Inner Coffin Lid of Padiamun

Padiamun’s mummy was originally nested in a set of three coffins, but the middle coffin was lost in 1941 when the Museum was destroyed by a fire. Unlike the other wooden coffins the smallest coffin is made cartonnage, a kind of papier mâché material made of glued linen and plaster. The foot end was damaged by water used to put out the fire in 1941. The outside of the lid was brightly decorated but this has now darkened. On the interior is a brightly painted full-length figure of the goddess Nut. On either side of her body are two hetep-signs and the symbols for the east and west. Professor Percy Newberry made a copy of inscriptions on a catalogue card in about 1910.