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This brightly painted coffin belonged to Pa-ib, a priest of the god Min (a god of fertility and creation). The front of the coffin is divided into a series of registers that contain scenes related to the theology of Osiris, whose death and resurrection provided the template for an individual's afterlife. At top is the sacred image of Osiris at Abydos, and to either side is a human-headed bird, the ba-soul of Paib. The enthroned Osiris below is flanked by his sister-wife Isis and sister Nephthys, all with green skin, symbolic of regeneration. In the next register is the solar god Re-Horakhty, sun of the eastern horizon, and to the right a scene of the weighing of the heart of the deceased. The bottom scenes show the mummy of Paib, lying on a funerary bed, attended by the falcon-headed god Horus, and the god Osiris standing between two trees. The sun traveled into the underworld at night, to combine with Osiris, god of the dead, in a union of opposites that led to regeneration of each. By pairing the morning sun with the scene of weighing the heart, the decorative program foreshadows the recreation of the day and the vindication of Pa-ib.

Date

747-525 BCE

Period

25-26th Dynasty

Museum

Barnum Museum

Accession Number

1894.1.2 AB

Credit Line

Gift of Nancy Fish Barnum