The figure originally consisted of nine pieces of wood of different sizes, whereby the two foot tips, which were inserted into the rest, perhaps even dowelled, are missing today - only the two roughly square recesses are visible. It is not uncommon for such protruding parts to break off or become detached and lost.

The wood used is the sacred sycamore, which is native to Egypt and has been regularly used alongside tamarisk and acacia for the construction of coffins since the earliest times. In contrast to imported woods (e.g. cedar from Lebanon), however, only irregularly shaped and comparatively small planks were obtained from the trunk of the sycamore tree, which were then dowelled together as in the present object.

The care and precision with which the Egyptian craftsmen made and assembled the individual pieces is remarkable. The regular design of the hair braids, which were individually carved into the wood, the reproduction of the fingernails and the navel as well as the sculptural design of the breasts - all elements that in most cases were merely emphasised with paint - also indicate the skill of the workshop. It should also be noted that such a detailed design allows conclusions to be drawn about the social status of the deceased, as only a wealthy family could have afforded such a coffin for their loved ones. After assembling the individual pieces of wood, a white primer seems to have been applied, which can be seen through the abrasion of the paint, e.g. on the figure's right hip joint.

The female figure is depicted standing or lying down, depending on the perspective, with the foot pieces inserted perpendicular to the legs. The arms lie beside the body, the palms resting on the hips. The head section, which takes up almost a third of the object's total length, is characterised by a broad wig that falls in two equal parts over the shoulders and extends to the base of the chest, from which it is separated by a small step; in the area of the right hair tips and on the inside of the right breast there is a black substance that could possibly be bitumen. The wig, which was probably originally painted black, leaves the ears uncovered, as was customary in this late period. Its flat, almost rectangular design is reminiscent of the style of Ptolemaic coffins. This contrasts with the rounded face and large eyes. The black eyelid line curves downwards to the ears; the eyebrows, which start directly at the root of the nose, and the hairline imitate this curve.

A crack runs from the right eye to the chin, another across the centre of the bridge of the nose. The tip of the nose is broken off. Furthermore, the seam between the two pieces of wood used at this point, which extends from the crown of the head across the left cheek to the feet, is clearly recognisable in the head and neck area. The lips are bulging and do not stand out in colour from the rest of the skin tone.

The female figure wears a short necklace around her neck, which has evolved from the wesech collar. In this stylised form, a yellow stripe was first applied, which was then outlined with a dark red and divided into individual segments with short vertical strokes of this colour. This pattern imitates the plant parts from which the collar was originally made; in this case, however, the yellow colour naturally symbolises gold.

However, the woman is wearing another, longer necklace that ends just above the upper hem of her skirt. Although the colour is very worn at this point, the shape of this piece of jewellery can still be guessed: A lunula, a pendant in the shape of a crescent moon looking downwards, hangs from the necklace, which consists of various alternating beads - red round ones as well as black triangular ones.

Around the unclothed breasts, whose nipples are highlighted in black (a - perhaps accidental - cross-shaped element is also visible on the left), there is a kind of ring, similar to the collar, with a yellow background colour and black contouring and segmentation. As the breasts of such late coffins are often emphasised and decorated with flowers, for example, it cannot be ruled out that these breast rings could be purely decorative elements and were not actually worn.

The upper arm bands are painted according to the same principle, i.e. yellow stripes with a black outline and inner drawing; however, the forearms are adorned with snake bracelets outlined in the dark red of the collar. The garment is the so-called long dress of the goddesses, which begins just below the chest and reaches down to the ankles - the name comes from the fact that it is mostly goddesses who are depicted in this type of dress. The dress is very tight-fitting, so that it not only emphasises the curves of the stomach and hips at the sides, but also clearly highlights the navel and the contours of the legs. This type of rendering is reminiscent of the Wet Style - also known as the Rich Style - of Greek sculpture (around 430 - 400 BC), in which the statues also wear very tight and therefore wet-looking clothing. The upper hem of the present dress is very similar in design to the breast rings and upper arm bands, except that red was used instead of yellow; the red tone of the hem appears to be lighter than that of the collar and the snake bracelets (presumably only yellow was added to it). The pattern of the garment itself consists of small rectangular segments, which are separated from each other by horizontal and vertical yellow bands with a black border. There is always a horizontal line alternating with green fields and two rows of red rectangles; from halfway up the thigh to about the middle of the shin, however, the colour is heavily rubbed off.

Although the actual foot pieces are missing, it is nevertheless clear that the female figure was wearing toe sandals. The depiction of two black-edged yellow straps with black lines on the inside, which originally met in a V-shape on the back of the foot, and the black tip of the strap that was attached to the sole between the first and second toe and connected them to the two aforementioned straps have been preserved. It can also be assumed that the toes and especially the toenails were carved from the wood just as carefully as the fingers.

Text | CC BY-NC | Manon Schutz