Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.. Restrung as an openwork panel with a winged scarab above and the Four Sons of Horus below as two opposing pairs; restrung with some later beads. Cf. Manley, B., and Dodson, A., Life Everlasting. National Museum of Scotland Collection of Ancient Egyptian Coffins, Edinburgh, 2010, p.114, no.43, for a bead-work shroud incorporating the winged scarab and Four Sons of Horus. 34.6 grams, 15 cm (5 7/8 in.).

These elements would have been placed on the chest and body below a beadwork mummy mask. Winged scarabs were often used as funerary amulets and believed to symbolise the deceased's rebirth and regeneration. The Four Sons of Horus protected the deceased's internal organs. Here, on the left, is the erect-eared jackal-headed Duamutef who protects the stomach, followed by the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, who protects the intestines, then the human-headed Imsety, protector of the liver and, finally, the baboon-headed Hapy on the right, protector of the lungs.

From an early 20th century Home Counties, UK, collection.