Mummy cartonnage of Nes-Khonsu-pa-shered (detail);
painted plaster-coated fiber
Thebes; Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22, ca. 945–712 B.C.
Acquired by George Reisner from the Cairo Museum, 1900–01.
6–19929
Cartonnage is a material created from a fabric such as linen or papyrus, mixed with plaster. The term is also used for a body-shaped coffin composed of the substance. Inscriptions on this coffin of Nes-Khonsu-pa-shered (literally, “she belongs to Khonsu-the-child) refer to her as “Mistress of the House” and a songstress of the god Amun, titles common among upper class women of Thebes. The many divine images and religious symbols associate her with the Afterlife. While the Hearst Museum preserves both her outer wooden coffin and the inner cartonnage, those of her husband and his father are in the British Museum, London. Unlike her father-in-law, however, whose body survives, Nes-Khonsu-pa-shered’s cartonnage was ripped open and the mummy removed before its acquisition by the Hearst Museum.
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