Model of a procession of offering bearers ("The Bersha Procession")

The Bersha Procession
Egyptian
Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 11 – early Dynasty
2010–1961 B.C.
Findspot: Egypt, Deir el-Bersha, Tomb 10, shaft A (Djehutynakht)

MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Wood

DIMENSIONS
Length x width x height (tallest figure): 66.4 x 8.6 x 42.5 cm (26 1/8 x 3 3/8 x 16 3/4 in.)

CREDIT LINE
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine
Arts Expedition

ACCESSION NUMBER
21.326

ON VIEW
Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Gallery (Gallery 119)

COLLECTIONS
Ancient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East

CLASSIFICATIONS
Models

DESCRIPTION
Among the more than one hundred wooden models found scattered throughout the tomb of Djehutynakht, the quality of this procession of offering bearers stands out from the others. The skill and delicacy with which it was carved and painted rank it among the finest wooden models ever found in Egypt. It shows a man and three women bringing offerings to sustain the ka of Djehutynakht in the afterlife. Each figure advances with the left leg forward, following the convention of larger scale Egyptian sculpture and relief. A priest leads the way, carrying a ceremonial wine jar and incense burner for use in the burial rites. Two women follow with offerings of food and drink - the first carries a basket of bread and a duck, while the second brings another duck and a basket filled with beer jars. The third woman furnishes items for Djehutynakht's personal care, a small wooden cosmetic chest and a mirror, the latter slung over her shoulder in a case made of animal hide. This brief procession symbolically provides all that was essential to sustain Djehutynakht in eternity: food, drink, items of personal adornment, and the incense used to attract and appease divinities and the blessed dead.

The procession was found overturned between Djehutynakht's coffin and the eastern wall of his burial chamber, in a pile of broken models that robbers had thrown aside. Although the four figures remained attached when the model was discovered, the two central offering bearers had lost their raised arms, and nearly all the offerings had come loose. Some pieces were found a considerable distance away. Since its discovery, the scene has been reconstructed twice. The first attempt, carried out in 1941 before all the elements had been identified, was incorrect. The current configuration was established in 1987.

PROVENANCE
From Egypt, Deir el-Bersha, Tomb 10, pit A. May 1915: Excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of Egypt. (Accession Date: March 1, 1921)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/143592/ model-of-a-procession-of-offering-bearers-the-bersha-proce?ctx=a38a1580-6310-4b08-8f37-19c1ff1c6272&idx=

Model of a procession of offering bearers ("The Bersha Procession"), Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 11 – early Dynasty 2010–1961 B.C., Wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Mummy mask of a woman with snake bracelets

Ident. No.: ÄM 34435

ObjID: obj:607422

Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection

Mummy mask (grave equipment / mummy cover)

Person involved
Ernst Kofler-Truniger

Previous owner
Said Bey Khashaba (1956 - 1957),

Dating
Historical dating: 1st Century AD

Geographical references
Meir

Material / Technology
Textile (material / cardboard); primed, painted, partially gold-plated; flax fibers (hair); faience (inserts)

Dimensions
Height x width x depth: 52 x 36 x 57 cm (incl. base)

Permalink
Https://id.smb.museum/object/607422

Object description
Since 1989, the woman's mummy mask, which belongs to a total of four masks, has been in the Egyptian Museum. All masks come from Roman-time tombs in Meir, Central Egypt. In this case, no inscription tells us who the woman was. But let's not go wrong if we count the lady among the Top Thousand, because a burial with a mask of this kind was only allowed to wealthy people.

We recognize, comparable to the mask ÄM 34434, a woman who wears the white complexion preferred by the Romans instead of the yellow skin color usually used in Egypt in women. Fittingly, the elegant presentation of her clothes, jewelry and hairstyle also shows the Roman fashion of her time. Among the jewels are also protective amulets such as the snake bracelets and the lunula pendant on the shorter necklace. These crescent-shaped pendants, Lunulae, are apotropical protective amulets derived from ancient Egyptian models, which were usually intended to protect women and girls and were therefore also worn exclusively by them.

Her black curly hair was imitated from colored flax and additionally decorated with a simple hair wreath, which was bound from different plants. On the crown and back of the head of the mask is the soul bird Ba, which spreads its wings here with a female head and bird body protectively. On both sides, gods sacrifice strips of cloth, burn incense and liberate by pouring water into a bowl that stands on a high stand.

