Preservation
At the The Museo Egizio in Turin in Italy, the collection on display represents all periods and dynasties of Egyptian civilization from the neolithic to the predynastic period, from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom, from the Ptolemaic to Roman rule. They use a range of depictions from miniature funerary models to sewing needles amongst many more interesting artefacts. Most importantly to the museum of Turin is the mummified remains on display; due to their arid, desert climate they have been preserved very well. At the museum, they feature iconic linen mummies of the Old Kingdom.
At the Museo Egizio, technology integrates traditional practices to preserve and showcase extremely delicate artefacts and human remains – as in the case of mummies. The museum integrates the interaction of new technological approaches to viewing historical artefacts, trying to uncover the personal background of the individual; similar to our exhibition proposal of the ‘thread of life.’ This is transpired when individuals at the museum get to digitally see the mummified body ‘unwrapped’ through CT scans and X-rays, allowing observers to understand the subject’s personal histories, health and conservation status.
This approach is something that we have implemented, not from the standpoint of a technological unwrapping, but using historical Egyptian linen sources to find and analyse the journey of how this piece came to contemporary dress historians today. We have researched the possibilities of why the fabric may be worn, size and sale of the object, possible status in society and so forth.
Paul Dominique Philippoteaux- Examination of a Mummy - The Priestess of Ammon)
1895 circa - 1910Before the use of modern CT scans, there was no way to examine a mummy without taking it apart and likely damaging them in the process. Philippoteaux’s painting, which depicts French Eygptogoloists unwrapping a mummy, captures an era where Egyptology gained the attention of many in the West. These ‘unwrappings’ or ‘unrollings’ became social spectacles, with few taking place for scientific purposes.
As a result, many mummies, as well as the linens surrounding them, have been damaged or destroyed.
The painting was sold by Leicester Galleries.
Bibliography
Filer, J. and British Museum (2003). The mystery of the Egyptian mummy : find out all about Hornedjitef, an ancient Egyptian priest. New York: Oxford University Press In Association With The British Museum.
Leicestergalleries.com. (2020). Leicester Galleries | Examen d’une momie - Une prêtresse d’Ammon (Examination of a Mummy - The Priestess of Ammon). [online] Available at: https://www.leicestergalleries.com/browse-artwork-detail/MTkxMDg= [Accessed 25 Nov. 2024].
Roll of Linen from the Mummy of Takush
25th Dynasty (c.680 BC)These strips of linen have been removed from a female mummy named Takush.
They were donated to the British Museum by Hugh Welsh Diamond, a British surgeon and photographer, who staged the unwrapping of the mummy in 1843, along with Samuel Birch of the British Museum. In a letter written two years later, Diamond revealed that the mummy was neglected, remaining unwrapped and exposed for years after the study before being donated to various intuitions.
These linens are currently on display at the British Museum while the mummy and coffin are currently in the Maidstone Museum.
Acquired by The British Museum in 1843, Donated by Hugh Welch Diamond. (EA6518)
Bibliography
Diamond, H.W. (1843). Description of an Egyptian Mummy. [Letter].
Maidstone Museum. (2018). The Mummy | Maidstone Museum. [online] Available at: https://museum.maidstone.gov.uk/explore/collections/ancient-egyptians/ta-kush-lady-house/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2024].
The British Museum. (2024e). Textile; Cloth | British Museum. [online] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA6518 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2024].
Fig. 1. Photograph of Tutankhamun Guardian Statue Wrapped in a Linen Cape
Fig. 2. Guardian Statue of Tutankhamun
Fig. 3. Wrapping Tutankhamun’s Guardian Statue, Taken by Harry Burton, 1923.
Fig.1 - 1923
Fig 2. New Kingdom (1327-1318 BC)
Fig. 3 - 1923
Two life-size statues of the infamous Pharoh Tutankhamun were discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, guarding the entrance to his tomb. These statues, both swaddled in a cape of linen, were removed from the antechamber and sent to Carter’s ‘laboratory’ in Thebes. (Fig. 1 & 3)
Sometime during the process of packing these statues, the linen cape was removed, likely to gain access to the gold kilts underneath. (Fig.2) Despite the spiritual significance of wrapping statues in ancient Egyptian ritual practice, linen was often disregarded by excavators. What happened to this linen cape, along with the others found on statues in Tutankhamun’s tomb, remains unknown.
(Learn more about the ritual of statue wrapping in the ‘Afterlife Rituals’ section).
Fig 1. Photograph documented in Carter, H. (2014). The Tomb of Tutankhamun: Volume 1. (Plate 1)
Fig 2. Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Fig 3. Griffith Institute, University of Oxford (Burton p0491)
Bibliography
Arnold, D. (2020). Tutankhamun’s Funeral. [online] Metmuseum.org. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tuta/hd_tuta.htm.
