Cartonnage fragment inscribed for the Singer of Amun Shepenaset

This fragment of a cartonnage coffin was constructed of many layers of cloth glued together, then coated with paste (a generic term for plaster, gesso, and the like) on both sides and painted in vibrant colors on the exterior. The column of inscription down one side identifies the owner as a Lady of the House and Chantress of the god Amun named Shepenaset. Her mummified body would have been placed inside this cartonnage case, which in turn would have been put inside a larger wooden coffin. Parts of two registers are preserved here: in the top register, three mummiform figures stand on an outstretched wing. These were most likely accompanied by a fourth figure, and together would have represented the Four Sons of Horus who embodied and protected the viscera of the deceased. In the lower register the goddess Isis, identified by name, stretches her wings to protect yet another winged figure.

Shepenaset’s titles tell us that she was likely married and ran a household, and that she was a musician in the temple of the chief state god, Amun. The inscription also names her parents, who were also attached to the temple of Amun. In addition, it tells us that her father was a steward for the estates of the Divine Adoratrice (high priestess) of Amun. Thus the family was from Thebes (ancient Waset), the principal cult site of this god, and was attached to the royal bureaucracy, which was headed by the Divine Adoratrice