Mummy Label

Wooden mummy label pierced with one hole at the top. On one side painted with Greek text which is now very faint. During the Roman Period (30 BC – AD 395) inscribed wooden labels were attached to the mummies to identify the dead person.Torn round label with blue border adhered to the surface like others from Robert de Rustafjaell's collection. Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 9-10 December 1907 (Robert de Rustafjaell sale) Lot 149/30 "Thirty wooden Tablets and Labels from Mummies, etc.; mostly of Coptic date; the names incised or painted".