| THE FACADE |
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| THE FIRST VESTIBULE |
With a height of approximately four metres and being only 1.80m in depth and 3.45m in width, this area provides very little manoeuvrability and must have posed several problems during its decoration. This would also apply to the first chamber which isn't much larger but still has the same height.
 West side, Niankhkhnum | ||
Having passed through the two pillars, into this vestibule, the side walls show a matching pair of scenes from the funeral ceremonies of the two brothers, Niankhkhnum on the west (right) wall and Khnumhotep on the east wall. The east wall is almost complete, but the west wall has several missing blocks at the top right-hand side. The top register is the most affected.
The walls are divided into five registers of uneven height, showing the funerary barque transporting a cult statue of the appropriate deceased. The sequence starts in the bottom register, with the shrine containing a statue of the deceased being transported in a reed boat.
On both walls, the action progresses towards the south wall.
South wall
The wall is divided into two major areas, the scenes above the passageway to the interior and two matching scenes either side of the passage.
Above the entrance to the passage is a double scene of the two deceased seated in front of their own offering table, separated by three sub-registers. The two top sub-registers are filled with offerings of food and drink, the lowest has two groups of servants or butchers carving up the sacrificial animals.
Below this scene are three inscribed rows of text meant to be recited regularly by the funerary priest, by a member of the family or even by a passer-by; it supplies a list of feast days when the funerary cult should be performed. The bottom row is symmetrically inscribed starting from the centre, containing the name and titles of Niankhkhnum on the right and Khnumhotep on the left. At either end is a standing figure of the deceased.
Either side of the passage to the interior is a traditional motif found in Egyptian tombs, the scene of hunting and fishing in the marshes. On the left, spearing two fish, Khnumhotep is accompanied in his small boat by his wife Khenut, his son Ptahshepses and his daughter Rewedjkawes. On the right-hand side, bringing down flying birds with his throwing stick, Niankhkhnum is accompanied in his boat by his wife Khentikawes, his son Hem-re and his daughter Hemet-re.
| PASSAGE TO THE FIRST CHAMBER |
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In each case, the top register contains images of offerings. Registers two, three and four show the transportation of the deceased's statues on sledges, pulled by a team of men. On the lowest register men tussle with a sacrificial bull.
The red painted beam, representing a rolled up mat, contains the inscribed names and titles of the two deceased, drawn in sunken hieroglyphs in two horizontal lines which start from the right-hand side.
At the top : "Overseer of the manicurists of the palace, the confidant of the king, acquaintance of the King, Niankhkhnum. Below : "Overseer of the manicurists of the palace, the confidant of the king, acquaintance of the King, Khnumhotep."
| THE ENTRANCE OF THE FIRST CHAMBER |
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The west wall is covered with a coherent group of scenes of baking and brewing, spread over six registers all of the same height, to be read from the top to the bottom. At the right-hand side of the bottom register is the bolt hole for closure of the door.
The top register shows the rarely portrayed scene at the granary, in which the barley required for the scenes below is carefully measured out.
| THE FIRST CHAMBER |
This fully decorated chamber, accessed through the entrance doorway in its north wall, has two further passage/doorways. The passage at the east end of the south wall leads to and undecorated chamber the function of which was possibly that of a store-room. A doorway is located in the west wall (south end) leading to a passageway to an internal courtyard. The chamber is approximately 1.8m north-south and 3.6m east-west, with a height of just under 4 metres. With the exception of the metre high dado at the bottom. Originally all of the register scenes were painted on a blue-grey background, which has now nearly all disappeared but is still retained on a few of the stone blocks.
North wall
The wall is divided into three sections: one extending the full length of the wall, over the entrance; a narrow one to the left (west) of the entrance; and a wider one to the right.
In the upper section (fig 4), the two brothers are shown again, each accompanied by his eldest son. On the left (west) Niankhkhnum and on the right (east) Khnumhotep are watching, amongst other activities, the main stages in building a boat.
The lower west (left) section (fig 5), is divided into three very unequal registers. The upper one shows representations of the catching of songbirds, in the middle narrower register the birds are placed in boxes. The lowest register shows a sailing vessel on its way to the "beautiful west".
