Descending a flight of four steps, we find ourselves in a depression that once held the queen’s granite sarcophagus. From this vantage, the sides of the stone bench are readily visible. The plaster decoration has peeled off in most places, but enough remains to reconstruct in the mind’s eye a decorative band of alternating pairs of djed pillars and tyet amulets, respectively evoking the memories of Osiris and of Isis.
Along the west wall, in the middle of the bench, a small niche has been cut. About one meter square, it probably held the canopic chest, a small coffer containing the queen's embalmed viscera. The niche is decorated on its three inner surfaces.
On the south (left) side, the decoration shows three mummiform figures: Imsety, Anubis, and Qebehsenef. The latter is shown with human head, even though he customarily was given a falcon head. Each is called “the great god.”
At the back of the niche is an image of the winged goddess Nut, mother of Osiris and Isis. Her wings are at her sides, and in each hand she holds an ankh sign. Nut directs her words to the queen.
Less well preserved is the right side of the niche. It shows faint traces of three mummiform figures. Respectively, they bear baboon, jackal, and perhaps falcon heads. Also designated great gods, these are Hapy (baboon), Duamutef (jackal), and Anubis (falcon). The four genii in the niche are the sons of Horus, whose principal role in the funerary cult is to protect the queen’s organs.
Note that the subdued treatment of these scenes contrasts sharply with the brilliant polychromy in the rest of the tomb. Instead of colorful sculpted plaster, here we find simple line drawings executed in yellow. The details of costume, done in yet darker yellow, stand out against the light yellow of the body.
The small niche cut into the west wall of the burial chamber probably held the canopic chest containing Nefertari’s embalmed viscera.
The style of the scenes in the niche suggest that the decoration was executed a generation after the tomb was closed.
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