Northeast of the Serapeum is one of the principal sights of Saqqara, the Mastaba of Ti, belonging to a high court official and wealthy landowner of the early Fifth Dynasty. Its mural reliefs are among the finest and best preserved of the Old Kingdom, as well as the most interesting in terms of subject matter. The entrance opens into a small vestibule with two pillars, on the front of which Ti is depicted wearing a long wig and a short, wide apron and holding a long staff in one hand and a kind of club in the other. A doorway flanked by figures of the dead man and inscriptions leads into a large pillared hall, with a modern timber roof borne on 12 square ancient pillars in which offerings were presented. In the center is a flight of steps leading into a low, sloping passage, which runs the whole length of the building to an antechamber and beyond this, the tomb chamber. The sarcophagus, now empty, completely fills the recess in which it stands. A door at the far corner of the pillared hall leads into a corridor with reliefs of servants bearing gifts of all kinds into the tomb. Another door opens into a second corridor with paintings of sacrificial animals being slaughtered, and on the right-hand wall, the arrival of the ships in which Ti has inspected his estates in the Delta (note the curious steering gear). Above the entrance door, you can see Ti and his wife in a boat in a thicket of papyrus, while over the door into the chapel, female dancers and singers are depicted. A door on the right leads into a side room, in which the colors of the reliefs are excellently preserved. In the chapel are two well-preserved and several damaged shipbuilding scenes: shaping the tree trunks; sawing them into planks; construction of the ship, with workmen using adzes, mallets, and crowbars and others fitting the planks together; and Ti standing in one of the ships, inspecting the work. The simple tools used by the workmen (a saw, axe, adze, and drill) are of great interest. While on the south side of the chapel are numerous paintings depicting everyday scenes, including men blowing through long tubes into a furnace in which gold is smelted, sculptors and makers of stone vessels, and a market scene (one man has two jars of oil for sale, another a wallet for which he is being offered a pair of sandals in exchange). The reliefs on the north side of the chapel depict life in the marshes of the Delta. A narrow strip running along the foot of the north wall depicts 36 peasant women bearing offerings of meat, poultry, vegetables, fruit, and drink from Ti's various estates, the names of which are given.