The lower east (right) section (fig 6 and view 21), consists of five registers. The top four registers contain some particularly original scenes, all taking place in the market place; the upper one, not surprisingly shows scenes of manicurists, pedicurists and barbers. The following three registers (registers two to four) all show tradesmen bartering their goods and all contain the conversations between those participating in the action. These scenes are fairly rare in Old Kingdom tombs. The lowest (fifth) register shows two ships in full sail (view 22, view 23). Again they sail towards the "beautiful west".
East wall
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The top register (fig. 07a) contains a large text field in twelve vertical columns. At right-hand side, the two tomb owners are depicted seated side by side.
The middle four register (two to five) contain rows of various people, in each case a total of ten.
• Registers two and three both contain porters carrying various goods towards the right-hand side. Both registers contain ten porters, identified only by their clothing as funerary priests. The descriptive text for the two registers is placed at the beginning of the second of the two rows: "Bringing of the exquisite".
• Register four shows an unusual parade of the relatives of the two deceased, organised (from right to left) as a couple (probably man and wife), two men, three women and finally three more men. All are portrayed on a larger scale than people in the other three registers of this group. The final two men, on the left holding hands, are definitely identified in the text as Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep. None of the others are specified by any form of family relationship. But, assuming the leading couple are the deceased's parents, then those between may be regarded as siblings. Their offspring would normally be portrayed at a smaller scale than themselves.
• Register five shows another parade of people, who might possibly belong to the households of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep.
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The text over the first ship gives the purpose as : "Journeying to the beautiful places in the midst of the blessed.". The pilot of the second ship shouts to his helmsmen "Hold to starboard! Don't hit the other ship!".
South wall
This wall of the first chamber has at its east end the passageway to the second chamber (storeroom). The wall is decorated with two sets of registers, the first runs along the top of the wall, above the height of the passage to the storeroom; the other takes up the space to the right of the passageway.
The upper register set has at its two outer edges the standing figures of the deceased: Niankhkhnum on the right (west) and on the left Khnumhotep. They are accompanied by their respective eldest sons. Between them the area is divided into four registers of very unequal heights, representing various scenes of bird hunting and fishing.
The lower register set (fig. 09) has at its left-hand side the figures of the two deceased standing side by side (lower half of view 31): Niankhkhnum in front and Khnumhotep behind, again accompanied by their respective eldest sons. The area to the right is divided into four registers of fairly equal heights (the lowest being larger) and includes scenes of the making of date wine. A vertical text band separates the deceased pair from the set of registers and describes the scenes : "Viewing the gifts which are brought up from all its villages, and the piling up of the sweet things at the pr-dSr.". [The pr-dSr or "red-house" functioned as the state treasury, and the produce received was used to pay officials, craftsmen and retainers].
West wall
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• The first two registers show the transportation of oil in six boats, whilst the register below them contains a list of the 39 oils, in individual vertical columns.
• The next three registers - three to five - (view 37) show images of the hunting of wild animals at the edge of the desert.
• In the register immediately over the doorway (bottom of view 37) is represented the harvesting of various fruits.
| PASSAGE TO THE COURTYARD |
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The bottom register shows the retinue preceding the deceased on his "Journey to the beautiful West". Leading it are three females representing the domains of the deceased. The whole scene is quite unusual, because only one other example is known, the two deceased are portrayed on chairs, not carried by servants but by two harnessed donkeys.
| THE COURTYARD |
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The walls of the courtyard are now reconstructed from modern stonework. Since no decorated blocks were found which could be assigned to the courtyard it has to be assumed that the walls were not embellished with relief or artwork.
Decoration begins again with the inner walls of the second vestibule.
| THE SECOND VESTIBULE |
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The walls of the inside are fully decorated, with the exception of the metre high dado at the bottom. The ceiling was created from three large blocks, the one at the east side is still painted a deep bright red.
The south wall is punctuated by the entrance of the passageway into the rock-cut chambers of the mastaba/tomb.