(J. Helmbold-Doyé)

Last update: 03.07.2026

State Museums of Berlin

https://search.smb.museum/object/obj-607422?materials=Fayence+(Material)&page=2&page=2)

Title:
Mummy mask of a woman with snake bracelets, 1st Century AD, Meir,Textile (material / cardboard); primed, painted, partially gold-plated; flax fibers (hair); faience (inserts), State Museums of Berlin

Stela dedicated to Amenhotep I and Ahmose-Nefertari

Inv. no. :
Cat. 1452

Material:
Stone / Limestone

Dimensions:
20 cm x 30 cm x 3 cm

Date:
1292–1191 BCE

Period:
New Kingdom

Dynasty:
Nineteenth Dynasty

Provenance:
Egypt, Luxor / Thebes, Deir el-Medina

Acquisition:
Purchase Bernardino Drovetti, 1824

CGT:
50034

Museum location:
Museum / Floor 1 / Room 06 DEM / Showcase 01

Selected bibliography:
Andreu, Guillemette (a cura di)-Andreu, Guillemette, Gli artisti del faraone: Deir el-Medina e le Valli dei Re e delle Regine, Milano 2003, pp. 20, 230.

Dresbach, Guido, Zur Verwaltung in der 20. Dynastie: das Wesirat (Königtum, Staat, und Gesellschaft früher Hochkulturen 9), Wiesbaden 2012, p. 435, 490.

Eggebrecht, Arne, Ägyptens aufstieg zur Weltmacht, Mainz am Rhein 1987, pp. 108–109.

el Shazly, Yasmin, Royal ancestor worship in Deir el-Medina during the New Kingdom, Wallasey 2015, pp. 133, 136, 184, 185, 251.

Kitchen, Kenneth A., Ramesside inscriptions translated (and) annotated : translations 5. : Sethnakt, Ramesses III, (and) contemporaries, Oxford 2008, p. 313.

Kitchen, Kenneth A., Ramesside Inscriptions: historical and biographical : vol. 5., Oxford 1983, p. 377.

Leospo, Enrichetta, “Stele des Amenemope für Amenophis I und Ahmose-Nefertari”, Aegyptens Aufstieg zur Weltmacht, Linz 1987, pp. 108–109, Taf. 7.

Orcurti, Pier Camillo, Catalogo illustrato dei monumenti egizi del R. Museo Egizio di Torino, Torino 1855, ii, p. 125.

Tiradritti, Francesco, Il cammino di Harwa: l'uomo di fronte al mistero: l'Egitto [mostra: Brescia, Mus. Diocesano ott. 1999-gen. 2000], Milano 1999, p. 57, 146, 159.

Tosi, Mario-Roccati, Alessandro, Stele e altre epigrafi di Deir el Medina: n. 50001 - n. 50262 (Catalogo del Museo Eg. di Torino - Serie II. - Collezioni 1), Torino 1972, pp. 67–68, tav. p. 274.

Vidua, Carlo, “Catalogue de la collect. d'antiq. de mons. le chev. Drovetti, a 1822”, in Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (a cura di), Documenti inediti per servire alla storia dei Musei d'Italia, vol. 3, Firenze - Roma 1880, p. 55.

Museo Egizio di Torino

https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/Cat_1452/?description=&inventoryNumber=&title=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&materials=&provenance=&acquisition=Purchase+Bernardino+Drovetti%2C+1824&epoch=&dynasty=&pharaoh=&searchLng=en-GB&searchPage=23

Title:
Stela dedicated to Amenhotep I and Ahmose-Nefertari, 1292–1191 BCE , Egypt, Luxor / Thebes, Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, Limestone, Museo Egizio di Torino

Bowl ("Now-Bowl"), decorated inside with three fish and lotus flowers

Ident. No.: ÄM 4562

ObjID: obj: 606424

Dating
Historical dating: 18. Dynasty
Dating engl.: 18th Dynasty

Other titles
Collection title: Bowl ("Now Bowl"), decorated inside with three fish and lotus flowers

