Cartonnage fragment showing Nut

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Object name: Cartonnage fragment showing Nut

Accession no.: E.GA.291.1949

Other numbers and markings: tbd

Dimensions: H 14.1 cm

W 45.9 cm

D 0.1 cm

Brief description:

Cartonnage fragment showing the sky goddess Nut in the form of a winged female figure. She holds feathers in her hands and wears a sun disc on her head. Her skin is painted in yellow orpiment, the feathers Egyptian green, cinnabar red, Egyptian blue and light blue (a combination of Egyptian blue and white lead) and her dress is Egyptian green. The details are finished in black. On the proper right wing a mistake can be seen where green pigment was accidentally applied to an area of the red feathers before the error was corrected and red pigment was applied on top.

Although this is a much later piece that would have overlain a mummy in the Ptolemaic Period (332 - 30 BC), many coffins from about 2000 BC onwards have inscriptions calling upon Nut to stretch herself over the person inside the coffin to provide protection.

Date: Ptolemaic Period

c. 332-30 BC

Find spot: tbd

Acquisition: Given by R.G. Gayer-Anderson, 1943

Construction, decoration and materials:

Other information

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