400

Daressy #: 161

Owner: TT 95 Mery

Reasons: Inscription and provenience

Transliteration: (xtmw-)bjtj Hm-nTr tpj n jmn mry jmj-rA Hmw-nTr nw Smaw mHw mry jmj-rA AHt n jmn jmj-rA Snwtj n jmn mry xtmt nbt m pr-nswt anx wDA snb mry jmj-rA jHw n jmn mry

Translation: (Seal-bearer of the) king of Lower Egypt, first prophet of Amun, Mery, overseer of the prophets in Upper and Lower Egypt, Mery, overseer of the fields of Amun, overseer of the double granary of Amun Mery, sealer of everything in the house of the king Mery, overseer of the cattle of Amun, Mery.

Date: A. II

Length: --

Colours: Red face and red stem, 3 inches from the face, but there also are bright blue flecks on face and in depressions of stem (01-201 in Davies's notebook). Red-brown face (Munsell 5YR 6/4) and red body (2.5YR 4/8 (CAA 1984: 79(?))).

Findspots:

• One from Dra Abul Naga (Heyler 1959 [Kêmi 15]: 87 n. 2).

• Three from TT 29 (Tefnin & Bavay 2008 [ASAE 82]: 368).

• Two from TT 99 (Strudwick and Strudwick 2016: 53).

Remarks: 

• Regarding the initial phrase, Vivó proposes reading (xtmw-)bjtj ‘(seal-bearer of the) king of Lower Egypt’ rather than bjtj ‘bee keeper’ (Vivó 2022: 241-242). This appears to be a more believable option.

• The ascribed owner is identical to that of # 390.

• The reason for Mery creating two different cones, # 390 and # 400, remains unclear. Nevertheless, the inscription style of both indicates that they were most likely produced by the same person and (therefore) at almost the same time. # 390 features eight titles, five of which are common to # 400, which has seven titles. In total, ten titles were stamped, including five non-common ones. It appears that Mery desired to showcase all of his ten titles on the cones. However, the limited surface area of the cones prohibited him from doing so with just a single cone. Consequently, he designed two distinct cones and printed the most important of his titles on both cones. 

• See also 05-067, 068, & 069 in Macadam's DALEX file 1 and 06-026, 031, 066, 068, 075, 087, 102, 103, & 110 in his DALEX file 2.

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