Section of a shroud



Accession Number
W649
Current Location
House of Death (ground floor), Cartonnage display
Object Type
Tomb equipment, Mummy trappings, Cloth/shroud
Period
Graeco-Roman Period
Material
Textile/fibres (Linen)
Provenance
Egypt
Measurements
Length: 300mm | Height: 140mm
Number of Elements
1
Animal
Falcon/hawk
Divine Name
Duamutef | Hapy (son of Horus) | Horus | Imsety | Nephthys | Qebehsenuef

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Description

A section of a shroud with a painted scene depicting the mummy of dead woman, Tashay, lying on a lion shaped couch which has canopic jars under it. She is revived by goddess Nephthys who is shown in human form and as a falcon. The revival of the dead by Isis or Nephthys is often presented as a sexual revival of Osiris, with the dead associated with Osiris. This seen is associated with spell 89 of the Book of the Dead. Here, as in other depictions, the imagery seems to continue despite the fact that the deceased is female. Her hairstyle dates the shroud to 110-160 AD. It was purchased by Wellcome at auction in 1931.

Bibliography

Griffiths, J. Gwyn 1982. Eight funerary paintings with judgement scenes in the Swansea Wellcome Museum. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 68, 228–252. Ortiz-García, Jónatan and Ann-Katrin Gill 2018. Newly identified fragments of a Roman painted shroud from the Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil of Terrassa, Spain. In Busana, Maria Stella, Margarita Gleba, Francesco Meo, and Anna Rosa Tricomi (eds), Textiles and dyes in the Mediterranean economy and society: proceedings of the VIth international symposium on textiles and dyes in the ancient Mediterranean world (Padova - Este - Altino, Italy, 17–20 October 2016), 491–495. Zaragoza: Libros Pórtico.

Wellcome Number
103584-103589
Auction
J. C. Stevens. Auction and Sale Rooms: 13 Jan 1931, Lot 314
Auction Details
Eight fine pieces of Coptic cloth, with paintings of figures, etc.
Previous Owner
Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853–1936)
Acquisition
Long-term loan, The Wellcome Trust (15 Feb 1971)

Language
Egyptian
Script
Hieroglyphic
Personal Name
Tashay (tꜣ-šꜣ)
Last modified: 01 Dec 2021

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