In front of the entrance to the following chambers and taking up almost the entire floor of the vestibule, lies the well shaft of the sloping tunnel leading to the actual burial chamber complex. This is currently closed off to the public.
North wall
This is the area above the entrance from the courtyard and depicts Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep watching the arrival of cattle.
East and west walls
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On the east wall, accompanied by "his wife, whom he loves, the king's administrator, the priestess of Hathor, the Mistress the Sycamore, the priestess of Neith, Khenut", Khnumhotep is inspecting the animals captured in the desert.
On the west wall, Niankhkhnum likewise inspects the animals captured in the desert, accompanied by his wife "the king's administrator, the priestess of Hathor, Khentikawes"
South wall
This wall has at its centre the entrance passageway to the chambers of rock-cut portion of the mastaba/tomb. The entrance subdivides the wall into three image fields, a horizontal rectangular field over the entrance and two tall rectangular fields at either side of the entrance.
• The top horizontal field (view 56) over the entrance shows two seated deceased in front of separate tables, whilst below them and forming an architrave over the entrance, is an offering prayer in the two long rows of hieroglyphic text. The upper scene is, like the south wall of the first vestibule, shown as a double offering scene with Khnumhotep on the left and Niankhkhnum on the right.
• The two side fields, either side of the entrance to the passageway, contain the standing figures of the two deceased accompanied by their "eldest" sons. Khnumhotep is on the left with his son Schepsesptah (view 57) opposite Niankhkhnum with his son Hem-re (view 58) on the right.
| PASSAGE TO THE ANTECHAMBER |
This passageway is the beginning of the rock-cut portion of the mastaba/tomb. Its height of just over 2 metres reflects the height of the following chambers, which is in great contrast to what has gone before.
Spanning the entrance, immediately before the doorway to the antechamber, is a broad rounded, red painted beam containing the inscribed names of the two deceased in a single horizontal line. The beam reduces the length of the top register of both side walls.
The image area of two side entrance walls are divided into four registers and shows images of the offering service for the two deceased. The three upper registers portray a parade of funerary priests, each carrying one or more items of food (east wall, view 62 and view 63). The lowest register shows the presentation of the offering bulls (east side, view 63).
| THE ANTECHAMBER |
This is the first of the rock-cut chambers. Its northern, first half was probably the full extent of the original tomb chapel, ending at the point where now the double entrance to the offering chapel begins. With a height of only 2 metres (width 2.25m, final length 7.6m) and when compared with the chambers of the stone built mastaba portion of the complex, the ceiling suddenly appears extremely low.
North wall
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The decorated area is divided into four registers of roughly equal height and are devoted to scenes of the winnowing, sieving, storing and recording of cereal crops. Like many walls of the mastaba/tomb, they are to be read from bottom to top. The scenes are actually the final stages of the harvest which starts on the north end of the east wall.
The lowest register shows the winnowing and sieving of the grain by three women. The next register corn measures are filled from one of two large piles of grain.In the next register four men carry sacks on their heads towards the left to be emptied into one of seven granaries (view 68).
The final phase is depicted in the top register, that of recording the yield in the presence of four estate managers and a travelling supervisor. A scribe notes the results.
East wall
This is the longest decorated wall in the tomb. It appears as two large image areas, each subdivided into four registers of uneven height. The lowest register is separated by an off-centred offering niche, thus making giving a somewhat different division. The far outer edges of the wall have the standing figure of one of the two deceased, Khnumhotep looking south (at the northern end) and Niankhkhnum looking north (at the southern end). The inner edges, at the centre division of the wall, have the two deceased comfortably seated, Niankhkhnum in a sedan chair being carried north (in the northern section of the wall) and Khnumhotep in a normal chair looking south (in the southern section of the wall, behind his brother). In all four images they stand at the height of the top three registers.
• The north section.
 East wall - northern half (based on "Das Grab des Nianchchnum und Chnumhotep") | ||
• The south section.
 East wall - southern half (based on "Das Grab des Nianchchnum und Chnumhotep") | ||
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• The upper register is totally devoted to various stages of the manufacture of a statue (view 76), in six scenes read from left to right.
