" grave or tomb, where it was actually placed under his neck. But the significance of the head-rest, i.e., the lifting up of the head of the deceased, caused men to deposit it with the dead even after their bodies had been mummified and the head-rest was useless. When the Egyptians realized that the large head-rest was unnecessary for the mummy, they made small models of it in haematite and other substances, and placed them with the dead as protective amulets (see AMULETS). And the editors of the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead included in it a word of power (Chapter CLXVI) that would lift up the head of the deceased in the horizon," and the picture of a head-rest formed the Vignette. The head-rest, urs, was usually made in three pieces, viz., the curved neck-piece on which the neck rested, the column or support, and the base; it varied in height from 6 to 10 inches, and was made in many materials-wood, ivory, granite, alabaster, calcareous stone, earthenware, etc. The column may be round or square, and the base is oblong. A few typical examples may be described. The head-rest of Guatep (XIIth dynasty) is of ivory and is about 6 inches in height. The neck-piece rests on a rectangular plaque, which in turn rests on two supports, each made in the form of the Tet of Isis, these take the place of the ordinary column, and are fastened into the ivory base, which has bevelled edges (B.M. 30727). Many fine examples of the headrest are made of alabaster, and one of the oldest is that which was made for Ațenȧ, the Smer uat and Kher-heb priest of Abydos under (B.M. 2523). The neck-piece rests on a rectangular plaque, and the fluted column, which is slightly concave, and increases in diameter towards the bottom, rests on a thick rectangular base. In the example B.M. 51806 the column and base, which has rounded corners, are made of a single piece of hard wood, to which the neck-piece is fastened by a rectangular slot and a peg with an ivory head. The column is fluted, and on each of two flutings is a lotus flower,, above which is a head of Bes, both flower and head being in relief. On each end of the base is a figure of Bes in high relief. The god wears a large feather on his head, and his thighs are girt about with a leopard skin. One figure holds a serpent in each hand, and the other the Utchat, ✯, in one hand and the in the other. On another example (B.M. 2529a) are cut a number of lion-headed gods, the signs F↓↓Œ on the front, a figure of Bes, on the back, and the ape of Thoth holding the Utchat, on each side. Sometimes heads of Bes are cut on the ends of the neck-piece, and legs like those of a folding stool take the place of the column and base; in the case of B.M. 18156 the ends of the legs are cut in the forms of necks and heads of geese. The neck-piece is sometimes supported by two columns (B.M. 17102), and sometimes by six thin rods (B.M. 17102), and even by twenty-one (B.M. 18155). The head-rest has sometimes the form of an animal, e.g., B.M. 20753, which is in the form of a stag, the horns being curved downwards to form the neck-piece. On another example (B.M. 35804) the neck-piece is decorated with lotus flowers and the Utchat cut in outline and coloured, -, the Utchat being in the centre where the back of the neck of the deceased would rest; on the upper side, at each end, there are also lotus flowers. On the lower side of the base are 19 lines of hieroglyphs, written in black ink, which show that this head-rest was made for the married woman the daughter of Ḥer, a priest of Menthu, Aãua, . Then follows the text of the and the lady Nes-Mut, LVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead: "I am the Jackal of jackals. I am Shu, drawing in air in the presence of the god Aakhu to the uttermost limits of heaven, to the uttermost limits of earth, to the uttermost limits of the flight of the Nebeḥ bird, May there be given unto me the air (or, breath) of these Hunnutiu The mouth of Osiris shall be opened, [gods], & he shall see with his eyes." Following this Chapter come versions of Chapters LXI and LXII, and it is clear that these words of power, coupled with the use of the head-rest, were believed to secure for the deceased air and water and everlasting life in the "horizon of heaven." The head-rest B.M. 26256 is an example of a very rare type. The neck-piece is inlaid with an ivory plaque decorated with a linear design of lotus buds and flowers, surrounded by eight ivory rosettes ; at each end is inlaid a lotus flower. The column is square, and each side is inlaid with an ivory panel. On each of the two larger panels is cut in outline the figure of a man seated on a framework stool, who in one hand holds a lotus flower, and in the other a spear (?) made in the form of a flower with buds. On one of the smaller panels is cut in outline the figure of a man holding a lotus flower with an abnormally long stalk. On each flower a bird,, is perched. On the other smaller panels is cut in outline the figure of a