Seite 143 [143]
In addition to their title wb} nswt ‘royal wb3’, Neferrenpet (I) and Sarenenutet Tjaui
share another common factor in their official careers, namely that both of them held the
title jhjj ‘sistrum player’ of Hathor, which function they emphasized on their sistophor
statues. The sandstone statue of Neferrenpet (I) found in the Theban necropolis,” is
now located in Paris (E 14241), and once might have stood in the temple of Hathor in
Deir el-Bahari. The point of interest of this intermediary statue is that it depicts the
owner sitting on a cushion in scribal posture with a small basin before him, holding a
menat in his right hand, while once a sistrum was presumably held in his left hand,
however, it is missing. This latter feature, as Clére noted,‘ makes the statue extraordi¬
nary, since sistophor statues are usually completed with the symbol of Hathor in a naos
or the symbol is depicted on the body of the statue itself, but in this case, the instrument
itself was attached to it. Neferrenpet (I) addresses himself as jhjj ‘sistrum player’ of his
mistress, a herald of the lady of truth, who mediates the petitions addressed to the god¬
dess to her inside her sanctuary, as he says. Furthermore, he states that his hands were
pure to offer the menat before the Ennead. According to these statements, Neferrenpet
(1) indeed had access to the sanctuary of Hathor, and the basin before him on his statue
might refer to his additional duty of making a libation before the goddess.#1 This reli¬
gious function might refer to a Theban function place of his, although it also can be
considered that he was appointed in this office only after his retirement as a reward for
his useful service in the royal court. According to his function titles on his statue, he
served in the royal household as wb3 nswt ‘royal wb3’ — he also bore the title wb3 nswt wb
“wj ‘royal wb3 clean of hands’ — and 3 n “.tn nb 3.wj ‘chief of the chamber of the lord of
the Two Lands’, as well as in the royal administration as jmj-r3 pr ‘steward’. Contrary to
Gessler-Léhr’s suggestion,*” according to which being of clean of hands as a priest
derives from his being of wb3 nswt wb ‘.wj ‘royal wb3 clean of hands’, this pure feature
of Neferrenpet (1) has two separate aspects, his religious duty towards the goddess Hathor,
on the one hand, and on the other hand, his duty as a ‘royal wb?’ to his lord who was a
living manifestation of a god.
Neferrenpet (I) is also depicted on the relief block of his brother, Sarenenutet Tjaui
(Boston, MFA 1972.651), in an offering scene together with his wife, [...]ia, and the sister
of his mother, Taweret. A sem-priest presents an offering before them, who is labelled
4° Boreux, 1933, 12-13.
4% Clère, 1970, 1-3. For the sistophor statues of ‘royal wh3s’, see also note 481. in the discussion on Sen¬
nefer above.
44 Boreux, 1933, 16.
#5 Gessler-Löhr, 1990, 58.