Museum inventory number: 8522
Length: 179 cm; Width (max): 49 cm
Wood, plaster, paint, varnish.
Decorated with multicoloured paintwork.
The reverse side of the object is undecorated.
The object presents several cracks, the major one situated on the left side of the headboard, but the decoration is well preserved. The footboard collapsed.
Iconography
Headboard
A multicoloured headband decorated with floral patterns (persea-tree buds) adorns the wig (blue). A bunch of a lotus flower and buds hangs from the crown of the head (Fig. 69).
The face is crudly carved and painted in yellow. The eyes and eyebrows are outlined in black. The pupils (black) are painted against a white background. A red line is traced above the eye to suggest the eye-lid. The lips are also outlined in red.
The earrings are moulded and decorated with rosettes. The lappets of the wig display multicoloured binding bands decorated with a beaded motif.
Upper Section
The breasts (painted, not moulded) figure below the lappets of the wig featuring rosettes to suggest the nipples (Fig. 69).
The hands are open, painted yellow and crossed over the chest. Against the usual practice, the hands are not carved in wood but entirely moulded in plaster. Most of the fingers are lost, with exception of the thumbs.
The arms are decorated with red lines suggesting linen stripes and the elbows are decorated with a lotus flower (multicoloured). The forearms display bracelets, three of them featuring geometrical patterns (multicoloured) and two others composed of small udjat-eyes.
The area comprised between the lappets of the wig presents a short collar featuring five floral bands. The large floral collar displays four bands decorated with a variety of patterns: mandrake flowers (4th band), geometrical motifs (3rd band), cornflowers (2nd band), and lotus intertwined with cornflowers (1st band). The clasps of the floral collar are decorated with a falcon head.1
On the chest, between the breasts and the hands, lies a large winged scarab holding up the solar disk flanked by cobras.
Central Panel
The central panel displays two registers (Fig. 70). The tableau is bounded by transversal bands of text (Inscriptions 3–4).
The first register shows a symmetrical composition. The nuclear block features a pectoral shaped as a winged ram-headed scarab holding up a solar disk. The sun disk is flanked by udjat-eyes and neb-baskets. This pectoral hangs from a necklace hidden under the floral collar. This composition is flanked by centrifugal blocks featuring a kneeling mummiform Osiris grasping the heqa-scepter and wearing the hedjet-crown. The register is completed with centripetal blocks featuring a winged coiled cobra (identified as Neith) wearing the solar disk. The goddess outstretches her wings towards Osiris, embracing the udjat-eye (right side) or the shen-ring (left side).
The second register displays a large winged goddess squatted on a reed mat outstretching her wings towards the sides. The name ‘Nut’ figures on her head. Two winged cobras are depicted above the arms of the goddess, forming a symmetrical centripetal composition. Udjat-eyes are depicted between their wings. The same symbol is depicted under the wings of the goddess Nut.
Lower Section
The lower section is divided into two longitudinal partitions by a double column of hieroglyphs (Inscriptions 1–2). Each partition is divided into three registers by transversal bands of text (Inscriptions 3–10).
In the first register a mummiform god is seated on a throne resting on a heb-bowl (Fig. 71). The god has a curled beard, grasps the royal scepters and wears the hedjet-crown. The winged udjat-eye with a pending cobra faces the god. The cobra wears the sun disk (right side) or the dšrt-crown (left side) and carries the ankh-sign on its neck.
In the second register the avian manifestation of Ptah-Sokar rests on a divine standard with a feather at his feet. The avian god wears the atef-crown and the menat-counterpoise. The udjat-eye is depicted behind him and the name ‘Sokary’ is written before him.
The third register is badly damaged, but remains of the winged udjat-eye can be found, showing that it was the main subject of the vignette.
Footboard
Lost.
Inscriptions
Two longitudinal inscriptions (Inscriptions 1–2) run down the centre of the lid, dividing the lower section into two partitions. The inscriptions are centripetally oriented. As the footboard collapsed, these inscriptions are now incomplete. The hieroglyphs are outlined in red and some details are painted in black, green, red and blue. The background is yellow. Some of the hieroglyphs used in these inscriptions are sophisticated and finely executed, such as the determinative of the barque (Gardiner P 3), the wepet-renpet-sign (Gardiner F 14, combination of F 13 and M 4) and the determinative of the man with an axe (Gardiner A 14*). The symmetrical display of the hieroglyphs of both inscriptions creates interesting visual effects, particularly in the writing of the name of Osiris, where the eyes suggest a human face seen frontally.
Inscription 1
ḏd mdw i̓n Wsi̓r, ꜣḫ pw mꜣꜥ-ḫrw: ‘pr[. t] r pt, ḏ3[. t] bi̓3, [sn]sn[. t] m sb3w nw pt, i̓r[.] tw n. t ḥknw m wi̓3’
Words to be spoken by Osiris, this akh, the justified one: “May you ascend to the sky, may you cross the firmament and may you mingle with the stars of heaven. May one make praise to you in the sacred barque [---]”.
Inscription 2
ḏd mdw i̓n Wsi̓r, ꜣḫ pw mꜣꜥ-ḫrw: ‘ꜥḳ[. t] r dwꜣt, mꜣꜣ[. t] i̓my.st, m hrw wpt-rnpt, i̓r. t (sn tꜣ(?) m bi̓ꜣt(?) [--]’)
Words to be spoken by Osiris, this akh, the justified one: “May [you] enter the Duat and see what is inside it, on New Year’s Day. May you “kiss the earth” (in(?) [---]”).
Short transversal inscriptions divide the lower section in several registers (Inscriptions 3–10). All of them are centripetally oriented and present variations of the same text. The last two texts, placed on the footboard, are almost completely lost but they still preserve references to Nephthys and perhaps Isis.2
Inscriptions 3–4
I̓mꜣḫy (ḫr) Wsi̓r, ḥḳꜣ ḏt, nṯr ꜥꜣ
The venerable one before Osiris, the ruler of eternity, the great god.
Inscriptions 5–6
i̓mꜣḫy (ḫr) Ptḥ-skr
The venerable one before Ptah-Sokar
Inscriptions 7–8
I̓mꜣḫ[y] [ḫr] wḏꜣt, nb dwꜣt
The venerable one before the Udjat-eye, the lord of the Duat.
Inscription 9
[i̓mꜣḫy (ḫr)] Nbt-ḥwt
[The venerable one before] Nephthys
Inscription 10
[i̓mꜣḫy (ḫr) ꜣst ?] mwt nṯr
[The venerable one before Isis?], the divine mother
Figure 69
Lid (A.20). Headboard and upper section
