The mummy and coffin of the lady Tentdinebu illustrate the funerary art of Egypt at its peak, in Thebes during the early first millennium BC. The gilt, painted and modelled decoration is of a quality paralleled in only a handful of other surviving examples, doubtless produced by the same artists. Like most wives of officials, Tentdinebu holds the title of provider of music in the chorus for the local main deity, here Amun-Ra of Thebes; she seems to be one of the earliest to be styled 'sistrum-player' rather than 'chantress' of the god. The mummy, wrapped in linen bandages, is enclosed in a body-shaped envelope ofccartonnage - a lightweight material composed of layers of gummed linen and plaster, which could be moulded to the desired shape. The surface is decorated with texts and religious images in brilliant colours. On the upper body, a ram-headed falcon representing the sun god embraces the deceased. Between this and a second falcon are figures of the four Sons of Horus, minor deities who protected the internal organs of the body. A central inscription addressed to the sun god requests funerary offerings on behalf of the dead lady.The wooden coffin is also painted and inscribed, but the details have been obscured by a coat of thick varnish. X-rays of the mummy have shown that Tentdinebu died at an advanced age. Artificial eyes were inserted into the eye sockets and the thorax, abdomen and pelvis were filled with dense packing material - all features typical of Egyptian embalming techniques in the 21st Dynasty and the 22nd Dynasty.
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