Coffins such as this did not provide a realistic portrait of the dead person, but rather they projected an idealised image of what they wished to look like for eternity. The plaited false beard Irthorru wears was associated with the god Osiris, who was the first person to be mummified and reborn into the afterlife. This beard, along with other symbols of rebirth such as the sun and scarab beetle, would have been intended to help Irthorru’s resurrection after death.
His is painted yellow, with white eyes and a black and a green-striped beard. The top of the head has a red-outlined winged scarab (beetle) pushing a red sun-disc that lies directly above the brow. The wings of the scarab reach down the wig on either side of the face and the upper row of feathers is red and the lower row is green.
A painted collar begins at the upper-arm level and is painted in red and green on a cream ground. It has a dominant triangular pattern ending in a row of alternate yellow and red rosettes and then a row of drop-pendants in green and cream. The hands emerge from the collar and painted yellow.
The sides of the coffin base and lid are decorated with a large cobra with its hood painted in green, stretching down the whole side of the coffin to the feet. It is enclosed by white-bordered bands alternating green and red, with a white central dot, and separated by narrow white and red bars.
The wig on the base is a solid green and is decorated on the underside with a standing winged goddess, with a red sun-disc on her head and a feather in each hand.
The dominant decorative scheme is a red and green criss-cross motif on a white ground decorated by a central column of text, enclosed by red and green bands.
http://www.nms.ac.uk/explore/collections-stories
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