Situla

This pear-shaped situla has a handle attached to two rings soldered onto the vessel. The base is decorated with an open lotus flower, which is separated from the decoration on the body of the vessel by two lines of text. This decoration is composed of two juxtaposed vignettes separated by a vertical inscription and bordered at the top by a band of stars. On one side Nesmin, the owner of the situla, is shown finely dressed standing in front of an altar and adoring Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and Horus. In the centre of the other vignette a goddess (identified as the sky-goddess Nut) is depicted in a tree. In her hands are 'heset' vases, from which she pours life-giving water for Nesmin, who kneels at the right, and for the ba-bird, which stands on a perch at the left. Two stands loaded with offerings are shown beneath the branches of the tree.