Shroud of Mahu with Book of the Dead

Unidentified Ancient Egyptian maker

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New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (1549-1295 BCE), about 1430 BCE

Linen and black, green, red, and white paint

Overall: 18 7/8 × 7 7/8 in. (48 × 20 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Museum Purchase

39.64.6623

Geography

Place Made: possibly Thebes, Thebes, Egypt, Northern Africa, Africa

Period

2000-1000 BCE

Object Name

Funerary Equipment

Research Area

Ancient Egypt

Africa

Not on view

Inscriptions

Inscription in the left compartment—in the 4 columns around Osiris—reads: "Osiris lord of Djedu, Osiris ruler of eternity, Osiris [in the midst of Abydos (?)], Osiris Onnophris, Osiris lord of the Necropolis, Osiris ruler of the Thinite home, Osiris foremost of the westerners." Inscription on the first 5 columns surrounding the woman: "Living praise to Osiris and kissing (the ground) before the bull of the west, (the god) in the midst of Abydos, (by) the chief nurse Mahu, true of voice. She says, Hail to you, O lord of everlastingness and ruler of eternity! Let me breath the breath which you give me, let (me) live (on) your victual offerings!" The inscription in the right compartment is the 124th chapter of "The Book of the Dead," a spell designed to assist the dead in going into the presence of the assessors of Osiris.”

Course History

ARTH 20, Art of Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Steven Kangas, Spring 2013

ARTH 20, Art of Ancient Egypt and the Near East, Steven Kangas, Spring 2013

ANTH 12.5, Death and the Afterlife in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Virginia Herrmann, Winter 2014

ANTH 12.5, Death and the Afterlife in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Virginia Herrmann, Winter 2014

ARTH 20, The Art of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East, Steven Kangas, Winter 2014

ARTH 20, The Art of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East, Steve Kangas, Winter 2014

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Spring 2015

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Spring 2015

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Spring 2015

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Spring 2015

ARTH 20, The Art of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East, Steven Kangas, Spring 2015

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Fall 2019

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Fall 2019

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Fall 2019

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Fall 2019

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman, Fall 2019

REL 55, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Susan Ackerman - INDEPENDENT VIEWING, Fall 2019

ARTH 7.10, Egyptomania, Steven Kangas, Winter 2021

ARTH 10.03, Art in Egypt, Steven Kangas, Winter 2021

ARTH 7.10, Egyptomania, Steven Kangas, Winter 2021

ARTH 10.01, Art of Ancient Egypt and Near East, Steven Kangas, Winter 2023

ARTH 10.01, Art of Ancient Egypt and Near East, Steven Kangas, Winter 2023

Art History 10.01, Middle Eastern Studies 16.41, Art of Ancient Egypt and Near East, Steven Kangas - OPEN HOURS, Winter 2023

Art History 10.03, Middle Eastern Studies 16.42, Art in Egypt, Steven Kangas, Spring 2024

Art History 10.03, Middle Eastern Studies 16.42, Art in Egypt, Steven Kangas, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Egyptian Antiquities at Dartmouth, Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 12, 2011-August 13, 2012.

Publication History

Richard A. Caminos, Fragments of the Book of the Dead on Linen and Papyrus, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Volume 56, 1970, Oxford, England: University Press, pp. 117-123, ill. Plate LII.

Provenance

Miss E. M. Sutton (possibly Eveline Mary Sutton, 1858-1935), Oxford, England; given to the Museum and Art Gallery, Reading, England, 1931; sold to present collection, 1939.

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