vis The exterior appearance is that of a massive cartonnage figure of a fish. The animals body has been modelled in a thick coat of white gesso over a core of linen (visible at the damaged tip of the dorsal fin and along the edge of the anal fin) and vegetable stalks (protruding from the lower tip of the tail). There are several cracks and fissures in the gesso coating; the tail has been reinforced by modern tape. The fish is depicted with a blunt head showing a continuous transition to a pointed dorsal fin, a perfectly horizontal line for belly and anal fin, and a bifurcated tail. Details have been added in black paint: mouth, circular eye, eyebrow, and gill line. Both sides have an inscription in a single framed line of hieroglyphs, written upside down on the left side. These texts are very badly legible, suggesting a late date of manufacture of this fish figure. Left side: The synodontis who wields (?) the balance during the weighing (?), helmsman of the Netherworld, worms of the righteous ones. Right side: The fish who acts as companion of the Golden One (Hathor?), enduring are the righteous ones who are in its company. (Source: Raven/Taconis Egyptian Mummies (2005)) This fish mummy has been placed in a cartonnage sheath representing the fish itself. Due to damage at the tail, it can be seen that the sheath was modelled in a thick coat of white gesso over a core of linen and vegetable stalks. The head shows a continuous transition to a pointed dorsal fin. Only details of the head have been indicated in black paint: the mouth, the eyes, the eyebrows and the gill line. The cartonnage contains a hieroglyphic tekst on either side of the body. Because it is hardly legible, a late date has been proposed for the object. The tekst on the left side is remarkable, for it has been written upside down. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that the synodontis, the species probably represented here, is known to swim upside down quite often. The species in question is not one of the known sacred fish of ancient Egypt, although it occurs in depictions of the constellations. Radiological analysis has shown the actual presence of a fish mummy inside the cartonnage. (Source:M.J. Raven/N. Staring, in: D. von Recklinghausen (red.), Ägyptische Mumien (Stuttgart 2007), cat. 279)