man holding one spear (?) upright with the crook of his arm, and another spear, round which his left leg is crooked, in his right hand. The base is inlaid with two ivory panels, one on each end; these have the form of truncated pyramids, and on each is cut in outline a lion. This head-rest belongs to a very late period, and the engravings on the ivory suggest Coptic workmanship. The object seems too small to have been actually used as a head-rest for the dead, and it is possible that it was only placed in the grave or tomb as the result of custom. In the Saïte and Ptolemaïc Periods the head-rest was carelessly made, and was both undecorated and uninscribed; often it was merely a rough block of wood with slightly concave sides and a slight projection in the place of a base. In the Roman Period head-rests were often made of terra-cotta; a typical example is B.M. 49332. This example is solid, and the column is nearly as thick as the neck-piece and base are long; it appears to have been glazed or burnished. PECTORALS IN PORCELAIN AND STEATITE THE Custom of inserting a scarab of green stone in the breast of a man in place of his heart does not seem to be older than the XVIIIth dynasty, although the text which is often found inscribed upon it was believed to have been discovered by Prince Herțaṭaf in the reign of Menkaurā (Mycerinus), a king of the IVth dynasty. Under the XIXth and XXth dynasties the green stone scarab was frequently placed, not inside the body, but between the bandages of the breast, and later still it was enclosed in a rough framework and laid outside the bandages on the breast of a mummy. Out of the scarab and its frame grew the pectoral, several examples of which are usually found in all great collections of Egyptian antiquities. Porcelain and glazed steatite pectorals vary in size from 5 inches by 41 inches to 3 inches by 3 inches. They are all made in the form of a funerary edifice, with a heavy cornice,, and the predominant colour of the glaze is blue or bluish green. In some pectorals, e.g., B.M. 7865, a blue-glazed porcelain scarab is inserted, and as a boat. is painted below it,, it is clearly intended to represent the beetle-headed god Kheperȧ. A figure of Isis, and the tet, , and the one Utchat,, are seen on the left, and a figure of Nephthys,, and the tet, A. and the other Utchat, E, on the right. On the base of the scarab, in a lighter colour, is a version of Chapter XXXв of the Book of the Dead. The pectoral was made for the "lady of the house, Hent-taui." On another example, belonging probably to the same period as the aforementioned, a model of the heart takes the place of the scarab, and it has above it a woman's face in red porcelain. The heart is placed in a boat, with Isis standing in the stern and Nephthys in the bows. On the reverse, in brown on a white ground, are † and (B.M. 29369). Another example, in blue porcelain, likewise has the model of a human-headed heart inserted, and as there is a kneeling figure of a man with his hands raised in adoration of the heart, it would seem that it was supposed to have absorbed the qualities of the god Kheperȧ. On the reverse of this pectoral a on each side of it (B.M. 14654). On other and smaller pectorals the decoration and designs are simpler. Thus we have on the obverse the jackal of Anubis, and on the reverse man-headed heart is drawn with † † and Å ¡¡¡ (B.M. 29370); or ན the deceased, a priestess, kneeling in adoration before Anubis, above whom is the (B.M. 14653); or the deceased kneeling in adoration before Osiris on the obverse, and a figure of Anubis on the reverse (B.M. 7849); or figures of four gods on the obverse, and the deceased, the scribe Pa-meḥt, kneeling in adoration before Anubis couchant and a winged disk on the reverse (B.M. 7847). The pectorals in steatite are of unusual interest because the figures are often in relief. Thus on B.M. 7852 the deceased Sebek-ḥetep (?) is kneeling in adoration, with both hands raised, before Anubis, who is lying on the top of his building and holding the sceptre between his fore paws. Round his neck is an object resembling a pair of tongs,, and above his back is the whip A. On the signs & cut in outline. On B.M. 14626 reverse are the signs the deceased stands in adoration before Anubis, who is lying on the top of a four-pillared shrine, with the utchat above him, all the figures being in relief. On the reverse, which has no cornice, is a scene representing Isis and Nephthys seated in the solar boat with the between them; the figures and the boat are in relief. Above the figures is the solar disk with outspread wings, and below them is a row of lotus flowers and buds in relief. A similar decoration is found on B.M. 7850, where the flowers are in outline, like the figures on the obverse and reverse. The porcelain pectorals of the XXVIth dynasty are of little interest, for the work is poor, and the texts, where they occur, are full of inaccuracies, having been copied by men ignorant of what they were writing. |