Minneapolis Institute of Art

Cartonnage of Lady Tashat

Egypt

Date

945–712 BCE

Medium

Painted and varnished linen

Culture

Ancient Egyptian

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This coffin and cartonnage (mummy case) were created for Lady Tashat, the daughter of the provincial governor Djehutyhotep (pronounced “je-hooti-HO-tep” meaning “doorkeeper of the gold-house of Amen”). The coffin and cartonnage take the form of mummies with idealized faces, huge floral collars, and chest ornaments in the form of a winged sun disk. While the coffin exterior has only a single line of inscription down the center of the lid and another around the rim of the box, the cartonnage exterior is covered with painted scenes arranged in horizontal registers, like a tomb or temple wall. The inscriptions are prayers to the gods for offerings of food and clothing in the afterlife, while the paintings are full of complex religious motifs focusing on divine protection of the deceased and resurrection in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptian, Egypt, Africa

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