Brooklyn Museum

Mummy Cartonnage of a Woman

1st century C.E.

1 of 13

Caption

Mummy Cartonnage of a Woman, 1st century C.E.. Linen, gesso, gold leaf, glass, faience, 23 x 14 x 9 in. (58.4 x 35.6 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 69.35. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 69.35_overall_black_PS22.jpg)

Title

Mummy Cartonnage of a Woman

Date

1st century C.E.

Period

Roman Period

Geography

Possible place made: Hawara, Egypt

Medium

Linen, gesso, gold leaf, glass, faience

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

23 x 14 x 9 in. (58.4 x 35.6 x 22.9 cm)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

69.35

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • This is from the 1st century CE, when Romans ruled ancient Egypt, but Egyptian funerary beliefs and rituals were still followed.

    This is almost like a portrait of the woman who this cartonnage was made for, so she's depicted wearing her finest jewelry.

  • Tell me more.

    The heavily gilded mummy mask is an especially ostentatious demonstration of the owner's wealth. You may have noticed that it looks quite a bit different from the other mummy masks nearby.
    This woman's clothing is distinctly Roman, but this object serves an Egyptian religious function (to adorn the mummy). The blue eyebrows are a surprising and telling detail.
    The ancient Egyptian believed that the gods had hair made of lapis lazuli, a blue stone. The woman's blue eyebrows tell us that she hopes to join the Egyptian gods in the afterlife.

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