Egyptian, Ptolemaic period sarcophagus panel

Brightly painted in ochre, red and black with Nut in profile to the right, wearing a tightly-fitting dress, broad collar and bracelets, a fillet across her forehead with a frontal lotus flower, sun disc above her head, lotus buds and flowers sprouting on either side of her feet and a bunch before her torso.

As a divinity responsible for renewing the sun each day by swallowing the setting sun, Ra, each evening and giving birth to him by her womb in the morning, Nut was regarded as suitable imagery for the underside of the lid of sarcophagi, as this associated the deceased with re-enacting the journey of the Ra between heaven and earth. For further, see I. Shaw and P. Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, London, 1995, pp.207-208.

Circa 332-30 B.C.