Mummy Straps (Stola)

The end of a red and yellow leather strap (stola) embosed with the cartouche of Osorkon the Elder (Aakheperra Setepenra) of the 21st Dynasty, with the king shown adoring the goddess Mut. Pieced together with other fragments in 2017 for display. Two narrow strips of leathers (called 'stola') were placed over the mummy, running from the shoulders to the stomach and crossing each other on the chest. These straps were very popular between 1100 and 700 BC. We think they were meant to identify the deceased with the god Osiris who is usually shown wearing similar straps on his chest. CONDITION NOTE 1998: Incomplete, in two pieces, hard, dry, splitting, on card mount with thread. Charles Gatty's catalogue entry: "193 . Leather Straps; four ends of leather straps, impressed with the name of Osorchon I., of the 22nd dynasty (about B .C . 993 847), and a figure of that king adoring a deity . Vide No. 126 in the Catalogue, where similar straps are depicted a decorated mummy case. L . 2 2/3 in . 11560- 3". (Gatty, 1879 p. 39).