Fragment of a Funerary Shroud

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Roman Period (30 BCE–395 CE), 2nd–3rd century

Egypt

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.

Status: On View, Gallery 58
Department: Textiles

Title: Fragment of a 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.: Made 100 CE–300 CE
Medium: Linen, plain weave; painted
Dimensions: 46 × 29 cm (11 × 18 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Edward C. Sonnenschein
Reference Number: 1946.184
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/55038/manifest.json

Gustavo Da Silva, Isaac Facio, Cristian Koepfil, and Lucinda Pelton, “Silent Witness: Ancient Textiles as Biocultural Archives of Disease and Human History,” in On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival, eds. Isaac Facio, Nneka Kai, L Vinebaum, and Anne Wilson, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), 60, fig. 5-6 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival, Sept. 6, 2025–Mar. 15, 2026, cat.

Louise B. Sonnenschein (1884-1949; also Mrs. Edward Sonnenschein), Gencoe, IL, by Oct. 7, 1930 [on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago from Oct. 7, 1930, loan number 1113.30, incoming receipt R4619; copy in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1946.

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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.