How many artists worked on the ceiling texts of a Theban tomb? A case study from TT 84 on the challenges of identifying painterly handwritings

This paper aims to explore the potential and the limitations of identifying painterly handwritings (cf. Laboury 2012) in monochrome hieroglyphic inscriptions on the example of the ceiling decoration of an Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tomb, TT 84. This tomb is located in the south-western part of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna and was originally built for Iamunedjeh, an influential state official who lived under the reign of Thutmose III. It is almost fully decorated, is relatively well preserved, and has an exceptionally rich textual dimension. What makes TT 84 particularly suitable for a case study on distinguishing artistic hands in painted monumental texts lies in the fact that some of the inscriptional bands of the ceiling of its first hall were prolonged secondarily. The double-stage execution of some of the ceiling bands of this tomb thus provides a unique point of departure for investigating whether or not the secondarily added segments of text were painted by the same artists who were responsible for the originally inscribed portions of the same bands.
With the help of a detailed analysis of the material dimension of these inscriptions, the study ultimately seeks to answer the question concerning the number of individuals who worked on the textual program of the ceiling of this particular Theban tomb. To this end, the analysis will mainly focus on the direction and the sequencing of brush strokes constituting a sign, the paleographic variations between the different realizations of individual signs, and the steadiness of the brush handling of different artists, but factors such as the artists’ preference for simplifying certain signs and their tendency for sign-reversals will be equally considered. Finally, the paper will also evaluate the reliability of these methods with regard to the material at hand.