Funerary Cone

Funerary cones were used as specific architectural decorative elements almost excusively in the New Kingdom necropolis of Thebes. They were made of clay, with an average length of 25–35 cm, and their flat and circular ends were stamped with the name and titles of the tomb owner before the cone was fired. After drying and burning, they were set into the facade of Theban rock tombs or built into the wall of mud brick pyramids erected on the hillside above the tomb. Funerary cones were mass-produced; one particular tomb may have been furnished with hundreds of pieces bearing the same inscription created with the same stamp. Wall scenes in Theban private tombs quite often depict funerary cones as red disks arranged in rows over the entrance to the tomb. One tomb complex was usually provided with only one type of cones, but cases are known when different types were produced for a single tomb.
The funerary cone belonged to Mery, who lived during the Eighteenth Dynasty, under the reign of Amenhotep II, and held the titles First Prophet of Amun, overseer of the Prophets of Upper and Lower Egypt, overseer of the Fields of Amun, overseer of the Double Granaries of Amun. The funerary cone comes either from Mery’s own burial place, tomb TT95, or from the area around tomb TT84 which he appropriated.