English

Book of the Dead for the Chantress of Amun Nauny

Third Intermediate Period
ca. 1050 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 126
This papyrus was part of the burial of Nauny, a Chantress of the god Amun-Re who died in her seventies. She also bore the title "king's daughter," which probably means that she was a child of the High Priest of Amun and titular king of the Theban area, Painedjem I. As was customary during the Third Intermediate Period, Nauny's funerary equipment included a hollow wooden Osiris figure, which contained this papyrus scroll inscribed with spells from a collection of texts called the "Book of Coming Forth by Day" – today usually known by its modern name, the Book of the Dead. When unrolled, this scroll is more than seventeen feet long.

On the papyrus are images and texts from a number of spells. The central scene illustrates Spell 125, better known as the Judgment of Osiris or The Weighing of the Heart. Nauny is in the Hall of Judgment. Holding her mouth and eyes in her hand, she stands to the left of a large scale. Her heart is weighed against Maat, embodiment of cosmic order and ethical behavior, who is represented as a tiny figure wearing a large ostrich feather, the hieroglyph that spells her name. On the right Osiris, god of the underworld and rebirth, presides over the scene. He wears the white crown of Upper Egypt, and a curved beard that identifies him as divine. Only his hands, which clasp a crook, emerge from the mummy wrappings that envelop his body. On the offering table before him is a joint of beef. Jackal-headed Anubis, god of mummification and protector of the dead, kneels to read the scales, while a baboon – representing Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing – sits on the beam of the balance and records the result. Behind Nauny stands the goddess Isis, both wife and sister of Osiris. She is identified by the hieroglyph above her head.

The scales balance, indicating that Nauny has led an ethical life and is therefore worthy of an eternal afterlife in the company of Osiris. Anubis says to Osiris, "Her heart is an accurate witness," and Osiris replies," Give her her eyes and her mouth, since her heart is an accurate witness." In the horizontal register above the judgment scene, Nauny appears in three episodes: worshipping the divine palette with which all is written, praising a statue of Horus in his falcon form, and standing by her own tomb.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Book of the Dead for the Chantress of Amun Nauny
  • Period: Third Intermediate Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 21
  • Date: ca. 1050 B.C.
  • Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Meritamun (TT 358, MMA 65), burial of Nauny, first corridor, inside Osiris figure, MMA excavations, 1928–29
  • Medium: Papyrus, paint
  • Dimensions: L. 521.5 cm (206 5/16 in); H. 35 cm (13 3/4 in)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1930
  • Object Number: 30.3.31
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

Audio

Cover Image for 3500. Nauny's Funerary Papyri

3500. Nauny's Funerary Papyri

Gallery 126

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Early in the history of Egypt, beliefs about the afterlife were incorporated into a literary genre of spells and descriptive texts. These texts were used in burials in a number of different ways throughout the ages. Beginning in the eighteenth century BC, they were written on papyrus scrolls like those you see here. These two come from the tomb of Nauny, a short, plump woman who died in her early seventies during the early twenty-first dynasty. In typical burials of this time, one papyrus was deposited directly on the mummy. In this case, it was the shorter scroll on the bottom. It contains texts from a corpus the ancient Egyptians called the "Book of the One Who Is in the Netherworld." You can see the Egyptian title written at the right end of the papyrus. The beings depicted are various forms of the sun god during his nightly journey through the netherworld, alternating with images of Nauny’s white mummy.

Nauny’s longer papyrus is also a typical part of a twenty-first-dynasty burial. It was found inside a wood figure of the god Osiris. Its texts are taken from the "Book of Coming Forth by Day" which we commonly call the "Book of the Dead." And they’re meant to help Nauny through the final judgment that every Egyptian had to undergo after death. Its illustrations are especially fine. Reading from right to left, we see Nauny reciting her innocence before the gods of the judgment hall. In the center, between the texts, we see her judgment, symbolized by a weighing of her heart against a figure of Maat, goddess of justice and right order. Having passed this, she is able to enjoy renewed daily life as a spirit—worshipping the rising sun, enjoying working the fields, and ferrying in a boat to the west at sunset. The left end shows Nauny in the netherworld at night in the presence of Osiris, ruler of the netherworld, and the god of rebirth and resurrection.

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