No.351
This faldstool while retaining its folding-shape is rigid and has acquired a back. Its ample curved seat, fashioned in the semblance of flexible leather, is made of ebony inlaid with irregular shaped pieces of ivory imitating the motley markings of a piebald hide, the centre, however, is ornamented with a series of small rectangular panels of ivory stained to represent various other hides including that of the cheetah. The under surface of the seat is lined with red leather (upon gesso), and attached to the corners are four imitation limbs of a hide twisted round the legs of the chair. The chair is supported by cross-legs of folding-stool type, rigid, of ebony carved and inlaid in the shape of heads of geese. These cross-legs and their stretchers are partially bound with thin sheet gold. Between the stretchers and the foot-bars is an openwork gilt wood ornament, symbolizing the union of the "Two lands", the greater part of which was wrenched away by the dynastic tomb-robbers. The upright curved back-panel is partially covered with gold and inlaid with faience, glass and natural stones. The design incorporates the Aten disc and names, a frieze of solar-uraeii, the prenomen and nomen of the king, and the Nekhebet vulture holding shen-symbols and single ostrich-feather fans. Below is a series of rails and stiles enclosing ivory and ebony panels inscribed with various designations of the king: an ornament largely inspired by the recessed panelling common to the outer walls of earlier and contemporaneous buildings, and actually copied on the lower part of the design here.
(September 4, 2006)