Art Institute of Chicago
Bead Net Funerary Shroud
Egyptian
- Date
- Late Period, Dynasty 26 (664-525 BCE)
- Medium
- Faience beads on bast fiber (probably linen)
- Culture
- Egypt
- Department
- Arts of Africa
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
The winged scarab beetle in the center of this beaded shroud invokes Khepri, the morning form of the sun god, whom ancient Egyptians depicted as a dung beetle. Just as the sun is born anew each dawn, Egyptians planned to be reborn into a new form of existence after death. As symbols of this renewal, scarab amulets were secured to the body with linen wrappings or incorporated into nets made of beads and laid over a mummified body. The image’s power is strengthened by the hieroglyphic meaning of the scarab shape, “to come into existence.”
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- Object type
- AAT300234126
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