Ancient Egypt, Late Period, ca. 664 to 332 BCE. A brightly painted gesso over cloth model of feet, made to be used as the covering for the feet of an anthropoid sarcophagus containing a mummified individual. The feet are painted with long toes with round, white toenails. They are depicted wearing strapped sandals, with the thin straps painted between the toes and around the bridge of the foot. The toes are painted onto a dark base, with alternating creamy white, red, and dark blue stripes around its edge; a similar pattern is painted around the ankle, which is where the object terminates. Red lines, dots, and hook-shapes are painted on the feet, perhaps indicating some decoration that was worn in life. On the underside, the soles of the feet are painted brightly, with checkerboard patterns on the toes and heels and long lines on the arches. A stylized lotus flower is between the feet. Size: 9.5" L x 6.7" W x 5.9" H (24.1 cm x 17 cm x 15 cm)

Egyptians cultivated white lotuses in the marshy land around the Nile, and it was believed that the flower gave them power and strength, relating to the use of a stylized lotus as a capital motif at the top of their columns. Lotuses were used as funerary adornments - for example, remains of the flower have been found in the tomb of Ramesses II - and as temple offerings and garlands worn by women during rituals. The hieroglyph for the number 1000 is represented by the symbol.

Provenance: purportedly ex-Sotheby's, 1980s; ex-private New York, USA collection; ex-Explore Ancient; ex-Relics of the Nile, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

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#139163

Feet are a fragment of a larger item. Nice preservation of pigment, with some flaking, notably at edges. Colors remain bright and details are clear.