Fig. 263.--Mummy-case of Queen Ahmesnefertari.]

Upon this surface, the seventeenth chapter of _The Book of the Dead _was
generally written in red and black inks, and in fine cursive hieroglyphs.
The body of the chest is made with three horizontal planks for the bottom,
and eight vertical planks, placed two and two, for the four sides. The
outside is sometimes decorated with long strips of various colours ending
in interlaced lotus-leaves, such as are seen on stone sarcophagi. More
frequently, it is ornamented on the left side with two wide-open eyes and
two monumental doors, and on the right with three doors exactly like those
seen in contemporary catacombs. The sarcophagus is in truth the house of
the deceased; and, being his house, its four walls were bound to contain an
epitome of the prayers and _tableaux_ which covered the walls of his tomb.
The necessary formulae and pictured scenes were, therefore, reproduced
inside, nearly in the same order in which they appear in the mastabas. Each
side is divided in three registers, each register containing a dedication
in the name of the deceased, or representations of objects belonging to
him, or such texts from the Ritual as need to be repeated for his benefit.
Skilfully composed, and painted upon a background made to imitate some
precious wood, the whole forms a boldly-designed and harmoniously-coloured
picture. The cabinet-maker's share of the work was the lightest, and the
long boxes in which the dead of the earliest period were buried made no
great demand upon his skill. This, however, was not the case when in later
times the sarcophagus came to be fashioned in the likeness of the human
body. Of this style we have two leading types. In the most ancient, the
mummy serves as the model for his case. His outstretched feet and legs are
in one. The form of the knee, the swell of the calf, the contours of the
thigh and the trunk, are summarily indicated, and are, as it were, vaguely
modelled under the wood. The head, apparently the only living part of this
inert body, is wrought out in the round. The dead man is in this wise
imprisoned in a kind of statue of himself; and this statue is so well
balanced that it can stand on its feet if required, as upon a pedestal. In
the other type of sarcophagus, the deceased lies at full length upon his
tomb, and his figure, sculptured in the round, serves as the lid of his
mummy-case. On his head is seen the ponderous wig of the period. A wh