Painted wood panel

This rectangular panel is the foot end of a coffin from Roman Egypt. It was originally connected to the rest of the coffin through dowels placed in the various holes around the perimeter. The unpainted edges of the panel were likely covered up when the coffin was whole. The scene depicts a funerary banquet in which the deceased is enjoying life in the next world. It reflects Graeco-Roman iconography to which various elements of ancient Egyptian iconography have been added. The central figure is the deceased who reclines on the funerary couch or bed. The wing and the floral wreath worn on the head indicate the successful passage of the deceased to the Afterlife. At the head of the bed is a dancing figure playing the double flute (aulos). The flute player stands on a base in the shape of an Egyptian shrine decorated with a cavetto cornice and sun disc with pendant uraeii snakes. Below is depicted a female figure holding two vertical snakes. She is a protective deity, such as Beset. At the foot of the bed is a figure of a Horus falcon with a solar disc on a standard. In front of the bed is a small servant figure, holding a long dipper in the right hand and a small wine jar in the left. Also in the foreground is a large jar on a tripod stand and a three-legged table which holds a long handled dipper, a strainer and a two-handled wine jar.

The fact that the central figure on the funerary bed is represented bare-chested with a wing has been used by N. B. Millet to identify it as a depiction of Isis. Wings are certainly used in depictions of Egyptian goddesses, such as Isis. But the wings, like the crown of justification, signify that the divine nature of the deceased in the Afterlife. If the central figure is a goddess, then the small figure under the bed would be identified as the deceased serving the goddess. The central figure is usually considered to be female. Although unusual, the naked female torso is not unparalleled in Roman art. There is nothing in the depiction which would preclude it from interpreting the deceased as being male. Unfortunately there is no indication of the name of the deceased on the piece.