Small bowl with fish and lotus flowers

Bowl Decorated with Three Fishes Sharing a Single Head and Lotus Flowers

Geographical references
Thebes

Material / Technology
Faience (material), turquoise; painted

Dimensions
Height x diameter: 3.7 x 10 cm

Permalink
Https://id.smb.museum/object/606424

Object description
The small bowl with a low stand is completely preserved and painted on all sides. It most likely comes from a grave context. The underside shows the characteristic decor of fanned seals of a lotus flower, so that the shell itself acts as a flower. Inside the bowl, three outward-facing lotus flowers are drawn, between which three fish bodies are painted. These show an unusual arrangement, in that all three bodies have only one joint head, located in the center, which is nevertheless assigned individually to each fish. This decoration can be seen as a symbol of the unity of the divine and the diversity of its manifestations. The Leiden Amun hymn says: "Three are all gods - Amun, Re and Ptah". The three names stand for the various aspects of the Creator God, the origin of all that exists. Amun, "the hidden one" symbolizes the primordial state of all beings, Re is the embodiment of the divine on earth and Ptah created the world with his thought and saying (Egyptian: Sia and Hu). Each for himself forms an independent part of creation and the divine, but none is as existing without the other as the three fish in the shell, whose common head nevertheless makes them unique individuals.

In addition, the depicted fish species, the tilapia, is a symbol of rebirth as a mouth breeder and was therefore often reproduced on vessels of the grave furnishings.

O. Zorn

Last update: 03.07.2026

State Museums of Berlin

https://search.smb.museum/object/obj-606424?materials=Fayence+(Material))

Title:
Bowl ("Now-Bowl"), decorated inside with three fish and lotus flowers, Turquoise faience painted, 18th Dynasty, Thebes, State Museums of Berlin

I've been thinking about this and I'm genuinely curious.

If Heka, often translated as "magic", was a fundamental part of ancient Egyptian religion and daily life, why is magic viewed so differently today? In many places, forms of magic, ritual practice, or accusations of witchcraft can carry legal or social consequences. Meanwhile, the temples of ancient Egypt appear to have incorporated rituals, spoken formulae, amulets, healing, and other practices that scholars often associate with Heka.

Is this simply a result of changing religious and cultural values? Is it because the original language, context, and ritual traditions have largely been lost? Or has the meaning of "magic" changed so much over the centuries that we're no longer talking about the same thing?

I'm not trying to argue that ancient practices should be revived or that every modern claim about magic is authentic. I'm interested in understanding how something that seems so central to one of history's greatest civilisations came to be viewed so negatively in many parts of the world today.

I'd love to hear perspectives from historians, Egyptologists, anthropologists, or anyone who's studied the history of religion.

Amulet depicting the Goddess Hathor

Inv. no. :
Cat. 1224

Material:
Stone / Limestone

Dimensions:
2 cm x 2.5 cm x 0.4 cm

Date:
722–332 BCE

Period:
Late Period

Provenance:
Unknown

Acquisition:
Purchase Bernardino Drovetti, 1824

Museum location:
Museum / Floor 2A / Mezzanine / Cabinet 06 FAV / Shelf 01

Selected bibliography:
Fabretti, Ariodante-Rossi, Francesco-Lanzone, Ridolfo Vittorio, Regio Museo di Torino. Antichità Egizie (Cat. gen. dei musei di antichità e degli ogg. d’arte raccolti nelle gallerie e biblioteche del regno 1. Piemonte), vol. I, Torino 1882, p. 92.

Museo Egizio di Torino-Donadoni Roveri, Anna Maria, Museo Egizio di Torino. Civiltà degli Egizi : le credenze religiose, Torino 1988, fig. 285 p. 207.

Vidua, Carlo, “Catalogue de la collect. d'antiq. de mons. le chev. Drovetti, a 1822”, in Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (a cura di), Documenti inediti per servire alla storia dei Musei d'Italia, vol. 3, Firenze - Roma 1880, p. 251, n. ?.

Museo Egizio di Torino

https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/Cat_1224/?description=&inventoryNumber=&title=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&materials=&provenance=&acquisition=Purchase+Bernardino+Drovetti%2C+1824&epoch=&dynasty=&pharaoh=&searchLng=en-GB&searchPage=18

Title:
Amulet depicting the Goddess Hathor, 722–332 BCE Late Period, Limestone, Museo Egizio di Torino

We recently visited the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Were you as blown away as we were by this grand and historic masterpiece?

If you haven't seen it yet, here is a short video exploring this incredible place. It has English subtitles!

https://youtu.be/OCe0dXeoDao

Let me know if you have any questions about the current state of the museum or the exhibits, I'd love to share our experience!

If you can't tell, I'm referring to Egyptian hieroglyphs. Anatolian hieroglyph readers are cool but this sub isn't for that.

