Galerie Golconda

Wooden fragment of a sarcophagus box with visible paint tones of green, white, red and black. This piece belonged to the vertical section of the sarcophagus and is made of coniferous wood. This wood was considered very valuable in ancient Egypt as it was not prone to attacks by wood-boring insects. It is precisely for this reason that there was no treatment done to the wood before the painted layer was applied. A chapel-like structure tops a depiction of Heru-ur or Horus;  in the center we see a mummified man standing on a pedestal and facing the right. He wears a long wig, false beard and holds a spear in his right hand. The skin of the face and hands are painted light green, the color of the dead and the flesh of Osiris. The four boards were readjusted together and have undergone small old restoration.
The Late Period of Egypt was a time of great political instability characterised by the successive domination of foreign sovereigns. The first Kushite rule was crushed by the Assurdanipal invasion in 663 B.C. This was soon driven out in 664 B.C. by the Saite dynasty, which restored both unity and peace to Egypt until 525 B.C. During this dynasty Egypt became a mere satrapy of the Persian Empire under Cambyses until the defeat of Darius in Issus in 333 B.C.