Jacques de Morgan (1857-1924) was one of the most-fortunate excavators in Egypt. In 1894 and 1895, he worked at Dahshur, south of modern Cairo, where he found the intact tombs of several king’s daughters with an array of wonderful golden jewellery.
Dahshur is the location of two pyramids belonging to the Fourth Dynasty king Sneferu (c.2613-2589 BC), as well as three Twelfth Dynasty pyramids (Amenemhat II, Senusret III and Amenemhat III) and some smaller pyramids belonging to Thirteenth Dynasty rulers. Focusing on the area around the Middle Kingdom pyramids, de Morgan discovered the mud-brick mastabas of Old and Middle Kingdom officials, a number of them adorned with carved reliefs. Some of these belonged to men described as a ‘king’s son’, which was the title given to the son of a pharaoh, but also to high officials who were grandsons of a king, and even to courtiers with no direct relationship to the king.
Old Kingdom tomb scenes
Although several Old Kingdom mastabas with carved decoration are known, few survive with painted scenes intact. The best-known example is the Tomb Chapel of Itet at Meidum, dating to the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, which was found in 1871. Although most of the paintings were not well preserved, one particular scene depicting a row of geese survived in good condition, and is now one of the most-famous works of ancient Egyptian art. Another example of well-preserved Old Kingdom tomb paintings is the Tomb of Kaemankh at Giza, which has well-preserved scenes of daily life (and also has depictions of geese) inside the burial chamber, although this was not discovered until 1926. So when, in a small cemetery north of the Pyramid of Amenemhat II, de Morgan came across a mastaba with its wall paintings intact, he was fully aware of the importance of his find, and published photographic plates of many of the scenes in his final excavation report in 1903.
