Coffin of Isetirdis

This coffin was discovered on the west bank at Thebes. At one point it had been left exposed on the desert surface, and was covered when a nearby tomb was built. Stains on the interior of the coffin suggested to the excavators that it had once been filled with oily material, probably used for embalming; still inside were three probes caked with natron: two 31 cm-long palm sticks with rags twisted around one end, and the third a stiff frond of halfa grass; a ball of dark brown human hair; and three bundles of soft grass.

Inscribed for the Lady of the House, Isetirdis, the coffin is of a typical 25th to 26th Dynasty type. Isetirdis wears a tripartite wig, with a flower-petal diadem from which vulture wings descend to frame her face. Around her neck is a broad floral collar and below this, on the chest, the sky goddess Nut kneels on the hieroglyph for gold (nebu). On the sides of the lid are figures of a divine ram atop a standard.

A horizontal band divides the upper part of the lid from the body and legs. Just below this band is a compartment decorated wtih a figure of the mummy and the ba (a human-headed bird symbolizing the aspect of the deceased that could leave the tomb after death). This is an illustration of Spell 89 from the Book of the Dead, which magically ensures that the ba will be able to rejoin the mummified body. The text of this spell is written beneath the vignette in five columns of text with alternating backgrounds of red and yellow. The rest of the lid from chest down to the ankles is divided into ten sections, eight each containing a protective deity in a shrine who recites a spell for the benefit of the deceased and the bottom two with wedjat eyes (representing the healed eye of the god Horus). Two more deities are depicted on the sides of the lid, along with additional columns of text. On top of the feet is a winged figure of the goddess Isis.

The back of the coffin box is inscribed with four long vertical columns of text, with alternating backgrounds of yellow and white, divided by lines of green. Running from top to bottom along the sides are images of spotted snakes. The base of the coffin is square, decorated in the front with a frieze of ankh (life) and was (wealth) hieroglyphs atop baskets (meaning all), representing a wish that the deceased be given all life and wealth. On the footboard is a bull carrying a figure of the mummy on its back while the ba of the deceased flies above. This is identified on other similar footboards as the Apis bull, who escorts the deceased over the horizon.