Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (42.2001)

the papyrus of Bakai and many other Egyptian antiąuities landed in our muse-
um. About 120 of them survived the last world war in better or worse shape.

How does the cartonnage of Nehemes-Bastet look today?

The cracked and fragmentarily preserved surface makes the decoration
rather illegible and the form of many details can only be guessed on the basis
of parallels with similar objects. Fortunately, a recently discovered broken glass
negative has permitted us to add some details which no longer existed (ill. 6).
For the purposes of clarification, I have included information concerning the
additional (now lost) details in sąuare brackets in the text below. The back of
the casing is cut away beneath bands of colour separating the front and the back,
except for a head, which is preserved as a whole. The dominant colours are red,
yellow and blue on a white, rarely visible background. The wings of a vulture
headdress, painted on a blue wig, frame the delicately modelled yellow face (ill.
7). The wig is encircled by a fillet of lotus petals and smali coloured blocks, and

7. Upper part
of the cartonnage
of Nehemes-Bastet

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