An Egyptian Funerary Papyrus, 21st/22nd Dynasty, 1075-716 B.C.

from The Book of the Dead, painted with a scene depicting the spirit of the deceased Djed-it-Khonsu-Kheper making offerings to Osiris, an incense vessel in his right hand, and wearing a long diaphanous skirt, collar, and ointment cone, the enthroned god holding the crook and flail and wearing the atef-crown, a table surmounted by a lotus blossom and other offerings between the two figures; ten columns of hieroglyphic inscription above, and eighteen lines of hieratic at left; the scene and inscriptions drawn in black, with red used for selected phrases in the hieratic inscription, and on the throne and offerings.

private Collection, Washington, D.C. (Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, May 4th, 1974, no. 159, illus.)
acquired by the present owner at the above sale

Glued on old cardboard, edges frayed, several vertical tears with surrounding losses especially in the two figures, areas of abrasion and staining, Burmese manuscript strip is glued to surface of papyrus.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

When the present papyrus was sold in the 1974 sale the catalogue records that it was accompanied by a partial translation of the inscription made by Seyffarth in 1876, and two letters from Mr. T.O. Paine of Elmwood, Massachusetts, critical of the translation. The letters were addressed to Mr. Robert Clark of Cincinnati, very probably the papyrus’s owner at the time.

Seyffarth is almost certainly the German-American orientalist and archaeologist Gustavus Seyyfarth (1796-1885), whose papers are now in The Brooklyn Museum; see Who was Who in Egyptology, London, 1995, pp. 386-387.

A closely related fragment of the Book of the Dead, probably from the same workshop, is in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, inv. no. P 601 (J. Monnet Saleh, Les antiquités égyptiennes de Zagreb, Paris, 1970, p. 168, no. 887; Igor Uranić, Book of the Dead Papyrus Zagreb 601,” Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur, vol. 33, 2005, pp. 357-371, pls. 1-6). The Zagreb papyrus (25 by 93 cm.), which was originally acquired by General Baron von Koller (1767-1826), also preserves some of the initial chapters of the Book of the Dead. The owner's name, Idjedtu-Khonsu-kheper, is very close to that of the present papyrus' owner.

A fragment of a Burmese Buddhist palm leaf manuscript is attached to the papyrus at right.