Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22 (about 945–715 BCE)
Artist:
Egyptian
About this artwork
Mummification is the ancient Egyptian funerary practice of drying out a corpse for preservation. Anointed with oils and spices and protected with amulets, this linen-wrapped body was placed in a series of nesting coffins; the vividly painted cartonnage was the innermost shell. Across the surface of the mummy case, inscriptions and painted scenes and symbols identify the deceased— Paankhenamun (The One Who Lives for Amun)—and proclaim his wish to live well in the afterlife. Another inscription records that he was the doorkeeper of the temple of Amun. The names and titles on the coffin suggest that he lived at Thebes. The central scene depicts the presentation of the deceased by the falcon-headed deity Horus to Osiris, the ruler of eternity (shown, as was common, as a mummy). Other divinities help the deceased in his journey to the afterlife. Despite the youthful features of the gilt face, X-rays reveal that Paankhenamun was middle-aged.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Cartonnage, gold leaf, pigment, and mummified human remains
Dimensions
170.2 × 43.2 × 31.7 cm (67 × 17 × 12 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
W. Moses Willner Fund
Reference Number
1910.238
IIIF Manifest
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Art Institute of Chicago, Thirty-second Annual Report: June 1, 1910–June 1, 1911 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1911), pp. 19, 62.
Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), pp. 12-15.
Karen Alexander, “The New Galleries of Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Minerva (May/June, 1994), vol. 5, no. 3, p. 30 (ill.).
Emily Teeter, “Egyptian Art,” in The Essential Guide: Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Studies: Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 20, no. 1 (1994), pp. 22-25 (ill.), no. 7, backcover (ill).
Cleopatra: A Multi-Media Guide to the Ancient World, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1997.
Gayle Gibson, “The Lady From Thebes: An Afterword,” Rotunda 38, 2 (Winter 2004/2005), pp. 20, 21 (ill.).
Emily Teeter and Janet Johnson, eds., The Life of Meresamun: a Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt, Oriental Institute Museum Publications, no. 29, (The Oriental Institute, 2009), p. 19 (ill.).
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 26.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Essential Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), p. 63.
Periodic exhibition from 1911-1994; Henry Crown Gallery in 1960s - 1970s.
Egyptian Gallery # 9 and 10, circa 1923.
Egyptian Gallery # 10, circa 1935.
Egyptian Gallery # 1, circa 1956.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 101A, The Classical Collection: Early Accessions, October 8, 1986-February 27, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 141, Grave Goods from Ancient Cultures, November 9, 1991-May 17, 1992.
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 154A, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, Feb. 11, 2022 - present.
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