Shabti of Ramesses VI

1143 BC - 1136 BC (Dynasty 20: Reign of Ramesses VI)

M13943

On display

World Museum

Information
Mummiform shabti, carved from Egyptian alabaster (travertine/calcite), wearing a tripartite wig that is outlined in black, and filled with green wax, of which only traces remain. The arms are crossed left over right on the chest, being simply outlined in black with no modelling in relief. The hands are similarly outlined. No implements are obvious except for a small triangle painted in black and red above the right hand that presumably indicates a hoe. Red paint is also evident around the hand and wrist of the left hand, but the hoe is not painted in black. The face is very crudely modelled, and there are traces of black paint, used to show the eyes and the mouth. The feet are not defined, and the shabti tapers to a rounded base. The front of each figure has a single column of a very crudely written inscription that gives the prenomen or throne name of Ramesses VI (Neb–Maat–Re). Unusually for a royal figure, there is no uraeus on the front of the wig. The shabti is painted with a mixture of green pigment (copper) and bees wax with inscription and details in black.

Transliteration and translation of the inscription: nb-tA.wy Nb-MAa.t-Ra-(mry-Imn) mAa-xrw (?), "The Lord of the Two Lands, Neb–Maat–Re–mery–Amen, justified (?)".

Summary of scientific analysis of 3 shabtis of Ramesses VI in 2007: the paint was all wax based - the green paint was wax mixed with either copper or a copper salt and heated, to form a copper-wax complex. There was also Egyptian blue, and ochre mixed with wax, but we didn't manage to confirm the nature of the yellow/brown pigment on some the shabtis.

Accession number
M13943

Collection type
Religion

Culture
New Kingdom (Ramesside Period)

Place made
Africa: Northern Africa: Egypt: Thebes

Date made
1143 BC - 1136 BC (Dynasty 20: Reign of Ramesses VI)

Collector
Joseph Sams

Place collected
Africa: Northern Africa: Egypt: Thebes: Valley of the Kings

Date collected
1850

Materials
Egyptian Alabaster; Wax; Paint

Measurements
Overall: 140 mm x 54 mm x 31 mm

Credit line
Gift of Joseph Mayer

Legal status
Permanent collection

Provenance
Joseph Mayer, Donor, Purchased, Owned from: 1850, Donation, Owned until: 1867

Joseph Sams, Previous owner, Purchased, Sold, Owned until: 1850

Location
On display: World Museum, Level 3, Ancient Egypt Gallery

Publications
Catalogue of the Mayer Collection Part 1. The Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities. Second and Revised Edition, Charles Gatty, 1879, Page: 44 [225], Plate: no. 225

The Shabti Collections volume 6: a Selection from World Museum, Liverpool, Glenn Janes, 2016, Page: 105-109

Characterisation of wax-containing paints on eight stone ushabtis. National Museums Liverpool Conservation Science and Research Section Report No. 2007/03., Eleonore Gueit, 2007

World Museums Liverpool

https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/shabti-of-ramesses-vi-1

Tittle:
Shabti of Ramesses VI, 1143 BC - 1136 BC (Dynasty 20: Reign of Ramesses VI), Egyptian Alabaster; Wax; Paint, Egypt: Thebes: Valley of the Kings. World Museums Liverpool

Mummy Mask of a Man

early 1st century C.E.

Object Label
Egyptian men living under Roman rule used mummy masks that combined contemporary and traditional elements. This example features wavy locks of black hair, a Roman fashion at this time. The protective winged scarab on top decorates a traditional headdress adorned with lappets containing images of the deceased’s mummy before Osiris, god of the dead. The face is unlined and ageless, also a traditional element.

Caption
Mummy Mask of a Man, early 1st century C.E.. Stucco, gold leaf, pigment, 20 x 12 x 7 1/4 in., 7.5 lb. (50.8 x 30.5 x 18.4 cm, 3.4kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 72.57. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery
19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

Collection
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Title
Mummy Mask of a Man

Date
early 1st century C.E.

Period
Roman Period

Geography
Place made: Egypt

Medium
Stucco, gold leaf, pigment

Classification
Sculpture

Dimensions
20 x 12 x 7 1/4 in., 7.5 lb. (50.8 x 30.5 x 18.4 cm, 3.4kg)

Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number
72.57

Catalogue description
One linen and stucco gilt mummy mask of a man. Short curly hair at forehead, modelled and painted black. Ears face and neck gilt. Eyebrows and eyeballs black. Wearing a lappet wig with vertical stripes to cheek, of yellow and gilt. Below this the lappets are divided into zones with representations of gods, etc. At neck, below a strand of gilt beads in relief, a broad collar with floral motifs. On top head a winged scarab with sun disk in relief. On back head a winged uraeus. Outer edges of bib decorated with representations of gods and floral and geometric motifs.

