The Barque of Ra (Book of Gates)

The central figure, Ra, has a ram's head topped with a sun disk and stands within a rectangular, golden-framed shrine. A large, undulating serpent, Mehen, wraps its body around the exterior of the shrine as a protective barrier. On either side of the shrine, two human figures in white kilts stand on the deck of the golden boat. The background is a flat, cool grey filled with rows of black Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the floor of the scene is bordered by a horizontal register of additional hieroglyphic text.

This scene depicts a moment from the Book of Gates, an ancient Egyptian funerary text detailing the passage of the sun god through the twelve hours of the night. It serves as a visual guide for the soul's journey in the afterlife, illustrating the protection of the solar barque by the deity Mehen.