Two Egyptian mummy wrapping bandages with spells
Late Period, circa 500 B.C.
Comprising a bandage with a scene in black showing Osiris seated, an offering table, Ammut and Thoth, and part of the scales for weighing the heart, a vignette for Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, the text in front of Osiris with a list of epithets, 12.5cm x 6.5cm and a mummy bandage with a spell for dispensing water to the deceased in hieratic script, with two figures, framed with a note: 'The enclosed are parts of the rolls of cloth wrapped around the mummy 'Horisuisi' son of ....... incense bearing priest of the temple at Thebes. Lately unrolled at the College of Surgeons, 2600 years old', 31cm x 8.5cm注脚Provenance:
Major James Findlay (1915-1990) collection, Aberdeen, acquired 1950s-1960s; and thence by descent.
Sold to benefit Archway, a respite care and housing charity in Aberdeen, charity no. SCO14665.

During the mid 19th Century the unrolling of mummies became a popular event at lecture theatres and salons throughout London. The collection note for the larger of the above bandages refers to the unwrapping of the mummy of Horisuisi at the Royal College of Surgeons.