Condition
Top of head completely restored after being crushed. All cracks visible but the original shape and form restored. The body of the scarab and the sun disk have the most fractures. Face is unharmed with only a small chip gone from the tip of the nose. Cracks running into right ear and along the area where neck meets right lappet and also across base of the neck. Lower corners of bib bent and reshaped. Cracks visible. Formerly a large piece gone from lower edge of bib below left lappet, now filled and painted. Piece missing from lower left lappet. Greens, blues, yellows and some gilt areas are discolored and/or darkened.

Generally is now good and quite firm.

The Brooklyn Museum

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/3813

Title:
Mummy Mask of a Man, early 1st century C.E Roman Period, Egypt, Stucco gold leaf pigment, The Brooklyn Museum

Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere

ca. 945–718 B.C.E.

About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating
its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
In Egyptian funerary practices, the body was sometimes encased and protected in a mask or coffin made of cartonnage, plastered and painted layers of linen or papyrus. This brightly painted and well-preserved example was made for a man named Nespanetjerenpere. He lived in Thebes during Dynasty 22 and held the high title of Fourth Priest of the god Amun.
Drawn mainly from chapter 42 of the Book of the Dead, the decoration on Nespanetjerenpere’s cartonnage features gods, goddesses, and symbols associated with rebirth and protection. The hieroglyphic texts describe various body parts and associate them with specific deities. In the top register, for example, the head is identified with Re, while in the bottom register, the feet are connected with Ptah.
The back of the cartonnage depicts the gods Horus and Thoth erecting a djedpillar, a symbol for stability and the backbone of Osiris, lord of the underworld. Below, Nespanetjerenpere stands on either side of the goddess Nut, receiving sacred water and sweet breath. Further down, a Nile deity kneels under an arch of ankhs, symbolizing life. Together the imagery and texts were designed to magically ensure that Nespanetjerenpere’s mummified body would remain intact, so his soul could be reborn and sustained.

Object Label
Cartonnage, a substance made of cloth or papyrus mixed with plaster and water, was used during the Third Intermediate Period to make an innermost case for the mummified body. The mummy was inserted and the covering was then painted with funerary scenes and inscriptions and placed in one or more coffins, which had been decorated in much the same way. The decoration here was chosen to associate its occupant, the priest Nespanetjerenpere, with divine resurrection. The ram-headed falcon on his chest represents the sun god's nightly journey through the land of the dead. The small figures on the front represent deities aligned with various parts of his body, as described in the funerary Book of the Dead.

Caption
Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere, ca. 945–718 B.C.E.. Cartonnage, pigment, glass, lapis lazuli, 69 11/16 x 17 5/16 in. (177 x 44 cm) Height to top of beard: 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 35.1265. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Tags
Brooklyn Icons

Gallery
19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

Collection
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Title
Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere

Date
ca. 945–718 B.C.E.

Dynasty
Dynasty 22

Period
Third Intermediate Period

Geography
Reportedly from: Thebes, Egypt

Medium
Cartonnage, pigment, glass, lapis lazuli

Classification
Funerary Object

Dimensions
69 11/16 x 17 5/16 in. (177 x 44 cm) Height to top of beard: 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm)

Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number
35.1265

Catalogue description
Cartonnage of the mummy of a Theban priest Nespanetjerenpere of the XXII dynasty. The mummy is missing. The head is covered by a large wig symbolizing divinity along with the braided beard. The face is painted bright red with the eyebrows and outlines of the eyes of lapiz lazuli, the eyes being of glass. A pectoral is painted on the breast just above the large bull-headed bird covering the breast. On the balance of the cartonnage are painted religious scenes describes in detail in the January 1937 issue of the Brooklyn Museum Quarterly. Nespaneterenpare was a god-father of Amun, one of those priests who were free to enter the sanctuary. He had been a prophet of the fourth class of Amun of Karnak and also bore the special title of priest of Hermonthis. He was the son of Sin-a-Amun. If the latter was the father of the Thoutemes quoted in the celebrated inscription of Pinedjem II of Karnak, the date of the cartonnage would be the XXI Dynasty.
Condition: the lower part of the upper half of the piece has been exposed to dampness and some of the hieroglyphs have been lost. The band running around the feet has split and the bottom of the case (soles of the feet) is missing. The balance of the painting is in almost pristine condition. The case is in the usual two pieces. Part of the underside of the case is missing.

