The use of pectorals was associated with the wish for the resurrection of the dead. The front contains a scarab as a symbol for the rising sun. On either side of the scarab we find Isis and Nephthys in jubilation, the wife and sister of Osiris, identifying the rising sun with Osiris, the god of resurrection. Pectorals like these, made of stone and with a cavetto cornice at the top, were placed on the chest of the mummy, doubling in function as a heart scarab. The reverse carries the spell from the Book of the Dead that warns the heart not to rise against its owner in the judgement of the dead. The owner of this pectoral was the Royal Scribe of the Library, Piai.
[Steinbüchel, A.v. ], Scarabées égyptiens figurés du Musée des Antiques de Sa Majesté l'Empereur (1824) I, 2a, b.
Seipel, W. (ed.), Götter Menschen Pharaonen, Speyer (1993) = Dioses, Hombres, Faraones, Ciudad de México (1993) = Das Vermächtnis der Pharaonen, Zürich (1994).
Satzinger, H., Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 14. Mainz. 1994.
Katalog "Osiris, Kreuz und Halbmond", Stuttgart (1984), Nr. 53.
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