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Coffin for a cat

Wooden plastered and polychrome qersu-type coffin for a cat (now empty), consisting of a flat base and a domed cover made out of thirty-one pieces of wood that are painstakingly dowelled and glued together. The base is white and has a red edging. The long sides are decorated with a red band set in a white rectangle with a yellow frame. The topmost section of the side has a green stripe, as do the two short edges that form the posts of the coffin on their exterior. The lid is white with a central raised section that is painted with a red frame and contains a yellow band with a hieroglyphic inscription in black. On one short side is a yellow framing device surmounted by a red semi-circle outlined in yellow, evoking the sun. Within the frame are two yellow and black cats with elaborate facial features facing one another and flanking a nefer (beauty) sign, with wadjet eyes behind them. The other short side is decorated with a nefer sign flanked by two polychrome wadjet eyes on a white background.

Cat. 2369
Wood
25 cm x 28 cm x 51.2 cm
722–332 BCE
Late Period
Unknown
Purchase Bernardino Drovetti, 1824
Museum / Floor 1 / Room 11 RET / Armadio 48 SA / Shelf 03
Museo Egizio