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Bead Net Funerary Shroud

A work made of faience beads on bast fiber (probably linen).
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of faience beads on bast fiber (probably linen).

Date:

Late Period, Dynasty 26 (664-525 BCE)

Artist:

Egyptian

About this artwork

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.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/128013/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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