Bead Net Funerary Shroud

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Late Period, Dynasty 26 (664-525 BCE)

Egyptian

The winged scarab beetle in the center of this beaded shroud invokes Khepri, the morning form of the sun god, whom ancient Egyptians depicted as a dung beetle. Just as the sun is born anew each dawn, Egyptians planned to be reborn into a new form of existence after death. As symbols of this renewal, scarab amulets were secured to the body with linen wrappings or incorporated into nets made of beads and laid over a mummified body. The image’s power is strengthened by the hieroglyphic meaning of the scarab shape, “to come into existence.”

Status: On View, Gallery 50
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Bead Net Funerary Shroud
Place: Egypt (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 664 BCE–525 BCE
Medium: Faience beads on bast fiber (probably linen)
Dimensions: 45.7 × 40 × 3.8 cm (18 × 15 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number: 1894.967
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/128013/manifest.json

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 116.

The Art Institute of Chicago, The Classical Collection: Early Accessions, Gallery 101A, October 8, 1986-February 27, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, Feb. 11, 2022 - present.

Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859-1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894; price reimbursed by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, 1894.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.