Theban Tomb TT 217 and its Owner

TT 217 was built by the sculptor Ipuy (i), the son of Piay (ii), and his family, who lived during the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II. Ipuy, his father, and at least four of his Ipuy’s brothers and two of his sons held the title of a sculptor. The family most probably moved from Karnak to the worker’s village of Deir el-Medina sometime during the early reign of Seti I.

Ipuy was probably assigned the location for his tomb near TT 216, the funerary cluster belonging to the family of the foreman of the right side, Neferhotep, because Ipuy’s wife, Duaemerres, had links to this important clan. According to the prosopographic evidence, as well as material and art-historical approaches, it seems that family burials in TT 217 took place between Years 49 and 55 of Ramesses II. Altogether, the tomb was used for 250 years of the Ramesside period; this is confirmed by additional inscriptions at the entrance of the chapel attesting to Nekhemmut (vi), another foreman of the right side in the reign of Ramesses IX, and his sons. Nekhemmut’s ancestors are also connected to Ipuy’s father Piay. TT 217 must have been also reused in later periods.