Slipper Coffin

CBS Register: Blue enameled terra cotta coffin, slipper shaped 4 naked women in 4 panels (formed by rope ornaments) adorn its upper surface, restored by Mr. Witte

PBS XVI: figures in relief on a slipper coffin. Nude woman covering her breast with her right hand and protecting her sex with her left. This new attitude is probably imitated from the Greek Venus. The legs are close together, the disheveled hair falls over the shoulders. This type is a common decoration on many slipper coffins of the Parthian time. The connection of the nude figure with funerary rites is remarkable. Other clay coffins from Warka have instead of the nude woman, a warrior reclining on a couch and holding a cup as usual in funeral banquets. The present coffin has four nude figures in four compartments divided by rope patterns. Are the panels so many beds? Is there any symbolical relation between the nude figure and the deceased?