About This Artwork

Egyptian

Coffin and Mummy of Paankhenamun, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22 (c. 945–715 B.C.)

Cartonnage, gold leaf, pigment; human remains
170.2 x 43.2 x 31.7 cm (67 x 17 x 12 1/2 in.)
William M. Willner Fund, 1910.238

Ancient Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife gave rise to the complex art and science of mummification. This vividly painted Mummy Case was the innermost of a series of shells that housed the body of a deceased person. The hieroglyphic inscriptions and painted scenes identify this mummy as Paankhenamun, a doorkeeper in the temple of the god Amun. The central scene shows the hawk-headed god Horus presenting Paankhenamun to Osiris, ruler of the afterlife.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Periodic exhibition from 1911-1994; Henry Crown Gallery in 1960s - 1970s.

Egyptian Gallery # 9 and 10, circa 1923.

Egyptian Gallery # 10, circa 1935.

Egyptian Gallery # 1, circa 1956.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Rubloff 154A, 1994 - present.

Publication History

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago, 1923), pp. 7, 12, 13 (ill.), 14-16, 19n., 69, and 124.

The Essential Guide: Art Institute of Chicago, 1993. Emily Teeter, Egyptian Art, Museum Studies: Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 1 (1994), pp. 22-25 (ill.), no. 7. Backcover (ill).

A Guide to the Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, 1994.

Minerva, May/June 1994, Vol. 5, NO. 3.

Alexander, Karen. The Galleries of Ancient Art: A Guide to the Collection, Chicago: AIC, unpaged.
Cleopatra: A Multi-Media Guide to the Ancient World, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1997.
Http://www.rad.rpslmc.edu/rsnamumie/rsnamumie.HTML

The Life of Mersamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt