with their nourishing and tonic properties, which played an important part in the Osirid mysteries and were abundantly used in the mummification process, restore suppleness and elasticity to the dehydrated body (view 20).

Meryt presents Sennefer with some of these talismans : a gold necklace on a small basket, complementing the two gold and silver hearts bearing Amenhotep II name and forename,and a superb heart scarab in lapis lazuli set in gold, pushing a small solar disc in front of it. Its role is to "prevent the heart of the deceased to opposing him in the realm of the dead".

In parallel a number of discreet poetic images such as the rattling of the sistrum or an embracing couple breathing the suave perfume of two lotus flowers, between which a bud symbolizes gradual change - i.e. the young sun in gestation in the marshes, point to a happy outcome (view 24).

As the visitor moves towards the north of the chamber, lit by the vine and the two divine eyes (the sun and the moon), symbols of eternity, Sennefer slowly recovers
his strength and creative power thanks to the tender gestures of his obliging, beloved wife (view 29), The offering of white linen straps, and invitations to drink, indicate that the crucial moment is imminent.

RITUALS IN THE NORTH BAY

Four intimately linked scenes referring to the ritual of the opening of the mouth will restore to the deceased all his senses and the possibility of moving and procreating, through the magic of re-enacted rituals. The sem-priest, chief officiant, clad in the leopard-skin, insignia of his function, plays the main part. He makes the first purification to the deceased with the gold vase, the nemset-ewer, turning four times round the deceased and repeating the word for "pure". Then came the fumigations, made in cups kept under the small tables (view 33).

On the north side of pillar III the miracle of rebirth takes place. Sennefer appears, glorious like the sun, under the eyes of the officiants kneeling in an attitude of jubilation . The "solarized" dead, having recovered his integrity and plenitude, is. now able to come and go freely in the necropolis and enjoy for ever the offerings made to him .
Simultaneously at the north-west of the room, Osiris reappears on his throne under the protection of Anubis. Sennefer and Meryt pay homage to the "living royal Osiris", who has triumphed over death and whose face has recovered the colours of life (view 37). It is the dawn of a new day. The vine, source of life, rooted behind the young woman, by its symbol reinforces the certainty in this resurrection

ON THE RIGHT NORTH SIDE

On the right, north, a similar scene is repeated : but the characters seem younger.
Under Sennefer's seat are two evocations of light ; a mirror named ankh, written with the sign for life, and a kohl-pot whose contents enable the solar eye to recover its shine (view 40).
Meryt is portrayed as a radiant young girl, and one can only regret the damage done to her husband's face ; he must have looked like her.
The north extremity of the west wall shows the pilgrimage of the deceased to Abydos .

THE CEILING

..."For the originality and freshness of its decoration and its masterly representation of funerary rituals, the tomb of the vines is one of the great works of art of the west bank at Thebes"

The frieze of lotus flowers and bunches of grapes which dominates this scene forecasts the outcome of the expedition ; the garland is not purely decorative, but suggests some kind of association between water and wine. The journey taken by the vine on the ceiling of Sennefer's chamber therefore becomes clear. The flood from the south, symbolized by the vulture-goddess Nekhbet(view 18) brings back the "royal Osiris" and re-enthrones him on the north wall (view 37). The blood colours his face, and the vine-branches, full of grapes, whirl around the canopy.
The red waters take over the whole north rib towards the east door , thus proclaiming the rebirth of the god and the emergence of the deceased by day. The couple sitting in a ceremonial attitude at the corner of the south-east wall represent their statue of eternity once the rites have been accomplished, surrounded by the offerings formula .

view 47

The doors of the house of eternity are now open, and Sennefer, exhibiting the plumpness which becomes his rank, can rise from the ground to see the sun's disc in its daily revolution (view 47 ).

For the originality and freshness of its decoration and its masterly representation of funerary rituals, the tomb of the vines is one of the great works of art of the west bank at Thebes, and owes much to the genius of a great man, Sennefer.

THE SURFACE CULT CHAPEL

Surface Cult Chapel (solid line) Underground Vault (dotted line)

We have just described the vault of Sennefer's tomb complex. This part of the tomb was closed after the funeral ceremony and no one could penetrate there.
The funeral cult, indispensable to the deceased, took place in a surface chapel, which was public.
This chapel has been under restoration for several years by teams from the Centre of Archaeological Research of the "Université Libre de Bruxelles" who have produced a web page (French only), which I recommend you visit.
It only remains to hope that this restoration is succesfull, and that we can one day present to you this chapel as we have just done so with the vault.

This cult chapel consists of three main areas, all of which are decorated, even the ceilings are decorated. For details of the content of the scenes, see the annotated plan.
The decoration was, until the start of the current restoration, in a very poor state, mainly due to its usage in later times, but also to more natural intervention (see the page compiled by the ULB team, mentioned above).
From the entry one enters a transverse hallway, extending either side of the main axis (which runs approximately east to west), thus producing a north and south bay. This gives way to a long hall, which in turn gives access to a pillared hall, contain four pillars and at its far (west) end three niches.
The ceiling of the pillared hall is about 4 meters above floor level. No actual dimensions are readily available for the cult chapel, but the distance from the entrance to the far (west) wall is about 18 metres.

Further: Sennefer was the cousin of vizier Amenemipet, who followed Rekhmire (TT 100) and was then, therefore, the last vizier of the long reign of Tuthmosis III and the first of the new king, Amenophis II, of whom he seems to have been very close. It was probably he who was, as it was normal for the viziers of this time, the real "Mayor" of Thebes, rather than his cousin Sennefer, who actually bears the title of "Prince of Thebes". Amenemipet and Sennefer were certainly united by ties of deep affection, as the iconographic program of the two tombs reveals. Thus, in the chapel of Amenemipet one sees the daughter of Sennefer exhorting her father to come "have a happy day" in the tomb of "his brother, the Vizier". His chapel (TT29) is also being studied by the same institution (see the previously mentioned page - French only).
In the passage, one will notice the difference of style between the monument of Sennefer, whose decorations are a little archaistic and rigid, and the one of Amenemipet.

NB: You can find the complete hieroglyphic texts of Sennefer's tomb HERE and the "manuel de codage" version, plus papyrus representations HERE.