AN EGYPTIAN "CORN" MUMMY AND WOOD SARCOPHAGUS
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD TO ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.-1ST
CENTURY A.D.
7 December 2011 Christie's Special Exhibition GalleryAN EGYPTIAN
"CORN" MUMMY AND WOOD SARCOPHAGUS PTOLEMAIC PERIOD TO ROMAN PERIOD,
CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.The mummiform falcon-headed
wood lid and base brightly painted in black, blue, cream and red,
the face gilt, with black details for the eyes and markings,
further adorned with a tripartite wig, the lappets striped, the
broad collar centered by a lotus blossom, falcon terminals on the
shoulders, the body with two uraei flanking an ankh-sign, with an
inscription beginning on the underside of the base in one column of
hieroglyphs and continuing in five columns of hieroglyphs along the
ankles and feet of the lid, reading: "Hail to , Flier (with) two
arms who hastens, who comes forth as (or from) this newly-born(?)
god, who comes forth in jubilation, Osiris, Foremost of the West,
Great God, Lord of Abydos. May Bakennut(?) live with/before Re; the
name is united with the earth, with/before. ... (?) companion(?) of
heaven (?), in eternity;" the interior with the resin-coated grain
mummy wrapped in linen, covered with a sheet-silver repouss Osiris
visage, an applied uraeus along its crown19 in. (48.3 cm.)
high.
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 13 December 1980, lot
206.
Pre-Lot Text
Property from a California Private Collection
Exhibited
San Diego Museum of Man, mid 1980s-2010.
