The scene illustrates the moment a small mummy is revealed in front of the Prince of Wales and his party at an excavation organised for him by Sa’id Pasha, the Viceroy. The Prince was allowed to keep anything found during the excavation which produced ‘a small mummy & a tablet’. The mummy is no longer in the Royal Collection but the ‘tablet’ is the funerary stela belonging to Nakhtmontu (far right). Presented by the artist to the Prince of Wales, Christmas 1862