LOT 0003

Egyptian Wooden Coffin Panel with Anubis

ROMAN PERIOD, C.30 B.C.-3RD CENTURY A.D.

30 1/8 in. (3.25 kg total, 76.5 cm high including stand).

A substantial polychrome painted wooden coffin panel in two parts, from the chest down to the lower legs: the upper portion gesso-painted preserving the outer edge of a decorative collar; a kneeling winged goddess below, most likely Nut, grasping a feather of truth in each hand and wearing a solar disc upon her head, four short vertical columns containing meaningless hieroglyphic inscriptions on a blue background above; the register below showing the deceased in diamond-pattern wrappings, lying on an elaborately detailed leonine bed, attended by the standing figure of Anubis anointing his wrappings; two hawk-headed canopic jars beneath the bed, two more were probably shown on the left; the bed flanked by two composite ankh/djed symbols flanked by short columns of meaningless hieroglyphic inscription on a blue background; behind each of these groups a kneeling goddess in a gesture of mourning: Nephthys largely preserved on the right and traces of the other (possibly Isis) to the left; three vertical columns of hieroglyphs below, the outer two on blue background and the central one in yellow, a rearing cobra facing the right column; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Acquired between the 1950s and 1960s.
Dr W. Schirmer collection, Germany.
with Bonhams, London, 5 October 2011, lot 41.
Property of a S.W. London gentleman.
Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages.
Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.114467-195992.

Coffins of this period were often composed of flat panels creating more angular and less naturalistic modelling of the mummiform body shape. At this time, traditional coffin decorations were often inaccurately interpreted and hieroglyphic inscriptions were either garbled or meaningless. A closely comparable example of this type is on display in the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool (E.576).