A mummy shroud, which is over 2,000 years old, has been "discovered" in the National Museum of Scotland’s collections.
It will be displayed for the first time in The Tomb: Ancient Egyptian Burial, a new exhibition opening at the National Museum of Scotland on 31 March.
The shroud, which dates to around 9 BC and depicts the god Osiris, was discovered by curators during an audit of the National Museums Scotland’s ancient Egyptian collections in preparation for a new Ancient Egypt gallery which will open at the museum in 2018/19.
Dr Margaret Maitland, senior curator of Ancient Mediterranean collections, found the folded shroud wrapped in brown parcel paper, with a note written by a past curator.
The note said the contents came from an ancient Egyptian tomb.
The package had been stored since the mid-1940s.
A hieroglyphic inscription on the shroud revealed the identity of the owner to be the previously unknown son of the Roman-era high-official Montsuef and his wife Tanuat.
Dr Maitland said: "To discover an object of this importance in our collections, and in such good condition, is a curator’s dream.
"Before we were able to unfold the textile, tantalising glimpses of colourful painted details suggested that it might be a mummy shroud, but none of us could have imagined the remarkable figure that would greet us when we were finally able to unroll it.
"The shroud is a very rare object in superb condition and is executed in a highly unusual artistic style, suggestive of Roman period Egyptian art, yet still very distinctive."
In ancient Egypt, following mummification, a shroud was commonly wrapped around the body before it was placed in a coffin.
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