14. Outer Lid

Museum inventory number: 8523 Length: 218cm; Width (max): 71cm Wood, plaster, paint, varnish. Decorated with multicoloured paintwork and occasional use of moulded plaster. The ears, the beard (now lost) and the hands have been carved in wood and attached to the lid. The reverse side of the object is undecorated, as well as the underside of the footboard. The headboard is badly damaged. The paint and the plaster collapsed on the wig and on the face. The right ear and the beard are lost. A long crack runs down the central axis of the object, from the fists to the footboard. The plaster and the painted decoration collapsed in the lower section and in most of the footboard.

Iconography

Headboard The painted decoration has faded away and some of the plaster that cov- ered the object collapsed. Nevertheless it is possible to detect vestiges of the original painted decoration (Figs. 145–303). The wig was decorated with a striped pattern (black and yellow). The face was finely moulded in plaster and painted in yellow. The lappets of the wig were adorned with terminals (yellow). On the chin it is possible to detect the hole for the pin of the beard.

Upper Section The fists are painted yellow and crossed over the chest (Fig. 145). They show holes carved for embedding large amulets (now lost). The area comprised between the lappets of the wig presents vestiges of a short collar decorated with transversal bands (light green, dark green and red). On the chest, between the fists, it is possible to detect the remains of a pec- toral featuring a solar-headed heart amulet flanked by iaret-cobras. Vestiges of a necklace or mummy braces can also be detected. The remaining decoration of the floral collar shows that it comprised at least ten bands decorated with a diversified sample of patterns: persea-tree buds

(2nd, 10th bands), checkered motifs (3rd, 5th, 7th bands), lotus petals (2nd, 4th, 8th bands), buds on reeds (6th, 9th bands), lotus flowers intertwined with persea-tree flowers (1st band).

Central Panel The central panel displays three registers (Fig. 146–147). Some of the motifs of the composition are moulded in plaster to suggest relief, such as the scarabs, the bodies of the enthroned gods, the hwt-thrones, the solar disks, the hair and the body of the goddess. The edges of the tableau are decorated with multicoloured block-friezes. The first register shows a symmetrical composition. The nuclear block features a scarab rising from the nebu-sign and holding up a solar disk in its forelegs. The shen-ring figures between the hind legs. This nuclear composition is flanked by centrifugal blocks featuring two enthroned gods, Osiris and ‘Isis’. Osiris grasps the royal scepters and wears the hedjet-crown. Isis wears the sun disk (red) and embraces him. The composition is completed with centripetal blocks featuring a winged goddess squatted on the nebu-sign. The second register is bounded by a transversal block-frieze and a large pet- sign. It features the winged goddess outstretching her wings towards both sides of the lid. She wears a solar disk (green) and a tight dress (green). Liminal ele- ments are displayed above the wings of the goddess forming a symmetrical sequence of scarabs holding the solar disk, squatting deities, vultures, falcons, cobras and shetyt-shrines. The third register is better preserved and it is identical to the first one. The nuclear block features the scarab rising from the nebu-sign holding up a solar disk (green). The centrifugal blocks include the depiction of two enthroned gods, Osiris and Isis. The centripetal blocks feature a goddess wearing the solar disk (red). She is squatted on a reed mat and the nebu-sign outstretching her wings towards Osiris. A sacred vulture resting on a neb-basket is depicted under her wings. Along the edges of the composition, additional blocks form a sequence of four registers. From top to bottom one detects the Ta-wer-totem standing on a reed mat crowned with a double-feathered solar headdress. Four iaret-cobra crowned with the hathoric headdress spring from the cap of the totem. The imi-wt-totem stands next to it. In the second register figures a squatting mummiform god wearing the hedjet-crown. The third register shows a squatting mummiform god.The fourth register features a standing lotus-scepter crowned with the double-feathered solar headdress. The imi-wt-totem stands before the flower, while the pole of the West is depicted at its back. An abundant use is