• The middle register of the three shows the activity within the metal workshop, also to be read from right to left. The first scene is the smelting of metal (presumably bronze) by four workmen (view 77).
• The third register has the work carried out by jewelry craftsmen (right half) and carpenters (left half), which includes the making of various pieces of wooden funerary furniture (view 79).
• The fourth register, however, contains a parade (by thirty females) of the domains (view 81), which extends into the northern section of the wall, as far as the right-hand side of the niche.
South wall
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• The upper register has Niankhkhnum seated left and Khnumhotep seated right, each with their own offering table filled with vertically standing half-loaves. The central area is filled with a great variety of foods and drinks.
• The middle register is filled with musicians seated on the ground: a clarinettist, 2 flautists, 2 harpists, as well as a total of 6 chanters - technically called "cheironomists" and a concert-leader standing at far right.
• In the lower register is the dance scene. This may not be connected directly with the music scene above it, but may have followed the music during the offering meal of the two deceased (view 88).
West wall
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• The south section.
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A single lintel crosses over the two passageways and the top of the separating pillar, over the entire width of this section of the wall. This contains, in two separate sections, a list of oils for the two deceased also shown illustrated in containers standing on tables.
To the left of the south passageway is the equivalent of a doorpost, decorated with images of three funerary priests, the pillar being the equivalent of the other doorpost. However, there is no equivalent for the north passageway, its northern edge is the beginning of the north section of the west wall.
• The north section.
 West wall - northern half (click on an area for enlargement) (based on "Das Grab des Nianchchnum und Chnumhotep") | ||
• The large image field to the left represents, once more, the two deceased hunting in the papyrus thicket. Each is accompanied by his wife and eldest son (view 99).
• The one to the right is sub-divided into three registers of different heights. These have scenes from the life of the herdsmen in the fields, as well as of the breeding of the beef-herds (view 102).
• Under both these image fields is a long sub-register which is interrupted towards its northern end by a small offering niche. The register shows images of jousting in boats during the homecoming of the herdsmen from the fields (view 109).
• Finally, in the dado area, under the fourth register, there are four doors of appearance, the left-hand pair belong to Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, the other two belong to Niankhkhnum's son (Hem-re) and his son's wife (Tjeset). below these latter two, the offering stones still remain in place.
Passageways to the offering chamber
 North passage south wall | ||
 North passage - north wall | ||
The southern passageway leads to the appearance door of Niankhkhnum and so, by implication, the content of its walls relate to him. The northern one, by the same reasoning, relates to Khnumhotep.
Each of the four walls is sub-divided into four registers. The uppermost registers show the parade of offering cattle intended for slaughter; the two middle registers both show a parade of wild game, various types of antelope, also intended for offering. Finally, the narrow lowermost register represents poultry intended the offering to the deceased, including on the north wall of the south passage, a pigeon (view 113).
| THE OFFERING CHAMBER |
This is the second of the rock-cut chambers and was probably produced during the second phase of construction. It may be considered as two chambers with an invisible dividing wall, the southern half being that of Niankhkhnum and the northern belonging to Khnumhotep. The two halves are decorated as almost mirror images.
East wall
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The image field shows a representation of the two deceased embracing. A similar picture is located on the opposite west wall so that a correspondence exists between these two representations. As with the previous scene of embrace, on the other side of this pillar, Niankhkhnum stands in front of Khnumhotep and again facing north. Both deceased face each other so closely that their noses touch.
South wall
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The remainder of the wall is sub-divided into a set of registers.
• At the same height as Niankhkhnum's name and titles, extending left to the other end of the wall, is a tabular list of 89 offerings. These are inscribed in short vertical columns in two sub-registers.
Below this long textual list of offerings, are three pictorial registers (view 116).
• The uppermost is further divided into three sub-registers, all of which contain visual representations of the offerings.
• Next is a register displaying offerings carried to Niankhkhnum by ten funerary priests.
• Finally, directly over the dado area, stands the register showing the images (right to left) of the slaughter of a black spotted ox (view 117), an oryx and an ibex.
North wall
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The remainder of the wall is sub-divided into the same sets of registers, only the actual content differing (view 119 and view 120).
