Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
Lot 138*
An Egyptian painted wood upper part of an anthropoid coffin lid for Wennefer
6 July 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £19,000 inc. premium
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Anna Marston
Associate Specialist
An Egyptian painted wood upper part of an anthropoid coffin lid for Wennefer
Late Period, 26th Dynasty, circa 664-525 B.C.
The coffin's owner named as the God's Father Wennefer, son of the God's Father of Amun, Min-ir-dis, born to the Lady of the House Djed-Mut, the lid gessoed and painted, the red face with extended eyelines and brows, wearing striped tripartite wig, false beard strap and broad beaded collar with falcon-head terminals at the shoulders, the underside of the face with recess for false beard, now missing, beneath which the figure of the sky goddess Nut with outstretched winged arms, her name in hieroglyphs within the sun-disc headdress, crouching on a gold sign, the proper left side with a ram with undulating horns, wearing double plumes and sun-disc headdress, red, 16 columns and a band of hieroglyphs below, beneath this a scene of Maat and Thoth bringing the deceased before enthroned Osiris, a procession of standing gods and goddesses behind him, offerings in front, the rest of the fragment dense with lines and columns of inscription, surrounding a central scene of the deceased on a lion-headed bier, two canopic jars visible below, Ba flying above, illustrating Chapter 89 of the Book of the Dead, and depictions of the Four Sons of Hourus, extensive remains of original painted polychromy overall, the lower portion with remains of another upper layer of painted plaster preserving text, likely evidence of reuse in antiquity, an old collection label on the reverse, 133cm high, 52cm wide
Late Period, 26th Dynasty, circa 664-525 B.C.
The coffin's owner named as the God's Father Wennefer, son of the God's Father of Amun, Min-ir-dis, born to the Lady of the House Djed-Mut, the lid gessoed and painted, the red face with extended eyelines and brows, wearing striped tripartite wig, false beard strap and broad beaded collar with falcon-head terminals at the shoulders, the underside of the face with recess for false beard, now missing, beneath which the figure of the sky goddess Nut with outstretched winged arms, her name in hieroglyphs within the sun-disc headdress, crouching on a gold sign, the proper left side with a ram with undulating horns, wearing double plumes and sun-disc headdress, red, 16 columns and a band of hieroglyphs below, beneath this a scene of Maat and Thoth bringing the deceased before enthroned Osiris, a procession of standing gods and goddesses behind him, offerings in front, the rest of the fragment dense with lines and columns of inscription, surrounding a central scene of the deceased on a lion-headed bier, two canopic jars visible below, Ba flying above, illustrating Chapter 89 of the Book of the Dead, and depictions of the Four Sons of Hourus, extensive remains of original painted polychromy overall, the lower portion with remains of another upper layer of painted plaster preserving text, likely evidence of reuse in antiquity, an old collection label on the reverse, 133cm high, 52cm wide
Footnotes
Provenance:
Mr Fris collection, Holland.
Private collection, Brussels, acquired from the above in 1980.