smnḫ nbw: The precise meaning of the phrase is difficult to determine. I know of no parallel for smnḫ nbw. Phrases “to embellish something with gold (smnḫ NN m nbw)”, or other precious materials, are attested (e.g. DZA 29.223.690; Grallert 2001, I, 304), as are expressions of embellishment of divine offerings, temples, and cult equipment (e.g. Grallert 2001, Bauen - Stiften - Weihen: ägyptische Bau- und Restaurierungsinschriften von den Anfängen bis zur 30. Dynastie. Abhandlungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo, Ägyptologische Reihe 18. Berlin: Achet, vol. I, 195, 248, 356). Nebenmaat’s text probably refers to the elaboration of a cult statue with a gold collar or other accoutrement, even though the determinative of nbw is the mineral pellets. In this it can be compared with, for example, the description of reward in the biography of Nefersekheru in which he receives “all valuable things, the gold thereof at my throat … (…m sšr.w nb(.w) nbw jr.y r ḫḫ=j…: Osing 1992, Das Grab des Nefersecheru in Zawiyet Sulṭan. Archäologische Veröffentlichungen, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Kairo 88. Mainz: Zabern, pl. 35, col. 12)”, where nbw has the same orthography, but the meaning is clear from the context. My thanks to Peter Dils for discussion of this point. The reading of smnḫ seems clear despite the abbreviated writing (so also by DZA 29.220.840). A reading sti̯ nbw (with F28 for F29: “Halskragen knüpfen”: Wb. 4, 330, 2-3 and Wb 2, 237, 3) is excluded, because this is only attested in the Old Kingdom.

Commentary author: Elizabeth Frood

nb [...]: As suggested by Jordan Miller (personal communication, November 2020), contra my 2006 reading (with Sauneron 1952, 164), as “his lord”. The amount of surviving space beneath nb, although exaggerated in the line drawing, suggests that if the suffix =f had been inscribed here, its horns would probably be visible.

Commentary author: Elizabeth Frood