The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Colorful, painted and gilded, oblong mummy case with a gold painted face and bands of funerary motifs alternating with narrower floral patterns below. Sandal-wearing feet are painted in the lowest band. Funerary motifs include the god Osiris seated facing our right and the falcon of Horus with spread wings. They are outlined in black with their backgrounds colored in green, blue, and red. More bands can be seen starting to extend down the sides.

Cartonnage Mummy Case

c. 50 BCE–50 CE

Egypt, Greco-Roman period

(332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)–Roman empire (30 BCE–395 CE)
cartonnage, painted and gilded, with glass inlays
Overall: 20.5 x 57 cm (8 1/16 x 22 7/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.715
Location: 107 Egyptian

Did You Know?

This coffin is smaller and later in date than the other coffins in this gallery. It is made of cartonnage, which used layers of linen to create a material similar to papier-mâché. The painted portrait head displays the influence of Roman portraiture at this time and incorporates both gilding and glass inlays. Despite the fragile materials, this mummy case survived due to the very dry desert climate in which it was found.

Description

This mummy case is made of cartonnage, a material similar to papier-mâché, but using layers of linen rather than paper. Cartonnage mummy cases such as these are contemporary with funerary portraits painted on wood or linen, although they present a very different appearance. The face, modeled in plaster, is bland and idealized, although the effect of the gilding and glass inlays is quite dazzling. The body is painted with traditional, age-old funerary motifs: the god Osiris, seated and mummiform; the fetish of Abydos, holy city of Osiris, flanked by standing deities (Thoth and Shu); a Horus falcon with outspread wings, and the bark of Sokar. Below these are the sandaled feet of the deceased. On the sides are rows of seated deities. On the top of the head are a winged scarab beetle flanked by Anubis jackals. On the foot are painted the soles of the deceased’s sandals, flanked by scorpions for protection.
  • Perhaps Akhmim. Purchased from Mr. Hornblower (in Egypt?) by Lucy Olcott Perkins through Henry W. Kent
  • Grimm, Günter. Die Römischen Mumienmasken aus Ägypten. Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, 1974. Mentioned: P. 100, 116; Reproduced: Taf. 115.1
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p. 503-5; Mentioned: p. 504-5
    Riggs, Christina. The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity, and Funerary Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 49-52, fig. 13, 14, 15
  • Long-term loan. The Toledo Museum of Art (organizer) (April 1, 1997-September 21, 1998).
  • {{cite web|title=Cartonnage Mummy Case |url=false|author=|year=c. 50 BCE–50 CE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1914.715