Artuk.org. (2024). Wrapping Tutankhamun’s ‘Guardian Statue’ | Art UK. [online] Available at: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/wrapping-tutankhamuns-guardian-statue-330504 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2024].
Burton, H., Allen, S.J., Allen, J.P., New, A. and University Of Chicago. Oriental Institute. Museum (2006). Tutankhamun’s tomb : the thrill of discovery. New York: Metropolitan Museum Of Art ; New Haven.
Carter, H. (2014). The Tomb of Tutankhamun: Volume 1. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Egyptianmuseumcairo.eg. (2022). Guardian Statue of Tutankhamun – Egyptian Museum Cairo. [online] Available at: https://egyptianmuseumcairo.eg/artefacts/statue-of-the-ka-of-tutankhamun/.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2024). Harry Burton | Detail of Anubis Figure | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [online] Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/893191.
Mummy Wrapping with Blue Border
11th Dynasty (c.2000 BC)Most linen in ancient Eygpt was a pale white, achieved by laundering with natron and sun-bleaching. However, evidence of textile dying can be found through surviving garments such as this mummy wrapping currently on display at the British Museum.
Due to the cellulose structure of flax, which is difficult for many dyes to adhere to, Indigo blue is the most common dye seen on surviving textiles. Indigo was practical due to its availability and durability, however, it is also theorized that flax’s blue flowers symbolize heaven. Similarly, the use of Indigo blue on garments and mummy wrapping may have had spiritual significance, linking them to the divine.
Acquired by The British Museum in 1904 -donated by the Eygpt Exploration Fund. (EA40923)
Bibliography
Hall, R. (2008). Egyptian Textiles. Shire Publications.
Ladd, A.D. (2020). Divine Threads: an Analysis of the use of linen in ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts.
The British Museum. (n.d.). Mummy-Wrapping | British Museum. [online] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA40923
Fig 1. Mummy of Hornedjitef Entering a CAT Scanner
Fig. 2. CAT Scan of Linen-Wrapped Legs
Fig 1-2. 1995.| With modern technology such as X-ray machines and the CAT Scanner, unwrapping a mummy is not necessary to examine them. These machines can reveal many of the mysteries of mummification and the bodies within them without causing harm. Scans can reveal the mummy’s gender, the extent of the preserved body, their age at death, and even signs of illness or injury. Mummys have been X-rayed as early as 1896. However, X-rays were not strong enough to scan through thick layers of linen or resin that would surround the body - The CAT scanner solved this problem. In Fig.1, British Museum staff are shown loading the mummy of Hornedjitef into a CAT scanner. The radiographers at Princess Grace Hospital took over 200 scans of the Mummy and Fig. 2, shows one of those scans. Here you can see an image of Horneditef’s legs, each surrounded by many layers of tightly wound linen strips. Each leg was wrapped separately and then covered again with a larger sheet of linen, demonstrating the amount of consideration taken by the embalmers in mummifying his body. The CAT scans also revealed amulets and jewelry hidden within the linen layers, items that would have likely been separated and sold during an unwrapping. With modern conservation, these artifacts can be preserved in their original context. |
Both images were found in Filer, J. and British Museum (2003). The Mystery of the Egyptian Mummy: Find Out All About Hornedjitef, an Ancient Egyptian Priest. New York: Oxford University Press In Association With The British Museum.
Bibliography
Filer, J. and British Museum (2003). The Mystery of the Egyptian Mummy: Find Out All About Hornedjitef, an Ancient Egyptian Priest. New York: Oxford University Press In Association With The British Museum.
CT Scan of an Unnamed Mummy
1996| This CT scan of a mummy, taken in 1996 at Princess Grace Hospital, highlights one of the many benefits of CT scanning. Here we can observe a skull that has been filled with linen packing material, visible as thin white lines on the image. It was common practice in ancient Egyptian embalming for the organs, including the brain, to be removed in order to preserve the body. Linen was then used to fill these spaces, helping plump out the figure, and ensuring that the individual’s body would be prepared for the afterlife. |
The British Museum - Found in -
Filer, J. and British Museum (2003). The Mystery of the Egyptian Mummy : Find Out All About Hornedjitef, an Ancient Egyptian Priest.
Bibliography
Filer, J. and British Museum (2003). The Mystery of the Egyptian Mummy: Find Out All About Hornedjitef, an Ancient Egyptian Priest. New York: Oxford University Press In Association With The British Museum.
Linen Garment found in Deshasheh
Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC)This linen sheath dress displayed in the Petrie Museum was ‘rediscovered’ by conservators among linen fragments, extremely frail and damaged.
The dress was found in a female tomb in Deshasheh with 9 other garments, some of which were too damaged to handle. It was determined due to its extremely narrow width that this garment would not have been worn in life but was crafted specifically for burial.
