FOURTH EGYPTIAN ROOM. Wall Cases 137-153. 'Ushabti' figures ('Answerers'; mainly later than 1700 B.C.), buried with the dead, to act as servants in the underworld; 154-166. Libation jars placed with wine or oil beside the dead; 167-170. Models of houses and agricultural groups (chiefly of the 12th Dynasty); 171-174. Portrait-figures (12-26th Dynasty); 175, 176. Head-rests; groups of wooden figures; 178-181. Figures of Ptah-Socharis-Osiris, a trinity of gods governing the resurrection of the body; 182-193. Mummies of sacred animals (in 187, Bull of Apis, probably the 'Golden Calf' of Israel; numerous cats); 194-204. Canopic jars, which contained the intestines separately embalmed (each mummy had four jars, dedicated to the four genii of the dead). The Table Cases contain scarabs, sculptors' tools, writing materials, flint implements, rings, bracelets, and amulets, limestone slabs with literary drafts, etc. In the Upright Cases we should notice the throne (inlaid and ornamented with precious metals), the draughtboard and men, the small quartzite head of Rameses II. (1330 B.C.), the dolls and other toys, and the domestic furniture. On the Glazed Screens are frescoes from Thebes (1600-1450 B.C.). On the left (North) is the passage leading to the King Edward VII. Galleries; the door to the right (South) leads into the Babylonian Room.
FIFTH EGYPTIAN ROOM. Wall Cases 205-223. Models of funerary boats, inscribed steles, portrait-figures, models of houses (3600 B.C.100 A.D.); 215. Casts of portrait heads of Tutankhamen (?) and Queen Nefret-iti; 224-229. Glazed tiles and figures, including a unique blue miniature porcelain coffin, with a figure of a fan-bearer or scribe inside it (1400 B.C.); 230-245. Figures of gods, in bronze, wood, and porcelain; 246, 247. Sun-dried bricks, stamped with the names of kings, including Rameses II., the Pharaoh of the Bible (the straw mentioned in Exodus, with sand and broken potsherds, is mixed with the clay). In the Floor Cases are bronze axe-heads, tools, necklaces and beads, loaves and other food found with mummies, shoes and sandals, musical instruments, wooden weapons, grave-cloths, etc. On the walls are portraits of kings.
The SIXTH EGYPTIAN ROOM contains antiquities of the pre-dynastic and archaic period and pottery from the 1st Dynasty to the Nubian period. Wall Cases 249-268. Earthenware (3600 B.C.-500 A.D.); 269-272. Articles of the toilette, wig, and wig-box; 273-279. Head-plaques for mummies and linen shrouds; 280-289. Pottery. In the Floor Cases are flint implements, inscribed tablets, objects in stone, bronze mirrors and mirror-cases. The papyri deserve particular attention, including those of Nu, Nebsenin, and Ani, and a fine one of the Roman period with outline vignettes.
The Sixth Egyptian Room opens on the landing of the north-east Staircase, occupied by Mexican Antiquities. Here we turn to the right into the SECOND NORTHERN GALLERY, containing Semitic inscriptions and antiquities. [Those who prefer the chronological order should begin at the other (West) end of this gallery.]
