Fragment of Cartonnage from Breast of Mummy
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Object Label
After death, Egyptians hoped to merge with both the sun-god Re and the king of the dead, Osiris. The deity resulting from the fusion of these two gods was called Re-Osiris. He was represented as a ram with horns and a sun disk on his head. This image was sometimes added to a coffin to help the deceased join with the gods.
The deceased merged with the sun-god Re to travel with the sun across the sky to the West, where the entrance to the afterlife was thought to lie. The departed combined with Osiris, king of the afterlife, to live eternally in the next world.
Caption
Fragment of Cartonnage from Breast of Mummy, ca. 945–656 B.C.E.. Cartonnage, pigment, 9 1/4 x 10 11/16 x 1/4 in. (23.5 x 27.1 x 0.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1531E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.1531E_PS4.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Fragment of Cartonnage from Breast of Mummy
Date
ca. 945–656 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 22 to Dynasty 25 (probably)
Period
Third Intermediate Period
Geography
Place made: Egypt
Medium
Cartonnage, pigment
Classification
Dimensions
9 1/4 x 10 11/16 x 1/4 in. (23.5 x 27.1 x 0.7 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
37.1531E
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
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Frequent Art Questions
In the text for the Re-Osiris, there's a distinction between deceased and departed, one going with Ra, the other with Osiris. What was the difference?
There actually isn't one, I think that the writer of the label didn't want to use the same word twice! The soul of a deceased person merged with Re in order to join Re's journey across the sky which ended at the western horizon, the land of Osiris. The same soul would then attempt to enter the afterlife and if they was successful it would merge with its king, Osiris.Cool. Understood, thanks!What did the Egyptians use to create these beautiful colors?
The simple answer is minerals and metals. They were processed to create powder and then combined/suspended in liquid binders--including water, egg, and wax--to create paints!For example, the colors red and yellow are often derived from ochre, a natural clay earth pigment. One method of making black paint was through the use of manganese.Interesting. The blue paint looks particularly vivid. Do you know what was used to make that?One way that the ancient Egyptians made blue was with the first known synthetic pigment which is now known as Egyptian blue. The color was produced by heating together quartz sand, copper, calcium oxide, and natron and then grinding the mixture into a powder.
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