• The long tabular list again contains 89 items, but differ after item 33.
• The three narrow sub-registers, extending right from the deceased and his table, again contains a visual display of a wide variety of offerings.
• The next register again contains 10 funerary priests dressed as they were for Niankhkhnum, bearing offerings to Khnumhotep. Although the order is changed, the actual offering are almost identical.
• The final register this time contains, from left to right: the slaughter of an oryx, then an ox. Finally, this time, instead of the actual slaughter of an animal, the butchers are shown skinning an ox.
West wall
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The doors, together with the central field, form a single unit, since both appearance doors are interconnected by one upper horizontal lintel.
The appearance door of Niankhkhnum.
Through the south passage | ||
Its structure comprises: an upper (outer) lintel, a left outer doorframe (Khnumhotep's appearance door has the right one), an image field under the upper lintel, a lower lintel, inner doorposts (left and right) and an inner false opening with an inscribed rounded beam and field.
• The upper lintel is inscribed with an offering text, which starts at the centre of the common lintel and progresses left, reading from right to left. "An offering which the King gives, (namely) an offering which Anubis (is given), the first of the Hall of the Gods. May he be buried in the necropolis after he has become very beautifully old (as) one honoured by the great god, Niankhkhnum."
• The inscription of the left outer doorframe (which still fully exists) is: "An offering which the king gives so that his voice comes out for him at the beginning of the year, for the Thoth-festival, for the beginning-of-the-year-festival, for the Wag-festival, for the Sokar-festival, for the great festival, for the fire-festival, for the procession of Min festival, for the monthly Sadj-festival, for the beginning-of-the-month-festival, for the half-month-festival, for every festival every day, for Niankhkhnum.".
The appearance door of Khnumhotep.
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• The upper lintel is again inscribed with the same offering text, but this time for Khnumhotep. It is also to be read from right to left, starting from the right-hand edge and progressing to the center of the common lintel.
• The inscription of the right outer door frame is different to the left one of Niankhkhnum: "The king gives an offering, that he may wander on the beautiful pathways, on which the honored wander, (namely) the supervisor of the manicurists of the palace, Khnumhotep.".
• The image field below the upper lintel shows a splendid offering table scene with the deceased seated left before a food table covered with twelve stylised halves of bread. To the right of the table are further offerings. The scene is inscribed with the usual name and titles of the deceased.
The final embrace.
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Above their heads, in two vertical columns each, their names and titles are again beautifully inscribed in raised relief (view 125): "The manicurist of the king, the supervisor of the manicurists of the palace, the confidant of the king, the one whom his lord loves, ........".
| SHAFTS AND BURIAL CHAMBERS |
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The totally undecorated burial chamber area of the installation of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, presumably created during the second phase, can be reached by a sloping 6.7m tunnel which proceeds in a southwards direction, and which passes directly under the antechamber of the tomb (fig 13). The access to this tunnel begins directly before the rock-cut section of the tomb, in the floor of the rebuilt second vestibule, at the south end of the open courtyard. The tunnel leads directly into the first coffin chamber, the floor of which is one metre lower than the end of the floor of the tunnel and just over four metres below that of the antechamber.
The space was created as double chamber (extended by a southern gallery in a much later period) in which an eastern and a western room can be distinctly identified. The chambers were created side by side and were separated from each other only by a low stone partition wall. This wall, which reaches a height of 0.85m, was broken through at a later date (either due to the damage of the tomb under Unas or during a later time, so that it is only its north part survives.
Signs indicate that the burial of Niankhkhnum was in the eastern chamber and Khnumhotep was in the western one. This is firstly explained by the fact that the appropriate shaft (labelled "K" on the plan, above left) before the door of appearance of Khnumhotep, leads directly down into the western coffin chamber. The sloping tunnel would thus have served only for the burial of the person buried in the eastern chamber, which could only therefore have been for Niankhkhnum. As elsewhere in the tomb, Niankhkhnum can be observed in the dominant position, as also with the favourable location of the sarcophagus, and nearest to the place of the living. However it should be noted that the western chamber is actually larger.
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