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Coffin for a fish containing a mummy

Large coffin in the form of a slightly abstracted fish, surmounted by an image of a fish carved in very high relief. The dorsal fin and the caudal fin are recognizable. The eyes are delineated by black circles with dots in the middle. The front (under the mouth of the fish) is shaped like a stela, but uninscribed. The large lid lifts off from the flat base, where the fish mummy is placed.
The CT scans show the fragmentary remains of a fish with a dorsal fin, reminiscent of the Nile barb (Labeobarbus bynni). It appears to have been eviscerated, and then possibly cured with salt, oiled, before being wrapped. No traces of resin are discerned. The fish is somewhat broken up at the middle part of the body but wrapped in bandages that are in turn secured by a thin folded bandage or possibly strands of papyrus that are wound around the textile.

Cat. 2386
Wood+stucco
12.5 cm x 28 cm x 61.5 cm
970–800 BCE
Late Period
Unknown
Old Fund, 1824–1888
Museum / Floor 1 / Room 11 RET / Armadio 48 SA / Ripiano 04
Museo Egizio