TAA i.3.24.4

THE FOURTH (INNER/<OUTER>MOST) SHRINE NO. 207.

          This fourth (inner/<outer>most) shrine filled within a little the 
entire area of the Sarcophagus Chamber, a space of some ... cent-
imetres separating it from the walls on all its four sides, while 
the roof reached almost to the ceiling. Its structural form was 
peculiarly suited to its surroundings, and in the Sarcophagus 
Chamber it had a monumental value. It is constructed of cedar 
wood, oak, and possibly Christ’s Thorn wood (see below, also third 
shrine, p. ). From top to bottom, both inside and out, it is 
overlaid with a thin layer of sheet gold, laid on as gold leaf upon 
a coating of gesso. The sides, end, and doors, are inlaid with 
panels of brilliant blue faience (glazed pottery), arranged in 
tiers, in which are represented in gold, repeated over and over, 
pairs of [ 𓂀 ] ‘tt’ and [ 𓂀 ] ‘dd’ symbols. On the left side, which should 

have been the north side but was actually the south side owing to 

a mistake in orientation (see below), is a rectangular gilded 

panel in which are the [ 𓂀 ] ‘wd3t’-eyes, and in the centre of each 

door an oblong rectangular gilded panel with representations from 

...... The crowning members and framework are decorated with 

customary Egyptian incised ornament, such as:- on the curved front 

of the roof <and over the door frieze> the winged sun-disc, on the sides of the roof the winged 

[ 𓂀 ] ‘hf3w’-snake; the cornice with palm-leaf pattern; and upon 

the frieze and styles designations of the King. The great folding 

doors were bolted in similar manner as the preceding shrines of this 

series, but they were neither corded nor sealed, although they have 

silver coated copper staples fixed on to the<ir> meeting styles for that 

express purpose.

          The over-all decoration of the interior comprises incised magical 
texts recounting the “Destruction of Mankind,” framed <with> a treble mar-
gin in black resinous material like lacquer upon the gilding. The 
roof is entirely coated with a similar black resin, and down the cen-
tre is a series of open-winged Upper Egyptian Nekhebet vultures in 
gold.

          Another feature of this shrine is the form of its roof. Instead 
of having the usual rounded front with a receding slope towards the 
back, such as we find in the hieroglyphic ideogram [ 𓂀  for shrine, 
and on the two preceding shrines, it takes the double form peculiar 
to the ideogram [ 𓂀 ] for the Sed-festival. The reason for this 
double form may possibly have been purely constructive/<structural>; for, owing