Figure of woman using a headrest

“Funerary texts known as the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead are comprised of hundreds of magical spells designed to help the deceased make a successful passage into the afterlife. A handful of these spells make explicit reference to the headrest and compare it with the sun’s rising in the horizon. Coffin Text 232 reads: ‘A spell for the head-rest. May your head be raised, may your brow be made to live, may you speak for your own body, may you be a god, may you always be a god. . .’

Here a woman is shown lying on a low bed. She rests on her proper left side and her head is supported by a headrest. Her left arm is crossed below her breast while her right arm lays straight along her side. She wears a short curled hairstyle and a long dress with a fringed hem. Her bare feet rest against the footboard of the bed. Curiously, the exterior of the footboard is decorated with two sleeping cats.” (Jennifer Houser Wegner, “Headrests in Glencairn’s Egyptian Collection: Practicality and Protection,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 7, 2018; see External Link)

Sources:
- Jennifer Houser Wegner, “Headrests in Glencairn’s Egyptian Collection: Practicality and Protection,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 7, 2018.