An Early Record of the Sarcophagi of Tjaiharpata and Esshu-Tefnut and the Identification of Some Lieder Squeezes at the Griffith Institute, Oxford

Abstract

An early record of the sarcophagi of Tjaiharpata and Esshu-tefnut and the identification of some Lieder squeezes at the Griffith Institute, Oxford'This article discusses the provenance of the sarcophagus of Tjaiharpata (now in Cairo) and the sarcophagusof Esshu-tefnut (now in Vienna): two shafts (or possiblyjust a single shaft), demonstrably near the Teti pyramid. It is based on a step-by-step identificationof four Lieder squeezes (17.1-3, 18)kept in the GriffithInstitute,Oxford. Heinrich Brugsch used these particular squeezes as the basic source for 'Planche VI' of his Recueil de monuments egyptiens and for a manuscripttranslationof the texts, but this was never mentioned in any of his later publications.IN 1862, Heinrich Brugsch published the first part of his Recueil de monuments egyptiens.' a work which in general claimed to contain Brugsch's own copies of texts and scenes made from the monuments themselves.' In one plate, Brugsch presented a selection of material from two Late Period coffins, which he stated (in one case wrongly) were housed at Vienna.' His presentation of this material (see fig. 1) has puzzled scholars for a long time.' 'Planche VI' consists of three different sections of hieroglyphic text, numbered by Brugsch as 1-3: (1) the first represents only part of a horizontal line (90 em out of 115 em) on the outside of the sarcophagus of Tjaiharpata~W~~.5 This line is the first below the lid, the one which is called by Maspero 'Bande superieure d'inscription' on the short 'cote Sud";" (2) the second is one long horizontal line incised all around the inside of the sarcophagus of Esshutefnut :J~~J~7 (see pI. XXVII, 1); and(3) the third is the equivalent on the outside of the same sarcophagus, running above 71 vertical columns of text and several mythological scenes (see pI. XXVII, 2). In the problematic 'Planche vi', the direction of writing does not correspond to that of the texts on the sarcophagi and the sequence of lines in the cases of ( 2) and (3) appears arbitrary. The sarcophagus of Tjaiharpata never came to Vienna as Brugsch assumed." Most probably he was given this erroneous information by Christian VOn Huber, the Austrian consul-general in Egypt from 1850 to 1858. 9 According to Brugsch's comments, Huber claimed to have discovered both sarcophagi. JO This is definitely not correct. The tomb from which the sarcophagus of Esshu-tefnut came was known to Anton Ritter von Laurin (Huber's predecessor as Austrian consul-general from 1834 to 1849) from at least 1847. 11 The sarcophagus of Esshu-tefnut arrived at Vienna in the first half of January 1853.J2 , This article is intended to supplement Jaromir Malek, 'The Monuments Recorded by Alice Lieder in the "Temple of Vulcan" at Memphis in May 1853', lEA 72 (1986), 101-12. I am very grateful to him for access to all the Lieder squeezes kept in the Griffith Institute, Oxford. \ H. Brugsch, Recueil de monuments egyptiens (Leipzig 1862-3).