Sarcophagus of Lady Setchairetbinet
S O L D
Sarcophagus of Lady Setchairetbinet daughter of Heriou
Complete anthropoid coffin, with its lid and tank.
Material: stucco and painted wood
Origin: Egypt (Nile Delta)
Period: Third Intermediate Period (1070 – 711 BC)
Condition: excellent
Decor and original polychrome.
Height 196 cm., wide 59 cm., deep 56 cm.
Provenance:
- Old Swiss collection, Basel, 1970’s.
- Very old and important Belgium private collection, Mr. W. van H. collected in Basel in 1986.
With a certificate of expertise and authenticity made by C. Slitine, expert at the Paris Court of Appeal. Advice on Antiquities and objects of art, Archeology, Oriental civilizations, Paris, 22 January, 1987. The original certificate complement this lot.
Lid: Consists of several superimposed registers:
– Face framed by a blue tripartite wig, adorned with an Oudjat eye (diadem) falling on a lacrymoid gorget-ousekh.
– Hierocephalus ties
1st register:
The Ousekh necklace, housing a Tbis (Thoth, god of scribes), is surmounted by a series of divinities – female on the right, male on the left – standing on either side of the god Osiris who holds his attributes, the Heqa scepter and the Nehen whip; Isis and Nephthys protect him. Among these deities are: Horakhti; Thot, Amset, Mout, Hathor, Maat …
2nd register: Osiris truncating in front of a loti form table of offerings, a priest and a lion.
3rd register: Isis-Nut, the celestial goddess, kneeling, spreading her wings.
4th register: Mummification scene presided over by Anubis, the jackal god, assists two sisters Isis and Nephthys. Under the mummification table: four canopic vases, to receive the viscera, symbolizing the four sons of Horus (Qebehsenouf, Hapi, Douamoutef and Amset).
5th register: Frieze of solar worshipers in the form of kneeling hieracocephalic divinities.
6th register: Three columns of hieroglyphics: name of the deceased and extracts from the Book of the Dead.
Under the feet: Two Anubis, guardians of the temple, face to face.
Tank
The exterior decor is made up of several superimposed “dorsal pillar” paintings. Two long wavy serpents, crowns of the red headdress of the Delta and the white miter of Upper Egypt, occupy each flank.
1st table: Osiris, under the guise of the Djed pillar (symbol of eternal stability), receives the adoration of Isis and Nephthys.
2nd scene: Thoth and Horus, standing, watch over the mummy.
3rd painting: The celestial goddess Nut (personification of the deceased), standing, headdress of the lunar disk, holds in each hand lotus and papyrus flowers (symbols of the resurrection).
4th and 5th scene: scene from a chapter of the Book of the Dead: divinity supporting the sky (Noun?); illustration of the “birth of the Sun”; solar genies and Oudjat eyes on either side of an Abydenian reliquary.
Sarcophagus of Lady Setchairetbinet
