DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4863#0042
The shrine
a larger
statue-niche
THE SHRINE
quite inaccessible height.1 It is not surprising that in a tomb with so
many pretensions to architectural merit as this, the statue-niche should
take a shape worthy of the whole, and in fact no shrine, unless it may
have been those just mentioned, can compare with it. It has, in fact,
become a vaulted chapel, decorated and inscribed like the others, though
on a reduced scale. Set on a higher level, it was not intended to be en-
tered, though the texts of the front wall could not be read by the living
otherwise.2 It served to enshrine a statue or statues, and as a roomy
sideboard for the offerings laid before them.
The elaborate framing of the doorway (Plate LVI) takes the form of The p°rtal
a square-topped stela with roll and brightly colored cornice, standing
itself on a corniced basement, and having on each side of it a narrow
upright panel, containing framed prayers to Geb and to another god,
"An offering of the King and of Geb, heir of the gods ... a breath of
the pleasant air of the north wind to the ka of the owner of this tomb
. . . Puyemre."3
The inmost jambs of the door contain similar hotpedens prayers to
Atum and Osiris (right) and to Am on of Karnak and Geb (left), seeking
for the ka of Puyemre (i) ascent to heaven and transport across the ex-
panse of the sky, (2) a lost request, (3) the company of the god "at both
seasons" (day and night), tt) the same boon as is asked from Geb above.
The sandstone lintel contained the titulary of Puyemre, and perhaps a
prayer for a place in the train of the sun-god "when he sets in life." The
broad outer jambs are divided into four panels with complementary
'The walls of these niches of Senmut and Rekhmire (Tombs 71 and 100) presented the same
scenes as ours and contained statues and a granite stela at the back. For the small niche see my Tomb
of Nakht, p. 37. In the tomb of Menna (No. 69) the opening to it is surmounted by a decorated en-
tablature (Maspero, Struggle of the Nations, p. 529). That of Tomb 161 was concealed.
2 The conditions of the ground in front are such that steps, if they once existed, could scarcely have
left any traces.
A very similar feature will be found in the tiny recess branching westwards out of the chapel of
Thothmes I in the altar court at Deir el Bahri (ed. Naville, PI. I). Simple niches will also be found on
two other sides of the court, and eight elevated niches for seated statues in the main upper court (Ibid.
PI. CXIX). Hatshepsut's nobles seek to imitate this.
' It looks as if the prayers on this doorway (as perhaps also in the south chapel) were still in the
old form, "May the King and Geb grant an offering, a breath, etc.," as there seems to be no room for
the New Kingdom addition "that he may grant."
27
a larger
statue-niche
THE SHRINE
quite inaccessible height.1 It is not surprising that in a tomb with so
many pretensions to architectural merit as this, the statue-niche should
take a shape worthy of the whole, and in fact no shrine, unless it may
have been those just mentioned, can compare with it. It has, in fact,
become a vaulted chapel, decorated and inscribed like the others, though
on a reduced scale. Set on a higher level, it was not intended to be en-
tered, though the texts of the front wall could not be read by the living
otherwise.2 It served to enshrine a statue or statues, and as a roomy
sideboard for the offerings laid before them.
The elaborate framing of the doorway (Plate LVI) takes the form of The p°rtal
a square-topped stela with roll and brightly colored cornice, standing
itself on a corniced basement, and having on each side of it a narrow
upright panel, containing framed prayers to Geb and to another god,
"An offering of the King and of Geb, heir of the gods ... a breath of
the pleasant air of the north wind to the ka of the owner of this tomb
. . . Puyemre."3
The inmost jambs of the door contain similar hotpedens prayers to
Atum and Osiris (right) and to Am on of Karnak and Geb (left), seeking
for the ka of Puyemre (i) ascent to heaven and transport across the ex-
panse of the sky, (2) a lost request, (3) the company of the god "at both
seasons" (day and night), tt) the same boon as is asked from Geb above.
The sandstone lintel contained the titulary of Puyemre, and perhaps a
prayer for a place in the train of the sun-god "when he sets in life." The
broad outer jambs are divided into four panels with complementary
'The walls of these niches of Senmut and Rekhmire (Tombs 71 and 100) presented the same
scenes as ours and contained statues and a granite stela at the back. For the small niche see my Tomb
of Nakht, p. 37. In the tomb of Menna (No. 69) the opening to it is surmounted by a decorated en-
tablature (Maspero, Struggle of the Nations, p. 529). That of Tomb 161 was concealed.
2 The conditions of the ground in front are such that steps, if they once existed, could scarcely have
left any traces.
A very similar feature will be found in the tiny recess branching westwards out of the chapel of
Thothmes I in the altar court at Deir el Bahri (ed. Naville, PI. I). Simple niches will also be found on
two other sides of the court, and eight elevated niches for seated statues in the main upper court (Ibid.
PI. CXIX). Hatshepsut's nobles seek to imitate this.
' It looks as if the prayers on this doorway (as perhaps also in the south chapel) were still in the
old form, "May the King and Geb grant an offering, a breath, etc.," as there seems to be no room for
the New Kingdom addition "that he may grant."
27