Shop Bundles Tombs of the Nobles (West Thebes)

Tombs of the Nobles (West Thebes)

The hillside of Sheikh abd el-Gurna is pockmarked with dozens of private tombs of officials who held sway at Thebes during the New Kingdom (18th – 20th dynasties). This selection of tombs covers some of the most celebrated of these sepulchres, all of which can be attributed to the 18th dynasty. TT 55 of the vizier Ramose is famous for the rare insight it gives us into art in transition. Here the visitor can marvel at the juxtaposition of traditional iconography against a new style of royal portraiture – the grotesquely formed bodily images so favoured by Amenophis IV, a king who would famously re-invent himself as Akhenaten. The tomb of the vizier Rekhmire holds the reputation of being one of the most informative tombs of its generation. Its tightly packed wall registers contain a riot of illustrations relating to the life and career of this great official. Of the hundreds of tombs that honeycomb the limestone hills of the West Theban necropolis, Sennefer’s tomb is unique for one key feature – the decoration of its ceiling, which represents a grape arbour. The fusion of this radical artistic design, combined with the undulating curvature of the ceiling, results in an ingenious piece of architecture. The tombs of Menna and Nakht are renowned for the outstanding quality of their wall reliefs. Their exquisitely rendered and naturalistic scenes of daily life rank amongst the finest and best-preserved paintings from any of the New Kingdom private tombs at Thebes.