Plate IV contains some other funerary figures. No. 1 is a composition figure, part of which is old and part new. The white foot of the statue is new, while the remainder is old.
Bes
Made of soft white composition and painted black
The head and chest have been repainted.
No. 5 represents a small mummy figure, and is composed of old rags covered with plaster of Paris, and painted. The red paint used on the figure is correct, but the artist has made the mistake of using Prussian blue. The use of this colour was not known until the eighteenth century, therefore it could not have been in use in ancient times. The red is derived from the oxide of iron found in the desert. On the front and also on the back of the figure there is a passage from the Book of the Dead. The modelling is good, but the use of the Prussian blue gives it entirely away. Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6 represent also the funerary figures which used to be placed in the tombs to do the work of the deceased in the Underworld. The specimens shown are made from pieces of old mummy cases so as to give them the appearance of age.
Figure of a Nubian, made of slate
The plough in No. 2, [Plate V], is a very clever imitation. The shaft is long and exactly proportioned, and the end takes the form of the head of a snake. There is a ridge a quarter of the way down the shaft, to which was evidently attached the collar of the oxen. The model was made, then dipped in liquid plaster and faintly coloured a reddish-brown. The artist made the mistake of tying the pieces together with modern string instead of using raw hide thongs as the ancient Egyptians did. On the end is a figure representing Min, the god of the harvest.
All the wooden figures in the illustrations are made by the man at Gurna, who told me with many a chuckle that he had sold one plough for £4 to an eminent Egyptologist, and that he had obtained £2 for another model from the representative of a foreign museum.
[Plate V], No. 1 represents a paint-box of the early dynasties; it is made of new wood, covered with plaster, and coloured. On the top of this has been applied some size, and then some rough dirt has been thrown over it while still wet. There is a long slit for rush brushes, and three holes for the colouring material, one of which contains some colour. Its companion, No. 4, is light, and made of old wood dipped in plaster, then covered with size and cleverly coloured reddish-brown in places with bars of deep green round it. Two knobs, one for opening the lid, and the other for holding the case, are to be noted. It contains four wooden sticks for writing. There are four holes, each containing a small amount of colouring material.