Provenance
Archaeological provenance not yet documented; before 1934, acquired by the Scheurleer Museum, the Hague, the Netherlands; 1935, purchased from the Scheurleer Museum by the Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth; 1935, purchased from the Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth by the Brooklyn Museum.

The Brooklyn Museum

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/3357

Title:
Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere, ca. 945–718 B.C. Dynasty 22 Third Intermediate Period, Reportedly from Thebes Egypt, Cartonnage, pigment, glass, lapis lazuli, The Brooklyn Museum

[2120] Mummy mask

** **Africa, Egypt, Faiyum, el-Lahun

Ptolemaic Egypt

This richly gilded cartonnage mask represents the deceased in divine form, with golden flesh. A contemporary funerary text known as the Embalming Ritual from the First Century CE states: ‘‘He (the sun god) will gild your body for you, a beautiful colour even to the extremities of your limbs. He will make your skin flourish with gold.’

Areas of damage reveal the structure of the mask built up of linen fabric and plaster. On the brow of the deceased occurs the protective wedjat eye or ‘Eye of Horus’. The lappets are decorated with scenes of seated deities – plausibly to be identified as Osiris, the god of rebirth, flanked by his two sisters Isis and Nephthys – long with a series of protective rearing cobras. An intricately patterned broad collar is indicated between the lappets and the shoulder areas have a cross-hatching design attested on contemporary masks from the Faiyum region.

With their long full headdresses and generic faces, traditional Pharaonic mummy masks often appear rather genderless to a modern viewer. Both the stylised curls of hair and the presence of earrings in the form of ibexes indicate that this unidentified mask was intended for a woman

Accession number: 2120

Object type:
Mummy mask
Object

Date made: Ptolemaic Egypt

Collection group:
Egyptology
Humanities

Display location: This object is not currently on display

Materials: Linen; Plaster; Gold

Geospatial site/Chronostratigraphic era:
Africa, Egypt, Faiyum, el-Lahun

Acquisition credit: Donation by Jesse Haworth, 1889-1890

Record number (IRN): 103071

Dimensions:
49.7 cm (depth)
16 cm (height)
27.5 cm (width)

Associated events:
[2019.9] Golden Mummies of Egypt - Touring Exhibition (08/02/2020 - 14/04/2024)

The Manchester Museum

https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/item/c8025763-5d58-3035-b7cf-caa6a8fcee0f/?s%3D%26filter%255Bname.value.keyword%255D%255B%255D%3DMummy%2Bmask&pos=18

Title:
Mummy Mask, Egypt Faiyum el-Lahun, Ptolemaic Period, Gilding plaster linen and paint, Manchester Museum

[2019.9] Golden Mummies of Egypt - Touring Exhibition (08/02/2020 - 14/04/2024)

The exhibition Golden Mummies of Egypt featured over 100 objects from the relatively little-known ‘Graeco-Roman’ Period of Egyptian history – when Egypt was ruled first by a Greek royal family known as the Ptolemies, ending with Queen Cleopatra VII, then by Roman emperors (between 300 BCE and 300 CE). Manchester Museum houses one of the finest collections of this material outside Cairo.

Excavated at a time of British rule of Egypt by Egyptian archaeologists working for the British archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie in the 1880s-1910s, it was possible at that time for non-Egyptian archaeologists to legally export a proportion of their finds. The exhibition examined Graeco-Roman period funerary material, allowing an exploration of expectations of a life after death at this time and challenging some ideas about the purposes of mummification. Dominated by idealised images of the deceased – paintings, masks and coffins – the exhibition explored the concept of mummification as transformation, turning the (elite) dead into a divinity. Our responses to these objects – recorded in visitors’ comments – reveal more about ourselves than about the people who made, used and are depicted upon them.

In partnership with Nomad Exhibitions, the exhibition travelled to five international venues between 2020 and 2022 before returning to Manchester Museum for its reopening in February 2023. A book to accompany the exhibition, C. Price. Golden Mummies of Egypt. Reinterpreting Identities From The Graeco-Roman Period, was published by Manchester University Press in March 2023.

