Drawing detail with the Amun bark's egis from the facsimile documentation carried out in Theban Tomb 65

To read about the epigraphic challenges proposed by TT 65, follow this link. 

Drawing detail from the facsimile documentation carried out in Theban Tomb 65, located on the northeastern face of the Sheikh 'Abd el-Qurna hill. This exquisitely painted private tomb was decorated in the late Rameeside period for its second owner, Imiseba, who was head of the altar and head of the temple-scribes of the estate of Amun in the time of Ramses IX.⠀ ⠀

The epigraphic work mostly concerned the faithful representation of Imiseba's wall scenes, with some of the originals being exact copies of monumental works located in the famous temples of Karnak and Medinet Habu. ⠀ ⠀

The epigraphic activity in the tomb has a rather complex history: it covers almost two hundred years, serving the interest of many scholars and artists beginning with A. Dupuy in 1832 (as an artist of the Hay expedition), and later continuing with Prisse d' Avennes, P. Newberry, H. Winlock, and Nina de Garis Davies.⠀ ⠀

Interestingly, although these early draftspersons kept coming back to copy the details of TT65’s extensive wall paintings, none of the tomb’s walls were published in their entirety. The facsimiles created between 1998-2013 provide a complete, millimeter by millimeter replica of the decorative surface, extending over 300 square meters. ⠀ ⠀

To represent the most basic color palette with the line drawings, carefully created black and white patterns were developed for each hue, resembling the actual colors as they would appear on a grayscale photograph taken of the wall. When the so-called Imiseba method was invented about twenty years ago, every step of the procedure had to be carried out manually on paper one dot or brushstroke at a time.

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