Cartonnage Funerary Assemblage
Description
Object Label: In the Ptolemaic Period, separate cartonnage pieces replaced the full-body cartonnage covering such as the one used with the Mummy of the Priest, Hor nearby. Yet the same series of symbols were used, such as the scarab beetle (a symbol of rebirth), the Four Sons of Horus, Anubis, sun disks, and gold leaf (a reference to the gods, who were believed to have gold skin). The lower part of the inscription shows a number of dots marking the place where the owner’s name would be filled in, indicating that such objects were mass-produced for the market. The use of gold in prefabricated funeral equipment suggests a large, wealthy population in Ptolemaic Egypt eager for such products. Caption: Cartonnage Funerary Assemblage, 305–30 B.C.E.. Cartonnage, pigment, gold leaf, Fragment a: 13 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. (34.5 x 26 cm) Fragment b: 9 1/16 x 14 3/4 in. (23 x 37.5 cm) Fragment c: 5 1/2 x 12 3/16 in. (14 x 31 cm) Fragment d: 5 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (14.3 x 35 cm) Fragment e: 6 3/8 x 18 7/8 in. (16.2 x 48 cm) Fragment f: 6 15/16 x 9 1/16 in. (17.7 x 23 cm) 7 x 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 17.8 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 12.911.2a-f. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A painted, gold-inlaid cartonnage funerary figure/assemblage featuring a human-like gilded face and wig, with the body wrapped in decorative panels of hieroglyphic text and regalia.
The image shows a tall, mummy-shaped cartonnage funerary assemblage (front view). At the top is a gilded face with a painted collar/neck region and a blue-and-gold nemes-style wig covering the head. Multiple horizontal and vertical bands of painted hieroglyphic signs decorate the torso and central panels. A large, wing-like or broad protective collar design spans the upper chest, while the abdomen includes framed registers filled with rows of colored hieroglyphs. At the lower body, a vertically oriented band of text/signs continues between stylized borders, and the legs end in feet painted dark with yellow/gold toes or highlights. No distinct royal cartouches are clearly legible at this resolution, though repeated hieroglyphic bands are present throughout. The object appears to be made of cartonnage with visible pigment and gold-leaf-like gilding on the face and major accents; metallic leaf may also appear on collars/edges. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. There is also no clearly readable cartouche excerpt.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 12.911.2a-f tier-2
- BKM-Object 3082 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.