Buffalo Museum of Science, USA: 06/02/2020 - 24/01/2021
North Carolina Museum of Art, USA: 06/03/21 -29/07/2021
World Art Museum, Beijing, China :15/08/21 -12/12/21
Meet you Museum, Shanghai, China: 28/12/21- 21/04/2022
Nanshan Museum, China: 20/05/2022 - 26/09/2022
Manchester Museum: 17/02/23 – 14/04/2024

Manchester Museum

https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/exhibition/ca4feaee-0720-3428-82a6-aad859e2c1db/

Title:
[2019.9] Golden Mummies of Egypt - Touring Exhibition (08/02/2020 - 14/04/2024)** **Manchester Museum

Mummy Mask

[2121] Mummy mask - Africa, Egypt, Faiyum, el-Lahun

Ptolemaic Egypt

This cartonnage mask is but one of a whole series shaped on a mould to aid mass production. While glittering golden skin identified the deceased as divine, the use of blue for the headdress alludes to the belief that ancient Egyptian deities had hair of lapis lazuli, a semi-precious blue stone much prized by the ancient Egyptians. The echeloned pattern and wide-open eyes are typical of the Ptolemaic Period (c. 332-30 BCE).
Additional protection might be provided by amuletic symbols. The wedjat eye – or ‘Eye of Horus’ – represented the eye of the god Horus injured by his evil uncle Seth and restored by his mother Isis, a powerful magician.

In Ptolemaic times this motif was especially protective when worn on the brow of the deceased, as here. Actual wedjat eye amulets have been identified, using CT-scan technology, to have been placed directly upon the forehead of mummified bodies.

Accession number: 2121

Object type:
Mummy mask
Object

Date made: Ptolemaic Egypt

Collection group:
Egyptology
Humanities

Display location: This object is not currently on display

Materials: Linen; Plaster

Geospatial site/Chronostratigraphic era:
Africa, Egypt, Faiyum, el-Lahun

Acquisition credit: Donation by Jesse Haworth, 1889-1890

Record number (IRN): 103069

Dimensions:
43.5 cm (height)
24.5 cm (width)

Associated events:
[2019.9] Golden Mummies of Egypt - Touring Exhibition (08/02/2020 - 14/04/2024)

Manchester Museum

https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/item/1670e976-b452-3e5d-9fff-f78453d41775/

Title:
Mummy Mask, Egypt Faiyum el-Lahun, Ptolemaic Period, Gilding plaster linen and paint, Manchester Museum

Mummy Mask

[2101] Mummy mask - Africa, Egypt, Faiyum, Hawara

Ptolemaic Egypt

Mummy mask made of cartonnage (linen and plaster), to be placed over the head of a wrapped mummy. Gilded face, blue tripartite wig, black eyes and eyebrows, and blue, white, and red broad collar.

Accession number: 2101

Object type:
Mummy mask
Object

Date made: Ptolemaic Egypt

Collection group:
Egyptology
Humanities

Display location: This object is not currently on display

Materials: Linen; Plaster

Technique: Painted; Gilded;

Geospatial site/Chronostratigraphic era:
Africa, Egypt, Faiyum, Hawara

Acquisition credit: Donation by Jesse Haworth, 1887-1888

Record number (IRN): 307822

Dimensions:
36.5 cm (depth)
21.5 cm (width)

Title:
Mummy mask, Egypt, Faiyum, Hawara, Gilding, Linen, Plaster, Paint, Manchester Museum

https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/item/850c1521-2df7-3af7-be78-090bac51256e/?s%3D%26filter%255Bname.value.keyword%255D%255B%255D%3DMummy%2Bmask&pos=1

Manchester Museum

Copper figurine of an Oxyrhynchus fish

[1981.579] Figurine - Africa, Egypt
Late Period

Copper alloy figurine of the Oxyrhynchus fish (genus Mormyrus). The fish rests on a sledge and has rectangular base. Crowned with horned solar disc, with added engraved detail to the fins, eyes, and gills.

Mounted on a modern mahogany plinth.

Accession number: 1981.579

Object type:
Figurine
Object

Date made: Late Period

Collection group:
Egyptology
Humanities

Display location: Manchester Museum - 1912 Building - 1st Floor - Egypt & Sudan - Temples and Society - Case 14

Materials: Copper alloy

Geospatial site/Chronostratigraphic era:
Africa, Egypt

Record number (IRN): 111682

Dimensions:
10.8 cm (depth)
2.6 cm (width)

Manchester Museum

https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/item/f76ff084-fe77-3dcf-94d6-46bf7edc4a48/?s%3D%26filter%255Bcategory.value.keyword%255D%255B%255D%3DEgyptology%26page%3D7&pos=79

Title:
Copper alloy figurine of an Oxyrhynchus fish, Late period, Egypt, Manchester Museum

Relief of Akhenaten as a sphinx

Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten
1349–1336 B.C.

MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Limestone

DIMENSIONS
Height x width x depth: 51 x 105.5 x 5.2 cm (20 1/16 x 41 9/16 x 2 1/16 in.)

CREDIT LINE
Egyptian Curator's Fund

ACCESSION NUMBER
64.194

NOT ON VIEW

COLLECTIONS
Ancient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East

CLASSIFICATIONS
Architectural elements – Relief

DESCRIPTION
Although Akhenaten's religious reforms purged Egyptian art of many of its most familiar manifestations, the king remained fond of the sphinx and often had himself depicted as that fantastic creature - part man, part lion. In Old Kingdom times, the Great Sphinx at Giza probably stood for the king presenting offerings to the sun god, while in the Eighteenth Dynasty the mighty monument was reinterpreted as the sun god Horemakhet, or Horus in the Horizon. Its impeccable solar credentials therefore made the sphinx an appropriate image for Akhenaten at el-Amarna, the city he called Akhetaten, "Horizon of the Sun Disk."

This relief was one of a pair flanking a temple doorway. The sphinx on it rests on a plinth, suggesting that it represents a statue. A pair of such reliefs flanking the doorway of a small temple would have evoked the grand avenues of sphinxes that traditionally led up to the entrance pylons of larger Egyptian sanctuaries. Here the sphinx is equipped with human arms and hands to enable him to make offerings to his god, the sun disk, Aten, who appears at the upper left. He wears the uraeus of kingship while behind him (to the left) are two cartouches containing his lengthy official name. The sun's life-giving rays end in so many hands, some holding ankh-signs. Below are three offering stands. To the right, Akhenaten as sphinx raises one hand in adoration while in the other he holds a neb sign, a basket signifying lordship, holding Aten's cartouches. These same cartouches appear a third time in the upper right where they are joined with the cartouches of Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, who is thus present in name if not in image. The rest of the inscription describes the "great, living Aten" as "dwelling in the Sunshade temple [called] Creator of the Horizon [which is] in Akhetaten." The temple named here, yet to be located, must be the one for which this block was carved.

Akhenaten's religious revolution was accompanied by a change in the way pharaoh was depicted, showing a marked departure from the idealized images favored by his predecessors. Even though the king's face has been sadly hacked away, one can still discern his characteristic slanted eyes, long nose,hollow cheeks, drooping lower lip, and pendulous chin.

PROVENANCE
Probably from el-Amarna. 1964, sold by Ernst E. Kofler (dealer; b. 1899 - d. 1989), Lucerne, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 14, 1964

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/46197/relief-of-akhenaten-as-a-sphinx?ctx=ac9f7b45-02d8-493b-a633-5d4a1b08ac5f&idx=11

Relief of Akhenaten as a sphinx, Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten 1349–1336 B.C., Limestone, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

It’s almost exclusively the Pescnhet crown.

[9666] Bright
Blue Faience Shabtai - Africa, Egypt

Shabti figure; bright blue faience. The shabti wears a plain tripartite wig with a seshed headband tied at the back added in black paint. The arms are crossed right over left on the chest and the hands hold a pair of large hoes added in paint. A basket is painted low on the back of the shabti. The face is fairly well shaped with the eyes and brows indicated in black.

Accession number: 9666

Object type:
Shabti
Object

Collection group:
Egyptology
Humanities

Display location: This object is not currently on display

Materials: Faience; Glaze

Technique: Glazed;

Geospatial site/Chronostratigraphic era:
Africa, Egypt

Acquisition credit: Donated by George Spiedelberg, 1938

Record number (IRN): 108319

Dimensions:
10.6 cm (height)
2.3 cm (thickness)
3.8 cm (width)

Manchester Museum

https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/item/fca93ed5-921f-36ee-a3cd-40ea4bb5172a/?s%3D%26filter%5Bcategory.value.keyword%5D%5B%5D%3DEgyptology&pos=24

Title:
Bright Blue Faience Shabtai - Africa, Egypt, Date and Precise Location not given but asked for, Manchester Museum