Furniture Part (Bed or Chair)

This finely modelled strut would have been used as a stretcher for either a bed or chair. It has been hand shaped, not turned, for the peg which protrudes from the top of the strut is not in the dead centre as you would normally expect to find with such a turned element. The peg is very accurately cut being of precise circular cross-section with parallel sides. There are four black bands, which are evenly spaced, painted around the strut and there is evidence of the strut being originally painted red. Annotation in blue "Der el Bahri" like how items from the Robert de Rustafjaell collection are marked. Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 19-21 December 1906, lot 152/24: "Various objects of wood; a scribe's pen-case of leather; figures of the sacred hawk (Plate XVII,10,11); supports of chairs, etc.". CONDITION NOTE (1998): Incomplete, some splitting, discolouration, surface dirt, remnants of pigments.