441

Daressy #: --

Owner: TT 343 Paheqamen

Reasons: Inscription and provenience

Transliteration: jmj-rA kAt Xrd n kAp pA-HqA-mn Dd.n=f bnjA mAa-xrw xr Asjr

Translation: Overseer of the works, child of the kap, Paheqamen, called Benia, justified before Osiris.

Date: T. III

Length: --

Colours: --

Findspots:

• Unknown examples from the court of TT 343 (01-223 in Davies's notebook).

• Some from TT 343 (Guksch 1978: 40).

Remarks: 

• The ascribed owner is identical to that of # 544.

• In terms of the order of making cones, Paheqamen initially acquired # 544 and subsequently # 441. This idea was based on the fact that the former only features 'Xrd n kAp', whilst the latter includes both 'Xrd n kAp' and 'jmj-rA kAt'. The inscription style of # 441 and # 544 differs, indicating that they were likely created at different times. Furthermore, considering the meaning of the title 'Xrd n kAp', it appears that Paheqamen must have earned this title as a boy, whereas 'jmj-rA kAt' is a title that can only be attained in adulthood.

• 'Xrd n kAp' and 'jmj-rA kAt' are mentioned many times in the walls. Moreover, both are mentioned even amongst items that may have taken a long time to produce, such as the false door. It should be noted that some believe that the wall at the end of the left and right side of the hall (the stelae and the false door) had to be completed before the tomb owner's death (Hermann 1940: 96-97, Anm. 433). The jmj-rA kAt of # 441 was already inscribed in such a place, which suggests that # 544 was made early in the construction of the tomb, and that # 441 was also made relatively early in the construction of the tomb. A relative sequence in the manufacture of the two types of cones can be envisaged, and this is probably to be explained by a sudden promotion of the tomb owner at a comparatively early stage in the construction of the tomb. However, no trace of any resulting change in the architectural or decorative programme can be detected in the tomb itself. For example, there is no evidence for a modification of the main axis or for any later extension, no indication that the system of grid-lines or preliminary sketches was altered part-way through, no places where an earlier title has been erased and recut with a later one, and no sections of wall decoration where the underlying conception or style clearly changes mid-course. To repeat the point, this may imply that, in terms of the overall building history of the tomb, both types of cone were already in production at a very early stage.

• On both cones belonging to Pahekamen, the name is written as 'pA-HqA-mn Dd.n=f bnjA'. However, in the tomb wall inscriptions, with the exception of one instance that appears to be a scribal error, it is consistently written as 'bnjA Dd.n=f pA-HqA-mn'. It is unclear whether this difference reflects
  (A) a deliberate variation in the writing,
  (B) a mistake resulting from different scribes being responsible for the wall texts and the cone inscriptions, or
  (C) some other circumstance.
  If (B) is accepted, it may be assumed that the maker of # 544 first made the mistake, and that, when # 441 was produced, its maker relied only on the inscription of # 544, without checking the tomb walls, and thus repeated it. 

• See also 05-041, 049, & 050 in Macadam's DALEX file 1 and 06-088, 089, 090, 105, & 109 in his DALEX file 2.

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