Fragment of a Funerary Shroud
Roman Period (30 BCE–395 CE), 2nd–3rd century
- Medium
- Linen, plain weave; painted
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 46 × 29 cm (11 × 18 in.)
- Culture
- Egypt
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Edward C. Sonnenschein
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This fragment comes from a linen shroud for a mummified individual. The complete, painted shroud bore a head-to-toe, life-size image of a woman in colorful garments. The fragment here shows the stripes on her sleeve and the patterned strap running down her breast. The figure, whose curly black hair hangs over her shoulder, represents both the deceased and the goddess Hathor. To the left of her shoulder, the pillar-like djed hieroglyph evokes stability, while the partial figure of a knife-wielding guardian below depicts one of the protective figures the dead might encounter in the underworld.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
