the beauty of its jewels, and the care which had evidently been expended upon it on the one hand, and the rough and ready hiding-place in which it was found, on the other,[1] was so great that it was difficult to believe that it had never had a more elaborate tomb ; and now the discovery of the outer coffin of the same queen in the pit at Dayr-el-Bahari, goes far to complete the proof that Aah-hotep was disposed of after death like other members of her race, and that the exquisite jewels which were found upon her, were but a part of treasures which had been dispersed over the world by the modern spoilers.[2] The tomb contained about six thousand objects in all, of which but a few have as yet been completely described. Among those few, however, there are one or two which add to our knowledge of Egyptian decoration.
Not the least important are the mummy cases of the Queens Aah-hotep and Nefert-ari. Originally these were identical in design, but one is now considerably more damaged than the other. The general form is similar to that of an Osiride pier, the lower part being terminal and the upper shaped like the bust, arms, and head of a woman. The mask is encircled with a plaited wig, above which appear two tall plumes, indicating that their wearer has been justified before Osiris, while the shoulders and arms are enveloped in a kind of net. The whole case is of cartonnage, and the net-like appearance is given by glueing down several layers of linen, which have been so entirely covered with hexagonal perforations as to be reduced to the condition of a net, over the smooth surface beneath. The interior of each hexagon has then been painted blue, so that in the end we have a yellow network over a blue ground. Both colours are of extreme brilliancy. The plaiting of the wig and the separate filaments of the plumes are indicated in the same way as the network. These mummy cases are, so far as we can discover, different from any previously found. The funerary canopy of Queen Isi-em-Kheb is also a thing by itself. Its purpose was to cover the pavilion or deck-house under which the Queen's body rested in its passage across the Nile. It is a piece of leather patchwork. When laid flat upon the ground it forms a Greek cross, 22 feet 6 inches in one direction, and 19 feet 6 inches in the other. The central panel, which is 9 feet long by 6 wide,[3] covered the roof of the pavilion, while the flaps forming the arms of the cross hung down perpendicularly upon the sides.[4] Many thousand pieces of gazelle hide have been used in the work.
- ↑ See page 29, Vol. I.
- ↑ For a description of these jewels by Dr. Birch, and reproductions of them in their actual colours, see Facsimiles of the Egyptian Relics Discovered in the Tomb of Queen Aah-hotep. London : 1863, 4to. See also above, page 380, note 3, of the present volume.
- ↑ These measurements are taken from The Funeral Canopy of an Egyptian Queen, by the Hon. H. Villiers Stuart: Murray, 1882. 8vo.
- ↑ Mr. Villiers Stuart gives a facsimile in colour of the canopy, and a fanciful illustration of it in place, upon a boat copied from one in the Tombs of the Queens.
