Mummy cartonnage, New Kingdom

Mummy cartonnage, New Kingdom
Period:Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty 20
Dating:1200 BC–1085 BC
Origin:Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes
Material:Cartonnage (all types)
Physical:37cm. (14.5 in.) - 150 g. (5.3 oz.)
Catalog:PLA.XL.00550

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Links to others from Dynasty 20

Aegis-Menat of Tefnut and Shu, Dyn. 20
Amulet of Ptah-Sokar, Dyn. 20-21
Basalt hawk-headed god Khonsu, Dyn. 20
Bronze statuette of Anhur, Dyn. 20
Bronze statuette of Sakhmet, Dyn. 20
Cartonnage with Isis, New Kingdom
Crude pottery shawabti, Late Dyn. 20
Crude pottery shawabti, Late Dyn. 20
Gilded funerary mask, Dyn. 20
Large amulet of Pataikos, Dyn. 20
Priest of Hapy, temple of Aswan, Dyn. 20
Ptah-Min of Memphis, Dyn. 20
Ruling king as Khonsu, Dyn. 20
Shawabti of Hor-Te-Ha, early Dyn. 20
Shawabti of the prophet of Amen, Dyn. 20
Unidentified king as Khnum, Dyn. 20

Links to others of type Other fragment of mummy trappings

Cartonnage with Isis, New Kingdom
Duamutef trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Hapy trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Imsety trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Inscription trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Inscription trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Isis trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Isis trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Nephtis trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Qebesenuef trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
Scarab trapping for Baket, Dyn. 23
  This cartonnage, which once rested on the mummy, was made in the New Kingdom for an unidentified dignitary.

The top register portrays the god Anubis presiding over mummification rituals in the presence of the Four Sons of Horus. The mummy is laying on a high Sakhmet-headed bed. Anubis holds the defunct’s heart in his left hand. Essential parts are gilded. In the next register, a scarab spreads its wings in protection of the defunct. The two Horus with the sun discs and the body of the scarab are gilded. The bottom register presents a dedication flanked by geometric patterns. The original column of embossed New Kingdom hieroglyphs was partially overwritten in black ink later in pharaonic times to the benefit of someone named dhwty ms k mnw (“Dhwty the last son of Kamenw”).

Formerly in the Princess Maddevi Yukanthor-Norodom collection.

This mummy cartonnage set is cataloged here as follows:
number 558
number 552
number 551
number 550

Cartonnage
Cartonnage was a material used in the production of personal funerary ornamentation (masks, pectorals, foot casings, and sometimes whole coffins).

It was made with several layers of linen glued together and shaped in a mold. The resulting shell was usually coated on one side with gesso (a mixture of glue and whiting plaster). This smooth medium was well suited to detailed painting and gold leafing.

Although earlier examples are known, it is around Dynasty 18 that cartonnage became a material of choice, and it remained a popular medium though the roman period. In later times, the linen layers were sometimes replaced with recycled papyrus documents. Many of the papyri currently studied by Egyptologists were recovered from cartonnage.


Bibliography (for this item)

Khalil, Hassan M.
1976 Preliminary Studies on the Sanusret Collection. Manuscript, Musée l’Egypte et le Monde Antique, Monaco-Ville, Monaco. ((III) 365- 373)



Bibliography (on Cartonnage)

Duke University,
1991 Duke Papyrus Archive. http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/, Durham, NC.

Lucas, A., and J.R. Harris
1999 Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries (unabridged republication of the 1962 fourth edition by Edward Arnold Publishers). Dover Publications, New York, NY.






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