Inventory number

General description

Model for furniture decoration

The papyrus Cat. 2034  was cut out of a part of a roll where three single sheets overlap. There are drawings of an object on both sides of the manuscript. Both of these drawings are accompanied by short notes in hieratic: two on the recto and one on the verso. These short inscriptions are referred to as A, B and C. Recto and verso are denoted here on the basis of the technical (papyrological) observation of the papyrus sheet, and not in the common Egyptological fashion which follows the sequence of the texts. The drawing on the verso is perpendicular to the one on the recto; thus, the text labelled as verso B is at right angles with the text on recto C. The reason for the rotation of the sheet is to be found either in the height of the drawing or the orientation of the fibre (which permitted greater ease in drawing the lines). The former seems most likely to us. The sequence of the jotting is C, B, A.

The drawing on the recto depicts the footboard of a bed decorated with figures of the protective deity Bes and lions. The inscription below the footboard (C) consists of three short lines and records two days (11 and 29) in the third month of the pr.t-season (mid to end of December) in a regnal year 17. The text is written rather small and highly cursive.

The verso bears a further drawing which depicts a piece of furniture (probably a chair). Within the convex element of the seat, another date is given: Year 17, the fourth month of the pr.t-season, day 2 (early January). This inscription (B) must have been added shortly after the sketch was drawn, maybe even by the same person.

On the left side of the drawing, a hieratic inscription (A) provides a third date: the first year of the so-called Renaissance era (wHm msw.t 'Repeating of births') equalling year <1>9 (i.e., of Ramesses XI), the fourth month of the Ax.t-season (September), day 5. The texts A and B were written almost two years apart. They were probably added by two different scribes, as the palaeography of certain signs, dates, and numerals indicate.

On the basis of the document’s many lines, gaps and lacunae, it is possible to determine that the papyrus was folded at least ten times vertically (with reference to the footboard on the recto) or horizontally (with reference to the possible chair on the verso).