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Lot Essay
For a related example in the British Museum, similar but for its yellow-painted coffin and white-painted falcon face, see pp. 36-37 in Taylor and Strudwick, Mummies, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. The authors inform that "Osiris, supreme god of resurrection, was closely associated with the life-giving forces of nature, particularly the Nile and vegetation. Above all, he was connected with germinating grain. The emergence of a living, growing, plant from the apparently dormant seed hidden within the earth was regarded by the Egyptians as a metaphor for the rebirth of a human being from the lifeless husk of the corpse. The concept was translated into physical form by the fashioning of images of Osiris out of earth and grain. These 'corn-mummies' were composed of sand or mud, mixed with grains of barley. They generally have Osirian attributes and are often represented with an erect penis, symbolizing fecundity. ...[T]he 'mummy' is sometimes wrapped in linen bandages and may possess a finely detailed mask of wax, representing the face of Osiris."
"A few small figures of this type have been found within the wrappings of mummies, but in general they were not destined for the tomb. The majority were made according to an elaborate ritual which took place during the annual festival of Osiris in the month of Khoiak, the fourth month of the inundation season. This was intended to ensure the god's resurrection and, by extension, the continuation of life in Egypt and the maintenance of the ordered universe. The corn-mummies were then carefully buried in sacred spots specially designated for this purpose. In the most typical examples the mummy was placed inside a miniature anthropoid coffin, which had the head of a falcon, probably alluding to the god Sokar, who usually took this form."
"A few small figures of this type have been found within the wrappings of mummies, but in general they were not destined for the tomb. The majority were made according to an elaborate ritual which took place during the annual festival of Osiris in the month of Khoiak, the fourth month of the inundation season. This was intended to ensure the god's resurrection and, by extension, the continuation of life in Egypt and the maintenance of the ordered universe. The corn-mummies were then carefully buried in sacred spots specially designated for this purpose. In the most typical examples the mummy was placed inside a miniature anthropoid coffin, which had the head of a falcon, probably alluding to the god Sokar, who usually took this form."