The Plaque on the frame is inscribed with the names of the sitters (from left to right):

Marquis de Reverseaux, Ministre de France au Caire; Mr E Grébaut, Dir Génl du service des Antiquités; Docteur Fouquet, Médecin au Caire; E. Brugsch Pacha, Conservateur du Musée; Mr G Daressy, Conservateur adjoint du Musée; Mr H Bazil, Secrétaire complable du Musée; Mr J Barois, Sec Génl du Ministére du Travaux Publies; Mr U Bouriant, Dir de la Misien Archéologique française au Caire.

and

La Momie dont le dépouillement est l’objet du tableau, fait partie de la trouvaille de la sépulture des Prétres d’Ammon décoverte par Mr Grebaut le 4 Fevr 1891 à Deir el-Bahari Hte Egypte. Cette momie est celle d’une Prétresse d’Ammon (Ta-uza-ra) qui vivait sous la XXIeme dynastie et incurud vers 970 avant J.C. époque du grand Prétre Pinozem II.
Dépeuillée par le Dr Fouquet au Musée de Ghizeh le 31 Mars 1891, Peint par Philippoteaux.


Examination of a Mummy combines Egyptology, history and art of the period; a factual moment in the golden era of Egyptian archaeology. The subject is the un-wrapping of the mummy of Ta-Uza-Ra, a priestess of Ammon, which was found with others at the site of the Deir El Bahari excavations; a research project conducted by a noted French archaeologist, G. Daressy (he appears in the painting, fifth in line from the left).

The representation is enhanced, further, by a piece of the mummy's shroud and four enamel figurines recovered from her tomb, which are sealed, under glass, in the lower edge of the frame.

The collection of portraits surrounding the mummy represent the leaders of the French Egyptology Society, an Islamic study group whose head-quarters were in Cairo at the time. The brass plaque affixed to the bottom of the frame refers to each of the sitter, other than the French Ambassador to the Egyptian Throne (on the left) are identified by name, title and function.

Noteworthy amongst these is the celebrated Dr. Guizot, standing in the middle, who undertakes the un-wrapping of the mummy, and the French archaeologist Gaston Maspero, standing on the left with the Fes, whose collection of Egyptian artefacts was the object of a bid by the Metropolitan Museum of New York, late in the 1950s. The transaction did not come to fruition, because of the formal veto cast against the sale by the French government who opposed the loss of the collection to France.