Discussion of virtual reconstruction and interpretative choices |
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The tomb of Pay consisted of a mud-brick superstructure with an entrance vestibule and northern chapel, a peristyle court, a central sanctuary flanked by two side chapels, and a pyramid over the sanctuary. In a second phase of construction, Raia added a mud-brick outer courtyard and new entrance with limestone door jambs in front of (east of) the tomb entrance.The dimension descriptions, ground plan, and site photos in Raven, et al. (2005: 10–16, pls. 1, 5–7) were used in the construction of the model; where any measurements were lacking, they were calculated from scaled ground plans and in reference with other tombs, such as Meryneith’s (used as reference for the pyramid). The outer walls of the tomb and outer court have been raised to 2.7m, a measurement calculated from the highest given measurement (Chapel D at 2.40m from floor to vault), with additional height given to account for roofing and vaulting. Slab ceilings have been added to the chapels and vestibules (as in the style of Meryneith’s tomb) and, in the case of the western chapels, a uniform slab ceiling would have been necessary for the support of a pyramid; for this reason, the ceiling of the southwest chapel (Chapel C) has been raised to meet the height of the other western chapels (i.e., Chapel A, with a height of 2.36m), despite its given vault height being substantially shorter at 2.1m. The columns in the peristyle have been raised to 2m as calculated by Raven et al. (2005: 14); the architrave was estimated at ~.40m in order to raise the inner court’s roofing to the same level as the rest of the tomb’s roofing.The pyramid that originally capped the structure was not preserved in modern times; measurements have been estimated and calculated in reference to the pyramid of the neighboring tomb of Meryneith but adjusted to the plan of Pay’s tomb. The pyramid’s plinth here measures 1.15 x 6 x .77m, and the pyramid itself measures 6 x 6 x 6.05m (w/l/h). Two capstones for the tomb (one inscribed for Pay, the second for Pay and Raia, likely a replacement of the original capstone by Raia during his additions to the tomb) are now in European museums (Raven et al. 2005: 15, 39–40, pls. 60–63). The measurements for the limestone pyramidion of Pay and Raia, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, with a height of 33.3cm+ (the tip is broken and reconstructed here to a height of 35cm), was used for the model.
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