Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21 (about 1069-945 BCE)
Artist:
Egyptian
About this artwork
The Book of the Dead is a series of religious texts that was placed in the tomb to protect the soul of the deceased. This example is written in both hieroglyphs and a cursive script called hieratic on papyrus, a paperlike substance made from overlapping strips of fibers from the papyrus plant. Tayu-henut-Mut, the woman who owned this book, is shown wearing a linen gown and a cone of scented fat on her head. Her gesture shows that she is worshipping Osiris, whose flesh is green because he is a god of vegetation and rebirth.
“Words spoken by Osiris foremost of the West, lord of Abydos, Wenenefer, lord of eternity… that he might give offerings and provisions to the Osiris, the mistress of the house and songstress of Amun-Re, king of the gods, Tayu-henut-Mut, true of voice, daughter of the scribe of the treasury Nes-pa-her-en-(ta-)hat, true of voice.”
Dimensions
24.5 × 101 cm (9 11/16 × 39 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, Robert H. Fleming, and Norman W. Harris
Reference Number
1894.180
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Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), pp. 156-159 (ill.).
Thomas George Allen, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Documents in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago, Oriental Institute Publications 82 (University of Chicago Press, 1960), pp. 3, 12-13, 60-61, 67, 289, pls. I-IV.
Madeleine Bellion, Égypte ancienne. Catalogue des manuscrits hiéroglyphiques et hiératiques et des dessins, sur papyrus, cuir ou tissu, publiés ou signalés (Paris: M. Bellion, 1987), p. 129 [identified as T. Chicago OIM 18039].
Andrzej Niwinski, Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries B.C. (Freiburg/Göttingen: Universitätsverlag/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989), p. 304 [identified as Chicago 3].
Karl Jansen-Winkeln, “Text und Sprache in der 3. Zwischenzeit. Vorarbeiten zu einer spätmittelägyptischen Grammatik,” ÄUAT 26 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1994), p. 265 [identified as “A/1.1.32, pChicago OIM 18039 = 94.180”].
Ursula Verhoeven, Untersuchungen zur späthieratischen Buchschrift (Leuven, 2001), pp. p [footnote 10], 66, 102-225, 250, 283, 294, 323 [identified as “Chicago, OIM Papyrus 18039”].
Giuseppina Lenzo Marchese, “Quelques manuscrits hiératiques du Livre des Morts de la Troisième Période intermédiaire du musée égyptien de Turin,” BIFAO 102 (2002), p. 270 [identified as P. Chicago OIM 18039].
Emily Cole, “Language and Script in the Book of the Dead,” in Foy D. Scalf, Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt (Chicago:Oriental Institue, 2017), p. 43, fig. 3.3.
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 154A, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Spiritual Expressions: Art for Private Contemplation and Public Celebration, November 22, 1995 - March 17, 1996.
Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014.
The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in Egypt, 1894; price reimbursed by Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, Robert H. Fleming, and Norman W. Harris.
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