Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnesut: Man holding a cow by a rope

These two scenes (1934.17 and 1934.18), showing provisions for the afterlife of a senior official named Niankhnesut, once lined the walls of his tomb at Saqqara in northern Egypt. The tomb was found in 1917, already disturbed. Subsequently, at least 60 fragments were removed and sold to various collectors and museums; as in many places today, wartime may have facilitated the dismantling and dispersal of Niankhnesut’s tomb. The fragments are currently scattered across at least fifteen museums and three private collections in eight countries, including Egypt. Dismantling Egyptian tombs was a widespread practice in the past. Here, it makes it difficult to understand how these scenes were originally arranged. Ongoing research suggests that they come from two different rooms in Niankhnesut’s tomb. Today, to protect the integrity of the archaeological record, tomb fragments are no longer dispersed outside of Egypt. What remains of Niankhnesut’s tomb at Saqqara continues to be investigated by Egyptian archaeologists.