Tomb of Kaemankh (photo)

Kaiemankh constructed his tomb in the Western Cemetery in one of the north-south streets between the older tombs. In his time, during the Sixth Dynasty, part of this street was already taken over by other officials. Detail of the south section of the west. The tomb of Kaiemankh contains decoration in both the cult chapel and the underground burial chamber. The walls of the chapel were covered with figures and inscriptions in relief, roughly carved, and covered with plaster on which all the details were painted. When decorating the chapel, the artist first drew lines that helped him keep the figures in proportion, and he scratched in the figures and signs with red paint. His master then corrected some parts before the motif could be carved. After the plaster was added, the details of the figures were applied in paint. The plaster with the paint on it is gone today, however, and the decoration of the chapel seems so very different from the fine relief sculpture of the Fourth Dynasty’s most outstanding tombs. The underground room is also decorated. From the Sixth Dynasty burial chambers were often decorated with offering lists and depictions of offering meals. Kaiemankh’s burial chamber is, however, an exception. All of its walls are painted with a large variety of themes. These scenes repeat the same motifs as the reliefs in the chapel above ground. Certain variations can be noticed, however, which make it clear that the scenes were not copied from each other. The paintings are wonderfully preserved and the painters seem to have been much freer in their art than the carvers. It was easier to paint all the lovely details of figures, birds, bulls, or the grain of wooden objects. The underground burial chamber contained a huge limestone sarcophagus. It was broken into on one side by tomb robbers who made a hole large enough to remove the mummy of the deceased in search of jewelry and valuable amulets that might have been hidden between the bandages. The inscription, which is written in black paint on the side of the sarcophagus, contains a usual offering formula, which reads: “A boon which king gives and Anubis, a good burial before the great god