<em>Cartonnage Funerary Assembly</em>, 305–30 B.C.E. Cartonnage, pigment, gold leaf, Fragment a: 13 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. (34.5 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 12.911.2a-f. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.12.911.2a-f_mummychamber.jpg)

Cartonnage Funerary Assembly, 305–30 B.C.E. Cartonnage, pigment, gold leaf, Fragment a: 13 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. (34.5 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 12.911.2a-f. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.12.911.2a-f_mummychamber.jpg)

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Is this female?

Without an inscription we can't be sure. Though women were often depicted as yellow or white, the gold skin here is actually meant to recreate the skin of the gods. Deceased individuals of either gender wished to be associated with the gods and to join the gods in the realm of the afterlife.

Who’s this lady?

She could be one of several different deities, including Mut and Nut. Her arms are stretched out in a gesture of protection.

Is there anything written on these panels?

There is no inscription to identify this individual, so we don't know who they were or if they were male or female. The series of dots on the lower part of the inscription are where a name would be filled in. Pieces of cartonnages like this were mass produced for the market during the Ptolemaic period!

Cartonnages are made of linen or papyrus mixed with plaster, in a manner very similar to papier mache. A cartonnage would be placed inside a larger sacrophagi.

The iconography on this cartonnage can also be seen on several others in our collection. The face is painted gold with gold leaf, a reference to the skin of the gods.

Cartonnage Funerary Assembly

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

In the Ptolemaic Period, separate cartonnage pieces replaced the full-body cartonnage covering such as the one used with the Mummy of the Priest, Hor nearby. Yet the same series of symbols were used, such as the scarab beetle (a symbol of rebirth), the Four Sons of Horus, Anubis, sun disks, and gold leaf (a reference to the gods, who were believed to have gold skin).

The lower part of the inscription shows a number of dots marking the place where the owner’s name would be filled in, indicating that such objects were mass-produced for the market. The use of gold in prefabricated funeral equipment suggests a large, wealthy population in Ptolemaic Egypt eager for such products.

MEDIUM Cartonnage, pigment, gold leaf

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS

Place found: Egypt
Place excavated: Abydos, Egypt

DATES 305–30 B.C.E.

PERIOD Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS Fragment a: 13 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. (34.5 x 26 cm) Fragment b: 9 1/16 x 14 3/4 in. (23 x 37.5 cm) Fragment c: 5 1/2 x 12 3/16 in. (14 x 31 cm) Fragment d: 5 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (14.3 x 35 cm) Fragment e: 6 3/8 x 18 7/8 in. (16.2 x 48 cm) Fragment f: 6 15/16 x 9 1/16 in. (17.7 x 23 cm) 7 x 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 17.8 x 22.9 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 12.911.2a-f

CREDIT LINE Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society

PROVENANCE Tomb E422, Cemetery E, Abydos, Egypt; December 14, 1911, excavated by Henry Reginald Holland Hall, Thomas Eric Peet, and Édouard Naville for the Egypt Exploration Society; 1912, gift of the Egypt Exploration Society to the Brooklyn Museum.

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EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Cartonnage Funerary Assembly, 305–30 B.C.E. Cartonnage, pigment, gold leaf, Fragment a: 13 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. (34.5 x 26 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 12.911.2a-f. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.12.911.2a-f_mummychamber.jpg)

IMAGE installation, Egypt Reborn: Mummy Chamber Installation (2011), CUR.12.911.2a-f_mummychamber.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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