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VESTIBULE – WALL 4

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In my opinion wall 4 is one of the most beautiful walls of the tomb of Prince Khaemwaset.

For a complete view of this wall, from right to left, click on (36) (37) and (38) successively.

From right to left are depicted: Pharaoh Ramesses III, the god Geb, Prince Khaemwaset, Ramesses III, the god Shu, Khaemwaset and his father Ramesses III.

(36) shows Pharaoh Ramesses III offering incense to the god Geb.
The pharaoh wears a short blue wig with black meshes and a diadem (40) (39).
The blue wig is bordered on the forehead and the neck with a yellow band, while the tail of the frontal uraeus is wrapped around the diadem (39) (40).
The short blue wig and the diadem are called ibes and seched.
The pharaoh wears a magnificent ceremonial dress (40) (41).
To the belt at the waist is attached a colourful ornamental apron with the traditional red and blue ribbons and six uraei at the bottom (40) (42) (41).
Exceptionally, the clasp of the belt has the form of a cartouche with the nomen and praenomen of the pharaoh (40) (42) (41) (43).
Also exceptional is the fact that the pharaoh is not wearing a ceremonial tail (36) (40) (41).
The pharaoh holds in his left hand a yellow incense burner, its shape resembling the arm of Horus, at the level of the face of the god Geb (36) (39) (44) (45).
With his right hand, the pharaoh makes a libation at the feet of the god Geb (36) (40) (46).
Above the head of the pharaoh is depicted the sun disk of Behdet.
On both sides of the sun disk, a uraeus with a green shen is depicted, while under the sun disk are depicted hieroglyphs, stating ‘He from Behdet’ (39) (47) (48).
Behind the pharaoh, a number of hieroglyphs are arranged vertically, stating ‘all protection, life, stability, power are behind him like (for) Ra’ (36) (39).
The two cartouches of Ramesses III are shown above the incense burner (36) (39) (49).
The god Geb wears the red deshret crown of Lower Egypt, a turquoise necklace and a tunic (36) (50) (51) (52).
He holds the green was sceptre in his left hand and the blue ankh in his right hand (36) (50).
(53) is a close-up of the tunic of the god Geb.
To the left of the two cartouches of Ramesses III is depicted a hieroglyphic column, which states ‘Words spoken by Geb, father of the gods’ (36) (49) (50).
Between the god Geb and Pharaoh Ramesses III is depicted a hieroglyphic column with the words of the god Geb, reading ‘I have given to you an eternity of jubilees like (for) Ptah-Tatenen’ (36) (37).

(54) shows, from right to left, Prince Khaemwaset, Pharaoh Ramesses III and the god Shu.
Prince Khaemwaset wears a diaphanous white dress with wide sleeves (54) (55).
Typical for the tomb of Khaemwaset is the fact that, when men are dressed in diaphanous linen gowns, their skin shows through in a light pink colour (54) (55) (56).
This is an artistic feature not found in the otherwise similar tomb of Prince Amenherkhepshef.
The prince wears a colourful collar around his neck and holds the khu-fan in his left hand (54) (57) (58).
(56) shows a detail of the dress of Prince Khaemwaset.
The name of the prince and one of his titles are depicted above his head in two hieroglyphic columns, which state ‘The sem-priest of Ptah, the great one, (who is) south of his wall, Lord of Memphis, the king’s son, Khaemwaset, true of voice’ (54) (57).
(58) is a splendid painted bas-relief showing Prince Khaemwaset with the typical children’s hairstyle: a shaved skull with a large lock of hair, braided at the top, fastened with an ornamental band and falling sideways, covering one ear.
Prince Khaemwaset is standing behind his father Pharaoh Ramesses III (54) (57).
Ramesses III wears the red deshret crown with two red ribbons attached to it.
The crown is bordered with a yellow band and has a frontal uraeus; moreover, there are two uraei on the top of the crown, in upright position and topped by small yellow disks (59) (60) (61).
The outfit of the pharaoh consists of a tight shirt, a long white skirt and a white diaphanous linen jacket with wide sleeves (54) (59) (62).
The skirt is held in place at the waist by a multicoloured belt with a golden clasp (64).
To the belt is attached an ornamental apron with the traditional blue and red ribbons and with seven uraei at the bottom (64) (65).
The pharaoh holds with his right hand the left hand of the god Shu, while both make a gesture of greeting (59) (62) (63).
The god Shu wears a blue tripartite wig with black strands of hair and a green feather, held in place by a red hairband (59) (62).
Furthermore, he wears a green necklace, a tunic and the typical bracelets (59) (62).
(66) shows a detail of the tunic worn by the god Shu.
To the left of both cartouches of the pharaoh, the name of the god Shu is depicted in a hieroglyphic column, which states ‘Words spoken by Shu, son of Ra’ (59) (62).
Above and under the clasped hands of Ramesses III and Shu is depicted a hieroglyphic column with the words said by the god Shu to Ramesses III, stating ‘I have given to you Upper and Lower Egypt united under your sandals for eternity’ (54) (62) (63).

(38) shows Prince Khaemwaset standing behind his father Pharaoh Ramesses III.
The pharaoh wears an ochre-red wig with frontal yellow headband, frontal uraeus and red ribbons.
The lateral pieces of the wig are of unequal length and are carved into the wall, which gives more depth to the wig (38) (67) (73).
The upper part of the body of the pharaoh is naked (67).
He wears a green necklace and holds a yellow censer in his left hand, while with his right hand he greets the god Atum, who is depicted on wall 7 of the vestibule (38) (67).
Ramesses III wears a long white diaphanous skirt (38).
The belt at the waist is multicoloured and has a golden clasp (72).
To the belt are attached a short triangular skirt and an ornamental apron with the traditional blue and red ribbons (72).
At the bottom of the ornamental apron, six uraei are depicted (70) (72).
(68) (70) (71) and (72) show details of the ornamental apron.
Above the head of the pharaoh a red sun disk of Behdet is shown.
On both sides of the sun disk, a uraeus with a green shen is depicted, while under the sun disk hieroglyphs are shown, stating ‘He from Behdet’ (38) (67).
To the left of the Behdet disk both cartouches of the pharaoh are depicted (67).
Behind the pharaoh stands his son Prince Khaemwaset (38) (67).
The prince wears the same dress as on (55), but here his belt has a blue colour and five cords are attached to the belt instead of four.
The cord on the right makes a loop at the waist and is resting on the left leg (38).
(69) is a splendidly painted bas-relief showing Prince Khaemwaset with the typical children’s hairstyle.
Khaemwaset holds the khu-fan in his left hand (38) (67).
The name of the prince and one of his titles are depicted above his head in two hieroglyphic columns, which state ‘The sem-priest of Ptah, the great one, (who is) south of his wall, Lord of Memphis, the king’s son, Khaemwaset, true of voice’ (67).
Behind the prince are depicted, in one hieroglyphic column running the entire height of the wall, the titles of Pharaoh Ramesses: ‘It is the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, royal Osiris, Lord of the Two Lands, User-Ma’at-Ra Mery-Amun, son of Ra, Lord of Appearances, Ramesses, Ruler of Heliopolis, true of voice, beloved of Osiris, foremost of the West’ (38).

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