Chapter III The Funerary Statuettes From Tomb of Teta-Ky — By Percy E. Newberry
The discovery of Model Sarcophagi containing Funerary Statuettes in small holes on the four sides of the entrance to the mummy shaft (see Pl. II and p. 13) of Teta-ky’s tomb is of considerable interest; it is, I believe, the first recorded instance of shawabti figures having been found in such positions. They were placed in the four holes in pairs; each model coffin and figure bears a different name, but curiously enough, that of Teta-ky, whose body was buried in the sarcophagus chamber at the bottom of the shaft, does not occur. Each model coffin consists of a rectangular box and lid of wood; the lid, having uprights at each end, is curved in section square symbol outside, the lid and box is painted white, with three blue vertical bands on box, and the lids are inscribed in black ink with the name of the person for whom the shawabti figure in the sarcophagus was made (Pl. X. 1). Each shawabti figure is of wood carved to represent a human mummy with arms crossed over chest, face and hands gilt, head-dress blue, and body white (Pl. X. 2). Each figure is also inscribed with the usual shawabti text in horizontal lines across the front and sides of the body. The people for whom these figures were carved are: (1) the Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Overseer of the Garden of Amen, Ra-hotep’; (2) Image not available: hieroglyph and Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Sen-senb’; (3) Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Teta-nefer’; (4) Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Teta-an’; (5) Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Teta-em-ra’; (6) Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Ŷma’; (7) Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Res’; and (8) Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Senbu’. The first two names, it should be observed, are those of Teta-ky’s father and mother; probably the remaining six are also of other members of his family. We may, therefore, hazard the conjecture that these eight shawabti figures were placed at the opening of the shaft in the belief that they would protect, or ‘answer for’, their relation Teta-ky, whose body was interred below.
Besides the Funerary Statuettes described above, a large number of figures in Model Sarcophagi12 were discovered in the four niches in the wall on the west side of the main court (Pls. I, II, p. 13). These Model Sarcophagi are of painted pottery, mud, or wood, the boxes are rectangular or oval in shape, with lids having uprights at each end; some of them bear inscriptions (Pl. XI). The figures are all of wood roughly carved to represent human mummies, and some of them are inscribed (Pl. XII. 2). The inscriptions, written in linear hieroglyphs or in hieratic, are of five types:—
(1) Giving only the name of the person for whom they were made.
(2) The simple de hetep seten formula to Osiris: e.g. Image not available: hieroglyph Image not available: hieroglyph
(3) The de hetep seten formula to Osiris, Lord of Busiris and Abydos.
(4) The de hetep seten formula to Osiris with name of dedicator added; e.g. Image not available: hieroglyph ‘(dedicated) by his son who makes to live his name Teta-an.’
(5) The shawabti text in its early form: Image not available: hieroglyph Image not available: hieroglyph Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Oh! this shawabti, if Teta-ky in the underworld is summoned to do work for a man according to his duties, to cultivate the fields, to flood the banks (for irrigation purposes), or to carry sand from west to east. Behold I am there to do it.’
The personal names occurring on these shawabti figures are typical of the period immediately preceding the XVIIIth Dynasty. I arrange them in alphabetical order.
Table for offerings (Pl. XII. 1) with rectangular depressions pierced with holes for draining to spout, and inscribed with the de hetep seten formula to Osiris Khent-amenti, and to Osiris, Lord of Busiris and of Abydos, that he may give offerings for the Ka of the Royal Son, Teta-ky. The horizontal line across the lower part of the table for offerings gives:—
(1) The name and titles of Teta-ky’s father Image not available: hieroglyph and (2) of his mother, the Image not available: hieroglyph
A fragment of a statue of Teta-ky bears the following legend:—
Image not available: hieroglyph ‘Mayor in the Southern City (i.e. Thebes) Teta-ky, justified’. This is the earliest known reference to the office of a Mayor of Thebes.