With few garments found surviving from this era, conserving this artefact was crucial. The conservation of the dress was conducted by S.Landi at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Conservation workshop in 1979 and again in 1983. The dress was cleaned and mounted onto a wire-netting frame shaped to support the garment and protect it from further damage. Since 1980, this dress has been displayed in the museum, offering a rare glimpse of ancient Egyptian craftsmanship.
Petrie Museum - excavated in 1898. (UC31183)
Bibliography
Landi, S. and Hall, R.M. (1979). The Discovery and Conservation of an Ancient Egyptian Linen Tunic, Studies in Conservation, 24(4), pp.141–152. doi:https://doi.org/10.1179/sic.1979.017.Petrie Museum (n.d.). Deschasheh. [online] Ucl.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/deshasheh/index.html [Accessed 30 Nov. 2024].
Coil of flax
New KingdomThis coil of flax constitutes a rare preserved collection of flax preserved from Ancient Egypt. The material here has been coiled into a ‘hank’ ahead of being separated out ahead of the weaving process. Its good condition of preservation highlights the extent to which flax, despite being a natural product, preserves well, rendering towards useful in various applications.
Acquired by The British Museum, London in 1888. (EA63177).
Bibliography
British Museum (n.d.) Coil of flax. New Kingdom. Flax, 23 cm length. Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA36177 (Accessed: 25 November 2024).
Fluck, C. and Helmecke, G. (2017) Egypt: Millennia of Textile Art. Berlin: Museum of Islamic Art, pp. 116–122.
X-ray scan showcasing the virtual ‘unwrapping’ of a mummy
Date UnknownAt the Museo Egizio, technology integrates traditional practices to preserve and showcase extremely delicate artefacts and human remains – as in the case of mummies. The museum integrates the interaction of new technological approaches to viewing historical artefacts, trying to uncover the personal background of the individual; similar to our exhibition proposal of the ‘thread of life.’ This is transpired when individuals at the museum get to digitally see the mummified body unwrapped through CT scans and X-rays, allowing observers to understand the subject’s personal histories, health and conservation status.
This approach is something that we have implemented, not from the standpoint of a technological unwrapping, but using historical Egyptian linen sources to find and analyse the journey of how this piece came to contemporary dress historians today. We have researched the possibilities of why the fabric may be worn, size and sale of the object, possible status in society and so forth.
Image from the exhibition ‘Invisible Archeology’ at the Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy.
Bibliography
https://culture360.asef.org/insights/keeping-times-museo-egizo-turin-italy/
Linen from the tomb of Tutankhamun
Second Intermediate Period, 1640-1540 BCA linen sample from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Appears thin in texture, individual strands of linen are visual, with a slight translucence. The linen appears fine, due to its handmade craftsmanship. Every thread of Egyptian linen is half the thickness of a human hair strand. Linen was buried within tombs as it was a holy garment which was seen to purify the body. The Egyptians believed the preservation of a dead body in the form of a ‘Mummy’, embalmed and wrapped in linen bandages, was believed to have gave immortality to the spirit.
From this information we can interestingly make comparisons between preservation of linen in the modern day and during the Egyptian timeline and see how with technological evolution, the linen of today is appreciated but not worshipped as the linen of the Egyptians was. This attitude is also further demonstrated when you look at the logistics of production between the two timelines.
Handwoven Linen during this period is much finer than the linen of today, due to industrialisation, machines often create friction that could cause tearing to the fibres and ultimately potential damage to the yarn. Every thread of Egyptian linen is half the thickness of a human hair strand.
Archaeologist Howard Carter, gave Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Unsworth, a buyer for the York Street Flax Spinning Company, this sample of linen in 1923.
Acquired by the Irish Linen Centre, Lisburn Museum in 2007.
Bibliography
https://www.lisburnmuseum.com/virtual-museum-lisburn/tutankhamuns-linen/
Human Mummy encased in canopic-coffin
New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty, 1190-1077 BCA wood canopic-coffin containing linen embalmed lungs, which are now stored seperately. Coffin top decorated with a black leppeted wig, wedjat eyes, a winged scarab on the breast, vertical hyroglphys; winged bird at the head and djed pillar with innt signs at the foot.
To the Ancient Egyptians death and the concept of the afterlife was extremely significant to their beliefs and made for complex traditional post death preparations, believed to be necessary for the transition of a corpse from their earthly form to their immortality. During the mummification process, most internal organs would be removed and preserved in jars, whilst the rest of the body would be dried with natural produce and then the linen bandages treated with oils and tightly wrapped around the corpse. Thanks to the dry climates of Egypt, linen textiles were able to survive. Tightly securing corpse’s organs with linen bandages aided the organs to great preservation, as discovered during the excavations of Egyptian tombs during the 19th and 20th century.
Purchased from William Talbot Ready and acquired by British Museum, London in 1894.
Bibliography:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA25568
R. Walker, F. Parsche, M. Bierbrier and J.H. McKerrow, Tissue identification and histologic study of six lung specimens from Egyptian mummies, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 72 (1987), 43-48.