Die Wandreliefs des Zweiten Lichthofes im Grab des Monthemhat (TT 34)

Monthemhat, “eye and ear of his Majesty” in the decades of transition from the 25th to the 26th dynasty, was able, as he assures us, to select the best of the palace workmen for himself. The decoration of his funeral monument (TT 34), extending over three levels in the Asasif of Thebes, was accordingly of the highest quality. This applies especially to the so-called Second Courtyard. Its walls, 12 m long and 16 m wide, were covered with scenes of daily life and the surroundings of the tomb owner and his family, depicted in elevated and richly painted relief. Today only one fifth of this splendour is conserved in situ, with hundreds of tiny broken fragments lying on the ground, others scattered all over the tomb; many fragments were robbed and sold abroad. This volume is the first attempt to reconstruct the design of this wall decoration. The archaistic tendency in the art of this period, orienting itself by comparable contents of Old Kingdom tombs, helped us here, as did also the possibilities of comparison with the nearby tomb of Ibi (TT 36). Before our eyes there arises a vivid panorama of Monthemhat’s wealth, the product of his domestics, who are working industriously in garden and field, beside the water or in the pasture. We observe the return of the heavily loaded ships coming from the South, the activities of gold-smiths, sculptors, ship-builders, carriage-builders, and the production of sandals, canopic jars and ushebtis in the workshops of the tomb-owner. Finally, we participate in his recreational activities, such as board games, music and dance, also in the hunting of bird and fish by the throw-stick or the spear in the animated papyrus-marshes.