Funerary Cone of the Scribe Amenemopet

This cone has the impression of a stamp seal inscribed for a man named Amenemopet (Amen-em-opet) who was also known as Tjanefer (Tja-nefer). He was scribe of accounts of the grain of the god Amun and also had the title overseer of the fields. Amenemopet owned Theban tomb 297 (TT 297) which is in the Khokha cemetery of western Thebes behind the former field headquarters of the Museum's Egyptian Expedition.

Hundreds of ceramic cones like this one have been found in the non-royal cemeteries of the Theban necropolis. The Museum's excavators uncovered a tomb with rows of uninscribed cones embedded along the upper edge of the facade and it seems likely that the inscribed cones were used in the same way, identifying the tomb owner by name and title. However, although many cones are inscribed with the names of individuals like Amenemopet whose tombs are known, most cones record the names of people whose tombs have yet to be identified.

In 1909, the Museum acquired this cone and two others with the same stamp (09.185.17, .20). Six years later, while excavating in the area of TT 297, Museum archaeologists uncovered many more, including five that came to New York in the division of finds (15.10.2–.4, .22, .23). The best preserved impressions are on cones 15.10.2 and 15.10.23.

(CHR)