Votive Box with Eel Figure

Figure of an eel with a human head, representing the god Atum wearing a beard, wig and the double crown of Egypt, surmounting a small shrine-shaped box that would have held a votive animal mummy. The box has one loop for attachment remaining. CONDITION NOTE 1998: Incomplete, corroded, some fresh corrosion. In 1873 Charles Gatty described the figure as a mummified eel; an animal sacred to Hapi or the Nile (1879 p. 16). Has previously been described as representing the goddess Mut. Compare with The British Museum accession number EA71428; and The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Accession Number: E.354.1932.