Mummified Human Remains of a Woman Inside a Painted Cartonnage

Mummification preserved mortal remains in order to house the Ka, or life force of the individual, as it needed to return to the body to find sustenance. The human-shaped covering, called "cartonnage," is composed of layers of linen and plaster. Its painted decoration includes the floral wreath on the wig, a broad collar, and a winged scarab beetle. Five additional registers of decoration show the protective four sons of Horus, the sacred boat of the funerary-deity Sokar, a depiction of Osiris mummified on a funerary bed, a divine falcon god, and a short hieroglyphic text with an offering formula.

See the additional media for a facial reconstruction of the deceased person, courtesy of Michael Brassell, as well as a color reconstruction of the cartonnage.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

[Excavated at Deir el-Bahri by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Expedition, Winter of 1930-1931, by Ambrose Lansing]; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ca. 1930-1931; Walters Art Museum, 1941, by exchange.