Mummy of Artemidora
This mummified body of a woman named Artemidora is still in the orginal linen wrappings and lavishly equipped with appliqués and an elaborate funerary mask. The mask depicts a young woman lying flat as if upon her bier. Her hair is arranged in tiers of snail curls over her forehead. Alongside her face flows a black Egyptian-style wig, the long locks bound with narrow rings of gold in pharaonic fashion. She wears a Roman-style dark red tunic with black clavi (stripes) edged in gold. The jewelry includes snake bracelets and gold ball earrings. At the back of the head is a support decorated with imagery signifying rebirth, including a dark blue glass scarab beetle. Attached to the wrappings of the mummy are gold appliqué figures of the deities Osiris, Isis and Nephthys.
On the bottom of the foot is an image of the god Anubis bearing the disk of the moon. Set in a tabula ansata (tablet with handles in latin) above this is a conventional Greek funerary inscription, "Artemidora, daughter of Harpokras, died untimely, aged 27. Farewell." A rough estimate of her age based on radiographic images of the mummy confirms that she was an adult who never reached an old age.
On the bottom of the foot is an image of the god Anubis bearing the disk of the moon. Set in a tabula ansata (tablet with handles in latin) above this is a conventional Greek funerary inscription, "Artemidora, daughter of Harpokras, died untimely, aged 27. Farewell." A rough estimate of her age based on radiographic images of the mummy confirms that she was an adult who never reached an old age.
Artwork Details
- Title: Mummy of Artemidora
- Period: Roman Period
- Date: A.D. 90–100
- Geography: From Egypt, Middle Egypt, Meir, Khashaba excavations, 1910–11
- Medium: Mummified human body, linen, mummification material, painted, plastered, and gilded cartonnage
- Dimensions: L. 196 cm (77 3/16 in); W. 53 cm (20 7/8 in)
- Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1911
- Object Number: 11.155.5a, b
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art
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